My Thoughts On The Game

[Techsass]

....look at it from a affirmative view. Both defenses have good Run-D. That says more about Dallas then Tampa. Considering we were dogs last year.. ..

But were we really playing great run D?
Fournette averaged 3.6ypc, but only had 9 carries.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3115364/leonard-fournette
Zeke averaged 3.0yds on runs & catches.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/ElliEz00.htm

Everybody seemed to think the other team's DBs were their weak spot.

 

[cityochamps]

1. Dak was great. He wasn't rusty. He didn't look injured. He impressed the heck out of me and I think the team is in great hands with him at QB.

2. The O-Line played MUCH better than expected without Martin.

3. Zeke was a non factor. I didn't expect to do much in the run game, but I expected more than what we did. He still looks slow and stuck in the mud, but hopefully that was more of the Bucs run D than our running game.

4. The defense was better, not great, but better. They held up great in the run game and was even able to force a few turnovers which was a great sight to see.

5. Micah looked like a rookie, but he's only going to get better. This was his first game game in a long time, so he's only going to get better as the season goes on.

6. We have the best WR group on the NFL. Cooper was just outstanding and showed that he is a top receiver in the league. Gallup played as expected. He made his catches when they came his way. CeeDee made the most mistakes but he still had a great game overall.

7. Diggs took Evans out of the game. Evans was nonexistent all game. I think we have a legit shut down corner with him.

8. Anthony Brown. My Goodness. He was by far the worst player on the field for either team. He gave up play after play and seemed like anytime the Bucs caught a big pass Brown was the guy that gave it up.

9. The refs. I can't be THAT upset with them. I thought it was an overall good called game. I hate that PI that didn't get called, but we also got some calls go our way that probably didn't have to be called. So it even out in the end, even though not all penalties are created equal.

10. The D-Line doesn't get enough pressure. Brady was getting rid of the ball quickly, but on the plays that he wasn't we didn't get enough pressure on him. That has got to improve and it might just be a product of the Bucs good O-Line.

11. Greg the Leg could be a problem. He can't be trusted. Yeah, he made the kick at the end, but that missed extra point and FG in the first half was the difference in a win and a loss. The FO should seriously be considering bringing in another kicker.

12. Kellen Moore. I thought for the most part the coaches had a good game plan. I HOPE Kellen Moore doesn't decide to throw the ball like that every game, but I believe all those pass plays was the result of not having much success with the run game rather than him just wanting to be pass happy. We'll see.

13. McCarthy. Please don't try and 60 yard field goal again with time left on the clock. That could have been bad. It wasn't, but it easily could have been. Be smarter.

Overall, I believe we showed that we can compete with the best in the league. It came down to the wire and we stood toe to toe with the champs. They had all 22 starters from the Super Bowl back and we gave them all they could handle. It was Week 1 with most of our guys playing no preseason at all. We're only going to get better from here. That game should give anyone optimism going forward. We have a lot to work with here and I see this, barring injury, being a great season for us.

Pretty good take.

 

[Praxit]

Zeke was a non-factor but saved Dak from getting sacked 4 to 5 times if not more?

..I agree, Zeke formed himself into a O lineman for most of the night. Superb blocking. Listening to Eric Dickerson, he commented on the few runs Zeke did make. He thinks Zeke is back to form. ..GO Dallas.. >>

 

[Creeper]

1. Dak was great. He wasn't rusty. He didn't look injured. He impressed the heck out of me and I think the team is in great hands with him at QB.

2. The O-Line played MUCH better than expected without Martin.

3. Zeke was a non factor. I didn't expect to do much in the run game, but I expected more than what we did. He still looks slow and stuck in the mud, but hopefully that was more of the Bucs run D than our running game.

4. The defense was better, not great, but better. They held up great in the run game and was even able to force a few turnovers which was a great sight to see.

5. Micah looked like a rookie, but he's only going to get better. This was his first game game in a long time, so he's only going to get better as the season goes on.

6. We have the best WR group on the NFL. Cooper was just outstanding and showed that he is a top receiver in the league. Gallup played as expected. He made his catches when they came his way. CeeDee made the most mistakes but he still had a great game overall.

7. Diggs took Evans out of the game. Evans was nonexistent all game. I think we have a legit shut down corner with him.

8. Anthony Brown. My Goodness. He was by far the worst player on the field for either team. He gave up play after play and seemed like anytime the Bucs caught a big pass Brown was the guy that gave it up.

