Rapid Reactions: Bucs lose to the Lions 31-23

[IronDog]

It appears we can't play 2 good games in a row. Hell we can't seem to play well for 60 minutes at a time. Can't stop the run, can't stop the pass, can't beat their defense consistently. Can't catch the ball, except in sports. Can't run the ball consistently either. Let's see, our money kicker picked a shitty time to pull one left. And, oh yeah, our hero punter seems to have forgotten it helps our gunners if the ball isn't caught 30 yards from the coverage. That pretty much covers the whole team.

Last week, I was shocked out of my complacency by what appeared to be a team that said Fuck You to all the naysayers out there. I should have recalled my Bucs history. I wonder if we can scare up my ancestor, Jean Lafitte and grab old Jose Gaspar and a group of extras, and haunt everyone in this organization. Couldn't hurt. They never liked being embarrassed.

[BuccaNOLEer]

It was the defense that was gashed in the middle of the field all day. It was the defense that failed to pressure Goff despite getting tons of pressure on Hurts last week. It was the defense that dropped a pick in the end zone. It was the defense that shit the bed in the 4th quarter. The defense is Todd Bowles makeup.

We're going to waste a lot of time sitting here with our fingers up our asses waiting for Todd Bowles to take us to the promised land..... because he ain't taking us there.

Get rid of him and find a head coach who has an offensive philosophy similar to Canales. Or better yet, roll the dice and promote Canales

[Doctor]

Evans catches that early instead of causing an INT we win. I believe that.

[Doctor]

The defense was fantastic until gassed and gashed at the end and even then they mustered the critical stop to get us the ball back at the end.

[IronDog]

BTW, I am sure it has been written about, but why was 45 not in this game until the final moments of this, well, calling it a game is too hard to stretch.

[Navybuc]

Agree. I think the convo has to be whether we can do better moving forward. Baker prolly showed his best this year of what he ever will be. Do we trust that going forward or do we take a chance and go after a guy we think can be better? It’s a tough call for Licht.

I don’t think there’s an upgrade available this offseason. As long as he doesn’t get a crazy offer, I would prefer to keep him on a 3 year deal that is easy to get out of after a year or two.

I mean, if you think a guy like Bo Nix or JJ McCarthy will be better (assuming they’re there at 25?), you go that route. But it’s a question Licht can only answer. It’s a tough call.

[uscbucsfan1]

BTW, I am sure it has been written about, but why was 45 not in this game until the final moments of this, well, calling it a game is too hard to stretch.

Because he's terrible.

[Miller4Prez64]

I don’t think there’s an upgrade available this offseason. As long as he doesn’t get a crazy offer, I would prefer to keep him on a 3 year deal that is easy to get out of after a year or two.

I mean, if you think a guy like Bo Nix or JJ McCarthy will be better (assuming they’re there at 25?), you go that route. But it’s a question Licht can only answer. It’s a tough call.

I don’t think those guys are better. I’d rather re-sign Baker and draft for the line of scrimmage. The QB position could be reevaluated in 2025 depending on how next season goes.

[real bucs fan]

Tough loss. But at the end of the day, gotta like what we’ve seen from Bowles and the D and Baker/Caneles and the O.

[Phantom]

Honestly, if JJ McCarthy were to join the Bucs this season, it's unlikely that this team would achieve 9 wins.

[Sdbucs]

Baker is the same player he has always been. Good enough to get your team to 7 to 9 wins, on the edge of playoffs, but not good enough to actually go the distance.

That throw at the end was DOG and is exactly what Baker ultimately is as a QB.

He makes fun exciting plays. He makes good plays. But he also makes REALLY BAD plays, and that hasn’t changed.

Stop it. Baker started hot as fuck and we would've had the lead going into the half and the Lions on the ropes had our pass catchers shown up.

We went toe to toe with the Lions and only brought our B+ game.

And with the game on the line he

A. Under throws a 2pt conversion
B. Throws horrible game ending int

He is good enough and makes good plays but he makes bad plays that cap his production as a QB.

He takes countless unnecessary sacks that kill drives.

I’ve been saying this since we signed him and nothing has changed.

Almost any QB could be hitting Evans and Godwin on those routes. Or dumping it off to White, etc. the difference is that a better QB would not throw some of the bad balls Baker does or take all the sacks that he does.

It’s frustrating because Baker plays with grit and fire and you want him to do well. But he isn’t as good as the grit and fire would make you want him to be

[CantonJester]

IMO Mayfield's floor is too low to invest the future of the franchise in him. Plus, he's a rather diminutive 6'1".

[Navybuc]

I mean, if you think a guy like Bo Nix or JJ McCarthy will be better (assuming they’re there at 25?), you go that route. But it’s a question Licht can only answer. It’s a tough call.

I don’t think those guys are better. I’d rather re-sign Baker and draft for the line of scrimmage. The QB position could be reevaluated in 2025 depending on how next season goes.

It's just not going to be as easy as "Let's re-sign him." He's gotta want to come back here. He's prolly gonna demand a big contract. We prolly have to decide between Baker and Evans. I don't think financially we can keep both. And I don't know the answer to the question of "Can we do better?" Maybe one of those guys I mentioned would be better. Like I said, it's a tough call. I'm still torn on Baker myself. I see great things from him, and then other times he looks like a backup. It's gonna be an interesting offseason.

[acmillis]

I won’t kick up this thread by shitting on baker, I’ve done that enough, and this is a reaction to THIS GAME thread.
Detroit was better in every aspect. Not sure why we ran it so few times when we were running the absolute best we have all season, that is very puzzling.
It’s not like we had a bad game, we were just beat by a better team. I’m not even mad at losing, not even mad at Baker (too much), and that’s saying something for me. We just were defeated playing, coaching, everything. With all things equal, they were the better team. It just is what it is.

