By Bucs Report,Devin Sanguinett

Copyright yardbarker

Even though the Buccaneers lost, I think this game shows this team has taken a step forward. There is absolutely no quit here, which is a credit to Bowles’ for keeping his guys in it the whole way. Because this game could very easily have gotten ugly.

The offense was absolutely terrible outside a few splash plays. No consistency whatsoever to be found. It contributed greatly as to why the Bucs were down early. It kept putting the defense in a hole consistently. Multiple times in the 2nd half the defense forced a 3-and-out only for the offense to just give it right back. Be it their own three-and-out or a fumble (questionable or not it’s still bad by the offense to even be in that position). The stat that perfectly epitomizes their own ineffectiveness is Emeka’s final stat line, 4 receptions, 101 yards. Just a bunch of splash plays. This offense never truly had a drive, which is the ultimate reason they felt so out of rhythm. Grizzard had a pretty rough game overall from a play calling perspective.

That’s not to say it was all the coaches’ fault. Baker’s ball catchers failed him plenty. Godwin had a few costly drops early. Granted he made up for it with some great grabs late. Still, very un-Godwin-like passes for him to drop, which I assume is due to rust. Emeka too looked like he made a few business decisions on some catches and had a couple drops.

If there is one player on offense that deserves credit it’s Bucky Irving. He carried that unit for most the game making magic happen. So many broken tackles to make something out of nothing. He felt for the longest time like the only guy that actually was playing on that side. 63 yards rushing and 104 yards through the air. Just spectacular from him.

The defense was not perfect (looking at you Sirvocea Dennis and cushion coverage), but they absolutely battened down in the second half. They held Saquon to 50 yards rushing. AJ Brown had two receptions for seven yards, and that was with Benjamin Morrison covering him as well with Dean going out. Vita Vea had two sacks. Multiple three and outs as I said before. It was pretty bad in the first half for them as they let the Eagles waltz into the end zone, but they held the Eagles to 200 yards of offense. You should be able to win with that.

At the end of the day, this team, regardless of the result has proven they can hang with the best in the NFC. This defense is absolutely nasty and has been without key pieces. However, the offense needs to get some consistency. Yes they were without Mike Evans, but that’s no excuse for some of what we saw today. Play calling needs to be better and Baker needs to lock in for a full game. He had his own costly mistakes this game. There is a very good chance the Bucs and Eagles meet again, and both teams will get some players back. Hopefully by then the Bucs are more complete. Oh, and completely dismantle the special teams unit. Keep Chase and raze everything else.