Five turnovers. 17 penalties. Forced to go with the backup quarterback. A recipe for defeat.
And in a pleasant change of pace, that actually happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opponent on Sunday.
Playing at the Miami Dolphins’ palatial, $500 million renovated stadium, the Bucs should have had this game wrapped up by halftime. The Dolphins were that awful.
But the Bucs let the ‘Fins back in the game, conceding the tying touchdown with only three minutes left. But a weird final few seconds saw the pewter and red kick a go-ahead field goal with four seconds to go, followed by a garbage special teams touchdown on Miami' subsequent kickoff return.
What I Liked About The Win
Ryan Fitzpatrick. Ultimately, he engineered that 58-yard drive in the two-minute drill to set up the winning field goal. Especially in the first half, he looked good.. accurate, sure of himself, and capable of moving the chains. He finished 22-37 for 275 yds and two touchdowns, but perhaps most importantly not a single turnover. Now the Harvard graduate has a long and vested pension-earning history of not being able to keep up that pace, but on this day he’s jump-started the offense.
O.J. Howard. Or should I say the coaches calling the plays. They’re finally putting the first round draft choice out of Alabama in the game plan. They’re targeting him in the passing game: four targets and three catches, one of them a TD.
Patrick Murray. Finally, a kicker who can deliver in the clutch.
Demar Dotson. He had the quote of the day. Postgame he referred to Fitzpatrick as an “old-school granddad.” Fitz turns 35 this Friday.
What I Didn’t Like About The Win
The Bucs still can’t run the ball. Doug Martin led the visitor's ground game with just 38 yards. As a team they averaged just a shade over 2.0 yards per carry. With non-production like that, the play-action fake to take shots down the field will never work.
The defense giving up splash plays. They allowed four plays over 45 yards. The secondary was beaten deep on three of those plays.
Too few negative plays. The D-Line did get some pressure on the QB, but a single Gerald McCoy play kept a "Sacks: 0" off the stat sheet.
With Six Games To Go...
Mathematically, the Bucs are still alive for the playoffs. But they’re the 13th seed in the NFC with a 4-6 record, all of two spots clear of the basement. Doing the math, not only do they just about have to run the table, but they might even need some help from there.
Good luck. At least they’re learning how to win... but likely it's too little, too late.
Looking for more coverage of Bay Area sports? Check out 813area, and make sure to register! You'll be able to have all our Buccaneers and other content sent to you when it's published!
