September 28, 2014 shows Vincent Jackson’s amazing talent at WR.
Remember how unbeatable the Carolina Panthers were a few weeks ago? They were exposed by both the Steve Smith led Ravens and these same Steelers last week.
Jimmy Graham? Sure he’ll probably have 8 catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns next week against us, but Drew Brees is joining Tom Brady is the “2000’s QBs who are past their prime” club.
Finally those pesky birds of the dirty south…shot down by rifleman Teddy Bridgewater and Dalton’s Bengal Tigers of the Queen City, they could have used some of those points from last Thursday Night!
They say a win cures all ills, it cleans everything; last week the season was lost, it was rebuilding time, people wanted to fire Lovie. Now Tampa Bay is One Game away from a first place tie and for the first time since week 10 of 2012 the Bucs won a meaningful game that gives them hope for the future.
Of Course we all know the Saints are a different team when you play them in their own dome, yet the Bucs have taken a few games from New Orleans over the past few years, but that was back in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Both of those games were season ending Game 16’s in which the Saints had clinched a playoff birth but not home field advantage; so they were playing their starters, but at some point stopped and put in second string. But the Bucs haven’t won a road game in New Orleans since Luke McCown led the Bucs to road victory in 2007.
Carolina came into the season with question marks at the WR position, but like we said, winning clears up all the bad things your team does. Sure Kelvin Benjamin is turning out to be a godsend for Panthers receiving corp, he has 3/4 of all the Panthers WR Touchdowns; but who else? Jason Avant has the other one, to go with his 90 receiving yards. The Running game for Carolina is non existant- DeAngelo Williams has 106 yards on 25 carries, not bad stats for one game, but miserable for week 4. The only other runner with as good of an average is that running back named Cam Newton!
And what about those Falcons that were flying so high after that win over the Bucs? Like the other teams in the NFC South at this point in the year: inconsistent.
The Bucs have two games before their bye week, and some big things coming up. What will happen to Josh McCown? He is supposed to be looked at today with a decision being made whether or not surgery is required, which could sideline him for 6 weeks, just enough time for Mike Glennon to either assert himself as the starter, or raise questions to the validity of his hold on the job.
Biggest key for the Bucs over the next 2 weeks is the continued improvement of the Bucs Line; both Oline and Dline. Five sacks in the first half will do the job most weeks, more important was Michael Johnson getting two of them, including the one that turned the ball over.
The offensive line needs to coordinate to figure out the problems with getting the play calls in time, but blocking for QB Glennon was exceptional in the 4th quarter.
With the effort against Pittsburgh, the Bucs need to look to continue to improve in all phases, and the rest will come.
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