The Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped a heartbreaker to division rival, New Orleans Saints yesterday. Although the Buccaneers were first on the board, their offense really hurt them later on. With all the offseason hype, the Buccaneers looked human yesterday.
Brady
Tom Brady threw for 239-yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, going 23/36. The Buccaneers ran the ball alot in New Orleans, as a result Ronald Jones picked up 66-yards on 17 attempts. Leonard Fournette ran for just five yards, however he had 14 receiving yards.
Penalties
Tampa Bay’s biggest issue week one was discipline. The 15 penalties the Buccaneers committed nine of them were costly mistakes that hindered their chances of winning. Two false starts were called on their offensive line, as well as a drive killing holding call on Mike Evans.
Offensive Woes
The craziest thing about the Buccaneers loss is that they had a better game statistically than the Saints. Tampa Bay had a total of 325-yards, compared to the Saints’ 280-yards. The Buccaneers had more passing yards at 239, and they gathered 86 rushing yards, four more than the Saints.
Although Tampa Bay put up decent offensive stats, what hurt them the most was their turnovers. They had three turnovers on Sunday, and one of them was a pick-six off of Brady.
To say the Buccaneers offense didn’t live up to the hype is an understatement. However, its only week one, and they still have Tom Brady. Brady is the master of adjusting the offense so they’re better prepared for next week.
Defensive Success
The bright side to the loss was that the defense looked really good, especially late in the game. In the 3rd quarter, the defense showed up with two huge stops to give the Buccaneers a chance to tie. Jason Pierre-Paul collected the only sack for the Bucs’ defense.
Lavonte David and Devin White led the defense in tackles. David and Will Gholston had two tackles for a loss. Rookie, Antoine Winfield Jr. looked sharp in his first NFL game, accumulating three solo tackles.
Everyone needs to relax and realize this team didn’t have a preseason to work out the kinks. As long as they iron it out early in the year there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. A new offense takes time to click, especially with an offense like Arians’.
The Buccaneers return to Raymond James next Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. And hopefully they’ll have a better handle of the offense.
