The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took home a 38-31 win, despite the secondary giving up a 137.9 QB rating to rookie quarterback Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers.
While the defense looked absolutely horrendous at times, it was encouraging to see TB12 and the Bucs offense get going in a big way, with Brady throwing five TDs and Ronald Jones running for 111 yards. The Bucs were without receiver Chris Godwin, running back Leonard Fournette, and OJ Howard exited the game in the fourth quarter with an Achilles injury.
Mike Evans and Scotty Miller stepped up big time in Godwin’s absence, both averaging more than 15 yards per catch and notching a touchdown. Rookie back Ke’Shawn Vaughn and backup tight end Cameron Brate also both caught their first touchdowns of the year (for Vaughn it was his first touchdown ever in the NFL), while OJ Howard caught the other touchdown before going down. The Bucs offensive line also did an absolutely wonderful job of keeping Brady clean, not allowing a single sack to Nick Bosa and the Chargers’ banged up defense.
Now to some less fun stuff. The defense, despite facing a very weak Charger offensive line, only managed to sack Herbert twice, and only forced one interception (coming in the fourth quarter by Carlton Davis to seal the win). The secondary gave up two plays through the air that went for more than 50 yards, both resulting in touchdowns, and both from rookie receivers. One came on a third and long, which simply cannot happen. The Bucs secondary needs to play better, because you cannot depend on your offense to score 38 points every game.
Kicker Ryan Succop also missed a 44-yard field goal, but the Chargers’ Michael Badgley missed a 47-yarder, so I guess that evens out. Despite that missed field goal, Succop was perfect on extra points (not a gimme anymore) and hit a chip shot from 26-yards late in the fourth quarter to solidify the Bucs’ lead.
The rest of the NFC South also won their games today (the Saints overcame a 14-point deficit to beat the Lions, who have needed to fire their head coach Matt Patricia for a year now) with the winless Falcons taking on the Packers in Monday Night Football (the Packers will win 38-35 after Aaron Rodgers throws 4 TDs in the second half). The Bucs still remain in first place, but need to continue their winning ways in order to keep it that way. The team takes on the Bears this Thursday in an interesting matchup—while the Bears went 3-0 to start the year they got to play the Giants, Falcons and Lions (not exactly playoff contenders).
Hopefully Fournette and Godwin can come back and give the Bucs a boost in the shortened week, especially with OJ Howard looking like he might be out for an extended period of time (Achilles injuries are brutal).
The Lightning won the Cup, the Bucs stole a win at home, and the Rays play the Yankees in the ALDS this week. Pretty good time to be a Tampa sports fan.
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