9. The refs. I can't be THAT upset with them. I thought it was an overall good called game. I hate that PI that didn't get called, but we also got some calls go our way that probably didn't have to be called. So it even out in the end, even though not all penalties are created equal.

10. The D-Line doesn't get enough pressure. Brady was getting rid of the ball quickly, but on the plays that he wasn't we didn't get enough pressure on him. That has got to improve and it might just be a product of the Bucs good O-Line.

11. Greg the Leg could be a problem. He can't be trusted. Yeah, he made the kick at the end, but that missed extra point and FG in the first half was the difference in a win and a loss. The FO should seriously be considering bringing in another kicker.

12. Kellen Moore. I thought for the most part the coaches had a good game plan. I HOPE Kellen Moore doesn't decide to throw the ball like that every game, but I believe all those pass plays was the result of not having much success with the run game rather than him just wanting to be pass happy. We'll see.

13. McCarthy. Please don't try and 60 yard field goal again with time left on the clock. That could have been bad. It wasn't, but it easily could have been. Be smarter.

Overall, I believe we showed that we can compete with the best in the league. It came down to the wire and we stood toe to toe with the champs. They had all 22 starters from the Super Bowl back and we gave them all they could handle. It was Week 1 with most of our guys playing no preseason at all. We're only going to get better from here. That game should give anyone optimism going forward. We have a lot to work with here and I see this, barring injury, being a great season for us.

Good assessment.

I need to see a few more games before I declare Brown and serious problems.

But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how well the OL player, in particular I thought La'el Collins played much better than I expected him to. McGovern looked solid and I did not see him screw up too much. The weak links on the OL are still Williams and Biadasz.

At the same time, this game looked like the Cowboys in the first 4 games of last year. First drive dies by mistakes. Late comeback to take the lead is blown almost immediately. I mean Brady was throwing passes for 3 plays just to burn time off the clock after getting the ball back with less than a minute and a half and 1 timeout that they lost on a penalty shortly after getting the ball. The defense seems incapable of making a play late to end a drive.

 

[Techsass]

Good assessment.

I need to see a few more games before I declare Brown and serious problems.

But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how well the OL player, in particular I thought La'el Collins played much better than I expected him to. McGovern looked solid and I did not see him screw up too much. The weak links on the OL are still Williams and Biadasz.

At the same time, this game looked like the Cowboys in the first 4 games of last year. First drive dies by mistakes. Late comeback to take the lead is blown almost immediately. I mean Brady was throwing passes for 3 plays just to burn time off the clock after getting the ball back with less than a minute and a half and 1 timeout that they lost on a penalty shortly after getting the ball. The defense seems incapable of making a play late to end a drive.

The D played better than I expected, but I don't see the talking heads singing their praises anytime soon.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

1. Dak was great. He wasn't rusty. He didn't look injured. He impressed the heck out of me and I think the team is in great hands with him at QB.

2. The O-Line played MUCH better than expected without Martin.

3. Zeke was a non factor. I didn't expect to do much in the run game, but I expected more than what we did. He still looks slow and stuck in the mud, but hopefully that was more of the Bucs run D than our running game.

4. The defense was better, not great, but better. They held up great in the run game and was even able to force a few turnovers which was a great sight to see.

5. Micah looked like a rookie, but he's only going to get better. This was his first game game in a long time, so he's only going to get better as the season goes on.

6. We have the best WR group on the NFL. Cooper was just outstanding and showed that he is a top receiver in the league. Gallup played as expected. He made his catches when they came his way. CeeDee made the most mistakes but he still had a great game overall.

7. Diggs took Evans out of the game. Evans was nonexistent all game. I think we have a legit shut down corner with him.

8. Anthony Brown. My Goodness. He was by far the worst player on the field for either team. He gave up play after play and seemed like anytime the Bucs caught a big pass Brown was the guy that gave it up.

9. The refs. I can't be THAT upset with them. I thought it was an overall good called game. I hate that PI that didn't get called, but we also got some calls go our way that probably didn't have to be called. So it even out in the end, even though not all penalties are created equal.

10. The D-Line doesn't get enough pressure. Brady was getting rid of the ball quickly, but on the plays that he wasn't we didn't get enough pressure on him. That has got to improve and it might just be a product of the Bucs good O-Line.

11. Greg the Leg could be a problem. He can't be trusted. Yeah, he made the kick at the end, but that missed extra point and FG in the first half was the difference in a win and a loss. The FO should seriously be considering bringing in another kicker.

