SO MUCH FOR GOING UNDEFEATED.

The shorthanded Tampa Bay Buccaneers took the long flight out to Los Angeles for the NFL’s ONLY matchup of 2-0 teams this weekend. Unfortunately, the airline must have lost the luggage with their balls in it because Tampa Bay put on a rather unimpressive showing inside the very impressive SoFi Stadium. Los Angeles beat the Bucs 34-24 in a game that didn’t feel as close as the final score indicated. The Buccaneers once again got off to a slow start, which is something you just can’t do against a good coach with a good team. The Rams took advantage of it and never looked back.

Now usually when I’m watching the game, I’ll make notes about the “good” and “bad” things that I see throughout. After the game was over, I realized that I didn’t have a single thing in the “good” column. So I really had to dig deep in this week’s edition to find something “good” or positive about it. Now let’s get on with this so we can put this game away and move on to the Patriots, shall we?

THE GOOD

Nothing!

All three phases sucked on Sunday. The offense couldn’t sustain drives. The defense couldn’t get off the field. And the special teams were lackluster at best. Some of the offensive play playcalling was questionable. Some of the defensive playcalling was baffling. Some of the players didn’t step up. Some of the players didn’t show up. And some of the players didn’t man up. It was an extremely disappointing performance considering who and where they were playing and what they were playing for.

Tom Brady

Just as he did in the first two games this year, Tom Brady played well in this game, finishing 41 of 55 for 432 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a score as well and, as sad as it sounds, was the Bucs leading rusher today with just 14 yards. He did complete passes to ten different receivers and had five players with 50+ yards receiving. The 432 yards matched the 5th most of his career. Now he only needs 68 passing yards next week against the Patriots to take over that leading passer spot from Drew Brees.

Tyler Johnson

With Antonio Brown still out due to the COVID-19 policy, somebody had to step up their game. Johnson rose to the occasion finishing with 3 catches for 63 yards with a long of 31 yards. He had a couple of big-time catches in clutch situations too. His performance should give him a little more confidence, and it will allow Tom Brady to trust him more in those types of high-pressure scenarios.

THE BAD

Everything!

This was the worst performance by the Buccaneers since the second New Orleans game last year when they got destroyed 38-3 at home. Not much went right for them at all. Meanwhile, the Rams could do no wrong. The final score was much closer than the actual game seemed, and Tampa Bay is fortunate for that because it gives them some comfort in this loss. However, they can’t afford to have another outing like this for the rest of the season.

The Offensive Line

The Rams defense gave the Bucs o-line all it handle on Sunday. They gave up three sacks on Tom Brady and were only able to manage an abysmal 35 yards rushing on 13 attempts, although they did abandon the run pretty early on, and Brady did drop back and throw 55 times in this game. Obviously, this was the best d-line Tampa Bay has faced this year, and it showed. It wasn’t a terrible performance, but it was far from their best and what they’re capable of.

The Drops

On the Rams’ first offensive series, cornerback Jamel Dean dropped what would’ve been the easiest interception of his career. The pick could’ve given the ball back to the Bucs, but instead, the Rams drive continued and ended up in a touchdown giving them the early 7-0 lead. Tight end Rob Gronkowski dropped a pass on third down that would’ve given the Bucs a first down and kept their second offensive drive alive. The drop killed the drive and forced a punt. It would’ve been a tough catch, but it’s one that we’re used to seeing Gronk make on a regular basis. I know these are just two plays, but they’re two plays that could have shifted momentum and changed the game.

The Lack of Sacks

With Jason Pierre-Paul sitting this game out with a shoulder injury, the Bucs defensive line was unable to get Matthew Stafford on the ground. As in their previous two games, the Bucs D was getting decent pressure, but they just weren’t able to get all the way home. The Bucs only have three sacks, as a team, through three games this season. One by Shaq Barrett, one by Ndamukong Suh, and one in this game by Will Gholston. They had 12 sacks through their first three games last season. The defensive line has to start getting to the quarterback for them to have any shot at another Super Bowl title, especially if the secondary continues to play like this.

