Having a below average quarterback is simply crippling in today's NFL. Freeman is a perennially mediocre player. Tampa is going through what the Jets have gone through with Sanchez. The sooner they move on from him, the better chance they have at achieving long term prosperity.
Their division is so tough. If they were in a more friendlier division I would say they could make the play offs but even now I think they will win at least 8. Not a bad team at all.
Freeman didn't regress much. Against Ryan's defense, he was about league average in terms of completion ratio (%) and was better in terms of yardage - partially thanks to very dominant receiver in Vincent Jackson. Doug Martin seems like a legit back as well - just Rex planned things out thoroughly so he was pretty much non-factor because of that. Their OL seemed pretty good too. And their defense? Man. I'd take Jets DL over theirs any day of the week, but I'd take their LB corp and the secondary over Jets. Imagine this: if Jets had Schiano as the HC, and Bucs had Rex as HC. Do you honestly think the score line could have been in the tune of 18-17? Bucs is not a terrible team - even though, they may not make playoff since they share the division with Saints and Falcons.
Actually Freeman was ranked 9th last year in yards, and just below average in QB rating. He's not bad. If Sanchez could put up similar numbers we'd be in the playoffs every year. You can afford to have a mediocre QB when your defense is beastly. Last year their D was what held the team back, not the offense. Teams exploited their secondary like there was no tomorrow, partially why the run D was that good, but they are very stout up front, regardless.
I think we got a quality win over a tough opponent. If they had a better QB and a real coach they would be world beaters.
I agree that Freeman is better than Sanchez, but he's very inconsistent and I would not want to try and build a consistent winner around him.
Total stats are kind of meaningless though. He had a nice run last year where he put up numbers against a string of weak defences but he played poorly whenever he faced a good team.
do you watch any LION football? Stafford is an above average QB. His OL has been bad and yet he gets the job done. Having a great receiver helps but to denigrate his talent level is wrong.
Tampa had the game won. We got lucky with that penalty. Tampa played badly but it was still enough to beat a rebuilding Jets squad. Tampa has a nice D and just a tad more talent on offense than we do. Why is the media pointing out these things? Best guess is that they just don't want to give the Jets credit even for being lucky.
We got lucky but if they never committed that penalty and we were 5 yards short on a FG, you could say that Tampa got lucky that Rex made the mistake of wasting 10 seconds before calling a timeout. So it goes both ways. Rex's mistake was outdone by Tampa's mistake.
Some pretty respected guys (read: not ESPN talking heads) were in love with Tampa Bay as recently as two weeks ago. Bill Barnwell and Robert Mays from Grantland.com were talking about them as fringe Superbowl contenders, with the caveat that Josh Freeman can't be a train wreck when he gets pressured like he was last year. Footballoutsiders.com preseason projections had them at #12 overall, with an expected Mean Wins of 8.2, falling just short of a wild card. I don't like Freeman, or Schiano for that matter, but I think this win will look a lot better in retrospect, and the talking heads will conveniently forget about it.
The Tampa team we beat is a talented team. There coach looks lost but they have a lot of playmakers on both sides of the ball.
Gonna have to disagree with this. Stafford is an above average QB even without Megatron. Even Peyton Msnning said he was the only rookie that ever went to his camp that really really wowed and impressed him.
I was actually very surprised by what I saw out of Tampa Bay. Their OC and QB looked lost. And it looks like Freeman has lost his teammates. There has to be more going on there.
Nice Thread! As far as our schedule goes...other than Tampa, Baltimore, Pittsburg & NO...nothing pops out at me...so far. And, Baltimore and Pittsburg, both, look like SHADOWS of their former self. I understand it was Peyton Manning but to get tuned up like that in game 1 is embarrassing! Same for Pittsburgh...to lose to that team AND suffer season ending injuries to key members bodes for a VERY long season in the Steel City this year. NO is a Ryan coached defense. We shall see how they progress. They don't have to be great...just good. Most teams aren't going to keep up with that offense. I'm glad we don't get them until week 9. Hopefully our offense has gelled a bit and Geno has progressed some more. After week 1 here are your league defensive leaders: 1 Kansas City - Played Jacksonville...enough said 2 Tennessee - Played Pittsburgh...and for once the Squeelers look HORRIBLE!! 3 Pittsburgh - Played Tennessee...they looked LESS horrible than the Squeelers 4 NY Jets - Played a team with a dominant running game and above average receivers 5 Seattle - Played a good Panthers team with a dominant QB. The Jets are 2nd against the run...Tennessee is number 1...but they were stopping a scrub after the Squeelers lost Pouncy. I don't care about Tampa's penalties. I don't care...you play the game and every game is different. There are ebbs and flows. Typically, the football Gods RAIN on the Jets and we get the stupid calls. Not last Sunday. The sun does shine every once in a while. The Jets beat a quality opponent. An opponent that some had going to the playoffs so just because it didn't "go" the way people wanted or thought shouldn't discount the win. ANY coach will tell you that to win an NFL game is part skill, part preparation, part execution and part luck. EVERY single game. On we go to NE...by the way, Amendola has been confirmed out for Thursday...or so Pat Kirwan tweeted.
this question is exactly why i never bet on football the first 3 weeks of the season. you just dont know what teams are going into the year, then the second week you are wondering well was that for real? next week you will have some answers and people will usually have showed what they are by the end of week 3.
Tampa is one of the tougher games on our schedule. The AFC North we are capable of beating every single team in that division. The only inevitable loss I see is the Saints, although Rex Ryan stopped that offense back in 2009. The Falcons are overrated trash, they are just another team that makes the NFC Championship and cant come close the next year. They remind me of that Vikings team that lost to the Saints that was picked by everyone the next year to go to the Super Bowl, yet could not make the playoffs. The Falcons 8-0 start fueled em, they won a lot of close games. Not gunna happen again, I think the Jets could beat em that Monday Night.
