Bucs Nation reacts to unexpected loss to Saints

Well, that didn’t go as planned, did it? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were almost shut out by the New Orleans Saints 38-3. How many times have you read this in the past 24 hours?

Bruce Arians, Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich should get down to business today a little squeamish. I was reading and watching videos on Twitter showing some analysts couldn’t even see the game again.

By the way, it’s the FOX 13 meteorologist! I guess he’s a realist.

After all the hard work this team put in to be where they need to be halfway through the season, they should have been outperforming instead of underperforming. Simply put, they came out shot, unmanned, numbered, unplanned (Hamilton reference if you didn’t get it).

Evan Winter put it perfectly, Sean Peyton owns the Bucs. They have had their number since the first game of the 2018 season, which was the last time the Bucs beat the Saints (48-40). The Saints own the series by 16 games, 37-21.

Like I said on the Bucs Nation podcast instant reactions, I’m not sure what they’ve been up to all week. Were they distracted by the Antonio Brown hype? Was it the preparations for Tropical Storm Eta? Was it election stress or all of the above?

If we hit the rewind button, think back to the ugly win over a struggling Giants team. Yes, the G-men played their best ball, but it almost seemed like the Bucs were not playing the right game plan. Instead, many thought players and coaches were already planning week 9. It definitely turned out that was not the case on Sunday night.

This game plan should be completely abandoned. There is no reason to dwell on it, nor to try to analyze what went wrong. Delete it as if it never happened and continue. Consider this a loss to a very good Saints team and get ready for Week 10 against a very winnable game against the Carolina Panthers.

The biggest disappointment was in defense. It was arguably the best defense in the league in 9 weeks. The Bucs defense ended with -1 fantasy points on the night. Most fantasy owners understand the relevance of this, as it takes a lot to go negative for a team defense.

The secondary played a soft blanket. Scratch that off, they had no cover! I can’t stop remembering that third conversion pass to Jared Cook in the first set. Then there was the missed cover when Tre’Quan Smith leaned slightly out of the end zone for an easy touchdown. It was practically in slow motion.

It was almost as if Pete Carmichael and Sean Payton were directly reading Todd Bowles’ playbook and they knew every move he was going to make.

I’m not a coach and have never been a professional player, but I will continue to criticize high school until we see it improve. I’m shocked why they don’t play a tighter man-to-man ball if the game is good. Especially when you have to play Drew Bree with Emmanuel Sanders and Michael Thomas twice a year.

There was no blitz in the first half. It’s Bowles signing in his defense. How not to implement what you are known for? It felt really weird to me not to see as much aggression as we’ve seen in previous weeks with the amount of talent they have. It also shows how much Vita Vea is missing as well.

One of the biggest takeaways was watching Tom Brady in between possessions on the sidelines. He wasn’t ticked off, he wasn’t yelling or motivating his guys, he quietly went through the plays on his surface and envisioned the next round of downs. We witnessed the opposite in the losses of week 1 and week 5. Something seemed really weird about his behavior.

This tweet was too funny not to be shared.

I’m not going to stay negative though. I think there is optimism in all of this. We have now seen that AB can stay in her place, play her part and perform when her number is called. Mike Evans has been open too many times. Look at the tape and you’ll see it’s wide open along the seam with just a few taps. Brady just hasn’t seen it. We all thought Evans was locked down by Marshon Lattimore the entire game, but in fact he wasn’t.

We also realize how critical the racing game is. You cannot be effective with 8 meters on the ground! Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones II had a total of four carries for just 9 yards. I think the Front Four Bears are actually better than the Saints and RoJo ran 106 yards on them. No real excuse, especially at the start of the game.

Can we finally admit that rookie Tristan Wirfs outshines veteran Donovan Smith? Honestly, maybe it’s time for the front office to do something about it. Smith was the main reason the pocket collapsed so quickly on Brady. Without Marpet there was no help for him, and it showed clearly. The upside is that he was put in the spotlight instead of being covered by Brady moving a tight end or Marpet helping with a double team.

The key message is that you can be frustrated with whatever you want. Having passionate fans is important for a team that wants to win. But, they’re still 6-3. He’s a winning record, and still one of the best in the league. Only three teams have better records, and they’re all in the AFC (Bills, Chiefs and Steelers).

The Bucs have major contests coming up, including the Rams and defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. If they can get out of at least two of those who had wins before the break week, they’ll be ready to make their playoffs with an indulgent last streak.

This could very easily be the last time Drew Brees faces the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has the same shoulder pain that he underwent surgery while still a Charger. He was quoted as saying he was 41 years old and “doing some things”. His fellow players escape games and touchdowns like we’ll never see them again. They might know something we don’t know, who knows.

Brees is undoubtedly a Hall of Fame quarterback in the first round, just like Brady will be. They both have gold jackets with their names on them hanging up and waiting. Brees had a good run against the Bucs and if this was the last time he played them it was a good way to play the best there is.

On my last note. I have to do that. Political parities are driving me today! Here are a couple of our national sports friends. Keep smiling in Tampa Bay, it will get better.