The Secondary

Speaking of which: the Buccaneers banged-up secondary got embarrassed and exposed by Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford in this game. Already starting this game shorthanded without Sean Murphy-Bunting, the Buccaneers lost Jamel Dean early on as well. Ross Cockrell and Dee Delaney both played the rest of the way. You could tell communication was an issue with the back end after the injury. Delaney got beat on a number of occasions, and Cockrell didn’t fare much better, although he did make a couple of nice splash plays here and there. I don’t know how significant the Dean injury is, but we may see the Bucs make a move for Richard Sherman this week. He’s actually in town today visiting One Buc, and they just restructured Ali Marpet’s contract to clear up about $4 million in cap space, which is probably about what it would take to sign him to a one-year deal.

The Officiating

On the Rams’ second touchdown, the officials missed an obvious illegal pick play by wide receiver Robert Woods on cornerback Carlton Davis that allowed Cooper Kupp an easy score. When the Bucs got the ball back, Tom Brady hit Chris Godwin for a big gain across the middle. Unfortunately, Rob Gronkowski was flagged for an illegal pick that wasn’t, which negated the play and the first down resulting in a 1st & 20 scenario. The drive stalled out, and the Bucs were forced to try a 58-yard field goal at the end of the first half, which Ryan Succop missed. It wasn’t bad the entire game, but these two instances were costly and set the tone for the rest of the game.

The Injuries

As if the Bucs secondary wasn’t thin enough already, cornerback Jamel Dean went down early in this game with what looked to be a knee injury forcing recently signed cornerback Dee Delaney into action. Then Rob Gronkowski was hit hard after a catch across the middle and went out of the game with an apparent rib injury. He did come back late in the third quarter after getting negative x-rays. Giovanni Bernard was injured on his late touchdown when he was hit in the knee and flipped leaping into the endzone. Bruce Arians said he should be fine as well. Scotty Miller also ended up with a turf toe injury that could cause him to miss “significant time“. Let’s hope that’s not the case.

THE UGLY

The Game

Anyway you cut it; this game was an ugly loss. I can deal with the Bucs losing to a really good team, especially a Super Bowl contender like the Rams when they play their best football. What drives me CRAZY, is when they shoot themselves in the foot so many times that it ends up costing them games. That’s what they did on Sunday. That’s what they haven’t been doing much of lately. They didn’t block well. They didn’t tackle well. They didn’t cover well. They had too many penalties. They had too many drops. They made too many mistakes. They had too many miscommunications. They missed too many sacks. They missed too many passes. They shanked a punt. They missed a field goal. It was just a bad day overall.

THE SUMMARY

There’s a reason that I wait until the next day to write my game summary. Cooler heads prevail, and I can usually write from a less emotional and more rational state of mind. As bad as I’ve made this game out to be, there is light at the end of this tunnel. So here’s my positive spin on what transpired in this game.

After winning 10 straight games dating back to last season, including the Super Bowl, our Tampa Bay Buccaneers flew across the country to play the #2 team (Bucs were #1) in the NFL Power Rankings. They were playing without Jason Pierre-Paul, Antonio Brown, and two of their top three corners in Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean (for most of the game at least). The Rams had a solid game plan and executed it extremely well. The Bucs did not play up to their potential. They played on the road in a very hostile environment. And after all of that, in the end, they lost by just 10 points. That tells me that if Tampa Bay plays them at full strength AND plays to their full potential, then this Rams team won’t be able to hang with them. Remember the regular-season games with the Saints and Chiefs last year? When it counted later on in the postseason, the Bucs stepped up and answered the bell. Hopefully, we get another shot at the Rams in the playoffs and find out.

 In all reality, I don’t think many of us thought the Bucs would go undefeated this season. There’s always one of these types of games where not much goes right for us, and everything goes right for them. In the NFL, it’s bound to happen. The object is to limit those games throughout the season as much as possible. The good news is that the Buccaneers’ schedule is very favorable moving forward. They won’t see what I consider an elite quarterback until Week 13 when they play Matt Ryan and the Falcons again.

Next week, they travel to New England for Tom Brady’s homecoming game, where he will have an opportunity to make NFL history. Not only could he become the first quarterback ever to beat all 32 teams, but he needs just 68 yards to become the league’s all-time leading passer. It would be a sweet way to stick it to his old team and his old coach. And the Bucs defense should have an easier time with their rookie quarterback Matt Jones as well. Nothing is guaranteed in the NFL, but this is about as much of a lock as you can have in this league. So, let’s put this Rams loss behind us and move on to the Patriots!

Until then, as always, GO BUCS!!!