Against the Los Angeles Rams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed in a loss that they have a couple of glaring issues to address.
They may be the defending Super Bowl champions, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have primary and secondary issues; ask the Los Angeles Rams.
Tom Brady and friends looked nothing like the team that entered the game on a ten-game winning streak, falling 34-24 to Matthew Stafford and co. ahead of a Sunday Night showdown against New England in Week 4.
While No. 12 might be looking to head back to his former home, he’d much rather look at the issues from his first trip to Los Angeles, a trip that showed flaws that will hamper this team down the road if not fixed.
Keep in mind that Tampa Bay brought everyone back from last year’s run for the ages, including the flaws that looked to have been fixed during that hot run at the end of the season.
The primary issue? The young secondary, particularly the cornerback position. The secondary issue? Already mentioned. Outside of Mike Edwards and Antoine Winfield Jr., the pass coverage has virtually been a non-factor in the defense.
The offense isn’t safe from criticism either. While Brady played superbly in the first two games of this season, Los Angeles still appears to be angry about the Super Bowl loss that Brady and his Foxborough pals handed them a few years ago.
As such, they took it out on Brady yet again, and this time, it appears to have felt more satisfying; see Rams coach Sean McVay and beware of his speed.
Brady may have had more passing yards than Stafford, but the latter threw four touchdowns, and the former only found the endzone once while throwing the ball to Giovanni Bernard, although it looked to have been a costly play. He did, however, score six on a sneak, and Chris Godwin registered the other touchdown on a sweep run.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have no choice but to fix their issues or risk more disappointment down the road.
Even with Sean Murphy-Bunting out with a shoulder injury and Jamel Dean, who dropped an interception during the game, going down with a lower leg injury, Todd Bowles is still one of the best coordinators in the game, and he has to fix this.
As it pertains to the offense, consistency is the key. There has to be a change in approach. Only 35 yards total rushing, with a 44-year-old quarterback being the leading rusher with nearly half the total, is just not acceptable. This isn’t last season, Tampa Bay; this is a new year and a new ballgame.
Furthermore, only one sack on the day and no turnovers? Sorry, that’s mediocre play, quite frankly, and unacceptable for a unit that, as stated before, had an impressive playoff run that capped off with a Super Bowl.
It’s still early, and the Rams are a team to be reckoned with, given their all-in approach and how they looked against Tampa Bay and thus far. Still, the Buccaneers are the defending champions until they are knocked out.
However, the knockout could be sooner than later. Do you want to come back to Los Angeles to play in the Super Bowl Tampa Bay? If so, fix your primary and secondary problems, and do it sooner than later.
It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should at least be better than what was displayed in the city of angels, and frankly, throughout most of this season thus far.