Watch the Game Again

[Growl]

Last year's Bucs didn't get blown out due to lack of talent. They had given up on their coach.

I'm not disputing that they did. I was one who said last week that they weren't a bad team as they were. But to say the injection of additional talent into their team this offseason wasn't a boost to their team would just flat out be incorrect.

[Delhommey]

I'm not disputing that they did. I was one who said last week that they weren't a bad team as they were. But to say the injection of additional talent into their team this offseason wasn't a boost to their team would just flat out be incorrect.

Blocked punt = Talib (Drafted)

TD = Freeman (Drafted) to Williams (Drafted)

INT's = Black (Drafted), Barber (Drafted)

Sacks = McCoy (Drafted), Barber (Drafted), Bennett (Waiver Claim)

Leading Rec (47 yards): Jackson (F.A.)

Leading Rush (95 yards): Martin (Drafted)

Yeah, can't say F.A. stands out as a major factor there.

Stop trying to force a point.

[Growl]

Blocked punt = Talib (Drafted)

TD = Freeman (Drafted) to Williams (Drafted)

INT's = Black (Drafted), Barber (Drafted)

Sacks = McCoy (Drafted), Barber (Drafted), Bennett (Waiver Claim)

Leading Rec (47 yards): Jackson (F.A.)

Leading Rush (95 yards): Martin (Drafted)

Yeah, can't say F.A. stands out as a major factor there.

Stop trying to force a point.

There's no point to force. It's as plain as day. You don't think Carl Nicks contributed to their run game? Jackson was open all day until Schiano went into Fox mode at halftime.

Quit being a sheep.

[panther4life]

I wasn't able to watch the game live, so I went back and watched it on NFL rewind. After reading this forum and some media reports, I thought it would be like watching the 2010 Panthers, but it wasn't near that bad.

I think people are getting a little carried away because of the emotions involved, which is understandable. I really expected us to embarrass the Bucs. There's a lot of hope and hype coming into this season.

I encourage everyone to watch the game again if you get the chance. We aren't a bad team. We had a bad game. I believe TB really played above their level and we played below combine that with a few key mistakes, and it was enough for them to win.

Three things basically cost us the game, and they're all correctable to one extent of another.

1. There's a Reason Artists Starve, Not All "Creativity" Is Good

There's really no way to sugar coat it. Chud called a bad game. The read option was not working at all, but he just kept using it. Even when they didn't run the ball, Cam would play action, which was silly since they knew he wasn't going to hand the ball off. Where's the I-formation power running? Where were the screen plays to slow down the pressure? Where's the max protect to keep cam upright?

The frustrating part is that while there were vast improvements in the 2nd half, it was really a result of better execution not better play calling with the exception of one screen to Tolbert that went for 20 plus yards. Chud got out coached. Hopefully he'll do better against a team with some game tape to go on, but what really concerns me is his ability to make in-game adjustments. How many times last year did we have a crappy 2nd half offensively?

2. Holy Crappy Guards Batman!

I believe Amini is going to get better, so a bad game from him isn't the end of the world. Hangman looked bad. The trouble is that while Bell look decent. He's not good enough to compensate for bad guard play. Kalil can't hold things down if both the LG and RG are getting beat.

We need to take a hard look at the roster to see if someone can sub-in for Hangman. I expect Amini to get better from week to week. If we can't replace Hangman, I think we're going to need to do some things to compensate for this. Some QB bootlegs, stretch run plays with a pulling guard, and some a healthy dose of screen plays (see number 1).

3. Super Cam Needs More Clark Kent

Overall, Cam had a good game, but those two interceptions on back to back series just killed any momentum the Panthers had. Both times, he was forcing the ball downfield and he didn't need to. Sometimes it's okay to settle for a field goal. This will come with maturity and experience, so I'm not super worried. I don't think he has Bret Favre syndrome, so this should correct itself over time.

Short version - If you watch the game without the emotion of opening day, you'll see we're a good team that had a bad game on the offensive side of the ball. The mistakes are correctable, and we should still have a good season.

I have not had the stomach to watch it again yet, but for those who are looking for answers the best way is to go back and watch it again. I have been preaching this for a long time and glad to see others are actually doing so.

