Five Things
December 1st, 2025
Chris Godwin celebrates a catch in the win over Arizona.
It was weird. Joe should be bouncing off the walls, happy as hell over a win. Oh, and Joe is happy, no doubt. But that “win” didn’t pass the smell test yesterday. But hey, a win is a win and that means today is Victory Monday! So let’s get rolling.
The Tristan Wirfs Touchdown
This play almost had a life of its own. Two weeks ago during a media scrum after a practice, a subject was how to get Tristan Wirfs involved in the offense more. He was told Vita Vea caught a touchdown pass in 2019 and reminded Vea had been used as a fullback.
Wirfs said he’d love to get the chance.
Then the local pen and mic club asked about him catching a touchdown. Cool, Wirfs said. Any chance to tote the rock. A lineman’s dream.
When Wirfs was asked if there were any calls in the playbook to get him the ball, he suddenly got very coy and after smiling and looking around the room, said something along the lines of, we will see.
We didn’t have too long to wait.
Wirfs said yesterday the Bucs actually installed a play for him to catch a pass. A touchdown pass. Then this past week, the Bucs began practicing the play. It may come true!
In practice, Wirfs said, Mayfield just lobbed the ball to him. Yesterday when the play was called, Mayfield said he didn’t know where Cardinals safety Budda Baker was on the backside. So Mayfield said he couldn’t dilly-dally around.
Wirfs said Mayfield threw him a hard pass, which he didn’t expect. But Wirfs pulled that ball in like he was an eight-year tight end veteran.
The play was beautiful. It was a misdirection and Mayfield looked right. The entire Arizona defense took the bait and faded there.
Joe isn’t sure how a 6-5, 320-pound human can sneak into the end zone but Wirfs sure did. As Bucco Bruce Arians would say, he was “wide-ass open.” And Mayfield hit him in the hands.
Wirfs said he that once in high school had a scoop-and-score but never an offensive touchdown. Until yesterday.
Chris Godwin Is Back!
The other cool thing from yesterday that jumped out at Joe was how Chris Godwin looked like Chris Godwin. He had 78 yards on 3 catches. Yeah, he had an ugly drop of a touchdown. But Joe’s looking at the half-full glass this morning with Godwin.
Yesterday was Godwin’s fourth game if this season. In his previous three, he just didn’t look himself. In fact, he looked cooked, at least in his first two games.
Now Joe doesn’t know if Godwin is finally pain-free from his fibula ordeal or if Godwin got his speed back finally, or if Godwin just shook the rust off. But boy, Godwin looking like himself for a change really got Joe stoked.
Bucky Irving Looks Back, Too
Another guy who may be back is Bucky Irving. He hadn’t played since the Philadelphia game in Septemeber. And early on yesterday he looked it, but that appeared to be more rust than anything.
Once Bucky got warmed up, he started running like Joe remembered with quick cutbacks and ability to weave through a defense to get to the outside. The guy just has a nose for the open field.
Bucky finished with an average of 3.6 yards per run. Not great, but again, he got better as the game went on. A promising sign for the Bucs, who need all of Baker Mayfield’s hurt weapons back as soon as possible.
The Cavalry Is Coming?
Last week in Los Angeles Joe noticed Jalen McMillan on the Bucs’ sideline with no neck brace. Joe thought that was a very good sign.
McMillan broke a bone in his neck when undercut by Steelers camp meat cornerback Daryl Porter in a worthless preseason game in August. McMillan has been out since.
Seeing McMillan in Los Angeles, Joe thought if the Bucs were concerned about his neck, no way they would let him fly cross country and no way they would let him on the sidelines, which can be dangerous. So Joe was hopeful McMillan’s ordeal was coming to a conclusion. 4
Then yesterday morning Ian Rapoport reported McMillan could return to practice this week. That would be awesome!
Yesterday, Joe noticed Mike Evans bouncing around. He, too, was on the sidelines, on injured reserve recovering from a broken clavicle. Remember seeing McMillan on the Bucs’ bench in Los Angeles, Joe wondered if Evans is nearing a return.
The Bucs wouldn’t let Evans on the sidelines during a game if they were unsure of his health, right?
Sure enough, in the same story about McMillan, Rapoport buried that Evans could return to practice next week, prior to the Dixie Chicks game.
