5 Thoughts
- I'm sure the 0- 5 Jacksonville Jaguars feel extremely smart for throwing away Leonard Fournette right about now. Hey, someone has to be the new Bucs.
2.Yeah, I think Tom Brady's thumb bothered him. And I think Tom Brady would be the last person in the world to admit it.
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3. Speaking of Tom's thumb, I notice where coach Bruce Arians quickly dismissed any problems with it. But if he can dismiss it, does that mean he asked? If if he asked, wasn't he wondering, too.
4. With the Bears coming up, should Brady practice counting to four?
5. With Halloween coming up, suddenly Chucky doesn't seem quite so frightening, does he?
5 Comments
(From Bruce Arians Day-After Press Conference)
(On player injuries): "It's always the next man up. There's always going to be injuries; it's just never going to stop. It's the history of the game. Knock on wood, three or four weeks from now we get some guys back and we could have a really good, deep football team."
(On the play of tight end O.J. Howard): "I wouldn't say he's 100% of where he was, but he's real close. I don't know if his 40-time is the same as it was. We have all those tracking devices on him [so] I'm anxious to see how fast he was running last night. He's hit a couple good ones in practice, about 18 miles per hour, so we'll wait and see."
(On cornerback Jamel Dean): "The only thing with him is just play the ball better. He gave up the one play – it was such a poor throw but he got his head around too late. Just continue to improve in that area. Great interception – he played that perfectly. When he's playing man-to-man, he's a tough cover. He's got those long arms and he gets pretty physical with the guys. He's getting better and better."
(On putting pressure on Eagles' quarterback Jalen Hurts): "We had really good pressure. I thought Shaq [Barrett] had one of his best games; I mean, he was all over him. He just couldn't get him down a couple times. Right now, we should have about 15 sacks, with our hands on quarterbacks that we haven't gotten to the ground. I think we harassed him really well. He hurt us a couple times when he got out of the pocket and made a couple plays. I think just overall coverage-wise, we did a good job of mixing coverages and mixing the rush."
(On the play of the offense): "You couldn't ask for a better start in that game. I think the first three possessions we finished all the drives for touchdowns. It was that lull…talking to Tom pregame he was like, 'Oh man, I can't wait for two-minute in this game. I love what our two-minute plan is.' And we go out there and we mess it up with a penalty and an interception. We had a couple critical penalties that really set us back in the second half from a 35-to-40 point game."
Game Balls
Offense: Playoff Lenny has become regular-season Lenny, and he's turned into the best lead back the Bucs have had in years. And his thumb was healthy.
Defense: Shaq Barrett keeps letting sacks slip past him, but he had a team-leading five tackles, two for losses and a half sack.
Special teams: Bradley Pinion punted three times, and two of them were downed inside the 20. He averaged 42.3 yards per punt.
Grades
Quarterback: With Brady, you tend to grade harshly. He missed a throw on a fourth-and-one and had his offense stall in the second half. Grade: B+.
Running backs: Fournette and backup (way back) Ronald Jones had 101 yards on 30 carries. Grade: B+.
Receivers: The Bucs' Triangle of Antonio Brown, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans had 16 catches for 163 yards. And it felt like there was more there. Grade: B+.
Offensive line: The Bucs rushed for 100 yards and gave up no sacks. So why were the Eagles' linemen taunting? Grade: B+.
Defensive line: The Bucs still can't quite bring a quarterback down. Grade: C.
Linebackers: Kevin Minter isn't Lavonte David, but he did a nice job filling in. Still need more splash plays from Devin White. Grade: C.
Secondary: Except for the flagrant pass interference calls, it was a good night for the secondary for a change. Grade: B.
Special teams: Ryan Succop was dependable, and Pinion was excellent. Grade: A-.
Unsung Hero
Minter had four tackles, one off the team lead.
NFL Passing Yardage Leaders
- Tom Brady (TB) 2,064
2. Derek Carr (LV) 1,605
3. Matthew Stafford (LAR) 1,587
4. Justin Herbert (LAC), 1,576
5. Lamar Jackson (BAL) 1,519