Buccaneers seem lost in loss to Texans

The Buccaneers were blown out by the Houston Texans, 37-9.

I'm actually glad that this game was not televised, because the pathetic performance by the Bucs was in no way worth watching. I have serious respect for any fan that stuck around until the end, or even after halftime as the above photo shows. Granted, there probably weren't very many people there at the start of the game anyway. But if Tampa Bay wants to draw more patrons to the gates, then their horrid display today was not a good step in doing so.

The first play from scrimmage was indicative of how the day would go, as Texans got an 80-yard TD pass on a play action bootleg. The whole rest of the day, QB Matt Schaub had wide-open WRs who proceeded to break numerous arm tackles en route to a big gain, and RBs Arian Foster, Ben Tate and even Derrick Ward had wide-open running lanes and also proceded to break numerous arm tackles en route to a big gain. The defensive line could not clog the gaps and could not put pressure on Schaub, while the linebackers and defensive backs could not simply cover a man or even tackle him when he made a catch. An lone early bright spot, an interception by Aqib Talib, was of course overturned. Even without WR Andre Johnson, the Texans' O had their way with the Bucs' D.

And as good as the Texans' offense is, their defense is even better, and it showed. The Bucs' wide receivers just could not get open down field, and when they were open it seemed as if the balls were either dropped (Mike Williams) or called back due to penalties (Kellen Winslow). Josh Freeman wasn't much of a help either, as he threw 3 interceptions (although a few were tipped and goes back to the WRs dropping passes) and repeatedly threw to his checkdown man a yard down the field on 3rd-and-long situations, which predictably didn't work. Part of it may be the receivers not getting open, part of it may be Greg Olsen's playcalling, and part of it may be Freeman's decision making. But whoever is to blame, this offense and this team as a whole are just awful right now.

As a fan of the Florida Gators, I see so many parallels between the two teams. Poor tackling, poor discipline, poor starts to games, poor coaching. Each team has a decent runing game that it is forced to abandon because the team gets down big early, making the teams one dimensional. The similarities even go down to the team MVPs - the kickers, as UF's Caleb Sturgis (K) and Tampa Bay's Connor Barth (K) and Michael Koenen (P) have each had probably the best season so far relative to their teammates.

The biggest concern with the Bucs (and Gators) that I have is the lack of development. They have not improved throughout the course of the season or even compared to last year, and in some ways have even regressed. That falls on the coaching staff; whatever they are doing in practice just isn't working.  Despite such promise at the start of the year, the seats of Raheem Morris and especially Greg Olsen are starting to warm up. Things may only get worse against the Buccaneers' next opponent: the undefeated and Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers.