The Bucs were unable to really get going in the first half. And that is both sides of the ball, because even the defense was making a bonehead play here and there. Missing Aqib Talib who was out due to a Suspension, the Bucs secondary gave up a fluke TD when T-Jack took a bad angle toward the ball and practically ran into another Bucs defender allowing Cleveland to score an easy Touchdown. The Browns were driving, and half time couldn’t come soon enough to Raymond James Stadium. There was an occasional good run here, an occasional good passing play there. But only once were they enough to secure a drive that got Connor Barth into FG range, where he connected on a long FG attempt. But Cleveland was driving, and only a FG would have kept the Bucs in the game going into the second half. Then it happened, old faithful himself- Ronde Barber. I could just hear Gene now: ” Ronde Barber going Coast to, shoreline!” To be fair, Barber was tackled by a WR 15 years younger than him.
Barber is a veteran of the old Tony Dungy defenses, who knew how to turn a game around. Just as then, Momentum took a swing in the Bucs favor. How big was the swing? The Bucs defense gave up 87 rushing yards to the Browns in the first half. They only surrendered 17 rushing yards in the second half. Josh Freeman and Mike Williams only needed 1 play. A throw a tad bit behind the rookie, but Mike Williams is going to make many teams regret not taking him in the first, second, third, or 4th round! Williams paid attention, and caught the tipped ball with enough concentration to keep both feet inbounds.
And much like these videos which are taken via screen shots of NFL GAME REWIND, the over all picture wasn’t completely pretty, but for Raheem Morris and the Young Bucs, it was a thing of beauty. Tampa Bay; 1-0, undefeated, and in first place in the NFC South………and the only thing we do know for sure, there are 15 more games to play.
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