Five Things

October 21st, 2025

Tez Johnson scores the lone Bucs touchdown last night on a 22-yard catch-and-run. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)

Joe is going to try to keep this short not just because the Bucs got slapped around by the Lions, not just because Mike Evans’ Bucs’ future is in doubt, but it is in the wee hours of Tuesdayd. A gloomy morning it is.

Mike Evans And His Bucs’ Future

Last night we all saw it. Mike Evans looked like he was knocked out cold on what appeared to be an otherwise sensational play by Evans when he caught that bomb from Baker Mayfield down the middle of the field. The ball rolled out of his arms when he went dark on the turf of Ford Field. Evans looked asleep.

Joe got a text from someone at the game who said he heard Evans’ broke his collarbone. Of course, this was unconfirmed, but Bucs coach Todd Bowles admitted immediately in his postgame press conference that yes, Evans had a broken clavicle.

It looks like Evans won’t be back until Christmas. Maybe.

So yeah, Evans’ streak of 1,000-yard receiving seasons is over unless one expects him to get two 400+ yard receiving games to end the season— if he returns by Christmas.

Evans is in a contract year. Joe’s spring notes show folks with the Bucs had no idea what Evans’ future plans were beyond 2025.

Evans is 32. Generally, when a 32-year old receiver starts breaking down (hamstring, concussion, broken clavicle), that’s often a sign Father Time is tapping on his shoulder. Does Evans want to play again in 2026 and risk more injuries?

Could last night be the last time Evans wears a Bucs uniform? Maybe.

This is all so sad because Evans had such a damn good training camp. At worst, it was Evans’ second-best camp. He was lights out.

So Evans’ streak is over. And maybe his days as an NFL receiver? Joe sure hopes it hasn’t come to that.

Offense Wasn’t Ready

What happened? Did the Bucs’ offense pull a Josh Freeman and nearly oversleep the team buses to the stadium? Did the Bucs leave their playbooks in Tampa? What happened?

The offense in the first half looked worse than a Byron Leftwich special. The Bucs couldn’t run and they sure as hell couldn’t pass. It was pathetic. Joe hasn’t seen a Bucs offense that bad since former Bucs commander Greg Schiano anointed rookie Mike Glennon as a starter.

Last night’s game really should have been a Lions blowout. Detroit left maybe 17 points on the field in the first half. And the saddest thing about it? The Bucs were powerless to take advantage of the Lions handing out Halloween.

Hell, even Lions coach Dan Campbell made the foolish mistake of listening to ESPN Analytics and went for it on fourth down, and it blew up in his face when he had an easy field goal to make.

Impotent. That’s what the Bucs offense was. Impotent. Joe hasn’t typed that about a Bucs offensive effort in a long, long time.

The Bucs, or any other team, are never going to beat a good team on the road when it throws presents in the trash like they did in the first half.

Defense Wasn’t Great But Did Its Job

In six previous home games entering last night’s game with the Bucs, including a playoff loss to Washington last winter, the Lions had scored 31 or more points in each of those six games.

In those same six games, the Lions averaged 37 points a game.

Last night the Bucs held the Lions to 24.

Any time you hold a playoff team like the Lions, to 24 points in their home den, you ought to be in the game. You ought to have a real shot of winning. But as Joe pointed out, the Bucs offense urinated down its hind leg last night.

Sure the Bucs gave up big plays, the Jahmyr Gibbs 78-yard touchdown being the key stake in the heart. But still, 24 points for a team that was averaging 37 at home. That’s two touchdowns short of their average.

Third-down percentage? The Bucs held the Lions to 23 percent (3 of 13).

The offense threw away a very solid effort by the defense.

Charlie Heck Did An Admirable Job

A bunch of Bucs fans had Justin Skule dancing in their heads before last night’s game. Understandable. It was last year that Aidan Hutchinson went wilding on the Bucs’ former backup tackle.

Just like last year when the Bucs played at Detroit, right tackle Luke Goedeke was out. So Hutchinson, again, faced a backup right tackle.

Last year Skule tried to stop Hutchinson, who went absolutely bananas against, registering 4.5 sacks and wreaking havoc all over the place.

Now did Hutchinson wreak havoc last night facing Charlie Heck? Yeah, but Hutchinson didn’t maul Heck like he did Skule.

Wanna know how many sacks Hutchinson had last night? Nada. Zip. Zilch. Goose egg. Joe doesn’t think you can blame Heck for the no-show offense.

Season Not Over

The Bucs next travel across the Gulf to the Big Easy to take on the slimy Saints, one of the worst teams in the league. It won’t be a walk in Jackson Park because playing a road game on a short week after a road Monday night game is not simple.