12. Kellen Moore. I thought for the most part the coaches had a good game plan. I HOPE Kellen Moore doesn't decide to throw the ball like that every game, but I believe all those pass plays was the result of not having much success with the run game rather than him just wanting to be pass happy. We'll see.

13. McCarthy. Please don't try and 60 yard field goal again with time left on the clock. That could have been bad. It wasn't, but it easily could have been. Be smarter.

Overall, I believe we showed that we can compete with the best in the league. It came down to the wire and we stood toe to toe with the champs. They had all 22 starters from the Super Bowl back and we gave them all they could handle. It was Week 1 with most of our guys playing no preseason at all. We're only going to get better from here. That game should give anyone optimism going forward. We have a lot to work with here and I see this, barring injury, being a great season for us.

Really great read, which is a surprise from things you have wrote in the past but i give credit even its due.

I can't disagree with much anything you said but i did like how Zeke played. I thought he looked faster than previous years and you're right he didn't get going running the ball because of game plan. However, i think his blocking was elite and help keep Dak clean to get the ball out. Zeke was punishing LBs trying to blitz and made key blocks at crucial moments.

I would like to add that Shultz should be the starting TE and play almost every snap. Jarwin can't block and is soft, missed a block that would have gave Zeke a walk in TD....... Schultz makes that block

 

[Creeper]

The D played better than I expected, but I don't see the talking heads singing their praises anytime soon.

The Bucs scored 31 points and gained over 400 yards. They applied very little pressure on Brady. I don't know how to assess the defense in this game. They got 4 turnovers, and didn't allow many yards rushing. But the Bucs managed to score 31 points despite the 4 turnovers and they didn't run the ball much so can we say the run defense is any better?

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

But were we really playing great run D?
Fournette averaged 3.6ypc, but only had 9 carries.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3115364/leonard-fournette
Zeke averaged 3.0yds on runs & catches.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/ElliEz00.htm

Everybody seemed to think the other team's DBs were their weak spot.

they had 6 screen passes to RBs, which is like a long hand off....it tends to loosen up the middle of the defense...

 

[StuckMojo]

they had 6 screen passes to RBs, which is like a long hand off....it tends to loosen up the middle of the defense...

Wish we could do that!

 

[Techsass]

they had 6 screen passes to RBs, which is like a long hand off....it tends to loosen up the middle of the defense...

Brady has never been afraid of being called a dink & dunk QB. Getting rid of the ball quick seems to work well for him.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Wish we could do that!

we did a few times and it worked and it was effective, but Moore got away from using it.....

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Brady has never been afraid of being called a dink & dunk QB. Getting rid of the ball quick seems to work well for him.

exactly.....he takes the big play when there, if not he makes a few yards and comes back the next play....

 

[StuckMojo]

Brady has never been afraid of being called a dink & dunk QB. Getting rid of the ball quick seems to work well for him.

He is incredible at hitting receiver in stride for the short passes turn into nice gains

 

[Cowpolk]

# 3 is hogwash Rest is close enough

 

[IceStar-D7]

1. Dak was great. He wasn't rusty. He didn't look injured. He impressed the heck out of me and I think the team is in great hands with him at QB.

2. The O-Line played MUCH better than expected without Martin.

3. Zeke was a non factor. I didn't expect to do much in the run game, but I expected more than what we did. He still looks slow and stuck in the mud, but hopefully that was more of the Bucs run D than our running game.

4. The defense was better, not great, but better. They held up great in the run game and was even able to force a few turnovers which was a great sight to see.

5. Micah looked like a rookie, but he's only going to get better. This was his first game game in a long time, so he's only going to get better as the season goes on.

6. We have the best WR group on the NFL. Cooper was just outstanding and showed that he is a top receiver in the league. Gallup played as expected. He made his catches when they came his way. CeeDee made the most mistakes but he still had a great game overall.

7. Diggs took Evans out of the game. Evans was nonexistent all game. I think we have a legit shut down corner with him.

8. Anthony Brown. My Goodness. He was by far the worst player on the field for either team. He gave up play after play and seemed like anytime the Bucs caught a big pass Brown was the guy that gave it up.

9. The refs. I can't be THAT upset with them. I thought it was an overall good called game. I hate that PI that didn't get called, but we also got some calls go our way that probably didn't have to be called. So it even out in the end, even though not all penalties are created equal.

