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? Week One: Bucs (0-0) @ Saints (0-0)

bucsfan333

By bucsfan333
in Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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haveyoumetdustin

haveyoumetdustin

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Some ramblings from week 1..
 
A lot of encouraging takeaways from week 1, but still some concerns with the defense after giving up 40 points and the game coming down to a 'last person with the ball wins' contest. There are some silver linings still with the defense though..
 
The defensive line did put some more pressure on Brees even if the stats don't show it. The Saints do have an elite offensive line with Ramczyk and Armstead as bookends and Warford and Unger on the inside so it was a tough first matchup to begin with. We're talking about a line that only gave up 20 sacks all of last year, good for 2nd in the league while also leading a top 5 running game. To hold them to under 50 yards total rushing, even in a shootout with limited carries, is a positive sign for our line.
 
Vea will be a huge addition for the line going forward and helping to generate more pressure. Right now, the offensive line can focus on JPP/Curry/McCoy and not have to worry about that 4th defender on the inside.. Vea will command attention when he returns. The defensive line is much like the offensive line, it takes time together to build chemistry and work off one another.
 
That said.. Alvin Kamara destroyed us. I see him as an elite talent though and it makes it a bit easier to swallow, especially with how the Saints play in the dome. Same with Michael Thomas. He beat Carlton Davis quite a bit but going up against a top 5 WR, with a top 5 QB, who have one of the biggest home field advantages, your first game as a pro.. if anyone ever deserved a pass on the stats he gave up it's Davis this week.
 
I believe the return of Beckwith will be big for this defense too. The first drive when Kamara beat Alexander to the whole on 3rd & 2 and then trucked him.. a better LB could shoot that gap for a stop and force a FG. The way Beckwith was playing last year I believe he could be that type of LB to make that play.
Getting Grimes back in the game too will be big. Ryan Smith continues to show he's one of our worst rotational players on D and the downgrade to him getting major playtime when our top CB is out is huge. Those three key defensive starters we had out could have made the difference for a couple TDs.
 
The offense.. not enough can be said of how they played. The offensive line looked much improved and didn't allow a single sack on Fitzpatrick. They were huge in giving him time and letting the big plays develop down the field. Opened up some nice lanes for Barber too. There's going to be some big runs to the left with Donovan/Marpet/Jensen clearing the way. Ryan Jensen's demeanor out there jumped out, he's a tough SOB that doesn't take **** and backs up his teammates. I like to compare the addition of Jensen to the addition of Alex Mack to the Falcon's line a couple years back.. that addition, along with Shannan's offense, led the Falcons to explode to a record-setting offense. I think we showed that same kind of potential yesterday with our new look line & play caller.
 
The preseason hype with Chris Godwin and OJ Howard seems warranted. Godwin had that spectacular one handed catch and a big TD grab against TIGHT coverage on a 3rd down. OJ made a couple of big catches and his blocking seems improved. The amount of weapons on offense is outstanding so they're limited in targets, but I have full confidence we're going to see some big games from those two this year. Their presence will be huge for the offense as it's going to be tough to dedicate two guys to Mike/DeSean having to worry about the young guys too.
 
Also shootout to Adam Humphries and that catch and run before the end of the half. The penalty was warranted and did help spring him, but impressive play nonetheless. Good to see Big Play Hump carry over to the regular season.
 
A bit nit-picky since we did have a record-setting offensive day for the franchise.. but I think we'd all like to see what RoJo and Watson could do out there. It's disappointing that Jones can't even get on the gameday roster, especially after hyping him up so much with a post-draft analysis, but I get it with Jacquizz being a safer bet as a #2 back and Shaun Wilson adding more special teams value. Maybe it was intended as a wakeup call for him for motivation so we'll see how he responds. Eventually we need to just throw him into the fire in a real game with the first team and see how he performs. He's too explosive of a player and showed way too much on film in college for me to be down on him until then. Justin Watson also looked nice in preseason and I would've liked to see him out there over Martino, but either way we wouldn't have seen much of him.
 
All in all, to walk into the dome and beat the Saint's on their home opener is huge, particularly for our confidence level going forward. Three elite talents got the best of our defense but they did just enough to get the W. There's a long season ahead of us but it's hard not to be excited for it after that showing.
 
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