Still, it’s the slimy Saints!

If the Bucs can put the slimy Saints in their spot on Sunday, the Bucs will be 6-2 heading into the bye at the midway point of the season.

If Joe asked any Bucs fan this summer — sober, sunburned or soused — if they’d be happy entering the bye with only two losses, would they take it? Hell, not only would any Bucs fan take it, they’d probably be buying Joe beers.

The fact this team with all its injuries is one win from being 6-2 in the first half of the season is just extraordinary. No one could have seen this coming. No one would have predicted it.

While last night was an awful loss, the season is not over. Hardly.

And no, no opponent is going to spot the Bucs a touchdown each game because they feel bad about all the injuries.

The Bucs have a shot to make this season really special. Just take care of business against the slimy Saints and don’t make Joe gag up his jambalaya or bread pudding with whiskey sauce at the Gumbo Shop, or spit out his po’ boy at Parkway Bakery.

36 Responses to “Five Things”

  1. BucfaninMi Says:

    9? 9 points

  2. ATRAIN Says:

    How did the Defense Do The Job?

    They let the Lions run all over them
    Scored 24 points

    You do realize the Lions average over 30 points per game and about 37 a game at home. Jamel Dean had his third interception of the season. SirVocea Dennis had a drive-killing sack. YaYa Diaby registered a strip-sack the Bucs recovered. Benjamin Morrison’s coverage was good enough on fourth down to force a turnover on downs. And that was all in the first half! –Joe

    But the Offense was asleep

    Again BLAME everyone but THE HEADCOACH

    Bowles keep a job when most of the coaching staff was fired
    Bowles gets a pass every week
    Has a good game OH HE IS GREAT SEEEE
    HAS A bad game Oh it’s the other coaches or it’s the players

    NO BUCK STOPS WITH HC

  3. Hodad Says:

    Heck wasn’t the problem Jordan was. Why they put Jordan in at RG when he’s been out for weeks is beyond me. How does an injured PS player get a start over Klien who actually made the 53 man roster? Klien came in for Haggard last week, and didn’t give up anything, Jordan was abused all night. I don’t get it. Joe thinks the defense did great last night. Did you watch the opening drive Joe? Three big plays, and a quick score, that’s not good. The Lion defense on the other hand set the tone all night. They didn’t give an inch. We were playing from behind after the first two minutes of the game. We gave up too many big plays, and didn’t make any of our own. Total team loss, Bowles did not have his guys fired up ready to play.

  4. Rocket Says:

    Hard to say they can’t run, when he abandons run as soon as he gets behind
    All year Mayfield has been scrambling, making plays, Off Coordinator not committed to run game. Won’t beat a good team.

  5. BucfaninMi Says:

    Bowles is never fired up.

  6. Inwoodjeremy Says:

    It happens every time. Bucs don’t get national media attention they supposedly deserve and as soon as they do the team blunders. Detroit showed the league the recipe. Bullied all night making Mayfield look like a midget instead of MVP. Showed LVD and ME what father time looks like. Proved the defense can’t tackle and carved up the middle of the field. Proved To everyone it’s the same team that loses in playoffs every year since Todd’s been here until proven otherwise. Got to take this L and bounce back because this window is about to close.

  7. TBBucFan Says:

    Season not over? Joe, go get some sleep. Hopefully you won’t have nightmares of ME13 but let’s not lose sight of a HOF career. Bucs will be fine. Take care of business in New Orleans and every sane fan will be thrilled going into the bye.

  8. David Says:

    The Bowles haters are pathetic.

    He’s never fired up????
    You are basically saying, this man does not show emotion like I want him to… Stupid. Ridiculous.

    The defense gave up some big plays- other than that they held the lions from putting this out out of reach, they created turnovers, they got sacks, they basically gave the offense every opportunity to get back in the game.

    This loss is 100% on the offense.
    Bad play calling
    Bad run game
    No receiver separation
    Running the wrong routes
    Bad blocking, looked like the interior (Jordan and Barton)
    Bad QB play. Baker missed a ton of throws.

    They need to get a win against the Saints, get to 6–2, take two weeks off and come back with Bucky and Godwin and a cohesive offensive line

  9. JohnQCitizen Says:

    Dean. Again.

  10. rrsrq Says:

    Truth is Tez should have had two TDs and Egbuka at least one with the under and overthrown balls, that’s your points right there. As far as Heck, great block on the Tez TD but other screen passes like that he was way too slow to get out there and make blocks, which is why our RBs and receivers were getting hit by the time the ball got there

  11. Marky mark Says:

    Overthrows to inexperienced short receivers.

