St. Louis Rams vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers: What Are Experts Saying About Tampa Bay?
The Lovie Smith era started with a bang for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week.
Unfortunately for Bucs fans, that bang was the sound of their offense imploding and their much-heralded defense getting carved up by a backup quarterback.
The Bucs didn't have the ball for much of their 20-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 1, and when they did, it wasn't pretty. Quarterback Josh McCown threw a pair of awful interceptions, while the defense got to Derek Anderson just once and failed to register a takeaway, something Smith preached the importance of since he took over as head coach.
But Week 2 is upon us, and Tampa Bay is looking down the barrel of another NFC foe with a backup quarterback and a strong defensive front as the St. Louis Rams come to Raymond James Stadium.
Is this a must-win for the Bucs already? Will the return of offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford to his full duties help the offense's production?
Here's what a few experts and analysts are saying about the Pewter Pirates heading into Week 2.
SI.com's Robert Klemko: Bucs Failed to Live Up to Expectations in Week 1
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A talented roster and an experienced head coach with a winning track record had many experts believing in the Bucs heading into this season. But as SI.com's Robert Klemko points out, the Bucs fell flat on their face last week in their first chance to prove the hype was real:
"Seventy percent of NFL pundits monitored by the prediction site nflpickwatch.com picked the Buccaneers to beat the Panthers in Week 1, and four of the six writers who made preseason predictions on this website—including, ahem, yours truly—picked the Bucs to win the NFC South this season.
And then Sunday happened.
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Klemko goes on to list the multiple Panthers who did the exact opposite, coming out of virtually nowhere to turn in an impressive performance in the team's season-opening road victory against a division opponent.
It's only one game, and there's bound to still be some growing pains for a team coming off a 4-12 season. But for a Buccaneer fanbase that had experienced so much optimism leading up to last week's game, the team simply didn't deliver.
Tampa Bay will need a much better effort on both sides of the ball this week against St. Louis if it wants to undo a good portion of the deflation fans felt after last week.
ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas: Bucs Facing Must-Win
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Last week's effort by the Bucs was pretty awful, and their schedule isn't getting any easier after this week. ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas says Tampa Bay simply has to come away with a victory in Week 2:
"They've got a team that got carved up by Minnesota in the opener coming into their stadium and they have to win this game. The Bucs didn't look great in their opening loss to Carolina, but at least they showed some fight in the fourth quarter.
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But moral victories don't count and the Bucs can't afford to fall to 0-2. That's because an 0-2 start almost guarantees an 0-5 start. Lose to St. Louis and the Bucs are looking at probable road losses at Atlanta, Pittsburgh and New Orleans.
It's hard to argue with Pat's perspective here. If the Bucs lose two-straight home games against backup quarterbacks to start the season, there's no reason to believe they'll be able to go on the road and come away with a victory in any of those three following games.
Even Rams backup quarterback Shaun Hill is dealing with a quad injury this week, and the Bucs got another break with the news that defensive end Chris Long will miss the foreseeable future, projected to be 8-10 weeks, following ankle surgery, reports ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter (via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com).
Week 2 might be too early for some Bucs fans to think about 2014 being a rebuilding year, but it could very well be the beginning of just that with a loss to the Rams.
Pro Football Talk's Josh Alper: Tedford's Return Should Improve Offense
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Tampa Bay's offense was absolutely awful for most of last week's loss to Carolina. But Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk says that the return of offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford should spell relief for the Bucs' offensive woes:
"Quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo called the plays with Tedford offering some input and the Bucs offense failed to ignite until the second half of their 20-14 loss. It looks like Tedford will be back to the usual offensive coordinator duties in Week Two, however. ...
Having Tedford back should allow the Bucs to turn their total focus back to fixing their problems on offense. Based on the opener, the offensive line would be a good place for Tedford and company to start.
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It's hard to know how much of an impact Tedford's absence actually had on the Bucs' offensive performance last week, but it definitely won't hurt their chances of improving to have him back in the saddle in Week 2.
McCown rebounded from some huge mistakes early in the game to get the Bucs within a score late in the fourth quarter last week, so fans will be hoping that Tedford can help the offense pick up where it left off and be effective from the get-go against St. Louis this week.
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NFL.com's Elliot Harrison: Bucs Fall 4 Spots in Power Rankings
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NFL.com's media analyst Elliot Harrison posted his latest power rankings following Week 1, and the Bucs are down four spots to No. 24.
"Will the real Josh McCown please stand up? (Well, maybe he did Sunday, if the first, oh, 10 years of his career are any indication.) The Buccaneers sure didn't get much from McCown, barely anything from Doug Martin and darn-near nothing from ballyhooed wideouts Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans.
Thankfully, the woeful Rams will be charging--scratch that--limping into Tampa next.
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In these rankings, the Bucs stayed ahead of only one team that won its game in Week 1—the Houston Texans—finding itself on the cusp of the league's lower third. Unfortunately for Bucs fans, the fall was well-earned.
On Sunday Tampa Bay definitely looked like a team that could challenge for a top-10 pick in the 2015 draft, but there's obviously plenty of football left to be played. Still, the Lovie Smith era didn't get off to a pretty start last week, and the team will have to bounce back significantly this week to prove it's still on the right track.
Bleacher Report's Michelle Bruton: McCown Not the Answer at QB
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Many fans were surprised when Bucs head coach Lovie Smith named McCown the starting quarterback immediately after signing the journeyman veteran, especially considering the admirable performance of rookie third-rounder Mike Glennon.
Ask Bleacher Report's own Michelle Bruton and she'll tell you that handing the keys to McCown was a bad idea:
"McCown's blunder-riddled afternoon on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, in which he went 22-of-35 and threw for as many interceptions (two) as touchdowns, confirmed the murmurings that began when Tampa Bay signed McCown to a two-year, $10 million deal in March: McCown's 2013 season in Chicago was a fluke. ...
Rather than praise McCown for staging a fourth-quarter comeback, the Buccaneers need to take a hard look at the reason they were in such a hole to begin with and realize they cannot play an entire season with him at the helm.
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It's a bit early to give up on McCown, but it's hard not to question Smith for being so sure of a quarterback with so little starting experience. McCown was billed all offseason as the type of quarterback who won't lose games with poor decision-making, but that's exactly what he was last week.
The Bucs chose not to take a quarterback in this year's draft, remaining adamant that Glennon's the future of the position. If McCown has many more outings like the one he had has last week, the future could start sooner rather than later under center for Tampa Bay.
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