Funkification of Bucs players limited to starters

Starting O-line was atrocious. Photo property of www.joebucsfan.comGame Grades don’t really tell the story, Donald Penn for example did not have a poor game, even though he did have one of the 5 penalties called against the Bucs in the first ten minutes of play. Gerald McCoy was all over the field, but The starters in general simply were not ready to play; not the same story however for the backups. 

Bill Belechick left his first stringers in until the half, but Raheem Morris had his taken out going into the 2nd quarter. So for the better part of the 2nd quarter, you had Tom Brady and Company going up against the Bucs 2nd string defense. The result was a 7-0 quarter, with Connor Barth missing a FG at the end of the half.

When the 2nd half came around, the Bucs dominated the Patriots with 14 points to the Pats FG in the 3rd period. The 3rd stringers looked impressive, with Rudy Carpenter driving the Bucs into the red zone before failing on downs within the 2:00 warning at the end of the game.

• Elbert Mack intercepted a Ryan Mallet pass, and with amazing individual effort, returned it 69 yards bobbing and weaving.
• Dekoda Watson was hustling well during the game.
• Anthony Gaitor showed excellent coverage, giving the Bucs a possible 4 solid corners.
• Greg Lumpkin and Allen Bradford made improvements in their running style from last week, with Bradford getting a TD. 
• Daniel Hardy made a nice adjustment to a low ball thrown by Josh Johnson, who had a mixed night himself. 

Josh Johnson continues to show more positives in his running game than his passing attack, as the running game overall was improved in the second half with the backups. When Allen Bradford scored his  Touchdown, Erik Lorig was the fullback on the field, giving hope he can take over that spot full time, allowing Earnest Graham to move to 3rd down tailback.

It all leads up to next Thursday when the Bucs will take on the Miami Dolphins at Raymond James in a contest most if not all starters will be on the field to get the most of their ‘on-field’ time before its all for real against the Detroit Lions on September 11th.