Tampa Bay Buccaneers have closed the Gap with Saints

The other day I pointed out the Bucs have been outscored 110-33 in the last

three trips to the SuperDome. Yesterday? Outscored, but only 37-31, and no one can deny  it could have easily been a different outcome.

Its too late to cry over this one, but the Bucs have shown they have closed the gap with the Saints. To be honest I would hope the Saints and their fans realized just like the Bucs the week before, the Saints won a game that they (justifiably so) had their opponent heavily penalized.

Mike Glennon has progressed in the last two games, which makes you wonder if Josh McCown may be a better ‘Practice’ QB than Glennon is, because in the real games the last two weeks Glennon has done very little to criticize, and with very little support.

At least one hundred yards were brought back on offense from penalty, and that’s passing yards mind you. How many more yards were lost on drops? Well Glennon tossed a beautiful floater that perhaps while not recommended, was nice. Mike Glennon will be the QB the rest of the year unless something major happens and he implodes.

Add to the mix the return of Running Back Charles Sims around midseason which could add something to the Bucs running game.

This is in stark contrast to the Bucs of the last three years. Last season finale, Head Coach Greg Schiano was embarrassed in the second half as silly fake FG calls didn’t help the outmanned Bucs were were trying to keep up with the Saints, down 28-14 at the half.

In 2012, the Bucs were completely embarrassed going into New Orleans with a respectable offense, yet New Orleans with their terrible defense shut the Bucs out.  2011 of course was the beginning of the end for the ’11 Bucs and Raheem Morris. It was the first game after the trip to London to play the Bears, where something happened that really put a dent in Morris’ leadership. It all fell apart then, to the tune of a 27-16 loss.

HISTORICAL NOTES:

The last time the Bucs scored 31 points at New Orleans was when Mike Ditka was the Saints Coach and Mike Alstott rumbled in the final points for a 31-16 win.

Historically, the Bucs also scored 31 in N.O. when the 1981 Division Champs beat the Saints 31-14, but the record is 34 points in a loss to the Saints in Vinny Testaverde’s first start, 1987 44-34 loss.

But here is the kicker…the most amount of Points the Bucs have ever scored in New Orleans for a win, was by the 1977 Bucs!! Thats right, the very first Bucs win ever, one of the most anemic Buc offenses ever, beat the Saints 33-14 with the help of 3 Interception returns for Touchdowns. Those were just the first Bucs Interceptions ever BTW!