Tampa Bay Buccaneers Thread

villacud

Thanks for quick reply Jester
We're looking forward to game. I've been to a baseball game (minor league, Charlotte Stonecrabs) did enjoy it but am looking forward to the more 'rough & tumble' of NFL

jj1

Was at the Ray Jay last year. We got a taxi there from Ybor City. Traffic was very heavy, about 30 mins to travel 6 or 7 miles. Obviously don't know about how long to get parking but I think all the grounds have plenty.

There is a security check at the grounds. I wasn't allowed bring in a backpack with bottles of water & other bits. GF explained situation to a female security guard & she told us to ball up the bag, carry it on her arm & approach again. She then let my GF in. I think we kept the water but I'm not sure.

We were up in the top tier in line with the 20 yard line. From the taxi dropping us at the stadium to getting to our seats was probably 20 mins but we had that stop at security & got a few beers. I'd go early like Jester said because you'll enjoy the buzz about the place beforehand.

N.B. We were there on November 13th vs the Texans, it was absolutely roasting. Beautiful weather but I'd say bring something to keep the sun off the heads especially with the chillers. There wasn't a puff of wind that day in the stadium & inside that stadium seemed hotter that any other point on the holiday.

I enjoyed the match despite the Buccs getting a hiding. I'm following NFL for about 6 or 7 years & was buzzing watching the game, Texans put on a bit of a show & scored with first offensive play & Buccs only ever half threatened a comeback. Cannon was class, we had a flyover before the match & I thought that I was watching the soon to be AFC champions until the 2 Matts got injured.

Anyway to summarize my rambling post, don't bring a backpack, bring a shopping bag or something & that there sun does be hot so it does!!!!!!!

villacud

Thanks jj1 for the advice. Interesting about the choice of bag. Looking forward to the sunshine after the year we've had here.

jester1980

Good win on Sunday, i know it wass against a poor team but they have averaged over 200 rushing per game this year and we kept them to 60 or so.

Freeman was given the go ahead to air the ball out there and did a great job which is one of his strengths. Solid enough game by Martin again on pass and Rush and Great to see Blount coming in and doing a fantastic job moving the chains quickly. Need to have him more involved. Switching runs up all the time.

And lastly hats off to Jackson and Williams for two more superb games, T Underwood did a decent job too, good to see him getting a chance having been cut earlier in the year.

GO BUCS

DDC1990

Im a big fan of Freeman, but he looked really shaky in the first 2 quarters, but was bailed out by some tremendous WR play by Mike Williams and a few Drops by KC.

Then, he really stepped up his game and shredded KC. Poise in the pocket, play action, rollouts. He did it all. Martin took a while to get going but broke off some vital runs. Delighted for Blount as well, as I'm a big fan.

Tiquan Underwoon becoming everything I had hoped, I said earlier in the season that I was disappointed that he was dropped given his preseason, but to see him come back into the squad with such an impact is great.

Still feel we could improve at TE perhaps, with Dallas Clark not the force he used to be. But overall we look a mean team, especially on D.

0 TD's given up by the D.

Our Draft looks like one of the best in a long time for the Bucs. Barron, Martin and David all featuring as top players in their positions.

jester1980

Good performance all round last night and job well done. Shattered today after staying up for this.

Doug Martin was fantastic on rush and pass, some lovely stiff arms. This kid has some future ahead of him.

jester1980

Great stuff by Doug Martin last night, really thought we were going to blow it near the end.

Heading over to Tampa on Saturday, very excited. 4-4 Oh yeahhhhhhhh.

251 – rushing yards on Sunday for Martin, a Bucs franchise record and the 10th most in NFL history

3 – number of rushes of longer than 45 yards, a Bucs franchise record

51 – fantasy points scored by Martin on Sunday

486 – Martin’s combined total yards (rushing, receiving) in the past two games

794 – rushing yards this season for Martin, third most in the NFL

5.2 – Martin’s per-carry average in 2012

8 – number of games Martin has played as pro

irishbucsfan

Our defense is a real problem. It's completely incapable of playing against a passing team and made Palmer look good.

