Be Scared, People

Oh jumping Jesus Christ this is going to suck. The New York Giants took on the most productive offense in the history of the NFL and came up only four points short of winning. The Buccaneers, on the other hand, lost to Shaun Hill and Matt Moore. And please spare me the whole "the Bucs were playing their backups" spiel. That's exactly what Hill and Moore are.

Against the Panthers, the Bucs got very little pass rush, only one sack and allowed 180 rushing yards. One of the only bright spots on defense was Jeremiah Trotter who had a brilliant first half against the run but kind of petered out in the second half when his knees protested against playing the whole game. Outside of the Phillip Buchanon interception (which really was more a product of a bad throw than a great play on the ball,) the secondary was terrible. Moore sprayed the ball around to eight different receivers and repeatedly burned Kalvin Pearson, Sammy Davis and Tanard Jackson.

On offense, it was more of the same. The offensive line, made up mostly of starters, couldn't protect Luke McCown. The only consistent performer on Sunday was Davin Joseph, but it didn't matter much since no one could open up running lanes, as evidenced by 60 yards on 21 carries. Michael Clayton dropped everything that came close to him until the fourth quarter. Hey Mike, save "better late than never" for your anniversary where it belongs. The team needs you to produce in the first half. Can you believe Chad Lucas was the highlight for the wide receivers?

There's a lot more to harp on and be negative about, but you probably wasted the same three hours of your life that I did, so you already know. Very simply, the Bucs are terrible in the red zone on both side of the ball. They can't prevent losing teams of backups from getting touchdowns, yet they settle for field goals when they get close themselves. The only thing going for the Bucs on Sunday is the Giants' famous late-season inconsistency and that they are due for a drop-off after such an emotional game against the Patriots on Saturday. I've been picking the Bucs all year even when the odds were against them because I want to believe. But this team does not fill me with confidence.