So it appears that dust cloud in the horizon is the cavalry.
Bucs Are Going To Need The Cavalry
Yes, yes, yes. Joe knows the Bucs held the Cardinals to their second-lowest scoring output of the season. Here, Joe is just talking about eyeballs:
Did that look like a dominant Bucs defense on Sunday to you? Sure, it was awesome the Bucs got a four-and-out to close the game. Take that away, and the defense just didn’t look good.
Arizona had too easy a time moving the ball. Jacoby Brissett just carved the Bucs up with short passes up the middle.
And when the Bucs had the ball, man, every time the Bucs had a chance to deliver the knockout punch, they instead settled for a long field goal or punted. Yes, on offense, the Bucs had really good plays here or there, but not enough for more than a couple of sustained drives.
A good playoff team would have put a boot on the Cardinals’ throat and put that game away. Put Arizona out of its misery. The Bucs currently look like a team that will get boat-raced in the wild card round, if they make the playoffs.
The Bucs are going to need the cavalry.
There’s something just not right about this team. In the past month, Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield, Bucs icon linebacker Lavonte David and now Bucs coach Todd Bowles unloaded on teammates for not hustling and not giving their all, a lack of killer instinct.
Three times in four weeks. Why? Have people tuned out Mayfield? David? Bowles?
Joe learned Bowles unloaded on his defense on the sidelines just before it took the field for the four-and-out to secure the win.
Why does this team need to be constantly read the riot act to play right? There’s something not right. Joe isn’t sure what that is. But the team better figure it out soon.
In 10 days, Kirk “509” Cousins comes to town.
December 1st, 2025 at 4:36 am
Perfect summary, Joe!
Good to hear that Mike was “bouncing around the sidelines” and can’t wait until he is fully back too. Sounding like sprinkling Jalen and Mike in one game at a time until they are all back together. Wirfs magic yesterday was astounding and inspirational. Loved it!
December 1st, 2025 at 4:50 am
Joe great article I think to be honest the season has been a difficult one on the team. Lot close games and lot of guys playing out of position and playing more snaps then they should. You can only cover up for these injuries for so long until they come back to get you. We have played a brutal schedule up until now.
The sky is falling mentality is crazy look at Rams coming across the coast got beat by a bad Carolona team. Everyone overacted from Rams game. I think this team needed to find its confidence put a win together after that tough 3 game stretch.
Onto the Saints look for us to continue to look better and better as we regain that confidence. I have no doubts we will win the NFC South and if healthy we are second best team in NFC
December 1st, 2025 at 4:54 am
Glad to see they finally used White in the passing game. If not for a penalty, that was a score that could have put the game away. Instead of Baker throwing a deep pass on third down and as the announcer said hoping a receiver
would get to it. I would rather see us try the deep shot on second down. THen
you still have another down to get the first down and avoid a punt.
December 1st, 2025 at 5:14 am
Good write by the Joes but I do have to point out that the Bucs’ D still let Arizona move the ball almost at will. I will acknowledge that the D cut down on the giant explosive plays but the Cards were tearing the D up across the flat and Trey McBride got active in the second half. Looked like the Cards targeted Zyon as well, they threw in his direction early and often and that first drive they had could have been a bad omen if not for the pick by Winfield which was set up by Dean. Good win but there is still a lot of room for improvement across the board.
December 1st, 2025 at 5:15 am
Good write = good write up……
December 1st, 2025 at 5:45 am
was it just me or am i do only person who feels like the bucs special teams won this game?
December 1st, 2025 at 5:59 am
Here’s the part of the calvary that is not coming. Offensive line help.
We looked bad on the offensive line in pass protection yesterday. That’s nothing new for this season, but with 4 of 5 starters back, with a seasoned vet in Feeney filling in for Mauch, I “hoped” against the world beating defensive pass rush of the Cardinals that our Oline performance would look better in pass protection, and yet Montez Sweat looked like he was camping in our backfield.
Look, this isn’t a new problem, yet I thought the maturing of this Oline would fix what I saw late last year, and perhaps the ruse, was Bucky’s last season’s success on the ground early in the season that really opened up the pass game for Baker. That is not happened this season, and the success we had on third downs last year is gone, both against good and bad football teams. I can’t remember the last time Baker had a clean pocket on a 3rd and 10.
