Bucs Lose 3-17

Well, finally have time to break away and discuss the latest loss. Defensively, the Bucs D looked like...well...the Bucs D. It stifled the number 2 offense for most of the game and limited Tiki Barber to 68 yards, with 22 coming on one run. So the defense was back to it's normal self, gang tackling, making plays, putting some pressure on, despite obvious holds. A very good effort. The Special Teams were very good as well, with the exception of a couple of punts that were a little short.

The offense, however, stunk it up, and a lot of that has to go to play-calling. I can understand Gruden's thinking going into this game (attack the Giants weak secondary), but the situation - weather, rookie QB, on the road - dictated a more conservative approach; run the ball! The Bucs did have some open receivers that dropped the ball, including 2 huge plays in which Galloway dropped big passes, one of which would have likely been a TD. Clayton also dropped one in the endzone, but his feet weren't in position to legally catch it anyways. There were also the checkdown passes that seemed destined to attack foot fungus, but should have been a little higher to get some yards on those plays. In all, the offense blew chunks, and the Bucs lost the game because of it. A strong defensive effort wasted. Ugh.

Now the Bucs are in do or die mode. They must win next week and go 3-1 and 4-0 in the next two quarters of the season (order doesn't matter), if they want to go to the playoffs. With their schedule and the way the offense has been playing, that's not very likely, so it looks like we'll be playing for pride and draft order. I'm not giving up on the season until they are mathematically eliminated, but it doesn't look good at this point.