Going Forward: Did the coaching staff learn anything in the Giants loss?

The fans got it right after this loss

Most of the time when there are troubles with your favorite football team, the fans are full of reasons/explanations as to what the trouble is. And, most of the time, the majority are way off the mark. That is why they are fans and not the coaches. After the Bucs lost this past Sunday, the majority of fans were dead on correct all over social media Bucs sites. Probably because the team that came out of the tunnel after halftime, up fairly comfortably by 18 on the Giants, was a far different team than what received the opening kick-off.

First-half domination

In the first half, we saw a Bucs team that had pinned back their ears and were getting after them Giants, on both sides of the ball. It showed on the scoreboard too. The Giants offense couldn’t get anything going really, Barkley was a non-issue, and so was their rookie quarterback, Daniel Jones. Defensively, the same thing. Mike Evans had a breakout game scoring three first-half touchdowns. The Bucs had the Giants down 28 to 10 at intermission, and it should have been worse, because the Bucs failed to convert on too many third downs, and settled for field goals. The offensive line played a role in those failures for sure. An interesting note, The Giants hadn’t erased an 18 point deficit to win a game since November 15, 1970. I was four years old.

Dodging the real culprit: coaching

Reading the press releases for the game, there was a lot of this and that, and that and this, said by Bruce Arians. But, I think it all boils down to playing not to lose, instead of to win. Because it wasn’t acknowledged postgame at any point that conservative play calling on both sides of the ball in the second half contributed to the loss in a big way. It makes you wonder if the same mistakes won’t happen again if we get up on an opponent again. Certainly, if we are fortunate enough to get up on the Rams like that, they better go for the throat until the fat lady sings because if the Giants can score like that on us when down, certainly the Rams can do it that much more with all their weapons.

Will the game plan change next time

The situation will present itself again, whether the coaching staff behind closed doors realizes the real problem, is anybody’s guess. One would like to think that an accomplished veteran head coach would be aware of what the fans seem to have grasped right away; that cutting through all the sludge, is really very simple. The Defense went back on their heels instead of attacking and dictating the action, and the offense relied on the run too much, and quit throwing the ball down the field, and this is a coach that loves to throw the ball. It seems that the team/staff were playing from a place of fear, instead of confidence. If we have that situation against the Rams, I certainly hope the team and staff do things differently. Another loss like that would really demoralize the team and fan base. That we do not need. Go Bucs!!