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Joe thought the Bucs were in perfect shape yesterday. Playing on the road in rainy, chilly Soldier Field right on the banks of icy Lake Michigan, shutting out the Bears at halftime, well, Joe felt good about the game.
And then came the second half. [read more]
The Find and The Flop.
The Animal and The Apparition.
The Beast and The Bust.
The Bucs have a couple of stunning stories starting for them at defensive end. [read more]
(Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com)
A long look at the Bucs yesterday, today, and what to expect tomorrow and beyond.
For this entire season, Doug Martin has been nowhere near his rookie self, when he made the Pro Bowl and it appeared the Bucs had their version of Ray Rice (the football player) for years to come.
Now, he plays like he’s third string.
What a far fall. Joe knows way too many Bucs fans quickly blame the offensive line. While that may not be accurate, it’s lazy. Bobby Rainey runs behind the same offensive line and gets much better results. So the offensive line is laying down for Martin? Get real. [read more]
Forget about the Division III ball security displayed by re-starting quarterback Josh McCown, his mere presence on the field was a bonus for the Bears yesterday.
Chicago safety Chris Conte explained. [read more]
Bears QB bratty Jay Cutler once again proved yesterday if you don’t have a quarterback, you don’t have a prayer in the NFL.
At one point, Joe was outraged. Then depressed. Then numb. Losing upon losing will do that to a football fan.
But there is one person who has not yet gone apathetic. That is Joe’s good friend, “The Commish,” Justin Pawlowski of Scout.com. He watched yesterday’s nutkick of a loss to the Bears and it proved to him why the Bears waved goodbye to Lovie Smith and Josh McCown. [read more]
Lovie Smith is all about staying the course when it comes to his defense. Keep up the “stern teaching” and keep upgrading the roster.
“Simple as that,” as Lovie likes to say.
But on offense, Lovie isn’t such a simple guy. [read more]
Vincent Jackson skies for a pass in the Bucs’ loss to the Bears Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com)
One could say it was the turning point. The Bucs, down 21-10 late in the third quarter today, looked as if they had the play of the game when Josh McCown connected with Vincent Jackson on a 24-yard pass down the right sideline.
Jackson was tackled at the Bears-4. But the ball popped loose and the Bears recovered.
Was it a fumble? Replays Joe saw in the press box were awfully close but seemed to suggest the ball came free just an instant before Jackson’s arm hit the ground. [read more]
Gerald McCoy gets around a block on his way to blast bratty Bears QB Jay Cutler. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com)
As he usually does, defensive tackle and team leader Gerald McCoy spoke about the game, after the game.
Many today will blame Bucs turnovers for ruining what looked to be a promising day, up 10-0 on the road at halftime, only to toss their cookies all over their shoes in the second half for a 21-13 nut-kick of a loss to the Bears at rainy, chilly Soldier Field. [read more]
Today’s starting running back, Doug Martin, entered the Bucs-Bears mess averaging 2.9 yards per carry.
That paltry number has fallen. [read more]
Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.
The Bucs’ final drive of the first half made Joe want to slam his head against the glass of the press box window at Soldier Field.
It was bad enough the Bucs left way too much time running off the clock, it was quite another that Bucs quarterback Josh McCown played (again) like a rattled Pop Warner quarterback. [read more]
If Bucs fans were angry at the call late in the third quarter that turned the game in the Bears favor, you should have heard the reaction from Dashon Goldson. [read more]
Joe referenced in his “GameDay” preview that Lovie Smith’s hand-picked returner, Marcus Thigpen, fumbled last Sunday and likely would be a key to today’s game.
Thigpen sure was — and Joe suspects Thigpen’s Buccaneers career is over. Solomon Patton was fired in September for lesser crimes. [read more]
Crab-legs-stealing, BB-gun-shooting, obscenity-hollering, Heisman-Trophy-winning, national champion James Winston, the pride of Florida State University, continues to look like a much better quarterback prospect than Mike Glennon and Josh McCown.
It’s Joe’s daily nugget on the Jameis Watch, celebrating the best quarterback to wear No. 5 ever in the state of Florida.
Who needs alcohol to calm your 2-9 nerves? Joe’s got real hope to share. [read more]
Joe’s still cleaning up the vomit after seeing Josh McCown sprint five yards backwards with the ball exposed only to have it smacked out of his hands for a critical Bucs turnover deep in Tampa Bay territory today.
Greg Schiano constantly preached to players that “the ball was the program.”
In 2012, not one Buccaneer caught a pass and fumbled it. Hands were incredibly sure, and ball security was everything, quarterbacks included.
Safety Major Wright’s bad defense cost the Bucs early in the third quarter.
Though it didn’t matter in the long run, a whiff of fundamentals by Major Wright, who otherwise played fine football today, proved to be a major error in the Loss to the Bears at gloomy, rainy Soldier Field today.
It was the Bears’ first possession of the second half with the Bucs leading 10-0. Chicago marched down to the Bucs-3. There, the Bucs defense stiffened, forcing a 3rd-and-2. [read more]
Josh McCown continues to play like a rookie quarterback. Nothing new there.
Hours after the Bucs and McCown didn’t show up in Atlanta, Joe began screaming from rooftops — and WDAE-AM 620 microphones — to let Mike Glennon start the Bucs’ final 13 games.
It was the only thing that made a lick of sense at 0-3 with two division losses, and a 35-year-old inconsistent QB as the other option.
It still is. [read more]
A bad running game, bad quarterback play, bad hands, and lousy special teams will get you beat just about every time out.
That’s what happened to your beloved Bucs in Chicago today.
They imploded just before they took a 10-0 lead into halftime. And then got mowed down by 21 unanswered Bears points in the third quarter. [read more]
Comment here with fans all game long
Yes, Joe is in the windy city where it is rather pleasant (by Chicago standards). It is currently cloudy and 50 degrees. Windy (naturally) at Soldier Field near the banks of icy Lake Michigan. Consider when Joe flew in Friday, it was in the 20s.
As they say in the upper Midwest: Don’t like the weather? Just wait a few hours.
It was expected to rain all day today but, thus far, the rains have held off. There is a chance this game finishes without rain. When Joe walked up to the stadium around 9:30 a.m., Chicago time, there was a very light drizzle. [read more]
Other notable names are on the list. Doug Martin is not.
Bucs stud linebacker Lavonte David will miss today’s game against the Bears. A combination of a gimpy hamstring, the notorious terrible Soldier Field turf in Chicago, and expected rain (though none yet) all added up to the Bucs sitting the stud out. [read more]
Tampa Bay had six sacks last Sunday — six! — but everyone isn’t sold on the notion the Bucs repaired their pass rush. [read more]
