Last Sunday we got to witness a lot of the same problems we dealt with last year. The team looks to be in the same place despite having 33 new players and an entirely new coaching staff. The biggest thing to emphasize is the fact that it was the first game of the year. We’ve started off on a low note, but we have a lot of time to rebound. I fear we may once again be in the running for worst defense in the league. I really appreciated the reminder from the commentator saying we had the worst defense last year. I always love hearing those reminder insults about how terrible this franchise has been in the past. He did try to save face by saying we wouldn’t be the worst this year and I did believe him for nearly almost the whole first half. Regardless of the outcome, the most important takeaway from the game is we have ourselves a quarterback who knows how to play ball. I will get into JD’s performance but I would rather get all of the bad out of the way first. That way it’s easier to end this blog on a positive note.
We had three real possessions in the first half. The first drive was a precursor to what the rest of the game would be and our offense didn’t even look terrible despite having virtually no passing game. Our defense was completely useless. It is quite hard to win a football game when your offense has three shots at scoring in a half. The clock management to end the first half was the first social media knock on Dan Quinn’s time with the team. The people on X (formerly known as Twitter) were not happy. However, knowing the fact that our passing game was nonexistent and our now cut kicker forgot how to do his job, I highly doubt any points would’ve been the result of managing the clock properly. At halftime, it felt like we were one bad call and a near interception away from a completely different game. I don’t think these two things in our favor would’ve led to a different result; however, it would’ve made me a lot more positive during the break. We didn’t force a punt until there was 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. It is going to be very hard to win any games this year with a defense this bad. I’ll give credit where it’s due and say the Bucs do have a good offense. But, I expected a lot more in the first showing from this team especially with a new defensive minded head coach.
There was a full blown aerial assault dropped on our heads. They didn’t beat us on the ground, but our defensive line just could not finish any plays. We had Baker looking like Mahomes the way he was escaping collapsed pockets. I am glad I can root for him again but damn did that first down noise sniff celebration suck to watch. I will say if that was against any other team I would’ve been talking about how cool he looked during it. But since it was against us I have to let my bias kick in and point out how it was a completely unnecessary celebration and should’ve resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct call. I did find it funny seeing the mic’d up video of him saying what’s up to Bobby after sliding. He knew that man was not moving.
Is it possible for us to cut Forbes and BSJ already? I just don’t like watching them play football. They are more worried about their pregame handshakes than actually doing their job. It was announced today that Forbes will be missing some time for thumb surgery. He should take as much time as possible to make sure that thumb gets healthy. It would be a real shame if he were to be out for the season. Evans and Godwin had an absolutely field day with our secondary. My “I think Evans is going to go off but hope he doesn’t take” was spot on. If I didn’t root for this team, I would be taking opposing team’s quarterbacks passing yards and wide receivers overs every game and getting filthy rich throughout this whole season. But, if there are two things I will never bet on: it is against this team and any sort of under. I hate those things. Still don’t understand why anyone would root for no touchdowns. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
BSJ dropping that pick which probably would’ve been taken to the house was such a missed swing moment. For someone who doesn’t give themselves many opportunities to get their hands on the ball, you have to make it count when you do. I really don’t like Mikey hanging out with these two. They are going to make him forget how to play football. We can’t have Mikey forgetting how to play ball. He’s our only hope. It’s pretty clear what position we will be prioritizing in next year’s draft. I hope Travis Hunter and Will Johnson like mumbo sauce.
The kicker situation is disaster. Cade’s second kick was his decision between being on an NFL roster or a Northwestern Mutual Advisor. He chose the latter and I wish him the best as he joins the rest of us on LinkedIn. I’ve never heard of the guy we signed. I assume he’ll probably suck too because kicker is another position we have been incapable of finding throughout my lifetime. Literally, we are on kicker number 5 before week 2. We have a better shot at developing time travel to bring back Mark Mosley than we do to find someone who can consistently put the ball through the uprights. I just don’t get it. The Cowboys found some guy nobody has ever heard of then fast forward a year later and he is being taken in fantasy drafts next to Justin Tucker. Why can’t we stumble upon someone like that?
Aside from the poor play, there were some extremely questionable calls that went against us. The block in the back on Zaccheus was just flat out ridiculous. That will most likely end up being the softest call I see all year. He so much as grazed him and boom drive over. What a shame to have that BRob catch and run down to the ten taken away over such a terrible call. A flag on the Buccaneers was even reviewed and taken away. I have never seen that happen and of course it had to be at our expense. Just a couple more of those moments we have seen a million times in the past.
I thought Kingsbury called an interesting game for his rookie quarterback. It’s definitely a recipe for success when you get your rookie 3rd round pick more touches than your receiver who’s gone for 1000 yards the last 4 years. Especially, when Terry is touching the ball for the first time in the 3rd quarter. That part of the game plan made a lot of sense to me. I would have loved us to get Sinnot involved. We drafted him in the second round to make an impact on this offense, not do cardio on special teams. That anytime touchdown bet is an early nominee for donation of the year. I was not a fan of the designed runs for Jayden. It seemed like every big hit he took was the result of one of those play calls. If this is the offense for the year, then I am very glad I am heavily invested in BRob throughout the majority of my fantasy teams. He will be a PPR monster with all those check downs.
