Preseason Games
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Yep, they suck, but it's football.
Bucs vs. Patriots(W, 1-0) 13-10
(Nice mini-opener to the season with a solid win over the Patriots at home. Brady didn't play long of course, but he did rather well against our defense, still, we contained him somewhat. The Buc's star of the game was most definitely Luke McCown, who is competing for a chance at the starting quaterback job, and he proved it, going a perfect 7-7 in passes and a TD. Another guy I was keeping an eye on was Kenneth Darby, our draftee out of Alabama. He had 84 YDs on the night, not bad at all. Matt Bryant hit a last second FG to win it for the Bucs, and now we head onto Jacksonville for next week.)
Bucs @ Jaguars(L, 1-1) 31-19
(A promising start to the game was quickly derailed by a couple of bad turnovers, one deep in Jags territory. I liked the offense today, Garcia put all doubts behind him when he went perfect for the game. McCown and Grad also had some great nights as well. Not much from the rushing department, no real standouts there. And the special teams game was rather bad, apart from Bidwell's 70+ punt. It wasn't a bad game, but got out of hand for the Bucs before too long even though they had an early lead, but couldn't hold it. Both of their two-point conversions failed, which wasn't good. But we'll do better next week, I am sure, still a good outing for the Preseason, most definitely.)
Bucs @ Dolphins(W, 2-1) 31-28
(Pretty wild game for the Preseason, somewhat exciting even! Lot of total offense for both teams, and a really run-and-gun style of game. It was back and forth all night, but the star for the Bucs came through in Grad. He tossed for 2 scores and had a couple of nice passes. The running game was not too solid tonight, but the Bucs made up for it with a nice special teams and passing game. My two favorite teams, happy it's not happening in the regular season! Other than that, the Bucs and even the Dolphins probably got what they wanted out of their offenses from this game, but they went back to the drawing board with some of their defensive schemes. Only one more Preseason game, then it's the real thing!)
Bucs vs. Texans(W, 3-1) 31-24
(Another close, exciting Preseason game played and won by the Bucs! McCown had a tremendous game throwing for three scores and a couple hundred yards, very nice performance by him. The Defense wasn't all that good but was when it had to be late in the game. Warren did wonderful, having a breakout preseason game but late in the game dislocated his ankle and will miss the entire season, sucks. The running game didn't do all that well, it was all about passing in this game. And the Bucs look to be tuned up and ready for the Regular season, and I am too!)
Regular Season Games
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Bucs @ Seahawks(L, 0-1) 20-6
(What can you say about this one, for the 2nd straight year the Bucs can't score an offensive touchdown in their opening game of the season. Things started bright in the 1st quarter, everyone was playing well, and we had two deep drives, but only got a FG from each of them. Then it started to unravel and just become a lesson in patience. Garcia got injured, but then came back, so that was good news. The running game didn't do particularly well, not establishing themselves on the 'Hawks after getting ahead, and things have been compounded with Caddy's injury, as well as Brian Kelly's absence because of an injury. Hopefully next week Caddy can come back, we'll need him in our home opener against a divisional rival, a key game this early in the season. Good luck, Bucs, we can get past this one!)
Bucs vs. Saints(W, 1-1) 31-14
(What a way to start the home and divisional slate, with a huge statement win! The Bucs looked unstoppable today, I don't think any team could have stopped them the way they played today, it would be wonderful if they could keep this kind of success up! The Defense got after the Saints today, forcing a couple of fumbles, interceptions, and hard hits that completely knocked out New Orleans. Garcia had a huge break-out game, throwing quite a few TDs to Galloway, and the Bucs just kept moving the ball quite well today. They were up early and often, and really could not be stopped, hopefully Tampa will keep playing like this. Wonderful win by Tampa, I look forward to another good game next week! 1st in the South already, YES!)
Bucs vs. Rams(W, 2-1) 24-3
(Now that was a complete show of force right there. The Bucs defense manhandled the offense of the Rams all day long, getting after them, forcing three picks and a bunch of stops. They definitely did their part. Garcia looked great once again, finding all of his recievers, and the ground game was brusing all day long with an assortment of runners gaining chunks every which-a-way. This was essentially a perfect game, the only way I could really see it getting better is if we didn't allow that field goal. But the margin doesn't matter, as long as we win. Go Bucs!)
