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Observations of THE OBVIOUS MOVE THE BUCS NEED TO MAKE NOW Bucs/Bengals Tearfest 10/28/18 w/Poll


1) This disaster of a game out of Jameis Winston is proof enough that the Franchise QB the Buccaneers were hoping for will not be him. For all the bad games he's had before, there was a glimmer of hope that he was getting better, just needed better pass protection, just needed to get in sync with the receivers in another week...

1a) No more excuses. We've seen enough from backup Ryan Fitzpatrick - himself not a Franchise QB but essentially a practiced journeyman with years of experience - to show us just how a good quarterback should be playing for this offense. Just on the second drive off the bench at the start of the 4th Quarter, Fitz throws a long touchdown to Mike Evans for a TD that got the Bucs within striking distance of the lead, and later in the quarter expertly drives the team downfield for a tying TD AND Two-Point conversion.

1b) For much of the game, Winston was uneven at best, constantly overthrowing or underthrowing receivers. Never in sync with them to throw to where they WILL BE when the ball gets there. The television coverage crew caught him multiple times staring down receivers, a major QB no-no. All of this from someone's who been in this league for FIVE years now.

1c) Leading to one of the more embarrassing QB performances in Bucs history... which is saying something of a team that had Vinny and Dilfer and Freeman and King and Simms and Glennon and even Doug as drafted QBs who failed to impress during their tenure here, and with the likes of DeBerg and Chandler and Griese as FA signees/wasted trades who flamed out far too many times.

1d) No. This is it. The fans had been braying ever since last season when Winston seemed unable to sync with key FA DeSean Jackson. When it was possible to think it could have been Jackson's fault coming in from another system, along comes Fitz who targeted D-Jax like a boss and gave the WR some of the best games of his career. And then Winston comes off suspension and immediately Jackson's numbers suffer.

For all the talk about DeSean asking for a trade, the problem isn't him. THE BUCS SHOULD TRADE JAMEIS.

1e) Granted, not a lot of teams will want to take a headache like him off our hands, but there ARE a couple of QB-desperate teams - Cardinals, Bills, maybe even the 49ers - willing to cough up a Third or Fourth Rounder for him.

2) By the time of Jameis' second interception, this site's Gameday thread was full of commentators to bench Jameis right then, halfway into the 2nd Quarter. There can be a legitimate argument that if the Bucs had done that, the two INTs he threw later - including the Pick-6 - would not have happened and 14 points would be off the Bengals' scoreboard. If Fitz played the whole Second Half the way he played the 4th Quarter, there is serious evidence the Bucs could have scored 4 TDs and won the game. THAT'S how good Fitzpatrick's 4th Quarter was.

2a) While the Bucs' defense showed many glaring flaws again, it wasn't as bad as it was under Smith's DC playcalling, and again Jason Pierre-Paul's 2-sack day helped the team at key moments. While the Bucs' defense is failing in one regard - lack of turnovers - the defensive line is at least showing signs of life after YEARS of foundering.

2b) Mike Evans is probably the only receiver that can play with Jameis... all because Evans is one of the few who can jump for those damned overthrows. But he blew up the scoreboard with that 72 yard TD catch from Fitz, which shows how good Evans can be with a better QB... PLEASE DON'T BE HURT, EVANS.

2c) You can yell about Chandler Catanzaro's missed kicks all you want, but his missed kicks were not what killed the Bucs today (hint: starts with the letter T and rhymes with URNOVER).

3) Statistics of the Game: Turnovers. Jameis Winston gave up FOUR INTs, while the Bengals never turned it over at all (there WAS a failed 4th down conversion but it doesn't count).

3a) Bucs outgained Bengals offensively 576 yards total to Cincy's 402... and Jameis was doing a decent job of that. BUT YARDS DO NOT EQUAL POINTS.

3b) For all those yards, Red Zone performance for the Bucs was 2-for-4. We had to settle for a FG one drive, and another drive was a bad INT toss into the end zone by YOU KNOW WHO. Bengals went 4-for-4 for their RZ trips. So guess who won.

3c) Bucs had 11 penalties to the Bengals 4. And the last one - a Delay of Game on the DEFENSE (?!) gave Cincy great FG position for the game-winning kick.

4) What the Bucs need to do here is clear: start Fitz for the rest of the year (barring injury) because he gives the team the best chance to win (we're NOT out of the Wild Card race just yet, although winning the NFC South is unlikely now). Trade Jameis to a QB-hungry team for best-possible draft picks (best likely Third Round, most likely a Fourth for 2019 and a conditional pick in 2020). Do not look back. Start planning the 2019 for Best-Available QB WHO DOES NOT THROW RECKLESSLY LIKE JAMEIS.

4a) I begged for Mariota when we had the chance. For all the questionable play he's made with the Titans, he's at LEAST made a playoff with them. And he's never had the WR weapons there he'd have here. If Mariota had Evans and Humps and Brate (and later Godwin, DJax and OJ) to throw to, he'd be having 350 yards/4 TDs games every week.

5) In other NFL news: DAMMIT CLEVELAND YOU HAD ONE JOB PLAY THE STEELERS TO ANOTHER TIE.

5a) I didn't know there was a game in London this weekend until the reports came in of Jaguars players getting arrested for busting up a burlesque show. When the bill they were fighting over came back as Pounds instead of Dollars I was all OOOOOOOHHHH (shut up, we have burlesque in the USA too).

5b) I really want to see someone buy out the Washington team and change the name to the White Boys. "Redskins" has been racist in the dictionaries since the 1800s, goddammit, there's no respectful heritage keeping that godless artifact of a decaying segregated age.

6) In college football news, yeah South Florida hadn't earned that unbeaten record, and playing against a good Houston team exposed a lot of flaws for USF. The only good thing is the Bulls can still get to an 8-4 record and make it to the Gasparilla Bowl... (don't knock it, the Birmingham Bowl is terrible to go to).

6a) I wanna root for Central Florida to go unbeaten - even if it means beating my Bulls alma mater - because EFF THE COLLEGE PLAYOFF SCAM. We're gonna see a 2-loss team playing the 4th seed before those bastards put in an unbeaten program from a disrespected conference...

6b) Kentucky is barely winning now that teams have figured out to shut down Snell, but they ARE winning and part of me wants to see them blow up the SEC East because again EFF THE COLLEGE PLAYOFF SCAM.

7) In pro baseball news: that 18-inning nightmare is a prime example why the MLB should start every World Series game at 4 PM EST. So what if it cuts into people's workdays? there used to be a tradition of SKIPPING WORK FOR THIS STUFF.

8) In pro basketball news: I don't care.

9) In pro hockey news: DAMMIT LIGHTNING YOU ARE THE ONLY SOURCE OF SANITY LEFT PLEASE DON'T LOSE.

10) Next week: The Bucs BETTER be starting Fitzgerald against the Panthers.

Poll up. Peace out.

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