2-Point Conversion: Bad Offense, Clock Management Dooms Bucs
The Bucs had 11 possessions in regulation and went three-and-out on six of them. Overtime wasn’t much better. Tampa Bay generated 18 yards on eight plays on one drive and 16 yards on five plays on its final drive.
I’ve already called for Leftwich to be fired a couple of time earlier in the season, and if it was going to happen this year, it would’ve happened either after the loss to the Ravens on Thursday night or during the bye week. Instead, the Bucs have stuck with him.
Remember, Bowles and Leftwich had the entire bye week to self-scout and prepare for the Browns. And all the team could muster was 17 points in essentially five quarters of play.
“We just didn’t score enough points,” Brady said. “Seventeen points isn’t gonna do it, and that’s basically what we’ve been doing all year. It’s like the same thing, you know? Had a chance. Give them a lot of credit. They made some real clutch plays. Fourth down completion for the touchdown was a great play. We had our chances, but we just didn’t make the plays and they did.”
STATEMENT 2: These Bucs Are Completely Beatable
If the Bucs somehow win the NFC South and earn an automatic playoff berth, they’ll likely be DOA (dead on arrival) in the postseason. The Bucs are now 5-6 after a putrid loss to a beatable Browns team. Tampa Bay has just one or two impressive wins this season and several unfathomable losses to go with them.
Of the Bucs’ five wins this year, one was an opening day victory against a very good Dallas team, one was against a fading Seahawks squad and then the other three came against teams with sub-.500 records. If today’s Bucs team played today’s Cowboys team 10 times, the Bucs would be lucky to win or two of those games.
Bucs Wins In 2022
Cowboys – 8-3
Saints – 4-8
Falcons – 5-7
Rams – 3-8
Seahawks – 6-5
Composite Record: 26-31 (.456)
Bucs Losses In 2022
Packers – 4-8
Chiefs – 9-2
Steelers – 3-7
Panthers – 4-8
Ravens – 7-4
Browns – 4-7
Composite Record: 31-36 (.462)
This is a Bucs team that is so inconsistent week to win and is going nowhere fast. With a chance to go on a three-game winning streak with a victory over the Browns coming off their bye week, Tampa Bay squandered that chance in Cleveland.
If the Bucs can’t generate more than 17 points per game (they’re averaging 18.2 points per game, which ranks 27th in the league), they’re just not going to beat better teams in the playoffs – even with Brady at the helm.
Right now, the Bucs just cannot reliably beat teams with worse records and weaker rosters. That’s the criteria of a bad football team.