[Phantom]

Sorry Baker haters


Bowles has spoken!

Todd Bowles says Baker did a heckuva job this season and earned the right to be back.

[Phantom]

We all do!

"If I'm back, I want Mike back," Baker Mayfield says of the importance to re-sign Mike Evans

[Doctor]

All these guys really enjoyed playing together and you can tell they all feel they can be even better.

If we bring everyone back for year 2 be prepared for an even more hyped Doctor.

[Navybuc]

Sorry Baker haters


Bowles has spoken!

Todd Bowles says Baker did a heckuva job this season and earned the right to be back.

I just don’t know if we can afford both Baker and Evans.
Plus, does Evans want to come back? You know a team like KC or the Giants will prolly throw a lot at him.

[Terry Tate]

At the end of the day, we proved we are far ahead of schedule. The Lions were the better team but we were there in a position to extend the game. One could argue that the loss of Dean cost us a chance to win. That interception at the end was horrible but Mayfield otherwise played well enough to move on to Frisco.


This is going to be an interesting offseason. We will have a ton of cap but a ton of important players hitting FA.

At the end of the day, we made it farther in the playoffs than the Cowboys or Eagles. Given how our respective seasons were predicted to go, i can live with that. God help em all next year

[Doctor]

Maybe. Nothing we can't match.

Also, Evans had a lot of ugly looks this postseason. If he was at the top of his game, we'd be playing next week.

Sorry, but it's true.

[Bootz]

Sorry Baker haters


Bowles has spoken!

I just don’t know if we can afford both Baker and Evans.
Plus, does Evans want to come back? You know a team like KC or the Giants will prolly throw a lot at him.

Why wouldn't we be able to afford them both?

[BucsNBills]

I just don’t know if we can afford both Baker and Evans.
Plus, does Evans want to come back? You know a team like KC or the Giants will prolly throw a lot at him.

Why wouldn't we be able to afford them both?

Yeah, if we lose Evans or Baker, it won't be because of cap space.

It's trivial to keep Baker, Evans, and LVD from a financial standpoint.

[Navybuc]

I just don’t know if we can afford both Baker and Evans.
Plus, does Evans want to come back? You know a team like KC or the Giants will prolly throw a lot at him.

Why wouldn't we be able to afford them both?

This isn’t baseball or the NBA. We can’t just throw billions of dollars at athletes and expect them to stay. There’s a salary cap and it’s also a two-way street. Evans has to want to come back and I’m not sure he does.

[acmillis]

LVD might choose to retire. Go out playing at IMO, an all pro level with your health and having earned 90M. He seems VERY cerebral, might ask if he’d like to join the staff if I were Bowles.

[Bootz]

Why wouldn't we be able to afford them both?

This isn’t baseball or the NBA. We can’t just throw billions of dollars at athletes and expect them to stay. There’s a salary cap and it’s also a two-way street. Evans has to want to come back and I’m not sure he does.

But we have the cap space and can manipulate the cap as every team does.

[Bootz]

And unless you're calling Mike Evans a liar his position has not changed. He wants to be with this team.

[Doctor]

We're gonna lose people. It's almost impossible not to. But I trust Licht too keep the best holistic combination.

[Navybuc]

This isn’t baseball or the NBA. We can’t just throw billions of dollars at athletes and expect them to stay. There’s a salary cap and it’s also a two-way street. Evans has to want to come back and I’m not sure he does.

But we have the cap space and can manipulate the cap as every team does.

That still doesn’t solve the “it’s a two-way street” issue. Again, does Evans want to come back for what we are willing to offer him or will he want to go play somewhere else for a team with a better qb that can pay him more? I personally think Evans will explore FA based on his quotes early in the season.

[Doctor]

Also, not for nothing, but what a bad fucking time to miss a kick Chase. Like great season, but damn.

[bucarican]

Hell of a Season. The Rookie OC showed up early in the game and at the start of the 3rd. 45 and Neal can take a hike.

[Bootz]

But we have the cap space and can manipulate the cap as every team does.

That still doesn’t solve the “it’s a two-way street” issue. Again, does Evans want to come back for what we are willing to offer him or will he want to go play somewhere else for a team with a better qb that can pay him more? I personally think Evans will explore FA based on his quotes early in the season.

Well no worries about whether Evans wants to be back or not

[Doctor]

[Phantom]

Baker's main area for improvement is throwing the ball away rather than getting sacked.. I mean he played much better than Winston,Shaun King, Brad Johnson and yes even Trent Dilfer @13F11B Dilfer=Mayfield?! LOL

[Navybuc]

That still doesn’t solve the “it’s a two-way street” issue. Again, does Evans want to come back for what we are willing to offer him or will he want to go play somewhere else for a team with a better qb that can pay him more? I personally think Evans will explore FA based on his quotes early in the season.

Well no worries about whether Evans wants to be back or not

I hope that’s the case. It’s a lot different from his quotes early in the season, but I hope he’s had a change of heart and wants to stay. Still not sure I’m on board with Baker coming back for a long-term deal as a starter. The question was whether Baker peaked this year and it was one great year or is the start of him progressing to be a better qb down the road? Our opinions don’t matter. It’s what Licht thinks.

[Al Bundy]

This is not hard, Baker is not going to get us beyond today. I'm pretty sure Bowles isn't either but were going to likely have to deal with mediocre results for the next couple of years.....

100% correct. Bowles is a shit HC and really made the team worse.