Coming off last week’s Opening Week win against the Washington Commanders, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hoped to come out of week two with a win. The chances of this happening were looking bleak.
Coming out of week one, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a variety of injuries to deal with. Antoine Winfield Junior left the stadium in a walking boot. ZyonMcCollum left the game early under concussion protocol as well as Luke Goedeke was ruled out for a concussion. Cornerback Josh Hayes was also out due to an ankle injury. Thus, coming into week 2, depleted is putting it lightly for the secondary. Calijah Kancey, a week 1 scratch, was also held out for the second straight week with an ankle injury.In just under 24 hours before game time, CB2 Zyon McCollum was cleared from concussion protocol, leading to him being in the starting lineup at game time Sunday. He quickly let the Krewe know he was good as Jared Goff threw a pass intended for Jamison Williamson early in the first quarter, which McCollum quickly intercepted, setting the stage for the defense and its intensity for the remainder of the game.
Replacing Goedeke was Justin Skule, a 6th round prospect coming into his second year with the Buccaneers and fifth in the league, came in with a challenge, knowing the Lions would use Elite pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson as a tool to attempt to bully the offensive tackle, and that’s exactly what he did the game extraordinarily fast in the first 11 minutes compiling three sacks on Baker Mayfield, taking into consideration, his lack of starting in the league, it would be a tall task to continue to maintain his guard without assistance from the tight end, and running backs.
Hutchinson finished the game with five total sacks, a feat of its own! Lots of fans, including myself, at the beginning of the game were very stressed watching the right side of the offensive line continuously get destroyed and questioned, “How was it happening?“ Skule has accountability, but taken into consideration, the adjustments made at the Line pre-snap are usually handed out by the center or quarterback. Mayfield absolutely contributed to those sacks. Two of the sacks by Hutchinson were clear protection mishaps; one by Rachaad White and another by Cade Otton.
As for the safety position on Sunday, Christian Izien, a second-year undrafted free agent, signee would step in for Winfield Jr., and Step in he did. With just over seven minutes left in the game, the score at 20 to 16, Buccaneers’ Izien snagged the Bucs 2nd INT of the game, giving the Krewe a sense of relief in the absence of Antoine Winfield.
As a whole, the Pewter Pirates defense led the way completely in week 2 for the second straight week, preventing another NFL offense from even scoring the league average in points of 24 points. The coaching staff did a fantastic job having a defense prepared, even in light of the countless injuries on the roster.
In the second half of the game, the injury bug continued to attack the Bucs when a twist move was being performed between Yaya Diaby and Vita Vea when Yaya was pushed down into Vita’s legs, leading to what was later determined as a grade 2 MCL sprain on Vea, A better option than the potential worst-case scenario.
As for the offense, the run game was a no-show for the Bucs in week 2, with Baker Mayfield leading the charge in the run game. Late in the game, Chef Baker cooked up quite a few scrambles. One scramble came late in the third. The Bucs are down 13-16 and are just outside the Lions. Baker escaped pressure and scrambled to the right side of the line as the pocket collapsed, juking the feet out from under Lion linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, causing him to slide out of frame as Baker made it to the Lions’ 11-yard line. In the very next play, the offense called a designed QB run with Mayfield as he maneuvered his way into the end zone to put the Buccaneers up 20 to 16 with one quarter left to go.
Chris Godwin once again led the team with 7 catches for 117 yards and a TD, seemingly proving the move back inside to slot was the move to make. Moving forward, opposing team defenses will really have to scheme with Godwin catching fire in the slot, and the Greatest Buccaneers of all time on the outside Mike Evans. That’s not even including Jalen McMillan or second-year WR Trey Palmer.
Running back Rachaad White was pretty much ineffective with 10 carries for 18 yards and 1 catch for 5 yards, also left the game early with a groin injury, but did return to the game.
If you take a look at the comparing stat lines, it’s almost obvious that the Buccaneers were going to walk away and fly home with a loss, but the excellent preparation and coaching by the Tampa Bay staff led to a gritty, huge team win.
The Pewter Pirates did, in fact, hold on to get their revenge on the team that ousted them from the playoffs. Maintaining the momentum going into week 3, the Bucs still have to improve on some things, but outside of national media, the consensus in Buc nation is that this year’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers are prepared and ready to play.
The Denver Broncos Sean Payton, a former Saints head coach, and rookie QB Bo Nix travel into Ray Jay to take on the Bucs in what looks to be another test for this injury-plagued team. If that game is anything like this match-up, I don’t have many doubts about what our Krewe can accomplish.
#BucsLife #ThePlunder23 #CannonKrewe #HavocKrewe
#WeAreTheKrewe