by Carter Brantley
If you were driving down Dale Mabry or near the airport at any point Sunday afternoon and were wondering what that smell was, it was the Bucs.
They laid an absolute fat dump of a game on the Denver Broncos Sunday afternoon, finding new levels of incompetence in every phase of the football.
Irresponsible and inexplicable interceptions? They’ve got you covered.
Shanked punts that make you question your existence? Yup.
Blown coverages and a non-existent pass rush? You betcha.
Missed tackles galore? Oh, yeah.
Consecutive offsides penalties to allow a team to turn a 3rd and 14 into a 3rd and 4? The Bucs can take care of that.
Add in their usually stinky running game, and you get a 26-7 Bucs loss.
Baker started off hot with the mistakes, with the offense having a disappointing 3-and-out following it up with a pick the next possession, setting the Broncos up for an easy TD to make it 14-0 in the 1st quarter.
The 2nd half didn’t go much better, with a few promising drives early in the half being killed by sacks.
Mike Evans was persona non grata most of the game, with 0 catches through the first 3 quarters until he finally hauled in his first reception in the 4th.
The defense allowed Bo Nix to do whatever he wanted on the field, as he ended up with 216 yards on 25/36 completions for the day.
The pass rush was the huge culprit, as they have a measly 2 sacks for the year and gave Nix seemingly all day on almost every throw.
After last week’s unexpected victory over the Detroit Lions, the Bucs managed to earn themselves a dud of a performance like this, but it’s a shame it came so early in the season, at home, and against a piss-poor opponent. Their 2-1 record is good for a tie for 1st place in the division (for those wondering even though it’s still too early for this nonsense).
Speaking of the NFC South, the Saints offense finally fell back to earth in their 15-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Panthers had a 4 pm game against the Raiders (not that it matters) and the Falcons played Kansas City Sunday night.
The Bucs take on the Eagles next week, who are 2-1 for the year following that miraculous, gutsy victory in New Orleans Sunday afternoon.
The good news is, it’s one game, and the Bucs had a bad loss in the bank. Unfortunately, with their tough remaining schedule, this might be the only one they’re allowed if they want to compete for this division.
Don’t fire the cannons, check the sewers, because you might find less crap than what was spread all over Raymond James Stadium by those individuals in white jerseys Sunday afternoon.