10. The D-Line doesn't get enough pressure. Brady was getting rid of the ball quickly, but on the plays that he wasn't we didn't get enough pressure on him. That has got to improve and it might just be a product of the Bucs good O-Line.

11. Greg the Leg could be a problem. He can't be trusted. Yeah, he made the kick at the end, but that missed extra point and FG in the first half was the difference in a win and a loss. The FO should seriously be considering bringing in another kicker.

12. Kellen Moore. I thought for the most part the coaches had a good game plan. I HOPE Kellen Moore doesn't decide to throw the ball like that every game, but I believe all those pass plays was the result of not having much success with the run game rather than him just wanting to be pass happy. We'll see.

13. McCarthy. Please don't try and 60 yard field goal again with time left on the clock. That could have been bad. It wasn't, but it easily could have been. Be smarter.

Overall, I believe we showed that we can compete with the best in the league. It came down to the wire and we stood toe to toe with the champs. They had all 22 starters from the Super Bowl back and we gave them all they could handle. It was Week 1 with most of our guys playing no preseason at all. We're only going to get better from here. That game should give anyone optimism going forward. We have a lot to work with here and I see this, barring injury, being a great season for us.

Refs can kiss my arse. I had to deal with these cheating Aholes today in the Ohio State game. Two straight games one of my teams got HOSED by the refs.

 

[JoeKing]

1. Dak was great. He wasn't rusty. He didn't look injured. He impressed the heck out of me and I think the team is in great hands with him at QB.

Agree

2. The O-Line played MUCH better than expected without Martin.

Agree

3. Zeke was a non factor. I didn't expect to do much in the run game, but I expected more than what we did. He still looks slow and stuck in the mud, but hopefully that was more of the Bucs run D than our running game.

Zeke was invaluable at picking up the blitz. I wish you valued this instead of saying he was a non-factor.

4. The defense was better, not great, but better. They held up great in the run game and was even able to force a few turnovers which was a great sight to see.

Agree

5. Micah looked like a rookie, but he's only going to get better. This was his first game game in a long time, so he's only going to get better as the season goes on.

Agree

6. We have the best WR group on the NFL. Cooper was just outstanding and showed that he is a top receiver in the league. Gallup played as expected. He made his catches when they came his way. CeeDee made the most mistakes but he still had a great game overall.

We have a top-ranked WR group, maybe not the best. Amari was impressive, Gallup was very good. He'll be missed for a few games. CeeDee cost us dearly with a few of his drops. This has to be fixed going forward. Even Cedrick Wison had a good game.

7. Diggs took Evans out of the game. Evans was nonexistent all game. I think we have a legit shut down corner with him.

Diggs did well. I need to see more of this before making such a bold statement.

8. Anthony Brown. My Goodness. He was by far the worst player on the field for either team. He gave up play after play and seemed like anytime the Bucs caught a big pass Brown was the guy that gave it up.

Anthony Brown was given a hard assignment covering Antonio Brown. He's not the only CB that's going to fail that assignment this season. Give Antonio credit for being so good. Anthony will be coached up and improve from this experience. He's not yet too old for that.

9. The refs. I can't be THAT upset with them. I thought it was an overall good called game. I hate that PI that didn't get called, but we also got some calls go our way that probably didn't have to be called. So it even out in the end, even though not all penalties are created equal.

Agree. It's good to hear someone not complaining about something that goes both ways. It shows maturity to understand this.

10. The D-Line doesn't get enough pressure. Brady was getting rid of the ball quickly, but on the plays that he wasn't we didn't get enough pressure on him. That has got to improve and it might just be a product of the Bucs good O-Line.

The times Brady holds the ball just a little longer is because he can. The times he is getting the ball out so fast is because he had to. He did this a lot and so I think the D-line put lots of pressure on Brady. I think you have a good point about the Bucs good O-line, they have one of the better ones in the league. We'll fare much better on putting pressure on most other teams.

11. Greg the Leg could be a problem. He can't be trusted. Yeah, he made the kick at the end, but that missed extra point and FG in the first half was the difference in a win and a loss. The FO should seriously be considering bringing in another kicker.

Agree. That was unexceptable.

12. Kellen Moore. I thought for the most part the coaches had a good game plan. I HOPE Kellen Moore doesn't decide to throw the ball like that every game, but I believe all those pass plays was the result of not having much success with the run game rather than him just wanting to be pass happy. We'll see.

