Monday Morning QB

[Doctor]

What a game. Our guys fought hard in an incredibly tough match-up.

First off kudos to the Rams who played a great game. They are basically the 2020 Bucs of this year, new life QB, late second life WR signing (OBJ=AB), everything was really coming together for them. Meanwhile, our lucky health streak of last year ran out and once Wirfs was ruled out, imo, we became a severe underdog. Which is why I'm so proud of that comeback.

Bowles:
There's no shortage of knee jerk reactions blaming the whole game on a mis-executed blitz at the end. The reality is that the Rams were near midfield with 43 second and way more likely to get into FG range than not at that point. I don't mind an aggressive call that puts the game on the shoulders of our strongest unit (the front 7) to get it done. The reality is that we were likely losing on a gamewinning FG either way. There's no reason to believe anything less than a sack/turnover would've stopped Stafford from getting 15-20 more yards in 43 seconds.

On one side the strips were incredible and a sign of grade A coaching. On the flip side the miscommunications were embarrassing at this stage of the season and goes back to coaching.


My issue with the coaching is more on the other side.

Arians/Lefty:

Wells: I'm sorry I just find it hard to believe an injured Wells was our best option. After all we've heard about the versatility of the OL, I was totally expecting to kick Cappa outside and start Stinnie at RG.

Lenny: I think we got away from the run way too quick. I get not getting away from your passing identity too much just because Wirfs is out, but against the Rams I think you needed to do so and we did not. They had the health and the match ups on their side and we acted like we could just leap over them for the high ground.

Evans: With Godwin and AB out, I expected to see a whole lot more Evans in the slot. I was underwhelmed.

Max Protection: Is this no longer allowed?


To be clear, I still believe we have one of the best coaching staffs in football. We finished top 5 both on offense and defense, despite the slew of injuries we took on this year. But this is a message board and playing Monday Morning QB is part of the gig.

[Snake]

Shoulders of the front 7?

Bowles rushed a NB who had been playing like a pussy the entire game. Literally.

How do you think the Bucs have an elite coaching staff if you yourself said they didn’t use max protection and abandoned the run? These are all egregious mistakes.

[Backside]

You want so badly to defend the defensive call at the end but stubbornly refuse to even acknowledge what happened on the play.

It was not the front 7. It was the CB guarding Kupp. So it was actually putting the game into the hands of our worst tackling secondary player.

Also not sure why you consider ‘field goal range’ to be this monolith position on the field that was being made no matter what. You don’t think kicking from the 20 instead of the 40 didn’t matter to the guy who was short on a 47 yarder earlier in the game?

[13F11B]

I do not want to debate this too much to death but you have a few things a bit off.

The reality is that the Rams were near midfield with 43 second and way more likely to get into FG range than not at that point.

In reality, this was at the Ram 44 yard line with 28 seconds left. Guarding the sidelines and deep probably would have allowed them to make a pass that set up a 45+ yard field goal but a 45+ yard field goal is far better than a 30yd field goal. I will agree with people that say they were trying to stop the Rams, but Stafford has been money against the blitz all year. At least one sack the Buccaneers had in the game was a coverage sack. I would have preferred playing coverage given the situation and the QB the Buccaneers were facing.

[Pirate Life]

All you need to know...

[Doctor]

Shoulders of the front 7?

Bowles rushed a NB who had been playing like a pussy the entire game. Literally.

How do you think the Bucs have an elite coaching staff if you yourself said they didn’t use max protection and abandoned the run? These are all egregious mistakes.

Because a staff is who they've been all these years and not just on the last play of the last game?

[Doctor]

All you need to know...

Rams were able to run all the way down to the 13 and still clock the ball.

But yeah, the clock totally would've run out if they had to run to the 40.... because that makes sense....

[Pirate Life]

All you need to know...

Rams were able to run all the way down to the 13 and still clock the ball.

But yeah, the clock totally would've run out if they had to run to the 40.... because that makes sense....

Time keeps ticking when he has to look for a receiver. Time keeps ticking when you stop the first catch at 15 yards, they still have to complete another to get to where they kicked it with one play or kick from much further (50ish yards after the kicker had missed from 47 earlier).

[nybf]

There were 10 minutes left and the rams were at the one inch line. I cannot help all you stupid people who cannot see the Bucs were going to lose. Now excuse me while bowles finishes in my throat.

[13F11B]

All you need to know...

Rams were able to run all the way down to the 13 and still clock the ball.

But yeah, the clock totally would've run out if they had to run to the 40.... because that makes sense....

What people are saying is: (I will not go back to the start of their drive)

Stafford is on the 44. If the Buccaneers play 8 in coverage and Stafford connects for a 15 yard pass that would have put the Rams on the 41. A field goal from the 41 yard line is a 58 yard field goal attempt. I doubt they take that. They likely try one more play to get the ball closer. Worst-case scenario they get another 15 yard completion and now they are on the 26 yard line. That makes the field goal a 43 yard field goal attempt. This assumes the Rams get two pretty good throws into 8 man coverage. That FG would still have been further out and more difficult. It makes them take two plays minimum to get into FG range. An incompletion against 8 man coverage is much more likely. If Stafford runs he takes more time off the clock (See the Dallas game for an example).

[bucarican]

At some point, Carlton should have been man to man with Cooper.

[Doctor]

You are also conveniently assuming the Rams the "best" the Rams do are "two plays minimum to get into FG range".

We play 8 Stafford could connect for a 15 yard pass... or he could also connect for a 45 yards pass... or a 5 yard pass... or a 28 yard pass... or a....

Some of you are Monday Morning QBing the shit out of this with your assumptions.

Either way, there are enough threads about the last play call. Can we focus on the other calls? Because while we all love to get hung up on the last one there were several other points of failure throughout the day that have nothing to do with the final play call that merit discussion as well.

[Selmon Rules]

We lost the game in the first half with bad football and bad penalties. That second half comeback should have been icing the game instead....

My 2¢

[Doctor]

Penalties were horrific. Particularly from some of our veteran leadership.

[13F11B]

We lost the game in the first half with bad football and bad penalties. That second half comeback should have been icing the game instead....

My 2¢

I agree with you there. I think we also lost because of how much Tom was getting hit and sacked. The offensive line was not healthy. I thought the guy they brought in for Wells actually played a bit better than Wells on the two downs he got. Rough to shuffle your OL this late in the season though.

[13F11B]

Penalties were horrific. Particularly from some of our veteran leadership.

Though the penalty on Tom was not called for and the penalty they chose not to call should have been called. I don't think that one really made a difference but SH is not welcome at my dinner table.