Keck’s Recap: Buccaneers-Giants

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It’s one thing to get run over by a Mack truck.

But this…

This!!

This Buccaneer 32-31 loss to the Giants was akin to taking tire tracks from a senior riding a Segway in downtown St. Pete.

Officer, the last thing I remember was white shoes with Velcro straps!!

Let’s take a good look at the crime scene. The Bucs blew an 18-point halftime lead at home to a winless Giants team that had lost its top player to injury and was featuring a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start. Oh!! And the Bucs missed a winning 34-yard field goal on the game’s final play.

Obviously, you have to pin this on the kicker.

I get it. Listen to most Bucs fans and sports radio and they blame everything on the kicker.

Global warming. Gotta be the kicker.

Trade war with China. Can you spell K-I-C-K-E-R?

Antonio Brown. Absolutely the kicker.

It never should have come down to a field goal.

Outscored

The Bucs were outscored 22-3 in the second half.  On the first play of the third quarter, the Bucs coughed up a 75-yard touchdown pass to a tight end. The Bucs allowed the game-winning touchdown to that rookie quarterback, running untouched into the endzone on fourth-and-5 from the seven.

Bruce Arians may want to burn his stirring halftime speech or at least run it over with a Schwinn.

Don’t Blame The Kicker When Bucs Can’t Covert

Blame Matt Gay all you want, but he did kick four field goals in this game. Could the Bucs have turned one of those field goal drives into a touchdown? Take the only Buccaneer points in the second half – a 23-yard field goal. The Bucs couldn’t convert on third-and-2 from the Giants 5.

That is roughly the same distance as the TV from my couch.

The Bucs handed off to Peyton Barber from the shotgun and he was stuffed. How about a little play action and an easy toss to the end zone?

Can’t really blame Arians on that one, obviously, even he doesn’t trust Jameis.

The difference in this game? The Giants out-adjusted the Bucs at halftime. Plain and simple.

Mike Evans had seven catches for 146 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. Evans had one catch in the second. The Giants adjusted.

Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones had two touchdown passes, a running touchdown and passed for a two-point conversion in the second half.  The Giants adjusted.

Literally every offensive category, the Bucs’ second-half output couldn’t match their gawdy first-half numbers. The Giants adjusted.

In every case, the Buccaneers did not.

You may say the Bucs haven’t learned how to win.  The second half showed the Bucs also haven’t learned how to tackle or block. Clearly, the Buccaneer coaching staff showed it hasn’t learned a second-half strategy to close out a team like the Giants.

Up next, the undefeated Rams in Los Angeles.

Damn you, Matt Gay!!

 

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