Shop now at BillCurrieFord.com. Bill Currie Ford quality and service is second to none. Ask GM Sean Sullivan for guidance & JoeBucsFan discount.

BY IRA KAUFMAN

What, you thought this was going to be easy?

You’re a Buccaneer fan — the Bucs don’t do easy. At halftime, this one looked like a romp for the home team. By the fourth quarter, the outcome was very much in doubt.

That’s life in the NFL, but the important part is Tampa Bay now carries credible momentum into Denver. Despite some hiccups, the defense got the job done while Leonard Fournette earned more touches by applying the dynamic finishing touch. [read more]

Embarrassing moment

So let Joe get this straight.

Bucs fans get shut out of a home game they yearned to see, but Brett Favre gets to enter the stadium seats for a close look at the Bucs? [read more]

Future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski has 11 yards receiving in two Bucs games.

Yes, he’s healthy.

Joe’s trying to find a silver lining. [read more]

Heads-up play.

Joe is guessing a lot of folks were peeved this wasn’t a touchdown pass. In retrospect, it was one of the most important catches of the game. [read more]

Implosion alert

A quick look at what happened around the National Football League is making Joe wonder whose soul might have been sold to some guy in a red suit. [read more]

What a freakin’ all-around performance for Antoine Winfield, Jr.

After two games, the only new starter on the Bucs defense looks exactly like the plug-and-play stud safety Bucs fans dreamed of on Day 2 of the NFL Draft. [read more]

Toasting Ndamukong Suh.

Through two games, the reigning NFL sack king has been shut out on sacks. Like a decent defense should, others have picked up the slack. [read more]

Huge pick.

This game should have been packed away in the third quarter. Instead, shockingly, the Bucs let the Stinking Panthers back in the game and it was starting to get nail-biting close. [read more]

NFL defensive players love to talk about making plays. [read more]

Ugly drop today.(Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)

Can the Bucs pay Georgia to rent Todd Monken for a day a week? [read more]

Game-winner.

All offseason Joe absolutely begged the Bucs to draft and sign a running back. Joe just did not trust Ronald Jones and Joe hates the four-letter word “hope.” [read more]

Mike Evans went from two yards receiving last Sunday to 104 today. [read more]

Leonard Fournette

A home victory is super sweet for Joe, but this one got sour after Tampa Bay opened a 21-0 lead and had a chance to put the game away before halftime. [read more]

DEE-fence!

DEE-fence!

Today’s win started beautifully, and then it got ugly, and then it got scary, and then came the fantastically soothing “W.” [read more]

The home-opener is here!!

Chat with fans about the action all game long in the comments below. Please be nice! Keep it clean.

Kickoff at 1 p.m.

Go Bucs!!!!

Riffs on Tom Brady.

A Hall of Famer thinks he knows why park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring Bucs quarterback Tom Brady struggled last week at New Orleans. [read more]

Return of the defense.

As much as Joe craves a fun, entertaining, gunslinging offense (it’s why Joe is fond of Big XII football and Lincoln Riley in particular — beware of Spencer Rattler!), the hallmark of the Bucs franchise (aside from losing) has been defense. [read more]