By Carter Brantley – The Bucs Report special to Sports Talk Florida
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Atlanta Falcons 29-25 to take possession of first place in the NFC South. That can only mean it’s time for Carter Brantley’s “Captain’s Table/Walk The Plank” post.
Captain’s Table:
Desmond Ridder
Not for good reasons, but just because his ineptitude allowed the Bucs to undeservedly win this game. Is he the worst starting QB in the NFL right now (backups don’t count)?
Lavonte David
It’s really going to be tough to see him go if he elects to go elsewhere in free agency, which would be totally understandable. He’s the consummate professional and is constantly making the right play.
Antoine Winfield, Jr.
Much like David, it’s going to be tough if AWJ leaves via FA because he is just constantly making play after play.
Rachaad White
Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson wish they had his elusiveness. Rachaad White is the best back in football. Ok, but all jokes aside, he is one of the better receiving backs in the league right now. In the open field he can be as explosive as they come.
Derek Carr
Honestly, shoutout the Saints for giving him a long-term contract, essentially burying their team for the next few years. He’s so universally disliked by both fans and seemingly teammates, it’s evolved from funny to sad, and they can’t bench him because of the $. What a fumble.
Walk the Plank:
Dave Canales
Calling a pitch that gets the ball an additional 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage to your running back on 4th and 2 is one of the funniest possible things you could do as an OC. And hey, maybe don’t go run-run-pass every fucking series.
Buccaneers’ secondary
So much for Todd Bowles being a defensive genius. CD3’s pick was wonderful, but busted coverage after busted coverage led to some big plays by the Falcons, and if Desmond Ridder was even an average NFL QB this game would’ve been a blowout.
Bucs’ offense
All of it. The play calling was bad, no doubt, but these players just lack the talent, know-how, whatever you want to call it, to be a decent NFL offense, and they aren’t getting better during the season or in the future with a bunch of older dudes on the roster and no franchise QB.
Bucs’ coaching staff
I hated the decision to kick in the first quarter. I despised the fact that they had to burn a timeout early in the second half because they couldn’t get the proper personnel out. They had 9 players on the field on the Bijan Robinson TD run. They wasted another 2nd half timeout on an ill-advised challenge. This coaching staff is as incompetent as it gets.
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