Broncos vs. Buccaneers: Winners and losers for Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost another game, this one against the Denver Broncos. At least they’re in good company, what with no one this year having beat the Broncos yet.

As always, there were losers and winners to discern. This time around, a 27-7 loss doesn’t leave a lot of room for winners, and quite a few losers.

Losers

QB Jameis Winston

I don’t know which was worse: his performance in this game, with two interceptions and a complete inability to move the ball, or the one against the Arizona Cardinals, with four picks and a little more ball-moving. Winston completed fewer than 50% of his passes, and managed just 179 yards on 39 attempts against the Broncos

The Bucs quarterback has now thrown a whopping eight interceptions through four games in the 2016 season. Some of those weren’t quite his fault, but there were a few other balls that could have been picked off, too. Clearly, he has not fixed his turnover prone-ness, nor the perpetual slow starts.

S Chris Conte

That pass interference call was a back-breaker.

Dirk Koetter

Is now 1-3, with all three of the team’s losses coming in an embarrassing manner. Koetter was hired (and Lovie Smith fired) to aid Jameis Winston’s development, but that hasn’t quite come together yet. He was also hired to get someone to fix the defense, and yet Mike Smith’s defense seems to be doing worse than Lovie Smith’s.

The training staff

I counted 11 injuries so far this season, and I’m ignoring all of the offseason injuries to players no longer on the roster. At least Clinton McDonald should be fine, but that’s still a ridiculous amount of injuries and a lot of work for the trainers.

RB Charles Sims

It’s clear that Sims is not a good every-down back. He managed just 28 yards on 15 carries against the Broncos, which is abysmal even for a bad back against a very good defense. Sims is a very good receiver and outside runner, but that’s about it.

Winners

CB Jude Adjei-Barimah

The second-year cornerback played every single nickel snap on defense, with Alterraun Verner relegated to the bench. I didn’t notice him much, which is mostly a good thing for a cornerback.

DT Clinton McDonald

1.5 sacks is good, full-body cramps are not. He couldn’t finish the final seven (meaningless) minutes of the game, but held up well against both the pass and the run. If Gerald McCoy misses a significant amount of time, much of the burden would fall on McDonald.