  12. Inwoodjeremy Says:

    Let ME and LVD retire on top at the end of the year. I don’t want to see these Bucs legends carted of the field in a vegetative state chasing one more. You guys are icons and heroes and don’t have to prove anything else.

  13. heyjude Says:

    It is definitely not over. This is one game. I don’t blame Heck either. Dean did well too.

    Something that haunted me before the game was reading before that Baker didn’t like night games. There is something to this too. Possibly, changing their schedule a week before the night game to mirror and become accustomed to it.

    The domes noise factor is another issue. Baker had problems hearing throughout. Something to it too. Our bye week is perfectly timed. Optimistic about this Sunday against the Saints.

  14. HC Grover Says:

    Should of worn all white uniforms.

  15. Baking with Grizz Says:

    Not Todd’s fault.
    I hate to write this. The truth is there was NO BAKING With Grizz LAST NIGHT.

  16. BigZ Says:

    This was a team loss. Hold on a nice kick return. D gave up a opening drive and lots of yards to Gibbs. Bake left 200 yards out there and at least one td. Zero run game. We better get the run game going or we won’t go far. No run game this year which I have heard much about. No qb can sling it 40 plus each week and win..

    That team last night might not beat NO. Next week is a huge game to see what this team is made of.

  17. KABucs Says:

    The sky is not falling. We just need to beat the Saints and get a week off. Would be beautiful to see the return of Goedeki, McMillan and Bucky …. maybe even Godwin for week 10.

  18. 813bucboi Says:

    DAVID

    SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE HATERS IN THE BACK!!!!!!

    GO BUCS!!!!

  19. 813bucboi Says:

    agree joe…

    baker and the offense didnt show up…defense played good enough to win…baker missed several throws that wouldve changed the game…

    we’ll get a win in NO!!!!

    GO BUCS!!!!

  20. 813bucboi Says:

    Baking with Grizz Says:
    October 21st, 2025 at 7:40 am
    Not Todd’s fault.
    I hate to write this. The truth is there was NO BAKING With Grizz LAST NIGHT.
    *********************************************************

    BINGO!!!!!!!

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  21. Warren Brooks Lynch Says:

    We got our butts kicked. No need to toss out excuses and loose reasonings as to why. The offense looked like it did against ATL, HOU, NYJ, & PHI they couldn’t get anything going with any regularity and the level of execution was terrible.

    Still not sold on Grizzard, you can try to tell me about injuries and all, but the guys unit lacks rhythm partially because he’s learning how to be rhythmic on the job. The success we had in the 2 games leading up to last night, in my opinion are just in large part due to the talent executing at a rate that gave off the look of a well oiled unit. Doesn’t necessarily mean that was their default.

    Got plenty of football left to play, but 9 points ain’t gonna beat anybody and the last time we scored that little points iirc it was against the Panthers at the tail end of a season and the only reason we won is because we shut them out.

    Grizz may need to spend some time with BA over the bye week, he doesn’t need to rest as I feel he needs to figure out what he wants this offense to be with what he’s got to work with. Abandoning the run game is panicky, rookie OC behavior.

  22. HomerSimpsonRocks Says:

    I don’t agree with the assessment that Mike is “breaking down”. Concussion and clavicle isn’t indicative of age. It could happen to anyone at any age. The hammy is an annual occurrence. By all accounts, he tore up training camp and looked fresh and capable. He’s still capable of playing at a very high level. My bet is that he’ll be back before the season is over and will help the Bucs a lot.

  23. Oz lynn Says:

    The noise was insane in that place. You could see it affected the bucs in some critical places. Mayfield had problems getting the play in from Grizzled. You could see the strugle.

  24. Jack Burton Mercer Says:

    “No one could have seen this coming. No one would have predicted it.” Well, for one, I predicted it. But that’s neither here nor there.

    Mayfield was uncomfortable all night long and you could see it in the way he was usually leaning back or sideways when he threw the ball. He was afraid of the rush and did not throw with authority and confidence. Simple as that. I expect Baker to bounce back next Sunday afternoon.

  25. Mark mark Says:

    Hi this is Rod Munch. I knew the regression was going to happen I was Right all along. Little midget Baker had several passes batted down and the rest he overthrew. Mr. Innaccurate like I have been saying the last 3 years. Bench midget boy for Bridge stand trade for a shad Danders now the Gabriel has the Browns QB locked up.. Note this is a spoof.

  26. Fanofdabucs Says:

    Five things:

    -If Baker played well, its a completely different game
    -The WRs couldnt get opened in the first half and obviously running wrong routes
    -How can a team not figure out how to defend a simple swing pass to the flat??
    -The refs were and have been complete trash all year
    -Beat the Saints and all is ok. Lose to the Saints and this season may be over. Suddenly the lowly Saints is a huge game.

