Behind Enemy Lines - Bucs Edition

[Zod]

Greetings from Tampa!

 

My flight arrived yesterday and I promptly went the local Cuban joint for some pork, yellow rice and black beans. I love Cuban food.

 

The mood down here towards the Bucs is indifferent at best. No one cares. More people here are interested in the Tampa Bay Lightning home game this evening. I have not seen this level of complete apathy since the 1980s in Tampa. The house that Dungy built is officially burnt to the ground.

 

Here are a few local headlines...

 

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Greg Schiano era among the worst in Bucs history.

 

 

The point is this: For all the suffering that Tampa Bay fans have endured over the years, this is pretty close to the bottom. There hasn't been a positive headline out of One Buc Place for months now, and it may be months before there is another.

 

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

 

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Rookie RB James eager to seize opportunity...

 

 

"I'm sitting here having nightmares of (Panthers defensive ends Greg) Hardy and (Charles) Johnson and Kuechly and (defensive coordinator) Sean McDermott," Sullivan said. "The numbers don't lie. These guys are up in every category."

 

That quote by the Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan is very telling. He knows the huge challenge his young crew faces tonight. The Bucs are starting rookies at both QB and RB, not because they want to, but because they lack other options.

 

James is a sixth round rookie out of the University of Miami and a Florida native. I expect the limited crowd to be pulling for him.

 

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Bucs want this win and "don't like" the Panthers.

 

 

“We just want to win. I’m just being honest. We just want to win,'' defensive end Gerald McCoy said. "I guess it’s prime time. That’s it. There’s a lot of fireworks around it...This is a division opponent that we don’t like.

“Desperate, that’s kind of like the last straw isn’t it? If you don’t have a win? The Giants won last night. I was like c’mon now. Dang it. Another team with a win. We’ve got to get one. We don’t want to be the last ones. We’ve got to get it.’’

 

It doesn't sound like the Bucs are giving up on the season and the Panthers would be wise not to overlook them. They need to come out and match the intensity they had against the Rams if they expect to go home with a winning record.

 

[teeray]

This game is going to be a lot tougher than people around here think, and the Bucs are better than their 0-6 record indicates.

We HAVE to come ready to play and show out on national TV or else we are going to be embarrassed at the result.

[panthers55]

I cant imagine the Panthers wont be fired up. Tampa swept us last year and this is the first chance for many players on the team to experience going over 500 in their pro career. They will be on National television against a team they don't like. If you cant get up for that then I don't know what you can get up.

[panthers55]

This game is going to be a lot tougher than people around here think, and the Bucs are better than their 0-6 record indicates.

We HAVE to come ready to play and show out on national TV or else we are going to be embarrassed at the result.

Fans are not playing the game. I imagine the players are not taking anything for granted. They have watched film. They know the Bucs are still playing hard.

[Cyclonus]

Down year or not I still HATE those bitches!  I hope the Panthers are up for this game (and none of them get MRSA)

[RelaxImaPro]

National TV against a divisional rival who has been humiliated all season at their house with their backs against the wall along with a back up rookie quarterback, a back up rookie running back, and a lame duck head coach.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

[rayzor]

i talked to my brother last night who goes to see the panthers every time they go down there and admitted that he's gotten a little sympathetic to the bucs over the past couple years being the local team who many down there thought was on the rise again. i asked him if he was going to the game and he said the bucs just aren't a team he wants to spend money on right now, regardless of who they are playing. he'd just rather watch that game at home. i asked him about how he felt about them and he said it was more just pity than anything. now he's no bucs fan, but he's around a good few being less than an hour away and apathy definitely describes what he's been seeing. nobody really cares anymore. people are just going throughthe motions.

[mbarbour21]

They are a team with very little expectation and even less to lose. (NOTHING)

So that makes them at the very least, Dangerous.

They won't be winning any division crown, but it would sure make them feel better if they kept their division rivals (with the 2nd best D) from passing .500.

The Panthers won't take them lightly. Not THIS team, definitely not this D.

[Jackofalltrades]

An unknown RB always seems to kill us, does that stop tonight?

[Zod]

An unknown RB always seems to kill us, does that stop tonight?

 

I don't think so. This guys doesn't seem to be especially fast or strong, thus he was a sixth rounder. He is averaging 2 yards a carry.

 

The Panthers will be completely unafraid of Glennon and won't take it easy on this rook RB.

[Jackofalltrades]

I hope they come out and dominate from whistle to whistle. There's no reason not to blow these guys out.

Have we turned a corner? We'll find out tonight, these are the games where we usually come out and repeatedly shoot ourselves in the foot.

[Fiz]

Lol we're gonna get blown out and if you don't understand this yet then whelp.

[Bloodflood]

Well if any RB is gonna slaughter us an break our hearts, I'd rather it boy my boy Mike James from the U than anyone else.

[SgtJoo]

An unknown RB always seems to kill us, does that stop tonight?

 

I picked up Mike James off waivers this week because he's the sole back now but no way in hell I start him against this Panthers D. I'd rather start Zac Stacy against the Seahwks D.