The Cardinals and Buccaneers were in a competition to see who could lose. Arizona won that battle at the end. It was a concerted effort by both groups. The Buccaneers had missed tackles and soft coverage while the Cardinals had overthrows and turnovers. Nobody looked interested in winning, but the Bucs did it. Let’s review how.
The stats may not show it, but Bucky Irving had a pretty good game. I would’ve preferred he be on more of a pitch count, but he looked like he was never injured at all. My man was moving down the field. There were several times a play was dead in the water only for him to eke out three or four yards. Was a real difference maker. Like I said, his stats aren’t particularly good as he got 61 yards on 17 carries for barely over 3 and a half yards a carry. But for those that watched the game, he was key to the victory.
The other guy that was key for the victory was Chris Godwin. After looking pretty rusty last week, he looked like himself today. He did have a pretty bad drop in the endzone to take away a TD, but outside that was cooking with 3 catches for 78 yards. He would’ve had more if the team remembered he was on the field. It did seem like he completely disappeared in the second half. Not sure what that was all about.
Grizzard did an ok job calling the game. He seemed a little predictable on first down, leading to a lot of third and longs. But he did also come up with a great play to get Tristan Wirfs to catch a TD, so it was a mixed bag for sure. part of the problem was Baker looking off (again), but he didn’t look awful. Just sorta inconsistent. made good plays and also had some questionable decisions.
But the defense though, whoa buddy, it was bad. They had some individual moments. They had a few sacks and did a mostly good job in the first half making Brissett uncomfortable. But my God the second half was bad. No one looked interested in playing coverage and Zyon has continued on the path of getting his ass shipped off. One of the most confusing things about this game was all the missed tackles. Tykee missed a few, which is definitely out of character and one play three players missed a tackle. Just a lot of bad there.
They did get a few turnovers. Winfield had a pick off a good play by Dean and Anthony Nelson forced a fumbled. Hell even Hall had a pretty solid game, which is unusual. But at the end of the day, they let Bam Knight get 62 yards on 11 carries and Brissett marched them down the field several times, even if the defense did make the final stop.
It’s hard to feel particularly good about this one. The offense and defense both took turns squandering opportunities. It doesn’t feel good considering the team they faced was 3-8 and also watching the Panthers upset the Rams. With some other players coming back, we may see some offensive consistency return. But the defense just doesn’t do a lot right outside force turnovers. If they don’t get them, then they look truly anemic.
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