Any thoughts that the Saints would duplicate their 2006 sweep of the Bucs were pretty much out the window by halftime, with the home team ahead 21-0. Jeff Garcia has paid obvious dividends, both in the passing game and in leadership, and the Bucs defense looked like its old self against a potent opponent.

So are the Bucs really as good as they looked today, or are the Saints simply slipping back toward mediocrity?

Does it really matter that they beat the Saints, who are they anyhow, its not like the Bucs will have a good season, anyhow. They will not even make it to the playoffs. So lets not get anybodys hopes up

The team looked great...there was one disgrace however.  Watching Joey Galloway slow down with 30 yards to go on his touchdown catch was pathetic and disgraceful.  Is that supposed to be cool?  Grow-up Joey, you’ll never be a leader or respected acting like that.  I hope Gruden shows that is not the way he expects his team to act.

wildcats - 16 September 2007 04:49 PM

Does it really matter that they beat the Saints, who are they anyhow, its not like the Bucs will have a good season, anyhow. They will not even make it to the playoffs. So lets not get anybodys hopes up

i hope your not a bucs fan. I see this is your first post in here becuase if you are a bucs your your garbage

You guys Saints fans or what? I’ll address both of you. First of all, who are the Saints? Well, they are the last team to win the NFCS, played in the NFC Championship last year and had the best offense in the NFC last year. That’s who they are. Well… were. As for the playoffs, perhaps the Bucs won’t make it, but to say they won’t is a bit pessimistic. I think they have a good shot at making it if today is any indication of what we can expect from this team.

As for Joey Galloway, I saw nothing disrespectful in what he did at all. Receivers all over the league do the same thing when they can waltz into the endzone untouched. Galloway has been nothing BUT class since he’s been with this organization.

Great all around game by the Bucs today. Lots of game balls to be handed out. The obvious candidates are Garcia & Galloway. On defense, Ruud, White, Phillips, Bucannon, Brooks. Tough choices. This is a good week to be a Buc fan. At least I’ll be smiling at work all week.

GO BUCS!!!

I’m always happy with a Bucs win.  No matter what anyone thinks of the current situation, you have to be happy when the final score is in our favor!!!

A Win is a win is a win-No matter who it is against. Most of the local prognisticators had the Bucs losing both of these first two games. I was hopeful for at least a 1-1 start of which I am very satisfied with. 
I also predicted that the Saints would have a slump year after last season’s unexpected success. I live in their territory and from observing their local media coverage I believe key players on their team started believing all of the Hype and took it down a few notches in intensity compared to last season-Sort of like what happened to the Bucs after the 1979,1997, and 2002 seasons-It’s basic Human Weakness to want to bask too much in new found success really.
After Week Two the NFC South is once again a wide open race with only Atlanta not having much of a chance at this point. It’s not all good yet-But it is getting much better very quick!

Gr1ffin - 16 September 2007 05:11 PM

The team looked great...there was one disgrace however.  Watching Joey Galloway slow down with 30 yards to go on his touchdown catch was pathetic and disgraceful.  Is that supposed to be cool?  Grow-up Joey, you’ll never be a leader or respected acting like that.  I hope Gruden shows that is not the way he expects his team to act.

Hmm I saw that too. However, I don’t give a crap about it. Far worse things are done on the field… the only play that bothered me was Reggie Bush pushing June down after the play was over. Frustration is an ugly thing.

Great win for the Bucs. We still need some better protection for Garcia. He’s going to be in a body bag if he keep’s getting hit like that week after week. Defense pass rush needs to improve. Bree’s threw 44 times and was sacked 3 times. That will not work against the Rams or Colts. I will say our pass rush improved though in the second half. Haye/White showed some pop in getting in there and making some plays. Ruud played well. He leads the league in tackles which is a good way to start the year. The Galloway play wasn’t anything disrespectful. You must be a panzy to think that was bad. He deserved to show boat he burnt the entire team. Good game, good win, defense was hitting hard, offense was clicking and finished some drives. Let’s see how the rest of the year goes. GO BUCS!!

