Buccaneer fans everywhere found themselves with a bonus Sunday this past weekend. There was no west coast road trip. No game from England with a turnover before you could wipe the sleep out of your eyes. This was a bonafide, indigestion free, small break from the NFL grind. And wasn’t it marvelous?
Upon Further Review
The bye week always comes too early, too late, or depending on how the team is playing, at just the right time.
The NFL saw fit to have the Buccaneers not play at Raymond James the entire month of October. The one game classified as a home game was 4,411 miles away in merry ole England. The road trip continues this week at Tennessee and next week at Seattle. The Buccaneer won’t play at home until November 10th against the Arizona Cardinals. Who did the Glazers piss off in the Park Avenue offices of the NFL?
Just The Right Time
On a two-game losing skid and still desperately searching for an offensive identity, this bye week came at just the right time for Tampa Bay.
Hopefully, the NFL officiating department took a week to review some of the royal screwings they have given the team in the first six weeks. Look, there are always going to be bang-bang plays. Judgment calls and lord knows, holding on each and every play that will or won’t be called. But seriously folks. Can we huddle up and decide what is, or isn’t pass interference? While you’re at it, can we never have to hear the phrase “no clear possession”, again?
A 30 Second Timeout
The team travels to Nashville in five days to face the Mike Vrabel coached Titans. With Ryan Tannehill at quarterback the music city fiddlers beat the San Diego Chargers and their 96-year-old quarterback Phillip Rivers.
For a 2-4 Buccaneers team, this is a statement game. In almost beating the 49ers that statement could have been “we have arrived”. In losing to the Giants, and rookie Daniel Jones that statement was not as bold. Against the Saints and Panthers, it seems the storyline was this team needs a GPS to find direction.
Now they come back from a week off, nearing the end of the longest road trip in team history, and looking at a schedule with a very favorable home field backend.
Buccaneer fans are ready to say bye to those first six weeks and hello to the next ten. Hopefully, the team is as anxious to discover their identity as the fans of Tampa Bay is.
