Here are some thoughts on the
Bucs’ first victory of the season: a 20-14 win over the Panthers in Charlotte.
It is amazing what Todd Bowles has
done with this defense in just two games.
Take Mike Smith’s swiss-cheese defense, and flip it 180 degrees. Bowles’ unit kept the Panthers out of the end
zone, and has only allowed one offensive touchdown in eight quarters. After Carolina, not surprisingly, marched
down the field for a final drive, Vernon Hargreaves made the play that everyone’s
still buzzing about, stopping Christian McCaffrey at the two-yard line with
less than 90 seconds to play. It was a
night where the Bucs stifled McCaffrey all the way around.
Another star was Shaquil
Barrett. He’s another new face on defense,
and he sacked Cam Newton three times.
The Buccaneers gave up some long
plays in this one, but tightened up in the red zone. I remember Tony Dungy’s teams winning a lot
of games like this. I’m just throwing
that out there.
On offense, Jameis Winston did
not turn the ball over. That is huge. Everyone (including me) rips him when he
screws up, so it is only fair that I praise him when he has a good game. His stats may not jump out at you, but again,
no turnovers.
Chris Godwin is a beast: 121
yards and a TD. He, not Mike Evans, is
the Bucs’ leading receiver after two games.
Peyton Barber churned out 82
tough yards on the ground, and scored a touchdown. He had to work for every one of those yards
against a tough Carolina defense.
This was not a perfect game by any
means. There were way too many penalties
again (p.s. – someone tell Bruce Arians and Bowles that you can’t call back-to-back
timeouts.) Going 2-for-12 on third down
isn’t going to cut it, either. But at
the end of a late night, the Bucs beat a division opponent on the road. That is huge.
Photo courtesy: Associated Press