Bucs @ Panthers(W, 3-1) 20-7
(What a huge statement by the Bucs of Tampa Bay! They have proved that they are out for blood this season after a lackluster season a year ago and the Panthers were the big victim this week. This was basically an ownage. Carolina got their only score in garbage time at the end of the game, and Garcia had a magnificent day. Caddy got injured early on, so hopefully his status improves in the coming week. But Graham and Pittman did great, heck the whole Bucs offense did great today. The defense forced a fumble and picked Carr, and the special teams were wonderful. Especially Mark Jones with a variety of good punt returns today. Oh, and Tampa only had ne penalty today! A piddly delay of game to boot! They need to continue not having many penalties, that always helps in crunch time. Bucs with a total team win, which I like to see. Early South lead for us, we just need to keep it up now!)
Bucs @ Colts(L, 3-2) 33-14
(Even with a ton of Indy starters out because of injury their backups and Manning stilkl got it down against us in a big, big way. They led from their opening drive and we had to rally then, the cloest we got was 13-7 after leading a 2nd quarter touchdown drive but then we left enough time for the Colts potent offense to get a FG before Half. We came out lazy in the next half, and just fell behind too much to come back. Gaines Adamsn and Greg White got hurt at the Line positions, but Adams did come back and play. The bigger news was the loss of Michael Pitman to the dreaded ankle sprain, so we'll have to see for him. Looks like we may have to use a tandem of Earnest Graham and our rookie from 'Bama Kenneth Darby. Anyways, bad game, but still lead the South, go Bucs!)
Bucs vs. Titans(W, 4-2) 13-10
(Wow what a fun game to watch and just be a part of! The closest Bucs game this season, and it was a win, not bad at all! Both teams came to play defensively early, we went into the half up 3-0 thanks to great defense, and the Titans weren't that bad either. Early in the 3rd quarter Galloway went deep and Garcia found him with a 69 YD strike for a 10-3 lead, from their the Titans got some things done after Vince was injured and Collins stepped in, and did quite well as he did. They tied it up very late, but left just over a minute for the Bucs to move all the way down the field and attempt a last second FG which Matt Bryant made perfectly and from their we closed things out. What a great win for the Bucs, but it didn't come without another price, the loss of Alex Smith, our main TE, for a length of time with an injured ankle. But, we can overcome, anyway, go Bucs!)
Bucs @ Lions(L, 4-3) 23-16
(Not a well executed game by the Bucs today, deplorable turnovers deep into two drives really destroyed our chances to win. We moved the ball quite well, it was merely our mistakes that stopped us from taking this game. Garcia was very good passing the ball, his best game this year. However, he fumbled the ball a couple of times which stopped us from winning this game. It was a tough game because of the mistakes that prevented us from winning, Detroit took advantage of our mistakes, they played a good game to win here today. We need to come back next week and see what we can do for a 2 game home stretch before our Bye week, it'd be nice to be 6-3 going into the Bye, so let's get it done, Bucs!)
Bucs vs. Jaguars(L, 4-4) 24-23
(Gah, just an upsetting game period, but oh well. Back and forth action all day long, we were down early 17-3 but just fought back hard to retake the lead, the difference in this game were definitely the turnovers. The Bucs had three of them and the Jags had none. It was disappointing, but the offense did great, the defense did good. Everyone was really good. Some of it were dumb penalties on us, some of it were the turnovers. But at the end of the day we've just got to execute beter, we've got to come back next week and show something good if we can. Go Bucs, we're still in the thick of the South race!)
Bucs vs. Cardinals(W, 5-4) 17-10
(This is how you go into a bye week! The Bucs take care of business at home against the Cards and their high-powered offense. We completely stopped Edge, holding him well in check and holding the passing game down from there. The Bucs opened strong on their first drive, moving things back for a touchdown from Garcia to Galloway. From there the Bucs just played a good game and stoned Arizona before wrapping things up nicely. Leading the South at the Bye week, YES! Just have to keep things up, rest up Bucs, we just need to keep things up!)
Bucs Bye Week
(Got to get rested up and healthier, nice week to have a Bye in.)