On the bright side, Leonard Johnson has played extremely well for an undrafted FA (and the fact he's a Tampa native makes it even better). But he's possibly the only bright spark on our passing D (maybe Ahmad Black as well). The loss of Clayborn really ruined our pass rush (McCoy hasn't looked the same without him) and if we lose anyone else we're in trouble up front. Eric Wright has been OK but really hasn't justified his salary yet. The likes of Biggers and Lewis would not be getting meaningful play time on any other teams.

Used to be our Defense carrying our offense. Now it's the other way around. Hopefully the coaches know what they're doing and we'll be able to add talent on that side of the ball.

I really worry for games against the likes of Brees and Manning this season (both of whom we still have to play). I don't see how we're going to stop them.

Leslie91

Love your rookie LB David, what a player he is.

DDC1990

Bucs have a tough schedule with:
Panthers
Falcons (x2)
Saints
Eagles
Broncos
Rams

Beat the Falcons twice and we have a chance of the Division.

Realistically though, we should look for a 5-2 finish (losses to the Broncos and Falcons in the first game), and hope that gets us to the playoffs.

I think we should beat the Panthers, Rams, Eagles (they are looking at next year). Then the Saints away and the Falcons game in Week 17 are possibles. Only 1 score down on the Saints last time, and some tight calls (which proved correct) on the Williams No-TD, cost us. As for the Falcons, they should have HFA wrapped up by then, so we could get their backups out, in which case, thats a very winable situation.

Broncos and Falcons(first game) will be very tough indeed. We seem to do well against dodgy QB's (Cam, Quinn, Ponder, Palmer, Rivers). The real QB's like Eli and Brees found us out. I think Manning (the elder) and Matt Ryan are real big time QB's and they could rip us a new one in the secondary.

I have us at 8-6 with 2 possibles. 10-6 we have a great shot at the playoffs. 8-8 is still a massive improvement on last year, and we have a year to improve the secondary, and go right back at it. Anything less then 8-8 will be disappointing at this stage, but still obviously a massive improvement. some exciting weeks ahead!

jester1980

Great time over at the game a few weeks back against San Diego, great game wo watch. Was lovely day and was buckled as well.

Big game this week after that narrow loss last week. Cant see our defence doing too well against Manning but ill hope anyway.

DDC1990

With the Saints losing, the Vikings playing the Pack and Seattle playing Chicago, this could be a huge week for us.

An unlikely win, could set us right up for a playoff place. A loss wouldn't be a disaster, but it would let the likes of the Cowboy/Redskins back in the playoff race again.

Manning, however will destroy the secondary I fear, and we could be looking at our first big loss of the year.

We've been within one drive of winning every game we have lost this year! Its a killer, and shows the tight margins between being an 11-0 team and a 6-5 team.

Still I'm happy with Schiano and the new players brought in this year. Slightly disappointed with Barron, but he's playing in quite a skilled position, and will learn it soon.

It'll be a disaster whenever Ronde retires. Still our main man on D.

jester1980

The longest running trade saga looks finally have come to an end, im over the moon. No one in the draft better than him so and we need a cb to go striaght into the team.

Im hearing our first pick this year and 3rd and 5th next, be interesting to see the exact details.

The worst pass defence has significantly been improved with Revis and Goldson.

Paully D

jester1980 wrote: »

The longest running trade saga looks finally have come to an end, im over the moon. No one in the draft better than him so and we need a cb to go striaght into the team.

Im hearing our first pick this year and 3rd and 5th next, be interesting to see the exact details.

The worst pass defence has significantly been improved with Revis and Goldson.

32nd to around top 10 next season now IMO.

phatkev

Revis agents just agreed terms with the bucs

jester1980

Great Job done by Dominick, he's robbed the jets.

The deal is our 1st this year and 4th next year moving to a 3rd if revis still with the team on day 3 of the season.

Also no money guaranteed on contract so if he gets injured we walk away.

Super business.

pepperfoot

honestly. the buks are not that great of a team. in the past few years they have been very bad. just saying it like it is. they need to make serious changes to be a good NFL team

jester1980

ha ha what a random posting.

