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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defense deserved a win. Instead, they have to hang one more loss on their record with the rest of the team.
If there’s a silver lining however, it was the performance of the defense. A fact not lost on the Bucs Nation staff as four of the possible five nominees for the Player of the Week award came from the defensive side of the ball.
Only Breshad Perriman represented the offense following a match-up which could have been easily won by the Bucs, but ultimately failed on the shoulders of the offense who struggled to put together consistent production against the Houston Texans.
One defender, Jason Pierre-Paul, stood out among his defensive teammates as the best from the bunch. Because of this, Buccaneers fans - the few who voted following a loss - chose him as their Player of the Week.
Three sacks in one game against Deshaun Watson would have gotten JPP a lot of praise most weeks. Unfortunately, because of the loss, his great individual performance has been buried by the potential of Tampa Bay reaching a losing record yet again, and more contract conversation surrounding Jameis Winston.
While Winston’s future hangs in the balance, one Bucs Nation reader took to the comments to discuss JPP’s future as well.
Man do I hope that we re-sign JPP
Dude is a leader and still has a lot left in the tank, he and Shaq are a dynamic duo and might be the best edge rushing duo we’ve ever had. If we add a vet safety on the back end and some fresh talent at DE he really could be a 10+ sack guy again. - OneBucPerson
A return to the loss column was also a return to the defense taking the Player of the Week honors after Winston had won the previous two weeks’ awards following wins, and 450-yard outbursts by the fifth-year quarterback.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will look to return to the win column in the final week of the season, as they get set to host the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17 of the 2019 NFL Season.