(Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)

Welcome fans of your first-place Bucs, baby. And good morning on this wonderful Victory Monday! Let’s get rolling. [read more]

One very cool thing that came out of the Bucs’ win yesterday was the old Gronk became the new Gronk. [read more]

Go ahead, take a look. Your Bucs are all alone in first place. And it’s almost October! [read more]

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

Whether it’s major-league baseball or the National Football League, complete games are hard to come by.

So it is with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who suffered a second-half offensive lull for the second consecutive week against a pedestrian opponent.

Tampa Bay came out ready to play again on both sides of the ball and only self-inflicted wounds prevented a runaway in Denver.

Last week, it was a flurry of dropped passes that undermined Tom Brady’s unit. On Sunday, it was an array of penalties along the offensive line.

The bigger news is the Bucs are deservedly 2-1 heading into a home game against the Chargers that will feature a sprinkle of fans at Raymond James Stadium.

As expected, the injury-ravaged Broncos couldn’t muster much against this marauding defense. Even with Drew Lock under center and Courtland Sutton on the flank, Denver was going to struggle to score points. Without them, the Broncos had no chance.

That’s the best news of all for Buc fans … this defense is for real. Nine solid games in a row suggests Todd Bowles is orchestrating a scary unit filled with playmakers at all levels.

Complete game? No. Bruce Arians may not like the phrase “killer instinct,” but that’s what Buc fans crave. They want more focus after halftime because you don’t get to play the Panthers and Broncos every week.

Still, there’s a lot to be proud of at One Buc Place. We’re nitpicking wins now instead of bemoaning losses.

That, my friends, is called progress, with a capital P that rhymes with C that stands for championship.

Here’s How the West Was Won: [read more]

Pro Bowl impact

Last week it was a forced fumble and a recovery. On opening day it was 11 tackles.

Today it was a Broncos-crushing interception. [read more]

When is the last time the Buccaneers’ special teams looked better than its opponent in all four phases? [read more]

Bucs fans saw Chris Godwin pull up lame in the red zone today and the terrible news was it’s a hamstring injury. [read more]

Strong box score numbers.

Maybe because Joe watched the full game and the stench of the offense in the second half is fresh in Joe’s memory, but damn, park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring Bucs quarterback Tom Brady had a nice game when you read the box score. [read more]

Look who closed out the victory today with five consecutive runs for two first downs, allowing the Bucs to take a glorious knee two consecutive times.

His name isn’t Leonard. [read more]

Safety dance.

How cool was that? [read more]

Is there anything Antoine Winfield, Jr. can’t do?

Joe is mesmerized watching the Bucs’ rookie safety. [read more]

Fix the lackadaisical offense.

Joe generally doesn’t want to wag a finger at the Bucs after a win. This, Joe cannot ignore. [read more]

When the Bucs signed Tom Brady, they didn’t need him to be Superman or deliver any incredible heroics to get to the postseason.

They just needed him to do what the last QB couldn’t. [read more]

Sacking the QB.

Yes, Joe will have more shortly about a certain sackmeister. But Joe hopes the following tides readers over. [read more]

Impressive catch.

Joe has already written about not being in the RoJo camp. And Joe was getting a feeling the Bucs were going to wash their hands of O.J. Howard after the season. [read more]

Yess!!!

Up next for Tampa Bay is another bad football team, the Los Angeles Chargers, who fell at home today to the winless Panthers without Christian McCaffrey. [read more]