But other than the head coach problem, weren’t the Steelers supposed to be a walk in the park? Wasn’t that a gimme game?
So while I have the Bucs winning this game 17-14, my faith in Tampa Bay as a capable football team has been shaken.
Offensively it seems to be a struggle to put it in the end zone every time the Bucs get inside the 20.
Defensively Tampa Bay continues to allow third and longs to be converted, and this week even has Tom Brady out here comparing getting $25 million a year to play in the NFL to being in the military.
Of course, the main reason my prediction is what it is stems from just how awful the Panthers are as a football team. Interim head coach Steve Wilks is going with Walker under center for a second straight week, and that certainly won’t help Carolina’s already league-worst yards per game numbers.
You combine that with a bottom of the barrel defense, and you get a 1-5 record that’s indicative of why the former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule was given the door in Week 5.
While it’s never a good time to be a Panthers fan, it’s also still a tough time to be a Bucs fan. Which is not something you’d expect to be saying in what might be TB12’s last season.
We should be celebrating and dominating on the field, not failing to score more than a single touchdown against a practice squad secondary.
And yet, here we are. It’s Week 7, the Bucs are 3-3 and have absolutely no identity. Fans don’t know what to expect from this team, and not in the fun whimsical way associated with inexperienced teams. No, it’s more like the drunk grandpa who might utter any number of racial slurs at any given time because they’ve lost their grip on reality.
Let’s hope the Bucs can keep it clean this Sunday and actually play some form of quality football. If not, at least Taco Bell is serving that delicious double steak grilled cheese burrito for a limited time.
This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2022.