This game was an absolute slog to watch after the first quarter basically. Both offenses were stuck in the mud desperately flailing trying to get any kind of traction. But the Buccaneers off the back of three turnovers managed to eke out a gritty win. But unlike the Titans’ game, there was plenty of negatives.
By far the worst performer on the night was the Pittsburgh commentary crew. A truly terrible performance if there ever was one. They mispronounced several Bucs’ player names. Some highlights include Kindle Vindor, Chris Braswell, and my personal favorite Dixon Riley. Not only that, but in the endless victim complex of Yinzers. They brought up the Jesse James catch in relation to a ref looking at a ball to see if it was a TD. Nevermind the fact that it was completely different than Jesse James, they need to remind everyone how the Pats fucked them that one time.
Looking at the actual players on the field, one guy stuck out like a sore thumb was Jamel Dean. the secondary as a whole had a rough start, but Dean was picked on often by Mason Rudolph on their first TD drive. He had a PI call and gave up the TD in the Red Zone. There was also a 42 yard gain before that, but it’s possible that was more on Tykee Smith not helping overtop.
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The Bucs run game also had a throwback to 2022 in the run game. They managed 41 yards on 22 carries. Absolutely terrible. But the thing that was even more concerning was the starting o-line being bullied by the Steelers pass rush without TJ Watt. Charlie Heck looked rough and the whole interior was taken for a ride. It was ugly to start the game for sure. The back-ups eventually found their footing, but it took a while and the run game never got going.
Kyle Trask had a pretty solid preseason debut. That guy did not show up today. He was utterly putrid as he went 3/10 for 19 yards, even compared to Bridgewater and Connor Bazeluk. And this is also taking into account Bridgewater threw a hospital pass that got Jale McMillan taken out (hopefully he’s ok).
But speaking of the ball catchers, Bucky Irving and Emeka Egbuka both caught fantastic fades in the endzone for TDs. Not sure I would try throwing a fade to Bucky in a real game, but it worked here. Egbuka just looked like Mike catching his TD.
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Tez Johnson also had a great game, contributing to a great special teams day overall. He had a 49 yard punt return that looked like it could’ve been taken all the way. Riley Dixon also had another very good game as he boomed a 63 yard punt and had several 50 yarders. Even the punt coverage did positive things for once. True Tez fumbled a punt after trying to wrangle a bouncing ball, but it was a good day for that side of the ball.
The final thing of note was the Buccaneers managed to get three interceptions. One was by Zyon to set up the Bucky TD, one was by Vildor (an impressive one too as he batted it to himself), and the last one was by Anthony Grier which set up the final field goal. I don’t think I need to regale you with why the turnovers in the preseason are so important. Hopefully this translates to the regular season.
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