I started writing the obituary for the Bucs, but then they squeaked out an OT win.  The Chiefs came to play for most of the game and I still don’t know how they lost that one. The Chiefs offense bitch slapped the much hyped Bucs defense on the opening drive with the right hand; and before Tampa could even think about what happened, Graham fumbled the ball and the Chiefs bitch slapped the Bucs with the left hand. It was 21-3 early into the 2nd quarter after Tampa’s defense was burned on a fake reverse with the quarterback Thigpen receiving the TD pass. At this point the only thing I was thinking that there was no other game to flip back and forth on and I gave up 9pts on the spread. Tampa was able to find a pulse when Clifton Smith took it to the house on a kickoff return and with another field goal it was 24-13 at the half.

The red zone has been a thorn in Tampa’s offense all season. But Graham took a hand off at the 3, and started straight up the field, then hit the brakes and tossed to a wide open Smith for a TD. The Bucs rallied and scored a touchdown with 19 seconds left in the game, tying it up on a 2pt conversion. The call was heads and Tampa won the coin flip, drove down the field for a field goal after a timeout to ice Bryant, then a false start on a 3rd down field goal attempt, bringing the offense back on. Bryant finally hit a 38 yard field goal to win it 30-27.

Scoreboard: Tampa won and they head into the bye week 6-3, but I’m coming to the conclusion this team plays to its competition and sometimes below it. Gruden needs to tighten the Bucs ship up and get this team to play for all 4 quarters on both sides of the ball, or this team will only be good on paper.