No one saw it coming and no one is giving the Bucs credit after the fact. Jeff Garcia made it all happen. Every play. From the scramble for the first down (on third down) in the red zone to getting out of the pocket and making the plays to changing up the playcalls. He was the difference from 3 points to 7. Also, kudos to Mike Clayton for that BRUISING block on Galloway’s skidadle(and it was even more fun seeing the ensuing 3 replays!). BTW, the line didn’t give up ONE sack on Garcia. And no they didn’t open holes for Caddy, but the Saints kept eight in the box most of the game. Lastly, the defense had them shut out for the first half, Phillip Buchanon played well in B.K.’s shoes, and Barret(the future leader of this team!)Ruud laid CrUsHiNg hits on Bush and McAllister. I was at the game, we played like a well oiled machine. I will admit on that first goalline attempt by Caddy-I sure did miss #40. FACT: we own Mike Vick. SOON TO BE FACT: We will own Reggie Bush. The only one that worries me is Dwayne Jarrett. Too tall for our DB’s to handle.

jvnootz - 18 September 2007 04:26 PM

No one saw it coming and no one is giving the Bucs credit after the fact. Jeff Garcia made it all happen. Every play. From the scramble for the first down (on third down) in the red zone to getting out of the pocket and making the plays to changing up the playcalls. He was the difference from 3 points to 7. Also, kudos to Mike Clayton for that BRUISING block on Galloway’s skidadle(and it was even more fun seeing the ensuing 3 replays!). BTW, the line didn’t give up ONE sack on Garcia. And no they didn’t open holes for Caddy, but the Saints kept eight in the box most of the game. Lastly, the defense had them shut out for the first half, Phillip Buchanon played well in B.K.’s shoes, and Barret(the future leader of this team!)Ruud laid CrUsHiNg hits on Bush and McAllister. I was at the game, we played like a well oiled machine. I will admit on that first goalline attempt by Caddy-I sure did miss #40. FACT: we own Mike Vick. SOON TO BE FACT: We will own Reggie Bush. The only one that worries me is Dwayne Jarrett. Too tall for our DB’s to handle.

You are entitled to your opinion, but do you truly bellieve the line was repsonsible for Garcia having no sacks? I agree when he sat in the pocket and threw long passes down the field he had enough time.  However, was I the only one who saw Jeff Garcia running for his life for half the plays in the game?  The line was better on offense in that it did not commit penalties, but as far as protecting the QB, that was the QB’s legs doing the protecting.  More evidence the o-line was just adequate - looking at the rushing average of all the running backs, it was not fantastic by any stretch of the imagination - barely adequate is a more accurate decription.  Even Gruden admits the running has to get better.  I am happy they won, and they did it convincingly, but the o-line needs more improvement.

The Rams high powered offense was shut down. Steven Jackson had to pound out 30 carries to put up his numbers and the offense’s fear of our defense was evident in the numerous screen passes to backs and receivers. Buchanon once again came up BIG with his endzone INT. I see around this site a lot of people hating on Caddy. 12 carries nearly 50 yards. Double the carries and watch the numbers go to 24 and 100. Add that to another touchdown, you’ve got a good looking Caddy. I don’t know if I saw what Garcia did, (he praised the offensive line after the game) but I did see Garcia scramble a lot to get out of the pocket and make plays. The stat sheet states the facts though. ONE SACK ON Garcia ALL DAY. Two games=one sack.

The Defense isn’t it’s old self.  The final results may look similar but the way they go about it isn’t.  LB and DB wise might be the deepest the D has ever been.  Especially taking note of the nickel back. However the Dline isn’t even close to the Sapp lead dlines.  They ran some 3-4 this past game. In the past on those plays Monte would have sent in the usual front four with spires sapp and rice racing to the QB.  The bucs aren’t getting anything close to that these days.  Props to Kiffen and co for changing it up and still getting these kind of results.

Oline wise this is the most excited any bucs fan ever could possibly be about the oline.  Sure there’s an old guy at LT but with three young guys on the line there’s a lot to be excited about.