Thank the heavens one of the players who didn’t look bad was the reigning RotW and our future MVP, OROY, and franchise quarterback. First quarterback to rush for 2 touchdowns and 80+ yards in their debut. I called he would be keeping it when we got down to the goal line. It worked twice. I don’t care that one of them was garbage time. No pictures on the scorecard when OROY is getting decided. He really does have to tighten up the chinstrap though. I don’t understand what metrics PFF uses to grade at all. I have no clue what those guys look at. So what he fumbled once, we got it back. What I care about are all of the positives from his debut.
My first takeaway: he is so fast. I could not stop saying it throughout the game. Jayden’s mobility negates bad offensive line play which last year’s team could’ve desperately used. In those situations, Sam would just get sacked, but Jayden turns those plays into positive yards. He is simply just faster than all of the big boys trying to tackle him and hit 20 mph on one of the scrambles. Is it even possible for a 300 pound defensive linemen to run that fast? For the people saying, 16 carries isn’t sustainable. Would you rather him take sack after sack? His sliding technique needs work, but I am good with him running anywhere that doesn’t get him hit. It was pretty funny watching him dead fish it to the ground anytime he was about to get hit. That long ball to Terry would’ve been a big one. That and his first throw were the only ones that deserved criticism. At least, he didn’t throw any picks. We saw enough of those last year.
Seeing how the other rookie QBs did, it seems like the OROY bet is in a good place. Now, all we have to do is get him a defense. But this is nothing new to him. After last year, he is used to keeping his team in games by scoring a million points. With virtually no passing game, kicking game, or help from the defense, we were still able to produce 20 points. I don’t have worries with our offense this year. As of now, we will clearly be relying on his legs and our running backs to move down the field. The separation from our receivers needs to be a point of emphasis moving forward. It wouldn’t surprise me if we make a midseason move and trade for a wide receiver. That would certainly expedite our problems.
Other than JD, our running backs looked great. BRob and Ekeler seem like they will end up being a great one two punch supporting cast for Jayden. They both are capable of catching passes out of the backfield making me have no problems with the check downs if these two are the ones getting the ball in space. Bobby Wagner had himself a good debut. It is still very strange seeing him in a Washington uniform but I am here for it. He was the only one who could finish a tackle on defense. Jamin Davis had a big play against one of the best left tackles in the league. I will reiterate the impact it would have on this defense if he finds his stride on the end. The offensive line only allowed 2 sacks but we already covered why that was the case. Only playing limited but promising snaps, Peters might have found something in Brandon Coleman. I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in hopes that he is the answer to the left tackle problem we have had since Trent’s departure. Thankfully, we didn’t have any long snapping problems. This should be a given every game but I now pay attention to it because of last year’s performance from the bum Ron traded up for.
It took one game to confirm what we already knew before going into this year. This team is years away from being able to compete with the best in the NFL. Don’t get me wrong, the Bucs are a playoff team but there is a reason they are +7000 to win the Super Bowl. Ron and Martin set us back so many years. DQ and AP signed up to turn around one of the worst situations in the entire league. As fans, it isn’t fair to them for us to expect to have completely figured everything out in week one. Overall, our defense is once again going to be at the bottom of the pack and will lose us a lot of football games. From what I’ve seen, we have finally found a quarterback who will hopefully be playing football in DC for many years. A lot of problems need to be addressed but I do trust this front office to be able to turn it around.
We have our first home game of the season upon us this Sunday and I can’t wait to make the 45 minute drive into the always beautiful city of Landover, Maryland. We are in for an absolute barn burner with the Danny Dimes led juggernaut New York Giants coming to town. Maybe, Jayden will be able to convince Nabers to switch teams and just come play for us. He can have my salary and I’ll work for free for the rest of his rookie contract. Jokes aside to keep things plain and simple, if we lose this game then there is a decent chance the number 1 pick comes down to Week 7 against the Panthers. I really do hope everything stated about our defense was an over exaggeration. The strengths of the Bucs offense does play to our weaknesses, but unfortunately that will end up being the case with a lot of teams. We will be getting a reality check real quick if the Giants top three receivers each catch touchdowns. If that happens, then everything stated is fair game and the next blog will be a eulogy for Emmanuel Forbes and BSJs’ football careers. I don’t even care that Forbes won’t be on the field. This blood will be on his hands. But hey, I am here to have fun. So, I will reiterate the importance of positive thinking and remember that I write these blogs for enjoyment. Even though I, unfortunately, do take some joy in expressing my opinions on our underperforming defensive backs. To save myself the energy, I will emphasize the notion of having a short term memory and write off the poor performances of last week and last season and the last decade for the purpose of optimizing my outlook going into this Sunday. It’s a new week and by the way if I haven’t mentioned it yet, we have a quarterback.
To get into the bets, I will be taking our money line, BRob anytime, JD anytime, Terry’s receptions, and JD’s rushing over. After last weekend, I don’t think this coaching staff will be inept enough to ignore getting the ball in our best pass catchers hands. The line for Terry is 3.5 to which Kliff will be doing the entire fanbase a disservice if he does not plan on getting Terry the ball at least 5 times. I foresee BRob catching a screen and running it in from outside the redzone. And believe JD will break a big one out this game en route to the endzone. I still have high expectations that our offense will be able to produce even against this Giant’s defense that added some pieces this offseason. Our defense does worry me, but I’ve talked enough about that. I hope the stadium is filled with Washington fans to welcome our savior in the home opener. Regardless, of how it goes; I expect to have myself a great Sunday watching some football with my friends. Hope everyone has a great rest of their week. Looking forward to writing about all the positives we will get to witness on Sunday. Oh and how could I almost forget, happy belated birthday, Dan.
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