On Saturday I wrote an article about how the Washington Football team would be a true test to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come Sunday. Many must have laughed and just passed it off as some crazy kid from Montreal rambling about a meaningless prediction. Although I ultimately had the Bucs winning in the end, I did say that Washington would be a handful and truly test the Buccaneers.
What transpired on Sunday was a complete manifestation of my prediction. The Washington Football Team ran all over the Buccaneers, looking like the better team throughout the entire game. Let’s not forget that this is a team that was 2-6 before Sunday’s game, and dwelling at the bottom of the NFC East.
All across the board, the Buccaneers struggled. Tom Brady has been uncharacteristically inconsistent over the last two games, the defense has been extremely sloppy, and the offense just can’t seem to get anything going. The running game, which had improved during the middle of the season, has all but disappeared. Leonard Fournette had 11 carries yesterday and only managed 47 yards. Now, it is not Fournett’es fault, but something has to give.
The bottom line here is that the team looks out of sync. Nothing seems to be going their way, they look like they are lacking energy, and it looks like they have been slacking in their playbook studying. For a team that has championship aspirations, and has the ability to win the Superbowl easily, they are not playing up to their potential, and I’m sure they know that.
Also, we have to give praise to the Washington Football Team, who played an outstanding game. In particular, Taylor Heinicke was the stand-out player of this game. It seems Taylor is Tom Brady’s kryptonite, as he has the advantage over him in their meeting over the past couple of years. I think that speaks volumes about the young man’s talent.
Heinicke went an outstanding 26/32 on Sunday, posting 256 passing yards, as well as one touchdown. What really spoke to me was how dialed in and focused he was. The team was struggling and was last in the NFC East, but their quarterback played this game as if it was a playoff game, showing just how much of a competitor he really is.
Let’s also give a hand to the Washington defense, which looked like it really got into Tom Brady’s head. It’s not often Tom Brady throws an INT, but on Sunday the Washington defense forced him to throw two, which is unheard of! On top of it, he has three in his last two games.
I’m not sure what is going on with this Buccaneers team, but they better figure it out fast if they want any chance of getting back to the Super Bowl this season.