Getting our WRs back isn’t going to fix the Oline, might help in the screen game, but just when you thought we were leveling up and we were hyping up this stout Oline, it still needs work. I don’t know who the weak link is, but we can’t fall about just because we’re missing Cody, come on? I don’t know where to start, but the interior needs to be looked at very closely in the offseason, perhaps the coaching of it as well.
December 1st, 2025 at 6:04 am
What’s up with the Bucs arm tackling? Unacceptable. Bowles need to hold his coaches accountable n stop just using that line as talking points. After the season, the special teams coach need to be fired n we need to be done with the likes of Logan Hall, (he gets bullied by players each week) Chris Braswell,Dan Feeney, Marquee Watts, n our tight ends need to be reevaluated. I don’t have trust in Otton during crunch time. He has problems holding on to the ball, he’s inconsistent. We need a Trey McBride type tightend.
December 1st, 2025 at 6:29 am
Also, seeing the Panthers butt the Rams into the loss column is a real cause for concern. The Rams D-Line made our QBs miserable all game while the announcers almost handed McVay/Stafford the Lombardi. Bryce Young looked all-world and Stafford looked bad. We had better get some sort of pass rush scheme ready for the stretch. Brisset ate to eat us up on several drives — 20 yds, 10, 10, 10, TD! What will a reinvigorated Bryce look like?
December 1st, 2025 at 6:30 am
This game was like watching 2 different games in one. In one game we got pressure on Jacoby Brissett and we could see a glimpse of what this team could be with a consistent pass rush. But the other game was the BUCS getting no pressure on Jacoby Brissett and the result was him picking us apart like every team has done. Tackling and special teams were pathetic again because it’s obvious Todd has done nothing to adjust or to incentivize his players. I am thankful for the win, but I am not excited by it.
December 1st, 2025 at 6:35 am
Calling it now, the Falcons will knock our block off and deny us the playoffs
December 1st, 2025 at 6:37 am
SVD looked a LOT better.
December 1st, 2025 at 6:38 am
Drafting too many good character guys will make a team soft. There are no alpha dawgs on this team, this si football afterall and yiu need some of those alpha dawgs. That should answer why the last part of the article says they have to keep been pushed and reminded. Maybe its time the front office revisit that I am that man concept and change it uo a bit. It also explains why we can’t draft a decent edge rusher!! All good edge rushers have a mean streak and won’t fall into the buxs character mold.
December 1st, 2025 at 6:43 am
I agree that there was something off about that win. I guess it beats the alternative.
December 1st, 2025 at 6:51 am
The tackling is abysmal, too many times McCollum trying to deliver a knockout hit instead of realizing the down and distance situation and getting the carrier wrapped and on the ground. Our inability to stop the run consistently will be our undoing if it is not addressed.
Panthers games will decide this division. Get well soon ME13 and Jmac.
December 1st, 2025 at 7:00 am
Everyone “not happy” or at whatever level of discontent with a win over the Cardinals is unaware apparently that they have been within 4 points in almost all of their losses, they are just that play it close, lose it at the end team…. it is just what they do. NO shame in being in that kinda game with the Cards, simmer TF down.
December 1st, 2025 at 7:09 am
What is off is that they dropped two TD passes plus a couple of excellent medium to long range passes. If they hold on to those balls the whole picture changes and the Bucs would be the focus of the morning hype and over reaction as the Panthers are now,
Not to worry our time is coming. The Bucs are gettimg healthy and they are still comfortably under the radar.
December 1st, 2025 at 7:19 am
They are going to need the cavalry to cover for Bowles. I can’t believe we’re wasting good talent on this crap coach.
December 1st, 2025 at 7:20 am
They emulate their leader. The line between cool cat and lethargy isn’t that wide
The only thing Todd appears to be proactive with are his meals…
December 1st, 2025 at 7:26 am
The consistent element to all the Bucs issues seem to me to be coaching. Either the players are not listening or the coaches are not helping deliver the best from each player or the players are just not NFL caliber or combination of all. This team regresses on defense and depleted on offense.