  27. AB Says:

    I was almost hoping they would bring out Teddy Bridgewater in the fourth quarter just to see what would happen. So many missed opportunities and missed passes to open receivers downfield. Defense looked great though and made some incredible plays which was encouraging.

  28. BucU Says:

    “””The Bucs, or any other team, are never going to beat a good team on the road when it throws presents in the trash like they did in the first half.”””

    Excellent excellent point.

  29. Aceofaerospace Says:

    I’m not blaming Baker for the lose, though he probably blames himself, but I’ve never seen him so off on his throws as a Buc. He’ll be back.

  30. HopetheBucswin!! Says:

    I saw on no less that 2 occasions where two Bucs receivers ran right into each other. First one was Evans and he was slow to get up. Tez was involved in two on them. That’s some bad offense right there. And the refs were typically bad favoring another team. Just look at that Evans picture. Go Bowles!

  31. Faspro Says:

    Great teams play at high level in all three phases of the game…it’s always one or two phases the bucs are mediocre at best.

    No excuses.

  32. Aqualung Says:

    What everone can see. The Lions are a team with a real head coach who works with three separate coordinators on the three phases of the game, and Dan Campbell is a master head coach. His whole team was fired up and ready.

    What everyone can also see. The Bucs are a team with three separate coordinators but no head coach. Yes, Todd is an excellent HR director, his door is always open for his players. He’s not a head coach.

    In every game this season, at least one of the units were an embarrassment, usually either the defense or Magoo’s special bus or both.

    Last night it was the offense’s turn. That performance with a rookie playcaller proves that Todd is doing nada to offer (require) improvement, nothing to make in game adjustments, nevermind nothing to prepare his guys, construct an executable gameplan, or have them come out with their hair on fire. The Bucs offense was pudding soft. The Lions D were hungry cannibals.

    THe other lesson? Lions pass defense armed with waitresses and bartenders played man to man all night and shut the Bucs down. Why? It’s an easy scheme to understand. “You, 25, you cover 17.” Result? No busts. Nobody will accuse Dan Campbell of being a defensive mastermind, but his dudes knew their assignments and didn’t bust.

    That’s never the case with a Todd Bowles defense, where multiple busts happen every game.

    Welcoe to the 2025 swoon. Anyone thinking the Bucs will rebound in New Orleans is hallucinating.

  33. Becky Says:

    I don’t know what all the complaining is about. The Lions in my opinion are the best team in the league and really well coached. There were a few very questionable calls by the refs, Baker was off mainly because like always he is trying to do too much himself and was pressured all night, mainly because we are depleted by injuries. Getting some of our guys healthy and back in the game will make a difference, I still think we have a chance for things to work out, because as bad as things were last night we stayed in the game and kept it close for the most part.

  34. Saskbucs Says:

    Yeah I was wondering the same thing Hodad. Jordan didn’t look good. I won’t say Heck was bad but they gave him a lot of help. Otton stayed in to chip, White was over there to help lots.

    Whenever they left Heck on an island, him and Jordan were closing in on Baker immediately. It was a problem. Not as big a problem as Baker being bad but obviously didn’t help.

  35. Pickgrin Says:

    Everyone is saying how poorly Baker and the Bucs offense played last night – which is true when compared to other games this year and points scored.

    Not enough credit is being given to the Detroit defense – especially all the back ups in the secondary who were somehow all simultaneously having the game of their lives…..

    Thats the best defensive effort I’ve seen by any team this year – the Lions defense was literally “ferocious” last night – for 60 minutes!

    Hats off to Dan Campbell and his defensive coaches. His team showed up pi$$ed off and ready to kick some a$$ in their home dome last night. The Bucs just happened to be the unfortunate team that ran head first into that buzzsaw….

    Which I’m pretty sure is how Mike Evans feels today. Get well soon vibes sent your way #13. Sorry the 1000 yard streak has to end this way – but you are still in first place ALL time! Tied with the great Jerry Rice at 11 straight 1000 yard seasons…. And your 11 seasons also started when you entered the league which is a record that may never be broken…..

    Concentrate on healing Mike and when you get back on the field in a couple of months – perhaps you can have the opportunity to help lead this team on another Super Bowl run and victory.

    Chin up Bucs fans. 5-2 is a great position to be in considering the schedule thus far and the fact that this Bucs team can and will improve substantially (and get healthier) as the season progresses.

  36. Not My NFL Says:

    @Jack Burton, WTF are you even talking about you “predicted it” hahahaha….the Bucs were 6.5 point underdogs so let me explain it to you IT’S NOT MUCH OF A “PREDICTION”!!!! LOL….

 

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