[Delhommey]

So we didn't pick up players like Louis Murphy this offseason? A player that had more yards than their FA pick up?

Doesn't matter what stats or numbers I throw at you, I'm old enough to know you can't overcome wild emotional arguments.

[Growl]

Isn't your entire initial post based around it only being week 1? Are you willing to wager against Jackson having more of an impact than Murphy this season?

They saw some contributions from some of their free agent pick ups this week, as expected. They will see more contributions from them as the season progresses. Just because Jackson didn't implode or a hundred yards (even though he likely would have had Tampa kept swinging) doesn't mean he isn't going to be a major contributor this season. To suggest he won't, along with Nicks or even Wright, is just foolhardy.

[panther4life]

There's no point to force. It's as plain as day. You don't think Carl Nicks contributed to their run game? Jackson was open all day until Schiano went into Fox mode at halftime.

Quit being a sheep.

3.6 ypc is nothing to brag about.

I'm not disputing the fact that Nicks and Jackson will be a big help to that team, they damn well should be for the money they paid. They had the cap space to go out and sign the 2 for a reason. Its not like they let any noteable players walk in free agency and opted to sign these guys instead.

[The Saltman]

The problem is people think we are a 13-3 team and got beat by a bad bucs team.

We are a mediocre team with a sophmore QB who is still learning the game and learning how to be an NFL QB.

Both of our lines are pretty bad. We have 1 good player on the defensive line with the rest mediocre players.

We have 2 great players on the OL with one of them getting older by the minute (Gross), with the rest mediocre, horrible, and a rookie.

It all happens on the lines and until we can fix those 2 major issues we will always be a mediocre team.

[Delhommey]

Isn't your entire initial post based around it only being week 1? Are you willing to wager against Jackson having more of an impact than Murphy this season?

They saw some contributions from some of their free agent pick ups this week, as expected. They will see more contributions from them as the season progresses. Just because Jackson didn't implode or a hundred yards (even though he likely would have had Tampa kept swinging) doesn't mean he isn't going to be a major contributor this season. To suggest he won't, along with Nicks or even Wright, is just foolhardy.

But our additions that actually did a few things (long catch to set up a TD, sack, etc) don't count cause it's week 1.

No, no, you're being completely reasonable.

[Growl]

Where did I say he didn't contribute? I was talking about the broken philosophy this team has that people so viciously defend. Not about any of the players that were brought in. Please don't compare a Louis Murphy TYPE addition to a Vincent Jackson TYPE addition.

Especially when you know full well that Murphy himself is probably going to end up the only notable acquisition this team brought in this year. A 3rd WR. Who may slip to 4th in a month.

[carolina-chuck]

How could you be able to rewatch it?

[CatMan72]

I re-watched the game and I'm even more convinced that the Bucs scouted our game preparation @ IMG...

There are several examples of the Bucs defense having an uncanny ability to diagnose the plays we were going to run, especially the "gadget" plays, which makes no sense, except when you consider that we probably spent the majority of the time in the walk through last week going over the plays we don't typically run and any other wrinkles.

One of the most glaring examples of this was early in the game. Cam takes the snap and fakes a pass out to the flat, then pivots to run with the ball while DeAngelo begins to trail him to set up the option sweep. The Bucs defense didn't bite for a moment on the fake pass to the flat, they totally ignored it and converged on Cam... as he pivoted he found himself surrounded by 4 defenders who basically ran to a spot and waited for him.

I would call the Bucs defense lucky if this only happened on one play, but there were several more examples of this kind of "astute" defensive play by the Bucs throughout the first half. When we flipped the script in the 2nd half, the Bucs didn't seem to be nearly as good at reading the play we were going to run... but the damage had been done, you could see our offense was shaken by the fact that Bucs seemed to know our plays better than we did.

There were several examples of poor execution on our part, I'm not making excuses, but it's pretty clear to me that the Bucs had some extra intel on our gameplan.

[Greg Schiano]

How could you be able to rewatch it?

NFL Game Rewind.

[xerxes]

How could you be able to rewatch it?

NFL Rewind