Agree

13. McCarthy. Please don't try and 60 yard field goal again with time left on the clock. That could have been bad. It wasn't, but it easily could have been. Be smarter.

Agree. McCarthy is still making questionable decisions. However, Greg Z of the past can make that kick. Maybe McCarthy was just trying to help Greg Z get his confidence back after missing that 31 yard FG and the PAT. No doubt, that decision backfired.

Overall, I believe we showed that we can compete with the best in the league. It came down to the wire and we stood toe to toe with the champs. They had all 22 starters from the Super Bowl back and we gave them all they could handle. It was Week 1 with most of our guys playing no preseason at all. We're only going to get better from here. That game should give anyone optimism going forward. We have a lot to work with here and I see this, barring injury, being a great season for us.

Agree 100%, overall this is a great post.

 

[McKDaddy]

Nice write up!!

I was planning to do a post of 5 things to dial back & 5 things to ramp up.

Since you covered most of them on some level, I will just make these comments.

Dial Back:
Talk of CD being best receiver on team. Disrepectful & disproven.
Parson being a 1 man wrecking crew right outta the gate. He got a taste of grown men with bad intentions in his first game.

Ramp Up:
Diggs is a dawg. His effort & grit alone make him worthy of being a fan favorite.
McGovern is one of your 5 best OL. He just is. He needs to be on the field.
Heat on coaching decisions. Long FG attempt with a kicker who had already missed chipshot & XP?, settling for FG, etc. Concerning last year .... starting off with more .... real concerning.

Zeke gave a selfless performance (again). He takes a heck of a beating in protection. Regardless anyone's thoughts about him in any other respect, he deserves big time appreciation for the dirty work.

 

[America's Cowboy]

1. Dak was great. He wasn't rusty. He didn't look injured. He impressed the heck out of me and I think the team is in great hands with him at QB.

2. The O-Line played MUCH better than expected without Martin.

3. Zeke was a non factor. I didn't expect to do much in the run game, but I expected more than what we did. He still looks slow and stuck in the mud, but hopefully that was more of the Bucs run D than our running game.

4. The defense was better, not great, but better. They held up great in the run game and was even able to force a few turnovers which was a great sight to see.

5. Micah looked like a rookie, but he's only going to get better. This was his first game game in a long time, so he's only going to get better as the season goes on.

6. We have the best WR group on the NFL. Cooper was just outstanding and showed that he is a top receiver in the league. Gallup played as expected. He made his catches when they came his way. CeeDee made the most mistakes but he still had a great game overall.

7. Diggs took Evans out of the game. Evans was nonexistent all game. I think we have a legit shut down corner with him.

8. Anthony Brown. My Goodness. He was by far the worst player on the field for either team. He gave up play after play and seemed like anytime the Bucs caught a big pass Brown was the guy that gave it up.

9. The refs. I can't be THAT upset with them. I thought it was an overall good called game. I hate that PI that didn't get called, but we also got some calls go our way that probably didn't have to be called. So it even out in the end, even though not all penalties are created equal.

10. The D-Line doesn't get enough pressure. Brady was getting rid of the ball quickly, but on the plays that he wasn't we didn't get enough pressure on him. That has got to improve and it might just be a product of the Bucs good O-Line.

11. Greg the Leg could be a problem. He can't be trusted. Yeah, he made the kick at the end, but that missed extra point and FG in the first half was the difference in a win and a loss. The FO should seriously be considering bringing in another kicker.

12. Kellen Moore. I thought for the most part the coaches had a good game plan. I HOPE Kellen Moore doesn't decide to throw the ball like that every game, but I believe all those pass plays was the result of not having much success with the run game rather than him just wanting to be pass happy. We'll see.

13. McCarthy. Please don't try and 60 yard field goal again with time left on the clock. That could have been bad. It wasn't, but it easily could have been. Be smarter.

Overall, I believe we showed that we can compete with the best in the league. It came down to the wire and we stood toe to toe with the champs. They had all 22 starters from the Super Bowl back and we gave them all they could handle. It was Week 1 with most of our guys playing no preseason at all. We're only going to get better from here. That game should give anyone optimism going forward. We have a lot to work with here and I see this, barring injury, being a great season for us.

Well said bro.

 

[adbutcher]

Zeke didn't show you anything? Wow just Wow.

 

[ghst187]

I’m afraid we keep having to say that “McCarthy be smarter” seems to be a recurring theme…