In the wake of an impressive Week One win at Atlanta, the Buccaneers sparked a belief by some (i.e., me) that they could win at Arizona.
They didn’t win at Arizona. Badly. So what happened?
“I think we just put too much into a win,” tackle Demar Dotson said, via JoeBucsFan.com. “You know, we had a lot of people praising us over the Atlanta game, over one game. And I think that maybe we just had too much praise over one win. It’s just one game. That’s the highs and lows in the NFL. We can get too high over a win, or get too low. And I think we got too high over a win. And we got humbled real quick.”
After Sunday’s showing against the Cardinals, excessive praise isn’t a problem the Buccaneers will have any time soon. Now the question becomes whether they will be able to handle the adversity that flows from an ugly loss as they prepare to host the Rams in Tampa Bay’s home opener.
In order to beat the Rams, the Bucs will need to practice better. Both center Joe Hawley and receiver Cecil Shorts III said that the team did not have a stellar practice week.
Too many of those will lead to too many losses. And too many of those will result in ownership continuing the lather-rinse-repeat cycle of firing head coaches.