Buccaneers Win One of the Ugliest Games I’ve Ever Seen

This is a first for me Buccaneers’ fans. I am truly speechless. I truly can’t look at any facet of this team and say that they played a complete game. With all of that said, they still managed to go into Atlanta and get a gritty, ugly win down two starters and the whole o-line in flux. My heart is still racing even now, but let’s talk about it.

Since I just mentioned it, the o-line. The Buccaneers threw a bit of a curve ball at all of us by announcing Graham Barton would be LT, Ben Bredeson was the center, and Michael Jordan would be guard. Basically, they didn’t like Charlie Heck and so decided to shift the whole o-line. Apparently, they had been practicing with this formation for over two weeks, but Jason Licht revealed it like five minutes before the game. The results were shaky to start, but they really shaped up to end the game. The interior let up one sack, but Atlanta’s edge rushers couldn’t get home against the tackles.

Offensively Interesting 

To look at the offense as a whole, it was certainly interesting. If you were to just box score watch, you would think Baker Mayfield had a highly efficient day going 17/32 for 167 yards and three TDs, but those of us who watched the game know the truth. He got away with like three picks at least (one of which would’ve gone the other way), and looked uncomfortable for much of the game.

However, when the Bucs absolutely needed to score, he did what he always does and pulled up his big boy pants and led the comeback. Baker had some of his best throws to end the game to bring the Buccaneers a late three point lead.

EMEKA EGBUKA

This leads us to the real MVP of the game. Emeka Egbuka had two TDs in his debut on some gorgeous throws from Mayfield. Sterling Shepard and Mike Evans also made a few plays, but today was the Egbuka show.

So how was the run game. Well…. it was there. Kinda. I’m not sure if Atlanta’s defense really stiffened up against the run or the line just had trouble opening holes, but it wasn’t a good day for Bucky. 14 carries for 37 yards just won’t cut it. And in limited touches, Rachaad White flat out looked better as a runner. I don’t expect that to always be the case, but it wasn’t great to see today.

With that said, Atlanta’s backs weren’t doing much better. Bijan Robinson averaged 2 ypc, and Allgeier got 2.4. The run defense for pretty much the whole game was keeping the Falcons in check.But they had a hard time stopping Bijan as a receiver as he led the team with 100 yards on six receptions. The whole defensive performance was, weird. I actually thought the defense for most the game was outplaying the offense. It wasn’t pretty, but they seemed to lock in against Michael Penix during the middle of the game. But then, Penix led a 91 yard TD drive that I thought drove the dagger into the Bucs (yes it was aided by some pretty egregious penalties, but I don’t feel like rehashing that here).

Pass On The SirVocea 

Sirvocea Dennis did not have a good game in coverage. In fact he was pretty awful. He just could not keep up with Robinson if his life depended on it. But stacked up in the box, he actually looked good. Blew up quite a few run plays.

But going back to disappointing, the secondary once again had stone hands and the pass rush just wasn’t there. It got pressure a few times, but had a hard time getting the sacks. I will say though, Yaya Diaby and Haason Reddick had good individual performances, just didn’t feel like the group as a whole was meshing. I can’t talk about individual performances without shouting out Antoine Winfield. He wasn’t doing much for the game, but in the end when it looked like Atlanta would score a late TD to steal the game, he came in like a missile to knock the ball away. It saved the game as it led to a missed FG.

The Bucs did the bare minimum to win the game, but they still won the game. I don’t think the Buccaneers will look this sloppy the whole year. I think they were just rusty and getting used to a new play caller and o-line. Plus, they took no action in the preseason. Grizzard has some things to clean up, but it was a decent first outing as a play caller. If this defense can just gain some consistency, we should avoid more heart attack games.

Oh and how bout Riley Dixon? Boomed several punts. No praise for you Chase