The Bucs offense wasn't very explosive, but they did enough to get the job done. Brad Johnson completed 20 of 34 passes for 213 yards and a 58.8% completion rate. He threw 2 touchdowns and had one interception while earning a quarterback rating of 84.56. Keenan McCardell was the Bucs leading receiver catching 6 passes for 85 yards. Charles Lee still looks like a very promising receiver catching 5 passes for 52 yards. Thomas Jones got the start at running back rushing for 89 yards on 20 carries. Jones has a good chance of starting this week against Houston. Jon Gruden is still trying to evaluate Jones and decide whether or not the Bucs will re-sign him next year. Jones is a powerful runner and if he continues to play well, he will be back next year. All 14 points that the Bucs scored in the game was scored in the last 2 minutes of the first half. The first touchdown came after an Aaron Brooks sack and fumble on the Saints' 37 yard line. The Bucs scored a few plays later on a 14 yard pass from Brad Johnson to TE Ken Dilger with only 1:25 left in the first half. The Bucs then forced the Saints to punt on the next series after making the Saints go three and out. The punt was blocked and Ronde Barber returned the ball all the way down to the Saints 1 yard line. On the Bucs next play Brad Johnson threw a one yard touchdown pass to Warren Sapp who made a great catch to give the Bucs a seven point lead with only 12 seconds left in the half. Martin Gramatica is really struggling to convert on field goals this year. He missed another easy chip shot from about 35 yards in a dome stadium. You can tell the team is starting to doubt his abilities as he struggles with his confidence. Gruden is still saying the right things about Gramatica and doesn't look like he's ready to give up on him at this point. If Gramatica continues to miss easy field goals, Gruden will become impatient and start looking to bring in some competition for him next year. The Bucs defense looked like the defense of last year for most of the game. Derrick Brooks led the team in tackles with 11 recorded, 1 sack and forced a fumble. The Bucs sacked Aaron Brooks 6 times. Simeon Rice accounted for 3 of those sacks to add to this year's league leading total of 15. The Bucs pressured Brooks all game long and forced him to fumble four times and recovered three of them. Every time the Saints were in scoring position the Bucs defense came up with a big turnover and kept the Saints out of the end zone in the second half. It was nice to see the defense show up big and dominate a team like we were accustomed to seeing last year. The Bucs are still mathematically alive in the playoff race, but it would take a lot of luck and the Bucs to win out for them to make the playoffs. Right now I think the Bucs need to concentrate on one game at a time and try to put together two consecutive wins for the first time this season. The Houston Texans come into Raymond James this weekend and let's face it, they're not that good. The Bucs should dominate this team easily, but this is still the NFL and on any given Sunday any team can win. Let's hope the Bucs prepare well and practice hard for this next contest. My prediction is Bucs 24, Houston 10. |
