The Buccaneers defense is doing everything it can to make life easy for quarterback Mike Glennon in his first NFL start.
They have held the Cardinals to 87 yards and zero points in the first half, sending the Bucs to the locker room with a 10-0 lead. They have sacked Carson Palmer once and forced a fumble while taking Larry Fitzgerald totally out of the game. Fitzgerald hasn’t been targeted once by Palmer in the first half and has served as an afterthought whether Darrelle Revis or another member of the Bucs secondary has been responsible for him.
The result has been 41 plays for the Bucs offense and just 21 for the Cardinals in a one-sided half of football.
Glennon has handled things well thus far. The Bucs have not shied away from giving him work to do and he’s completed 15-of-24 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown to Mike Williams. There haven’t been a lot of explosive plays, although they did show a new wrinkle when track star Jeff Demps made his NFL debut with a 14-yard gain on a sweep. Given how well the defense is playing, keeping things simple and mistake-free will likely continue to be the order of the day for the Buccaneers.