This Is Why Teams Want A Veteran At Backup Quarterback
October 18th, 2026
Bucs QB Jalon Daniels.
Bucs quarterback Jalon Daniels proved he was ready for streaming in primetime.
But he wasn’t quite ready for a matinee in the main theatre.
Look, Joe likes Daniels and thought he brought excitement to a dreadfully bland Bucs offense. But when the Bucs needed to lean on the undrafted rookie in the second half today, he demonstrated why every team in the league, including the Bucs, passed on him in the draft.
The Steelers’ defense simply shut down running back Bucky Irving in the second half, and that left the offense on the back of Daniels.
He wasn’t ready, yet.
The Bucs had a 13-3 lead at halftime. The led 16-3. They entered overtime tied 19-19. All the Bucs needed to win the game was another field goal, or better yet a touchdown.
Instead, the Bucs offense was stuck in the mud. Just like Daniels was stuck in the mud.
Does anyone really expect Daniels to start next week? Bucs coach Todd Bowles is clearly coaching for his job and his career going forward. Joe isn’t sure how the Bucs could rally from a 1-5 record to make the playoffs, not even in this garbage NFC South.
Bowles isn’t going to risk his career on a rookie who couldn’t get his offense to score a touchdown in the second half today.
Daniels may very well be the Bucs starter of the future. But he needs a lot of work. And he needs to be in a much better offense than he’s chained to now.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:37 pm
Blame ABB….Anybody but Bowles.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:37 pm
BAIN AND EBUKA ARE BUST!
GODWIN AND VEA ARE COOKED.
ZAC ROBINSON IS THE WORST OC IN THE NFL!!!
October 18th, 2026 at 5:39 pm
…….Daniels has potential obviously……but Zac Robinson is screwing the offense big-time
October 18th, 2026 at 5:41 pm
Daniel’s will never develop with Zac Robinson. Fire Todd, and Zac. Jason Licht, all of them.
Give me Nate Scheelhaase.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:41 pm
Daniels is definitely not ready for prime time.
Are you fanatics satisfied? He is NOT a franchise QB at this point.
Todd and JL should have known better. But we never have a good vet QB, except maybe when Brady was here, and that is a stretch.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:41 pm
You mean, it wasn’t Baker who single handedly lost the game for us? We suck all around!
October 18th, 2026 at 5:42 pm
Jimmy G would have lit them up…..
NEVER a good idea to have a scab as backup QB!
October 18th, 2026 at 5:43 pm
It didn’t help that they called a run on every F’n first down!!!
October 18th, 2026 at 5:46 pm
Zac is awful. But the main problem is fear. In the NFL you cannot hide your quarterback. He nearly threw a pic six last week with the game on the line. Today, they called the same play and guess what happened. The kid has moxie and quickness but his accuracy is so so and he hasn’t had enough experience to read defenses. Zac has no creativity.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:46 pm
“Joe isn’t sure how the Bucs could rally from a 1-5 record to make the playoffs, not even in this garbage NFC South.”
Well, there’s always a very real chance in the NFC South. Do you realize that if the Bucs win next week, they will be one game out of first place in the division no matter what the other teams do.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:46 pm
So much for the woes on the O-line to be over:
Bucky Irving had 46 yards on 19 carries for 2.4 npc
Daniels was sacked 5 times
Time to focus on who is our next HC
And the 2027 DRAFT, so exciting {sarcasm}
October 18th, 2026 at 5:46 pm
Yeah….like a Dungy offense ^^^^ 🤣
October 18th, 2026 at 5:48 pm
It’s not going to matter until you get coaches who don’t coach like it’s still the 80’s. It’s criminal with all these people and never throw a deep ball. Pulling your best OLB with multiple sacks because he doesn’t drop back and cover good enough.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:49 pm
This wasn’t all on him. Daniels can win games and played well overall. But he is not ready to carry a team on his shoulders. Bowles did a great plan on defensive plan but was outclassed in the end, mostly due to the Veteran QB on the other side. Offensively we seemed kind of random on our plan. The receivers as a whole have been disappointing all year as they were supposed to be our strength. We didn’t look any better or worse when Baker was in there. The team as a whole needs to get better.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:49 pm
No controversy next week
October 18th, 2026 at 5:50 pm
