TAMPA, FL -- This wasn't even a fair contest. Let me equate this Saints/Bucs game to a basketball game. The Bucs defense was playing a half court game against the most potent offense in the NFL.
In other words, trouble.
Bucs Quarterback Josh Freeman turned the ball over four times on his own. As he told us afterwards, "I wasn't in rythmn."
End result, a 38-7 blowout. But that's just half the story. The Bucs defense was horrendous.
I will grant them the unenviable task of facing Drew Brees with bad field position for most of the afternoon. And Brees just torched em. No real bombs, just a bunch of dink and dunks and some flash. What was alarming was the Saints running game.
A total of 183 yards. Ridiculous!
To sum it all up, this will hit you like a ton of bricks. By my calculations, unless my match is off, this year's Bucs defense has given up more points (294) in the first 10 games of the season than ANY TEAM IN FRANCHISE HISTORY.
Furthermore, this Bucs defense has given more points in 10 games than any Bucs team but two since 1995. That would be the 2006 and 2008 season.
There is little question personnel is to blame, and perhaps coaching as well. Something has to give there after the season. We'll be interested to see how far the purge goes.
