Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Week 16 Bucs Post (@ New Orleans, W 20-17)

I can't plead sadness on delaying my post about this one... I'll just blame it on this impending cold I seem to be picking up and recovering from a rough day of travel followed by a jet-lagged two days at work. Enough whining. On to the good stuff: Tampa. Beat. The Saints. No kidding. I'm not making that up. In New Orleans, no less. Woot! Before I get to Tampa things that made me happy, let's watch something awesome, shall we?

Ha! That's the Saints' owner, celebrating the missed game-winning field goal, before realizing he's heading into overtime... where his team would lose... This was thanks in large part to Cadillac running the ball on all but one play in overtime. Caddy had a beautiful game, and it was great to see him back, including a 23-yard run to cap off a 98-yard touchdown drive.
Also great was Michael Spurlock, making a huge impact on his return to the Bucs' special teams unit. After a great stop by the Tampa defense to send the Saints 3-and-out, Spurlock ran the punt back for a touchdown... setting up the shanked kick in the above video and the chance for Tampa to win in overtime.
Speaking of the defense, they showed a lot of pride after Tampa went down 0-17 early. I think this unit has a lot or potential.
Big picture, this was both a good and a bad win. Even more so than the Seattle win, this game seriously screwed up our chances of drafting Ndamukong Suh. As several defensive players pointed out, though, if we want Suh then we're just going to need to trade up for him. While losses would bring us closer to Suh, they would make it impossible for Morris to hang on to his job, and at this point I would like to see what he can do next year... especially since the alternative is apparently Bill Effing Cowher. (Arg.) Beyond the draft, the bad news was in the injuries.
Earnest Graham sustained a toe injury, which sounds blessedly short-term, but Jimmy Wilkerson tore an ACL. Here's hoping he's back as soon as humanly possible.

No comments: