Buccaneers Observer

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Carolina Panthers in a week 18 beat down, securing the 2nd seed in the playoffs. Mike Evans and Gronkowski balled out. Evans posted his 8th straight year with 1,000+ yard season, a new NFL record. The Philadelphia Eagles, a hated rival, are up next for the Bucs. 

Antonio Brown's career is more notable for his bullshit than his skill. While his skill is up there with the best, the bullshit is unparalleled. He showed that again this week. Let's recap:   The week before the Jets game, his people go to the Bucs front office and ask for his incentives to be guaranteed. The team says no, most obviously because AB was on pace to hit them.   The Friday b...

Molly is thankful for the distraction as the Jets were WAAAY too close to beating the Bucs in that one. A two-minute drive from the GOAT sealed the W for the Bucs. Cyril Grayson came in clutch again, causing Ralph to consider retiring the "Doink" nickname.   What happened with Antonio Brown? We're getting bits and pieces from the media but nothing definitive. Bruce Arians may or may not have...

To be fair, the Panthers came out with no energy and it showed. But it appeared the Bucs were feeding off their lackluster. A few guys had some oomph - Whitehead, Gholston, Stuard. But otherwise, we could have used some juice. Ralph hopes we're just saving our energy for the playoffs.   Our next matchup on the way to playoffs is against the Jets. We've seen teams like the Jets before, and the...

This Victory Monday is a hat-and-t-shirt Victory Monday as the Buccaneers come away with the NFC South title. The Panthers didn't put up much of a fight, even against our second and third stringers.   Jordan Whitehead had an outstanding game, earning the recognition of the announcers during the game.   Antonio Brown was looking fresh on his return, playing 79 percent of the snaps and get...

What we lacked in pass protection, we also lacked in the ability to catch passes and run without falling. The game film was worse than the initial viewing, as if that was possible. The young guys failed to show up once they were called up.    The defense played well.   The refs missed some calls. The play where Patrick O'Connor was injured was particularly egregious given that Grant...

Could this have gone any worse? The Buccaneers shot themselves in the foot repeatedly with dropped passes, lost key players to injury and got shut out at home. The young guys failed to step up when we needed them most. To add insult to injury, the last came to division rivals.   I hate everything.

The Buccaneers looked nearly flawless against the Bills, with the exception of the first offensive play and the first defensive play. After that, we made few mistakes.   Leonard Fournette has taken over the bell-cow role in large part because of his pass protection. The man is a phenomenal blocker, often sacrificing his body to keep his quarterback upright. It's no wonder Brady trusts him the...

What. A. Game. They say all good teams win one they should have lost. When the season's over and we have another Super Bowl ring, we can point to this victory as that game. The Buccaneers, both offense and defense, were stellar in the first half. But the Bills made a run at a comeback, tying the game with 25 seconds left on the clock and taking the Bucs to overtime. The Buccaneers defense, while t...

It turns out the Falcons' offensive line isn't that bad. Shaq Barrett had a hard time against OL Kaleb McGary, and I daresay Barrett got beat for the first time since I've watched him. Others on the defensive line, like Ndamukong Suh and Will Gholston had good performances against the division foe.   Our offensive line just dominated. Donovan Smith played hard the first half, but then just lo...

The Buccaneers have a good showing against our division rivals. The offense played great, particularly Chris Godwin who broke his own personal record for receptions in a game and topped Mark Carrier for third-most in franchise history.    Leonard Fournette has emerged as a workhorse running back, a feat no back has achieved in a Bruce Arians offense.   The defense demolished the Fal...

The Falcons have changed since we saw them last Week 2: Cordarelle Patterson has proved to be a threat both in the run and passing games; and, their defense is starting to gel. Nevertheless, Tom Brady's streak will increase to 10-0 against the Falcons tomorrow. Matt Ryan will not be able to withstand the Bucs pass rush, and there aren't enough quick dump off passes in the world to lead them to vic...

The NFL and NFLPA agreed to a suspension of three games without pay for both Mike Edwards and Antonio Brown for misleading the league with regards to their vaccination status. As we predicted at the start of the season, the NFL's protocols are meant to punish dissenters rather than stop the spread of coronavirus.   Ralph goes through the game film from Indianapolis, which showed the Buccaneer...

