This game was so completely terrible that my whole family up and left at half time. The same group of people that watched the divisional round in 2021. That’s how you know this shit is bad. The Buccaneers were completely outclassed in basically every phase of the game. You best believe that includes coaching as well. It got so bad that I was debating whether or not I would prefer reading Ready Player One, the worst book I had ever read, while having my teeth removed with no anesthesia.
Let’s start with the good. The Bucs did not commit that many penalties. Alright that’s it. Joking, kinda. The run game was pretty solid and Tez Johnson is still proving to be a good red zone weapon. Ok that really is it.
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Now it’s the bad. The defense basically surrendered to start the game. They offered no resistance as Matthew Stafford basically solidified why he will be getting MVP. While the whole unit played bad, I think you can point to one man who did the most damage for the defense. Zyon McCollum. He was so bad I was dreaming about Josh Hayes playing meaningful snaps again. I know the competition he was facing, but he legit looked like he had never played corner before. On his first six targets, he surrendered six catches for 94 yards and two TDs. I didn’t mind the extension when it happened, but it has been a disaster this season. Maybe he turns it around, but I’m not convinced BMo isn’t his replacement.
Of course the d-line didn’t offer much help. Vita was double teamed and apparently the whole defensive structure collapsed. Very few people did their job tonight. The run defense was ok at best, but that’s only really because Stafford was so good they decided to not run it at all. Which, why would you.
But you know what the funny thing is? The defense did finally show up. Granted the ship was already listing and going down, but they did make stops. The offense proceeded to do nothing. Mayfield even before the injury was playing like complete ass. Missing more throws again and just general bad play. Grizzard wasn’t giving his A-game either. He called four screens in the first quarter, all of which gained practically nothing. He either didn’t trust Mayfield or thought that was the best way to avoid the Rams playmakers on defense. Needless to say, it didn’t work.
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I of course can’t go much farther without mentioning the giant elephant in the room. Much like the Ravens game last year, Todd Bowles’ decision making may have cost the Bucs. He sent Mayfield out when the Bucs were at their own 30 to throw a Hail Mary. This is when Baker was dealing with a shoulder injury. The throw seemed to tear something in the shoulder. Bad enough he couldn’t finish the game and he had a sling on. If Baker misses any significant time, you might as well write the season off. I’ve been ragging on him pretty hard the last few weeks, but I don’t think a retired HS coach is that much better.
I mean, what do you even do from here? The schedule gets easier, but it’s not like this team has shown much of anything. The defense should hopefully get better (please God), but what the hell does that matter? Even if the defense shapes up, I’m not expecting this offense to do anything at all. With Baker, without Baker, it hasn’t done much of anything even going back to the Saints. But now I’m expected to believe they can beat the Cardinals or the Panthers twice. I am utterly without hope. Should Bowles be fired, shouldn’t he, I don’t know anymore. And now there are serious questions about Licht. There are definitely coaches worse than him, but there are also plenty better. I guess the question you have to ask is if the team would be competitive minus the injuries and if he would be the reason for that. Only the Glazers and Licht can answer that one.
They should seriously fire their ST coach though.
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