Buc;s

How many big games does Jackson have left?

September 22, 2016 general

Thursday, 4 a.m. He looked stiff. He looked slow. He looked cautious. For crying out loud, Vincent Jackson looked old. Ever see a codger try to cross a busy street? That was Jackson, who looked out of place, out of synch and, for crying out loud, out of speed. On a day when the Bucs […]

Tagged as: Buc;s, Jackson, Koetter, Rams

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The vanishing mythology of parity in the NFL

September 21, 2016 general

Wednesday, 4 a.m. Back in the early days of optimism – last week, if you can remember that long ago – there were a few reasons you thought the Bucs might break through to be a playoff team this year. They had a quarterback. The defense was better. The coach made more sense. They had […]

Tagged as: Buc;s, Parity, playoffs, Winston

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Bucs still trying to move from NFL’s Skid Row

September 19, 2016 general

Monday, 4 a.m. In the NFL, there is a mansion on the hill. It is surrounded by orange groves and tennis courts. A Rolls-Royce is parked in front. The Tampa Bay Bucs do not live here. This is the Patriots mansion. The place where they mail Bill Belichick’s rings to him. There are lesser houses […]

Tagged as: Buc;s, Cards, Koetter, Winston

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Bucs lack of depth is exposed by Redskins

September 1, 2016 general

Thursday, 6 a.m. Say this for the Tampa Bay Bucs. They didn’t exactly make Dirk Koetter’s job harder, did they? For most of Wednesday night’s 20-13 loss to the Washington Redskins in the final preseason game for both, the rains of Hurricane Hermine seemed to wash away any pretense of depth that the Bucs’ had. […]

Tagged as: Buc;s, defeat, Depth, Redskins

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When dreams die; tales of cutdown days

August 30, 2016 general

Tuesday, 6 a.m. If you could nail him down, Rich McKay was always an interesting interview. Especially when the police lights were flashing into his face. It was late August of 1997, and I was in McKay’s office for one of those state-of-the-union kind of stories we jammed into the football special sections of the […]

Tagged as: Buc;s, Cutdown, Jones, McKay

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Winston-to-Evans combo off to a good start

August 28, 2016 general

Sunday, 5:30 a.m. Say what you want about the way Tampa Bay took the Clevland Browns to school Friday night. It started with chemistry class. Suddenly, Jameis Winston and Mike Evans are clicking. The duo was deadly Saturday night against the Cleveland Browns in a 31-13 preseason victory. Winston hit 16 of 25 passes for […]

Tagged as: Browns, Buc;s, Evans, Winston

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Bucs look sharp in third preseason game

August 27, 2016 general

Saturday, 5:45 a.m. Say he had a wish list in back pocket. Say he had things he needed to see to keep his own confidence up. Dirk Koetter would never say it out loud, of course. But like any fan, he had to have his concerns after two preseason games of mixed results. He had […]

Tagged as: Aguayo, Browns, Buc;s, Winston

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10 Bucs who need to have a strong effort

August 26, 2016 general

Friday, 5:45 a.m. Ten Bucs who need to play well in the team’s third preseason game. 1, Kicker Roberto Aguayo: He’s missed kicks in practice games. Judging from the reports, however, you’d get the feeling he’s cost the team five Super Bowls by shanking short kicks. Aguayo needs to stop worrying about all the advice […]

Tagged as: Aguayo, Browns, Buc;s, Winston

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Browns alignment offers challenge to Bucs

August 23, 2016 general

One less lineman. One more linebacker. And suddenly, you can understand why the Tampa Bay Bucs have invited the Cleveland Browns to town. The Browns use a 3-4 defense, which will be a new sight for the Bucs. The 3-4 is a different defense to block, and different for a quarterback to read. “Cleveland is […]

Tagged as: 3-4, Browns, Buc;s, Koetter

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Bucs have had bad moments vs. Jaguars

August 19, 2016 general

Friday, 5:30 a.m. In the moments before a football game starts, there are a thousand things to do in an NFL press box. You schmooze. You go over your notes. You watch the teams practice. What you never do — absolutely never — is read the game program. So there I was, in the Jacksonville […]

Tagged as: Buc;s, Dilfer, Freeman, Jags

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