THAT was an entertaining game. The Bucs should have been up by 20 to be sure, but they couldn't get it together in the first half.    While our expectations are high for the team, we have to remember that last season was not all sunshine and rainbows. We went through a lot of pain to get to the Super Bowl, and that made the victory that much sweeter.   It feels like the team is comi...

The Colts put a whooping on the Bills last week, but what does it actually mean? After watching the game, it was clear the Bills lost that game. The Colts simply capitalized on their mistakes. There's something to be said for that, to be sure, but what are the chances of a repeat this week against the Buccaneers? We both agree it's slim.    Tom Brady has said football starts after Thanks...

The Buccaneers got a much-needed victory against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. We won't lie... we were worried about the team after last week's loss to Washington. But the way the Bucs beat up on the Giants has quelled any doubt we had. Ralph repents!   Who should get the game ball? Steve McLendon for his first career interception? Tom Brady for his offensive prowess? Gronk fo...

Tom Brady was OFF this week. Missed 10 wide open receivers. TEN. That's 1/3 of his pass plays. It was like what happened in New Orleans: everyone was in a fog. But the offensive line played well. We had 10 receivers WIDE OPEN. Their defense was bad. But Tom checked down instead of throwing to those guys.   And then it came out: the TBT received allegations from a disgruntled employee that AB'...

What in the heck happened??? We spitball. The offense lacked energy and cohesion. The defense couldn't get a stop when we needed it most. The game plan was too rigid and was apparent it wasn't working there was no adjustment.    The good that came out of this week: Vita wasn't seriously hurt. The Cardinals lost to the Panthers, which may help us down the road with seeding. The Saints los...

The Buccaneers return from the bye to travel to Fedex field, where they will take on the Football Team. This should go much differently than when we saw them in the playoffs. First and foremost, we are prepared for running quarterback Taylor Heinicke. Secondly, there no one on the offense, with the exception of the offensive line, that stands out. The defense has slipped dramatically this season,...

This episode is a little more charged than we like to go, but enough is enough. The Aaron Rodgers situation is a case of low status males in sports media using their platform to demand compliance. Dissenters, like Rodgers, cannot be tolerated. What's even more absurd is that an NFL player KILLED a woman while this was going on - she burned alive, along with her dog - and Aaron Rodgers vaccination...

While the Buccaneers were flagged for what felt like an exorbitant number of penalties, in reality the Saints only scored three points off of penalties. Overall, the one that hurt us the most was the holding call on Ross Cockrell. The Buccaneers were the benefactors of seven non-calls in a complete turn of events.   In general, this game was not our best showing. I wouldn't go as far to say i...

Has NFL officiating ever been worse than this year?? Between the BS roughing the passer call on Gholston (which negated Winfield's interception), the taunting call on Devin White, and the lack of calls against the Saints, those zebras can eff allllllll the way off.   Still, the Bucs were in it until Brady's devastating interception in the last two minutes. He'll be sitting on this loss over t...

Who wants revenge more: Sean Payton, Jameis Winston, or the Buccaneers?    Sean Payton's franchise quarterback got retired by the Bucs.    Jameis Winston is facing his former team for the first time as a starter.    The Buccaneers were swept by the Saints in the regular season last year, and while they exacted their revenge in the playoffs, was it enough? Or does the...

If you like what we do and want to support the show, please consider a monthly donation: https://anchor.fm/buccaneers-observer/support  After the game, we determined Leonard Fournette deserved the game ball. But after review of the game film, Ralph determined the offensive line, in fact, won us that game and thus deserved that game ball. Donovan Smith boasted afterward that he made #99 his so...

The Chicago Bears game was a glorious, glorious beatdown. We've been on the other side of those types of games too many times, so enjoy it, Bucs fans! The defense showed resiliency even while missing many starters, including Lavonte David, Carlton Davis III, and Sean Murphy-Bunting. The offense had a record-setting day, with Tom Brady scoring his 600th passing touchdown, the only NFL player to eve...