It’s become an all too familiar tale for the 2018 Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ season, just like other recent seasons—the ability of the offense to move the ball only when needed with lackluster results.
Despite throwing for 336 yards, quarterback Jameis Winston only produced one touchdown pass. Despite having one rushing TD on the ground, the running game only produced 63 yards on 24 combined carries. The TD came from the team’s fourth leading rusher and primary spellback for Peyton Barber, the invisible Jacquizz Rogers.
It took six possessions before the Bucs finally scored a touchdown. The Bucs scored two field goals prior. Ultimately four turnovers cost them the game with a fumble recovery for a touchdown, missed field goal, fumble and a turnover on downs. It could have been a closer game and the Bucs could have been within a field goal had Cairo Santos made his second field goal and Koetter decided on the two-point conversion instead of the extra point.
It’s hard for a team to be confident with nothing left to play for. There are people like DeSean Jackson who don’t really need a reason to do anything, knowing they’ll just be contributing elsewhere next season. He had a lone catch for 24 yards. The offensive line doesn’t have any incentive to get better with the team out of playoff contention. The team lost its sense of pride long ago, it seems.
Now we wait until the stack falls to see who will survive the wreckage in 2019. Should they win again, their draft status will only go down.
