Bucs Demolish Saints 31-14

What a difference a week makes, at least in terms of feel. As I've mentioned on this blog, I thought the Bucs played well last week and nearly started that game off 14-0. If they had, might the end result have been something similar to what we saw today? Maybe. But I digress. The Bucs took it too the Saints, getting up 21-0 by halftime and putting it on cruise control during the second half to win 31-14.

On Offense, we saw what Garcia can do when he's more consistently seeing the routes on the field. He didn't have to throw many passes, as the one's he did hit were the big wide open plays that have tended to be there the past couple of years. Garcia has the ability to hit both the deep ball, and the shorter routes, and you wonder just how explosive this offense will be in a few more weeks when this offense starts becoming second nature to him. Galloway was big, and Clayton helped spring his big TD with an absolutely crushing block on a Saints Safety. The running game struggled in the first half due to a lack of big holes, and some hesitant running by Caddy. Williams did get better holes and ran the ball more effectively in the second half. He also rushed for two TD's doubling last year's total. The offensive line, which still needs to get better in the running game, was very good in pass pro, rarely requiring extra blockers, and giving Garcia a lot of time to hit the wide open receivers. This offense looks capable of really lighting up just about anyone once everyone is consistently executing. If they keep this up, this could be one of the best offensive units the Bucs have ever fielded, but they'll need to keep converting their drives into TD's and not rely on FG's.

On Defense, we saw this team play with aggressiveness and just literally pound the snot out of the Saints running backs and receivers. The Bucs forced three fumbles in this game, and ganged tackled like the defenses of old. This unit was my biggest concern going into the season, but the guys are just getting it done. Ruud was unbelievable, and looks like he may have Pro-Bowl potential if he keeps playing like this. June was very good, picking off a pass. And Brooks had a strong game, and popped one of the runners forcing a fumble which the Saints managed to recover. The secondary, despite missing Kelly, played a very good game with Buchannon breaking up some passes, and Davis nicely defending an endzone pass. The defensive line still isn't getting consistent pressure, but they did enough to keep Brees from getting to comfortable in the backfield, and they did get two sacks, by Haye and White, and nearly saw both Adams and Ruud get sacks (they both just barely missed getting him in time). They hurried Brees enough to keep him from burning us, though the secondary did a good enough job keeping the receivers covered to make it difficult on him. Overall, the defense looked very good, though I hated seeing them play a prevent style late in the game. Should have kept getting after it.

On Special Teams, we saw a turnaround from last week. The coverage teams were excellent, and the return teams did a nice job giving the Bucs' offe4nse good starting field position. Kicking and punting were solid again, with Bryant getting a couple of touchbacks. Excellent overall effort, without stupid penalties killing returns.

Coaching was excellent. The game plan on offense was solid, and we can see just how effective Gruden's offense can be when the QB executes it properly. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. The defense was well prepared and was very fundamental with few missed tackles, and a gang tackle mentality. Special teams coaching was night and day better than last week and it showed on the field. The other good thing was the lack of overall penalties with just 3. The Bucs looked very well coached in this game. Let's hope that trend continues for most of the year.