Contenders or Pretenders?

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are limping into their bye week. What kind of team are the 2018 Tampa Bay Buccaneers? They set the world on fire the first two weeks. The Bucs faced the Steelers in Week 3 and were seemingly favored to move to 3-0, but the first half was a nightmare for the Buccaneers. They moved to 2-1 with week 4 looming in Chicago. Tampa didn’t get any better versus the Chicago Bears defense. The game was over before it started, and now the Bucs are looking at a 2-2 record, leaving fans in disarray. What are the expectations for this team…playoffs?

This team is NOT a playoff contender. The coaching staff, lack of secondary depth, and the pathetic attempt of a run game continues to haunt the Buccaneers in 2018. Mike Smith is on the same leash that Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garret is using. There is no explanation why he is being retained by the Buccaneers right now. The game plan doesn’t work, and the defense is getting gashed by everyone. The Buccaneers brought in athletes to help the defensive line (Pierre-Paul, Allen, Curry, and Vea), but they don’t seem to be getting to the quarterback like everyone thought. A good pass rush is supposed to help ease the tension on the secondary, but once again that hasn’t happened.

The secondary is about as bad as I’ve seen in the NFL. The Bucs are dealing with several key injuries in the secondary (Hargreaves III and Conte). This past week it looked like the Bears were playing against a junior high football team. They cannot stop a nosebleed in the secondary. Teams do whatever they want against the Buccaneers’ young secondary, and it doesn’t look like that is going to stop any time soon. The time is now for the Buccaneers to clean house and bring someone in with new ideas to help change the culture in Tampa Bay. The rookies don’t need to be exposed to a losing culture like this, and Mike Smith is doing nothing to change it.

Finally, the run game or lack thereof is the last reason the Buccaneers will NOT make the playoffs. Ronald Jones II was drafted out of USC to be a playmaker. Currently, Michael Pittman is more of a playmaker than Ronald Jones. Peyton Barber is averaging 3.0/yards per game. He has yet to find the end zone or crack 70 yards in a single game. The Buccaneers are a one-dimensional team, and that’s never a good thing for anyone. The Buccaneers cannot run the ball, and defenses can sit back and take away the pass game. This is the reason that Fitzpatrick has been removed from the starting quarterback position. He is not a guy who can throw 60+ times a game, nor is Jameis.

The Buccaneers made the decision to move on from Head Coach Lovie Smith. Jameis and then Offensive Coordinator Dirk Koetter developed a close relationship, and the Buccaneers panicked when Koetter threatened to leave. In my opinion, they kept the wrong guy. Lovie Smith is a great coach who is admired by everyone in the league. He is in the same graces as recent Ring of Honor inductee, Tony Dungy. The Buccaneers do NOT make the playoffs until Mike Smith is removed from his duties and they find a way to run the ball. It doesn’t matter who the quarterback is if they can’t fix these issues. In the great words of Jim Mora, ” Ah — playoffs? Don’t talk about — playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game! Another game.”

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