December 1st, 2025 at 7:47 am
Imagine having a GM with the foresight to go get a Josh “2 sack day” Sweat. Instead, for almost the same $$ ($35 vs $41 million guarantee), in his infinite wisdom, JL gives the payday to Zyon “no PDs” McCullom. But hey, he has his eye on Bredesen as Rome burns. Bowles is to blame, but look who’s walking that dog
December 1st, 2025 at 7:56 am
Maybe the Bowles a$$ chewing got their attention. Would be nice to see a video of it.
December 1st, 2025 at 8:00 am
I’d like to hear more about the tit this that you mentioned Joe.
Details please.
December 1st, 2025 at 8:04 am
Great article Joe. Agree with everything. Something is not right.
December 1st, 2025 at 8:07 am
Watch and your eyes will tell you. There is not enough want to on this team. Players are comfortable because ownership and the GM are comfortable right where they are.
December 1st, 2025 at 8:17 am
IMO, the main problem with the defense is tackling. How many times could the Bucs have gotten off the field on 3rd down if they had just tackled a receiver at the point of catch. There was one play where the Cardinals’ running back caught a pass and 3 Bucs couldn’t bring him down before he made a first down. That happened several times yesterday. We got to get off the field on 3rd and longs.
December 1st, 2025 at 8:23 am
Was that the Chris Godwin some said would never return?
December 1st, 2025 at 8:24 am
Complimentary football against the Cards. The punt and kick coverage was very good. Baker played within his injured capabilities as Johnston mentioned several times.
December 1st, 2025 at 8:25 am
“Sonething is off…”
Coaching is part of it. And situational awareness is still a huge weakness with coaching. I won’t recount examples from other games this season, but one glaring example from yesterday was the delay of game penalty in the first quarter. Wtf?! Still a festering problem.
December 1st, 2025 at 8:26 am
Was hoping the defense would have a positive attitude for this game. They kinda did. Maybe next game. It will be a good week though.
December 1st, 2025 at 8:32 am
Tony Dungy wouldn’t keep thugs on his team, so in that regard those teams had a good. Upturned. Bowles’ and Licht’s culture is just lazy and soft.
That defense that the genius ha put together is putrid. Never witnessed an NFL defense stand and wait for a ball carrier to come to them and then throw one arm out to try and stop them.
We all saw THREE Bucs whiff on the same tackle at the same time yesterday.
This team is Pillsbury Dough Boy soft, like the HC. Bud Licht ain’t no great shakes either
December 1st, 2025 at 8:33 am
*a good culture. Damn autofill is Wacky
December 1st, 2025 at 8:38 am
Cardinals lost to
Jags 3
Packers 4
Colts 4
Seahawks 3
49rs 4
Best Panthers. Cowboys
They simply aren’t that bad…..
December 1st, 2025 at 9:03 am
Every game is gonna be a dogfight. Gotta be in full playoff mode now like the guys said. Glad we have JMac and ME13 coming back soon.
December 1st, 2025 at 9:12 am
Bottom line is this is a poorly coached team. Special teams coach should have been fired after week 2. Our defense is now completely healthy except for Cancey and they are as bad as any Lovie/Mike Smith coached team ever was. Grizzard is not an NFL caliber OC. Sure we’re missing some pieces but the team we fielded yesterday had 4 of our starting OL, EE, Godwin and Bucky which is more than enough talent to put up at least 30 on the sorry ass Cardinals. Our receivers and backs are always tightly covered. Grizz doesn’t know how to scheme them open. It won’t be much better with JMac and Evans.
December 1st, 2025 at 9:19 am
There is no doubt in my mind we need to address defensive talent next year. What are the Bucs struggling with? tackling running backs in space. LINEBACKERS are probably Bucs no.1 need this offseason. Unlike most commenters, I won’t pretend to be an expert, even though ive been watching THIS team for 47 years … but Zyon McCullom, is he good enough? are the young guys in secondary headed in the right direction? questions coaching will have to answer after the season is over, which is hopefully not until at least 2 weeks into the playoffs.
December 1st, 2025 at 9:21 am
Who would have ever thought that Cody would mean so much to the offensive line? Last year everyone was whining about him being too small. He needed a couple of years in an “NFL” weight room. Now the line is worthless without him. Didn’t see that coming did you Munch?
Oh yeah, you better stop thinking the Saints game is gonna be a cake walk. There’s nothing they’d like more than to play the spoiler.