DDC1990

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000167947/article/ronde-barber-to-retire-from-tampa-bay-buccaneers

Ronde retiring.

Surely a future HOF candidate.

Will miss him on the field.

jester1980

New 6 year contract for Williams, happy for the lad as he did well last season, very close to hitting the 1000 Yard mark..

irishbucsfan

Our offense is looking really healthy.

At quarterback Freeman is in a contract year, so if he's going to deliver on his potential it'll be now. He needs to attract interest and Glennon is breathing down his neck. I have a feeling he'll play we'll and he'll be franchised next season. When you consider he is still just 25 years old hes a valuable asset if he can get stay focused.

Obviously this is all dependent on guys like Nicks, Joseph and Penn staying fit up front. If they do and we see guys like Zuttah and Dotson continue to improve we'll be hard to stop.

At running back things are looking a bit crazy now. Doug Martin is looking like he could be a top 5 back on the league, behind him we now have Leonard who is a good 3rd down guy. He'll be mixing it up with Hillis perhaps, while Hillis also might mix it up with Lorig. Hillis is a head case but he has looked exceptional when in that kind of pairing (with Felix Jones and Darren McFadden) in the past. I still love Lorig though and I expect him to be in most of the time clearing holes for Martin on 1st downs and staying in there with Hillis coming in for longer yardage situations on 2nd/3rd down. By all accounts Mike James has people excited as well.

The receivers is an area I think we could improve. However saying that if Williams, Jackson, Ogletree and Underwood are all playing to their potential at the same time then I think we'll be very dangerous through the air. If Underwood and Ogletree can cause issues with deep balls then they will create a lot of room for our running backs as well which will be great.

The big weakness on offense is still TE in my opinion. Stocker is a solid player but if we had a truly great athletic tight end causing opposition linebackers headaches then it would give Freeman easier options and more importantly it would create space again for the running game. That is somewhere i hope we see them improve our talent. We're working out Shiancoe currently but I'm hoping they bring in someone better in the near future.

jester1980

yeah i agree, very excited on what our offence will do in its second year under these coaches. If we can keep players fit i say we will have a great year. I've always been a fan of Freeman so hoping he cuts down those interceptions this year. No idea how good this Glennon kid is, didnt see too much of him last year.

Excited about seeing how good our defence will be this year with the additions we've made. A seconday with 3 changes.

Agree about TE, i reckon we could traget a decent TE early in the draft next year.

OH and just to gloat i bought tickets for Miami game on Monday night football and Atlanta at home a week later in November. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GO BUCCCCCCCCSSSS

irishbucsfan

* Carlton Mitchell just blew past Revis along sideline. Had to double check it wasn’t Myron.

That's a story for the grand kids for camp meat.

DDC1990

Woo Football!

Only preseason, but would like to see a decent showing here vs Ravens.

Go Bucs!

Itssoeasy

DDC1990 wrote: »

Woo Football!

Only preseason, but would like to see a decent showing here vs Ravens.

Go Bucs!

It's mad that i'm happy to see the games live on the gamepass app. It was a long off-season.

DDC1990

A Sack from David and INT from Gorrer.

Nice start from the D (after giving up some easy yards early).

The Offence looked poor. Martin was a half step too late and Freeman seemed to hold on forever on the sack.

Thank god its just Preseason.

DDC1990

Amazing Catch from VJax.

Under review, but should be confirmed. Looked like he kept both feet in.

EDIT: Or not, he had both feet inbounds, but he hadn't posession when he had the first foot in. Tough call, but correct.

DDC1990

Also, Barth is gone for the season! When did this happen. Completely missed this!

We signed Tynes :P

DDC1990

Mike Glennon's first play in the NFL.

61 yard pass. No biggie :P

He's so unorthodox looking, but he gets things done evidently.

Don't think he'll beat Freeman out, but looking at his first play he might be a decent backup.

He'll never be able to handoff to Martin, no way he'll reach him!

irishbucsfan

DDC1990 wrote: »

Also, Barth is gone for the season! When did this happen. Completely missed this!

We signed Tynes :P

Did his knee playing basketball