Ravens run all over the Bucs in 20-12 loss
On a cold, dark, dreary, and rainy afternoon in Baltimore the season came to end for the Tampa bay Buccaneers as they lost to the Baltimore Ravens 20-12 to fall to 5-9 on the season.
No the Bucs still have 2 games yet to play, but the Bucs were officially eliminated from the postseason today and now the speculation begins about the 2019 season.
Will Dirk Koetter and Jason Licht be back? If not who might the Glazers bring in to try to get the team going in the right direction? Who will the Bucs take with the first pick in the 2019 draft?
The defense had no answer for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens running game as they torched the Bucs defense for 242 yards on the ground and kept the Bucs high powered offense off the field. This is the most rushing yardage the Bucs have allowed since the 2011 season.
The defense played ok in the first half and limited the big plays of Lamar Jackson, but in the second half Jackson took over and the Bucs had no answers. The defense was on the field a little over 37 minutes in the game today.
The Bucs were able to run the ball as Peyton Barber ran for 85 yards and the Bucs only TD as he averaged 4YPC.
Jameis Winston did not have a great game but to be fair to Winston there were a lot of dropped balls today. After the game Mike Evans talking with reporters mentioned the fact that the weather and the cold affected the receivers and their ability to catch the ball early on.
Evans had 4 catches for 121 yards but 64 of those yards came on one play. The Ravens pass defense was as advertised as there was not a lot of room for the receivers today.
Chris Godwin was non-existent for the second game in a row as he was held without a catch.
Lavonte David was the best player on the field for the Bucs today as he had 12 tackles and 2 sacks to lead the defense.
Tackling was a major issue for the defense today as it really has been all season long. I lost count how many times the defense had Lamar Jackson behind the line of scrimmage and Jackson somehow managed to escape.
Again there was a special teams blunder as the Bucs took a 6-0 lead early on and the EXP was not even attempted by Santos as the snap was mishandled.
On the bright side Santos was 2/2 in his FG attempts today.
Another glaring weakness of this Bucs team and this has been a weakness under Dirk Koetter the last two seasons, they execute very poorly in the red zone. This was really magnified today.
The Bucs were 1/3 in the red zone. Yes the Bucs offense is very prolific and has been one of the best in the NFL all season between the 20’s. Something happens when the Bucs get inside the opponents 20. The offensive execution becomes non-existent.
Misssed passes, dropped passe, the OL not be able to spring a block for a RB. The whole offensive machine seems to grind to a halt. The greatest offensive minded coach could coach this team and if the players aren’t executing and can’t make the plays it makes everyone look bad.
11 seasons now with no playoffs in Tampa Bay and just four winning seasons since 2007. 10-6 the best of those seasons in 2010.
The Bucs will win again. Just look at this years Cleveland Browns team after years of futility. I just hope it will happen in my lifetime.