December 1st, 2025 at 9:23 am
Joe, there’s too much doom in here.
Who has blown out the Cardinals this year?
December 1st, 2025 at 9:54 am
Agree with westernplennafan, this game was actually a bit better for Bucs than it would appear in that you had several dropped long passes, the worst being Godwin’s in the end zone, and at least two terrible calls for offensive holding and interference that were clearly bad calls on replay. The bad calls wiped out two long gains. Those all happened at key points in the game. That isn’t going to happen often so overall the offense played well, though the OLine play continues to struggle to give Baker time. The defense played as usual, giving up alot of passes downfield but stiffening at key moments. The Cardinals are much better than their record. Coaching staff cannot let them look past New Orleans to the Panthers.
December 1st, 2025 at 10:03 am
You do realize other teams go through the same things, right? Bad, good, it doesn’t matter. At some point the players or coaches have to get let it be known, we need to step it up. I’ve watched other teams more this year than any other year because I wanted to see if it was just the Bucs that frustrate me every game. Nope, it’s not. Other teams have dumb plays as well. And people, stop blaming the coaches. These grown ass men need to go out and execute. They’re missing assignments, taking bad angles on tackles, not doing their jobs on special teams, not getting enough separation on passing plays. You can coach until you’re blue in the face, but if they aren’t executing that’s on the player, not the coach.
December 1st, 2025 at 10:07 am
The Bucs O would have put up more points if not for several very bad ref calls and drop passes. The drops can be fixed (more jugs machine use). They should emphasize the details in practice this week to eliminate some of the legit penalties.
The D was playing better through most of the first half. That’s progress . Bowles needs to unleash the blitz with a lead not go to the soft stuff like he did the second half. He made it too easy for the Cards to stay in the game. Also several questionable ref calls for holding by the D-backs didn’t help our cause.
December 1st, 2025 at 10:10 am
The team needs a win like this. It wasn’t easy and it’s never easy thus making them earn the win was critical IMO. The Cards play hard. Going into yesterday they were statistically better than the Bucs on both sides of the ball. Credit the Cards and Brissett for finding options in the pass game. Toward the end of the 2nd quarter the Bucs D was dialed in. The Cards adjusted in the 2nd half. I feel like when I watch the secondary, they are assuming the blitz is going to get to the QB and they tend to loaf. That’s BS. That needs to be fixed.
December 1st, 2025 at 10:17 am
This sad defense will be the cause of Bucs missing the playoffs
December 1st, 2025 at 10:21 am
U know what’s interesting this team mirrors aborher franchise here jn some ways. The lightning. A team so rich with talent that constantly has to get shell shocked in the playoffs to wake up and play to their ability. What is it with these teams that yiu arent ready to play ???.
December 1st, 2025 at 10:32 am
Always celebrate a win. Always be honest about what’s to learn from it. Offense got a boost from Bucky, and a now healthy Chris G. Baker looked good, Chase is clutch, punter had a good day, and ST coverage was good with one exception on a kickoff.
Now, the sobering part. D is like Swiss cheese. Tackling was horrible; their boy Bam ran through multiple arm tackles. I’ve been a big Zion fan and saw improvement year after year. This year, he has regressed significantly. Being beaten on the deep ball by guys he is allegedly faster than, and his tacking is woeful.
With Big Mike and McMillian in the wings, I see us getting into the playoffs, but teams will chew up our D. My bigger concern is that the Glazers will keep Todd, who has reached his plateau.
December 1st, 2025 at 10:37 am
I’m not ok with the defensive effort to stop runners short of the sticks. Instead of getting them on the ground after a 2 yard catch they fail to secure tackles and let up another 4-6 yards of yardage enough to keep defense on field. They need to watch some film of Hardy Nickerson, Ronde Barber, John Lynch and Derrick Brooks. Those 2 yard passes would have never turned into first downs as they wrapped up and used their leverage to tackle.
The best Buc tackle yesterday was by Anthony Nelson on the stopped 4th down run. He threw his whole body at the waist of the runner and took his feet out from under him. The runner couldn’t advance. That’s what the Bucs need to do. They are way too passive and just trying to hold up a runner instead of taking them down initially. Defensively they don’t work well as a unit.