this isnt a jalen daniels problem. it wont end next week when baker comes back and it wont end if he gets hurt again and daniels plays again.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:50 pm
Yes Daniels lost this one and probably the GB game ,,, he is the back up like it or not bust his passes are all 5 yards or less ,,, you can’t win like that . Baker would have scored 30 today,, so let’s stop the nonsense about JD ,,, Robinson should have ran the crap out of the ball and had JD do what he is good at , scramble NOT PASS,, he could have thrown 5 or 6 INTs today ,,, Baker needs to get back and we need to beat Carolina next week or it’s over
October 18th, 2026 at 5:53 pm
Everyone wants JD to be perfect, and no, a so called QB that “knows the system” wouldn’t have won that game. JD is going to make mistakes, he’s gonna throw multiple picks, have a very bad half of football, or have an entirely bad game altogether. He’s allowed to do so, and it is expected. If you wanna move forward with this guy, expect these things to happen in the beginning. He didn’t do anything wrong, he didn’t lose us the game; he’s an undrafted rookie for the love of God that wasn’t even expected to make the team. In this game the man did pretty well except for the second half, can’t ask for too much more at this point with him.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:53 pm
Daniels is an undrafted rookie QB. Joe, did you forget he drove the team down the field in the waning seconds to send the game to overtime? I agree we go back to Baker, who is 0-3 by the way, next week, but Daniels is showing some potential.
October 18th, 2026 at 5:54 pm
You expected a top tier OC with our soon to be fired HC. That was never going to happen. This is what your owners wanted.
October 18th, 2026 at 6:00 pm
This is why teams want a quality QB, not one that is overrated and overpaid!
October 18th, 2026 at 6:00 pm
It was like a switch went off when they called the roughing the Nanny Rogers;) He flop even better than Ronaldo on a world cup game. Then both of our coaches went to work against us by calling the same plays over and over. We need to make changes like I make changes when I play Madden 27. By the way Baker, nice way of helping the Rookie. I don’t remember seeing you once helping him go over the plays, but maybe is just me;/
October 18th, 2026 at 6:05 pm
Do we need more games to expect a different result?
October 18th, 2026 at 6:08 pm
This is the best defense that we’ve had since 2020 Supervisl team and we’ve won ONE FREAKEN GAME!!!
The QB position has been abismal today the least.
The worst playcalling on offense since the Dungy days….
Zach Robinson should be GONE TODAYYYYYYYYY!!!
No freaken excuses here…..
He gave zero help for Jalon on the route concepts and a productive run game. Same run play every time!!!! Bucky was screwed over as well….
What a waste of my time watching this product this year! Soooooo glad I haven’t bought any tickets!!
October 18th, 2026 at 6:12 pm
This is why teams want a good coach joe.
October 18th, 2026 at 6:14 pm
Anyone who thought he was better than Baker was wrong. It was probably the same people who think jason licht is a “Draft Guru”. Get a hold of yourselves, because the Bucs won’t win more than 4 games this year…just like I said. Save your money, Friends.
October 18th, 2026 at 6:16 pm
Happy the Steelers left the door open for us after the pic to the 3. I could not believe the Steelers would throw the football on 1st and goal from the 3, given they have Warner and Boswell. Likely worst thing that happens is they get a FG and leave the Bucs only 45 seconds and 0 timeouts. It made it interesting (thanks Chase!). Nice to know we don’t have a monopoly a poor coaching.
October 18th, 2026 at 6:17 pm
JALON has an excuse for his mistakes being a rookie…..
Mayfield has ZERO excuse for being a sucky QB who doesn’t go thru his reads 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
October 18th, 2026 at 6:29 pm
The coaches need to ahead and get Easton Stick some first team reps this week. He is probably going to be needed at some point in the near future..Better yet get every QB on the roster first team reps this week..
October 18th, 2026 at 6:29 pm
Sorry Joe but I don’t know that a veteran QB makes a difference for the Bucs.
October 18th, 2026 at 6:30 pm
This is on the quarterback, yes but what help is he getting at receivers and offensive coordinator right up the middle first play every time 4 yard 5 yard to the sidelines second play third play usually a sack and or something behind the line of scrimmage for a loss come on
October 18th, 2026 at 6:59 pm
OC IS THE PROBLEM
but yeah throw baker in so he can play QB/FB
GO BUCS