The Buccaneers' New Look Looked Very Familiar in Loss to Carolina Panthers

With a new coach and a new offense, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came up with the same disappointing loss in their season opener against the Carolina Panthers.

None of the Bucs' recent acquisitions paid many dividends. Quarterback Josh McCown played with reckless abandon, throwing a pair of picks worthy of a new installment of Football Follies.

The offensive line was predictably bad, even before recently acquired guard Logan Mankins went down with a hyperextended knee, per Yahoo Sports' Rand Getlin. It struggled to open run lanes, and McCown spent half the game getting knocked around by Carolina's pass-rushers.

Tampa Bay's defense looked tepid and confused despite Cam Newton watching the game from the sidelines. Backup QB Derek Anderson marched up and down the field on the Bucs, completing 24 of 34 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bucs were sloppy and hapless for most of the game. If that sounds familiar, it's because Tampa Bay doesn't look any better since firing Greg Schiano and hiring Lovie Smith.

Schiano's defense was good too, even finishing first in run defense in 2012. However, like Lovie's defense on Sunday, Schiano's Bucs couldn't generate a pass rush. The Bucs' only reliable pass-rusher remains defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, who collected Tampa Bay's sole sack on Sunday.

In certain aspects the Bucs have actually gotten worse. Last season the Bucs and quarterback Mike Glennon in particular were very careful with the football and ended the season with a plus-10 turnover ratio.

The Bucs started off the 2014 season three turnovers in the red thanks to McCown's interceptions and a game-sealing fumble by running back Bobby Rainey. On the problems caused by the Bucs turnovers, Smith said during his postgame press conference:

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But again what we’re going to build on is how we played at the end of the football game. We were at least in the game at the end and most of the game we weren’t. We just can’t put ourselves in a hole like that. We’re minus three in the turnover ratio. You can’t win like that.

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Smith praised the Bucs' late-game heroics, which hearkened back even further to the days of Raheem Morris and Josh Freeman. In 2010 Morris and Freeman led the Bucs to a 10-6 record on the back of a gaggle of comeback wins.

McCown led the Bucs to two fourth-quarter touchdowns, but it was too little too late. The Bucs simply weren't able to overcome their early mistakes, either against the Panthers on Sunday or the ghosts of their past.

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