Bucs @ Falcons(W, 6-4) 31-7
(What a crushing performance by Tampa Bay! Lots of forced turnovers, one recovered fumble for a score by Ronde Barber to start the rout. We scored big-time points in this game, and hopefully that will keep the offense rolling heading further into our season as we try to compete for a third NFC South title, which would be the most since its inception into divisional realignment. Our defense also did an outstanding job on the Falcons, allowing them to only score well after the game was decided at the very end. Michael Pittman also came back from that sprained ankle he suffered against Indy a couple weeks back, which is great. Good win Bucs, keep it up!)
Bucs vs. Redskins(W, 7-4) 19-13
(Our third straight win in a row comes in a very, very close game against the 'Skins. Garcia got injured early, so we had to use Grad instead because of it. We got 4 early fumble recoveries and 6 turnovers in all but barely held on thanks to our defense in the 2nd Half that came up great in a late situation by Brian Kelly picking off a pass in the end zone as the 'Skins tried to take the lead. We didn't even have a first down in the 2nd half, which is a testament to how good our defense really did play being out there most of the time. But we won, and that is all that matters, we have a huge game with the 'Aints coming up next week, so we have to get healthy for that. Hopefully Garcia and Pittman will be back.)
Bucs @ Saints(W, 8-4) 27-23
(What a huge win for this Bucs squad?! Basically clinched the NFC South title, and in such a back-and-forth tough game on the road. That's why this squad has such resilency, they can come back, the lead changed 6 times and we just stuck in there fine. A beautiful job by McCown in a spot start for the injured Garcia, he's got a good future in a Buc's uni if we can keep him. Almost passed the Bucs record for consecutive completions. Earnest Graham ran well, over 100 yards for him and he had some big runs. Galloway had big plays against the 'Aints secondary, as he usually does. And the Bucs capitalized on a late turnover to turn back New Orleans. What a good win on the road that was, I'm ready for next week already!)
Bucs @ Texans(L, 8-5) 28-14
(Well, a bad game by us all-around, where to begin? No consistent running game going because we just couldn't block or hit holes at all. McCown played decent, but couldn't ever make the huge play we needed. We turned the ball over too much which led to a pair of Houston touchdowns. And we allowed a kickoff return touchdown as well. Other than that, we actually kept it fairly close considering how bad of a game we played, which is absolutely great news even in a loss. We've still almost clinched the division, so right now we needn't worry about all that. Garcia should be back next week to help us get that South title, which is wonderful news. Go Bucs!)
Bucs vs. Falcons(W, 9-5) 37-3
(Hmm, quite the way to win the division in front of the home faithful, eh? A complete pounding of the Falcons. Barber got his 9th career INT return for a TD, setting a new franchise record. The Bucs FINALLY returned their 1st ever kickoff for a TD in their franchise history which dates to '76 thanks to Michael Spurlock. Garcia returned and did pretty well. We only allowed 133 total yards on the day, and the Falcons had more turnovers than completions. A complete dominant performance, it feels good to be headed for the Playoffs and start at home. I can't wait, now we need to win the remaining two games of the season and get the 3rd seed if we can.)
Bucs @ 49ers(L, 9-6) 21-19
(An extremely close game against a solid team. Garcia left, whether rest of injury I know not of. McCown made a key mistake that probably cost us the game, but honestly this game was almost meaningless to the Bucs, we could've used it to get a #3 seed, but I'll settle with just making the Playoffs. This was a sloppy game though, so Tampa needs to focus on making their game more streamlined and better looking, otherwise we're going to be one-and-done in the Playoffs, which would not be very good at all. Good game 49ers, now to move onto the season finale at home against Carolina. A chance to go undefeated in the division.)
Bucs vs. Panthers(L, 9-7) 31-23
(Not much to say, congrats Carolina on barely beating our backups...)
Bucs vs. Giants(L, 0-1) 24-14
(Okay, didn't quite go as planned. The Bucs came out dominant in the first quarter and seemed to be cruising to an easy win, but to the Giants credit they came back and pretty much killed us for the rest of the game. Not a very good game from the Bucs standpoint, we had 3 turnovers, two of which were incredibly key to us winning. But, we had a great year, and made the Playoffs, we've just got to learn to win there again since our SB season. We'll be back next season, go Bucs!)
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