Another blackout, another black eye

The Buccaneers lost to the Carolina Panthers, 38-19.

On a day where Tampa Bay donned the creamsicle jerseys and the Bucco Bruce helmets, and honored Jimmie Giles in his induction into the pantheon of Buccaneer greats, the modern Bucs played like the inagural team that went winless in those same uniforms back in the 70s.

There are so many problems with this team that to devote an entire blog post to discussing them would be quite time consuming. However, doing so would be pointless, as the same problems that hurt the Bucs today are the same problems that hurt them last week, that hurt them early this season, that have hurt them for the past three years. It was three years ago that the 2008 Buccaneers headed to Carolina for a showdown on Monday Night Football, where they were trounced by a relentless Panthers rushing attack. That team would lose the rest of their games to somehow miss the playoffs, spelling the end of an era of dominant Tampa Bay defenses and ushering in a new era of porous ones. Since that game in Carolina, the Buccaneers have a record of 17-30, with ten of those wins coming in last year's apparent fluke of a season that was helped by an easy schedule.

Today, three years later, the Bucs still cannot stop the Carolina Panthers, a team that was only 3-8 entering the game but managed to blow out the boys in orange.

Don't blame Josh Johnson for the loss. He played well considering the circumstances, throwing for 16 of 27 passes for 229 yards, one touchdown and one interception, plus a team-high 45 yards rushing. Johnson is no slouch, and he will be a hot comodity in free agency this offseason.

Unfortunately, Johnson was one of the few bright spots of the game. The others were K Connor Barth,
who nailed field goals of 50, 47, 46 and 44 yards, and DE Da'Quan Bowers, who finished with eight tackles, 1.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, two quarterback pressures and one pass defensed. Bowers looks to be finally reaching his potential with increased playing time due to Michael Bennett's injury, and Bennett may not have a starting spot when he return from injury.

Besides that, everyone else was pretty much their usual bad selves. Missed tackles, poor reads, bad footwork and positioning, ad stupid penalties ruled the day once again. While it is up to players to actually get on the field and execute, the coaches need to show them how and work with them to improve, something that has seemed to be absent from this Buccaneers team. It's never a good sign when young talent fails to improve or even regresses over the course of the season, which seems to apply to just about every player. Forget Raheem Morris and Greg Olsen; the entire Bucs coaching staff's collective seats are starting to sizzle. And don't overlook the roles of GM Mark Dominik and the Glazers in this pitiful season. Dominik was heralded as a genius for putting together last year's overacheiving squad, but this year he looks like a fool for giving Quincy Black a massive, undeserved contract and signing only Michael Koenen in free agency. And the Glazers have done little to nothing to ameliorate the growing tension between the team and the Bucs faithful.