Bucs looking to maintain momentum against the Dolphins
It’s no secret the Bucs have struggled this year both on offense and defense. That huge exhale you heard was coming from One Buc Place earlier this week as the Bucs were breathing a bit easier after the win against the Jets. Make no mistake, the seat under Dirk Koetter remains warm, the heat was just turned down from high to medium.
This game was not a thing of beauty, but the Bucs made enough plays to get the win and will try to string a few more together starting this week against Miami to get back into the division race.
Ryan Fitzpatrick again will start for the Bucs in place of the injured Jameis Winston. There has been all kinds of speculation about Winston and his shoulder injury. He may miss the rest of the season, he may have to have surgery. Etc. Right now all we know is that the initial disgnosis was that Winston would miss two weeks and this will be the second week he has missed. If the medical reports were correct, we should see Winston back on the field next week against the Falcons.
Mike Evans will also be back from his one game suspension this week giving Fitzpatrick another target. Chris Godwin did a nice job in filling for Evans, and hopefully Godwin will get more chances starting this week against the Dolphins.
The Bucs could sure use another good defensive performance. Against the Jets, the Bucs were able to consistently pressure the QB, and registered a season high six sacks. When you pressure the QB, all f a sudden the DB’s don’t look so bad. The Miami offense is ranked 30th in the league averaging 275 YPG. The Dolphins average just over 80 YPG on the ground and with the trade of Jay Ajayi, the workload will fall to Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake.
Jay Cutler has been exactly what everyone thought he would be in Miami. Nothing special. 12TD’s 6 INT and a QBR of 87.0. The Dolphins average just over 194 yards a game in the passing game. Davonte Parker and Kenny Stills are the favorite targets of Cutler.
Ndamukong Suh is dinged up and will not be at 100 percent. Suh who has a reputation as one of the dirtiest players in the league did not practice and is listed as questionable.
The Dolphins are coming off a Monday Night loss in Carolina 45-21 and will be coming off a short week of practice. The Dolphins are also in the middle of a 3 game losing streak after a 4-2 start, they now stand at 4-5.
This game does not have a lot of appeal to football fans outside of the respective markets. The Bucs have way more talent on both side of the ball and should handle this Miami Team. But this Bucs team has been Jekyll and Hyde all season, and you never know what Bucs team will show up. The Bucs have been very poor on the road this year and the defense is giving up over 30 points a game.
The Bucs also seem to start very slow offensively on the road and have trouble getting into any kind of rhythm. Now would be a good time for the offensive line to establish an identity and help Doug Martin get the ground game going. The OL has been one of the disappointments of the season season so far.
This will be a defining game for both teams. With a win both teams can keep their slim playoff hopes alive. A loss, and you can start making plans for 2018.
I think the Bucs will get their second straight win and beat the Dolphins 24-20 in a tightly played game in Miami. It won’t be easy as nothing ever is for this Bucs team, but I think the Bucs will make one or two more plays than Maimi to get the win.
