Bucs give it away in loss to the Lions
This was a game the Bucs should have won. Of course there have been a lot of should have’s and could have’s this season.
Christmas came early for the Detroit Lions as the Bucs gave the ball away like Christmas presents Sunday afternoon in their 24-21 loss to the Lions. From the late first quarter to the middle of the third quarter, the Bucs had 5/6 possessions where they turned the ball over. It was fumble, interception, fumble, punt, interception, and fumble. The Lions were only slightly better With three turnovers, but they were able to hang on for the win.
In spite of the turnovers, The Bucs were in a position to possibly win the game or send it to OT, but what has been an ugly story all season long, the defense could not get a stop when it needed to.
Against the worst pass defense in the league. Matt Stafford sliced and carved up the Bucs defense completing 36/44 for 381 yards with 1 TD and 2 interceptions. Stafford was not 100% as he suffered a hand injury the week before against the Ravens. You would never have know it by the way Stafford had his way with the Bucs defense.
Offensively the Bucs amassed 400 yards and were able to move the ball at will on the Lions defense. Jameis Winston passed for 285 yards and 2 TD’s. The Bucs ran the ball for 133 yards and averaged over 4.5 YPC. But the turnovers just killed any momentum the Bucs had as they fell behind 21-7 and scored two TD‘s on consecutive possessions.
After a Doug Martin fumble, he was on the bench and replaced with Peyton Barber. Martin had 10 carries for 26 yards and had scored the first TD of the game. Martin seems to be regressing and I think these next three games will be the last we will see of Martin in a Bucs uniform. Peyton Barber picked up the slack with 58 yards on 12 carries for a 4.8 YPC.
Barber has run well the last two games when given the opportunity. Barber is a little bigger than Martin and he continues to run hard and pick up the extra yards after getting hit. The Bucs should have a bigger role for Barber in the offense during the last three games.
Defensively there were a couple of guys that stood out and played well. Lavonte David and Kwon Alexander led the team in tackles with 14 and 13, and were all over the field creating mayhem. Brent Grimes had his third pick of the season as did Robert McClain.
Gerald McCoy left the game in the first half with a biceps injury. McCoy who had not yet had the MRI results back when Koetter wrapped his press conference this afternoon could miss the rest of the season.
With McCoy on the field, the pass rush against Stafford was very weak. With McCoy out of the game, Stafford stood back their all day untouched and was able to just pick apart the defense. Yesterday just showed how much of a focus the Bucs need to put on improving the DL in the off-season. Chris Baker, Robert Ayers and William Gohlsten have all underachieved this season. The defense will continue to struggle if they do not bring in some players who can bring some pressure on the QB.
The Bucs are now 4-9 and are officially out of the playoffs. Time to evaluate Koetter and his staff and begin to map out how this team plans to improve and get it back in contention for a playoff spot in 2018.
