In any football game you can point out a handful of plays that made an impact in the course of the game. Yesterdays lopsided loss to the Steelers had at least three plays that had they gone just a bit different…. But you cant play the IF game in football. You have to MAKE the plays. Pittsburgh DID, Tampa Bay DIDN’T.
1) CODY GRIMM- TURN AROUND- Grimm as a rookie had an on off game. He made some good plays and tackles, but on this play he had the coverage on Steeler receiver Wallace but failed to locate the ball! By simply turning around he would have picked the ball off and given the Bucs the football at the 20 with a 3-0 lead.
2) AQIB TALIB-THATS NOT THE KIND OF TIP DRILL…-Aqib Talib had even better coverage against Wallace, extended his arms and went in for the interception. He had the perfect angle for the ball, it would have been a textbook pick. Except the ball skipped off his finger tips right into the waiting arms of Wallace for a Pittsburgh TD! The result- 21-6 Steelers instead of 14-6 or maybe even 7-6.
3)WILLIAMS, HOLD ONTO THE BALL! – Even though this play happened before the Talib tip, I’m doing this list in order of effect on the game. Mike Williams is one heck of a rookie, and this does nothing to diminish Williams play with the Bucs this season; he was rolled over pretty hard, but you have to hold onto the ball. Mike Williams had good yardage and was moving forward when he was tackled but lost the ball while a Steeler was underneath him preventing him from touching the ground and thus being down.
This is not to say that had these plays gone the other way the Bucs would have or could have won. But without a doubt these three plays had a direct affect on the momentum of the game, and the final score. Its usually the ability to make plays like these that separate Winning teams from those that lose.
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