It’s very possible that they don’t want to give up their bodies to make plays. They know Bowles won’t replace them for lack of fundamentals.
December 1st, 2025 at 10:55 am
Coach them hard. Seems to be the only way!
Dog cuss them if needed.
December 1st, 2025 at 11:39 am
A win vs. a 3-8 team shouldn’t be a surprise. But, the Bucs struggling to get past a 3-8 team isnt a surprise either.
This fan base will get cocky after two more wins vs. terrible teams (NO, ATL) and will be brought back to earth with 3 straight losses to finish the season – and out of the playoffs.
Carolina is playing good football, so is Miami. The Bucs are not.
December 1st, 2025 at 11:42 am
Have to question whomever keeps deciding these CBs we keep signing to extensions. Literally the very next season they are deemed grossly overrated. Davis, Dean…now McCollum. That’s a pattern, ultimately it’s on Licht but have to assume Bowles is having significant input. The money dedicated to the back end of the defense for what is routinely avg play at best is perplexing. Games are won in the trenches and we need upgrades in either coaching or talent.
December 1st, 2025 at 11:43 am
@colonol angus
had good seats yesterday after the chew out diaby kind of rolled his eyes didnt look to happy afterwards
December 1st, 2025 at 12:20 pm
Problem is, that method wears out pretty quickly unless it leads directly to wins. Didn’t work for Baker Mayfield and Lavonte David. Did work for Bowles.
December 1st, 2025 at 12:20 pm
Am I the only one that thinks we need to run more? That’s our strength with the o line not passing…. Our o line isn’t as strong in pass blocking and the run game only looks like crappy when they try to get cute and do bs runs
December 1st, 2025 at 12:47 pm
Joe, watching other games yesterday it amazes me how receivers are getting open and almost every pass play Bucs receivers are not open or it is hotly contested. I believe it is scheme that Grizz has put in place, not so much talent. Any thoughts on why Bucs receivers can’t get open?
December 1st, 2025 at 1:15 pm
“There’s something just not right about this team.“
Look no further than the man who is now in his second trimester standing in front of the podium, regurgitating pablum through clenched teeth with the energy of a dead triple A battery. The man who is a lousy head coach is his own direct report, and seems surprised that his defense has been rotten despite accolades about his “Geniusness.” He’s overseen a huge regression on offense, and has trotted out some of the worst special teams performances in NFL history.
The coach who can’t hold a lead.
The coach who loses games that are in the palm of his hand.
Against the Patriots after squandering two extra points for two failed 2pointers that would’ve left the Bucs down 3 in FG range instead of down 5, there the Bucs sit with a 3rd and 3 near the red zone at about the two minute mark. The game was in hand. But instead of calling Rachaad’s number on a short pass to pick up the first down, we target a double covered unreliable Otton, and then on 4th down call a deep pass with a seven step drop with a Swiss cheese OL who hadn’t pass blocked for Baker all day. SACK!
If you tried to write a script to illustrate what horrible coaching looks like and wrote that, you’d be challenged for being unrealistic.
Well I guess giving up 31 to the Rams in the first half and looking like a team that thought they were suiting up for a croquet match might be worse than the Patriots loss. Or punting to the Bills on 4th and 1 when you’re down one score and your defense is demonstrating Todd’s patented second half boredom and sloth.
Coaching malpractice has become a regular, every game phenomenon. We fans are sick of it.
December 1st, 2025 at 1:57 pm
4 total carries by White and Tucker. That’s not nearly enough. Grizz gave Bucky 17 Carrie’s after being out for 9 weeks. I love Bucky but he’s not a workhorse type of a back. Keep it up Grizz and you’ll get him injured again in no time.
December 1st, 2025 at 5:28 pm
Well said Joe, you summarized what all of us saw. Let’s hope the Bucs figure it out before it’s too late.
December 2nd, 2025 at 3:01 am
We don’t need to rush any injured players back onto the field. We have plenty of WR depth to make do with what we have.
Ice up, McMillan. Ice up, Mike. Practice. Practice. Practice. Recover. Recover. Recover. We’ll bring you out week 17, week 18, or in the playoffs.
Losing Cody Mauch so early in the year was crippling to our offensive line. Similar to how we lost Ryan Jensen. Shame we can’t get him back.