The Tampa Bay Buccaneers keep losing. It sucks. Especially when they do so in excruciating fashion against a Los Angeles Rams team that quintupled its season-long score in one game.
They still have good players, though. That is, if we can believe Pro Football Focus’ ratings. That is something we should not necessarily do uncritically, but they’re certainly meaningful — especially for players closer to the line of scrimmage, where it’s easier to see what each players is supposed to be doing.
This week, intriguingly, PFF actually loved what Donovan Smith did, despite the fact that he gave up a strip-sack and went against Robert Quinn all day long. Outside of that one sack, though, we barely saw Quinn throughout the game — which is pretty impressive, given that Quinn is one of the best edge rushers in the game right now. Donovan Smith tally so far: good week one, great week three, awful week two. He does look improved over last season, though.
Lavonte David and Kwon Alexander also had bounce-back games after disappointing outings last week, when David even failed to register a tackle — something the Bucs blamed on the way the Cardinals schemed their offense. David led the team in tackles this week, and had a sack. Kwon Alexander had a pick six. Both of them looked good in coverage.
One surprising player on the list of doing-very-well is Cameron Brate, who had a solid all-around game, especially as a run blocker — which is a marked change from last year, when he was a clear liability in the run game. His two touchdowns don’t exactly hurt, either. Hopefully, he can be a decent replacement for Austin Seferian-Jenkins.