Tampa Bay Buccaneers humbled in narrow win over Giants

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers underestimated the Giants and nearly paid the price for it.

Rule No. 1 in the NFL is to never underestimate an opponent regardless of their record. The latest example is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Though they pulled off a 25-23 win over the now 1-7 New York Giants, it was anything but pretty. I

n fact, it was a game that has given Tampa Bay a sincere wake-up call. The Bucs are still in first place in the NFC South heading into a crucial divisional showdown at home against the reigning division champs, the New Orleans Saints

Tom Brady seemed to have the ghosts of Super Bowls past lurking in his face as he turned in a performance in the first half that was, without a doubt, far from what he has been producing over the last few weeks. As for the Tampa Bay defense, a number of penalties hurt them early on.

However, both sides managed to recover and, thus, they left MetLife Stadium with a victory. Brady did connect with Rob Gronkowski for their 93rd touchdown, which moves them past the Steve Young-Jerry Rice duo for the second-most in NFL history. A bright spot in a rough victory.

Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, meanwhile, looked like a star in the first half before he reverted back to his old self in the second half. Big Blue’s defense looked like they were the team that was in control early, a fact that had Todd Bowles disappointed with given how talented his defense is. Nonetheless, Tampa’s defense forced two picks and eventually held their ground on a two-point conversion attempt to win.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need to learn from this or they’ll get caught.

The NFC is loaded with talent and teams with high records. Seattle is riding high with the best record and New Orleans is not far behind. If Tampa wants to win this division, they need to wake up.

Yes, Antonio Brown is coming but, given his issues off the field, how long he stays on the roster is in question. Furthermore, with Chris Godwin looking to be out for a period of time, it puts greater pressure on the Tampa Bay offense.

There were a number of calls in the game that Tampa benefitted from else this game would have taken a different turn. In other words, the Bucs were lucky to survive in this game.

I told people that Tom Brady had to be concerned about the Giants regardless of record and I was ridiculed. I rest my case. They overlooked Big Blue and they nearly paid the price. Hopefully, they won’t make the same mistake again, for their sake.