The game had many ups and downs and reeked of the team as many have come.

As week three came to a close on Monday Night Football www.tampabaybuccaneersteamonline.com , the Tampa Bay Buccaneers endured their first loss of the season.Penalties, no-calls, ghost-calls, turnovers and a late rally that fell short best summarizes the game void of detail. Now it’s time for some post game reactions. The offense lost some of it’s early season mojo. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for another 400 yards and as Gil Arcia wrote here, entered the record books as the first quarterback to toss for 400 yards in three consecutive games. Three was number of the game for Fitzpatrick as he threw 3 interceptions (2 of which can be pinned on him) along with 3 touchdown passes. Yards aside, this was the version Fitzpatrick that most of the football world envisioned the Buccaneers getting while Jameis Winston served his suspension. The high risk-high reward gunslinger mentality finally cost the team a bit in this one though it was far from being solely on the shoulders of the teams signal caller. Following a Justin Evans interception, Peyton Barber got the offense going with a couple good runs to set up a touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Cameron Brate to give the Buccaneers and early lead. Barber would have little to no success after this drive, finishing the game with a total of 33 yards on 8 carries. Rodgers added 2 carries for -1 yards, Humphries carried one time for 4 yards and Fitzpatrick scrambled his way to 27 yards on 5 carries. Barber had the biggest carry of the night, going for 18 yards. Without the 18 yard scamper, Barber carried 7 times for 15 yards. The receiving core including tight ends worked hard in this one led by Mike Evans and O.J. Howard. Evans had 137 yards and a touchdown on 6 receptions including two amazing grabs shown below. Howard pulled in 6 passes for 72 yards and Chris Godwin had 4 catches for 74 yards and a touchdown. Godwin had his struggles including a ill timed fumble and several key drops, one of which was in the end-zone. The team was unable to get DeSean Jackson involved much, finishing with 3 catches for 37 yards. Brate got his first bit of real action of the season catching 3 of 4 targets for 34 yards and a touchdown. The offensive line again did an overall solid job protecting Fitzpatrick but a missed assignment directly led to a Fitzpatrick interception. Run blocking was below average yet again, struggling to consistently open holes albeit they did succeed in allowing Barber to spring for a good gain on the second drive. As a whole, the offense did enough to win the football game. The turnovers, all four of them Tampa Bay Buccaneers T-Shirt , are inexcusable and need to get under control. The pick six from Fitzpatrick (shown below) just can’t happen.The play calling was questionable in a few key moments but ultimately in this gamethe offense as a whole didn’t execute to the level that they are capable of.Defensive backfield got gashed and gap discipline late was an issue. The defensive line had a solid game led by veteran free-agent acquisition Jason Pierre-Paul. JPP did receive a personal foul for a hit to the head of Big Ben that was quite the acting job the by quarterback to sell the force of contact, but he also contributed 2 sacks to give him 3 on the season, one off the league lead in sacks. Pierre-Paul’s 3 sacks are more than any Buccaneer defensive end had a season ago. Vinny Curry and Gerald McCoy combined to split a sack which you won’t hear much about due to the sack that didn’t happen late in the 4th quarter by Gerald McCoy. On the play in question, McCoy nearly gets to Big Ben but was held on the play and in turn, the Steelers ended up extending the drive and went on to win the ballgame. The linebackers were swarming but a few miscues including a poor angle and a vacated zone by Kwon and David let to a few big Steeler plays across the middle. Lavonte David did have an otherwise stellar game including a huge stop early in the ballgame that was followed by a Pierre-Paul sack to close out a Steeler drive in the first half. David led the team with 9 total tackles. The defensive backs would best be served split into two groups, veterans and young guns. The young guns, including Justin Evans, Carl Davis, M.J. Stewart and Jordan Whitehead played well. The veteran tandem of Brent Grimes and Chris “Highlight” Conte however did not. In Conte’s defense, he had little to do with the overall game as he was injured shortly after being demolished by Vance McDonald in this clip here. Justin Evans had himself a solid ball game against the Steelers that included this early interception of Big Ben on the Steelers second drive. Evans did play a big role in the Steelers scoring on a pass to Antonio Brown that first saw Brent Grimes playing off coverage and whiff on the tackle attempt. The biggest story of this game for the defensive backs was Carl Davis and how well he played, in particular when guarding Antonio Brown, versus how rusty a game it was for Brent Grimes who struggled in coverage early and seemed to be debating on whether or not to tackle the Steelers running back late in this ballgame. Also of note corner wise, Ryan Smith was noticeably absent from the defense just a week removed from the game of his life. I wrote a bit on that here. Special Teams play. Catanzaro made all 5 of his kicks which included 2 field goals in this game. Punter Brian Anger worked in three punts totaling 126 yards that included a 62 yarder and one punt inside the 20. Kicking game wise, the special teams units did their job. Kick return wise the Buccaneers struggled aside from an electric punt return touchdown from DeSean Jackson that was brought back due to a bad holding call against Isaiah Johnson. Shaun Wilson struggled returning kicks on his 5 attempts, netting a big gain of only 17 yards and finishing with 68 yards returning in total. It may be time to question if Wilson is cut out for the job after a few questionable decisions and his spot potentially hindering the availability of Ronald Jones suiting up as one of the final 46 going forward. The wrap-up. The Buccaneers nearly went 3-0 to start the season and that in and of itself is incredible given the early on expectations. With the team now 2-1 and gearing up to take on Khalil Mack and the Chicago Bears, it’s time for this front office and the coaches to not let one loss roll into another. This team desperately needs to turn things around this season and the start they are off to is just what they needed. Fitzpatrick saw the magic wear off a good bit on Monday night and how he starts this next ballgame will very easily dictate his immediate future along with Jameis Winston’s. The offense is in prime position to continue putting up big plays and points. The defense needs to step it up in all phases. The loss was tough but it was not a back breaker. Fans should be proud of how this team battled back and the players should look to build upon their efforts. As always Tampa Bay Buccaneers Hats , Go Bucs! It doesn't matter if Jameis Winston or Ryan Fitzpatrick is at quarterback for the Buccaneers. A porous defense keeps undermining Tampa Bay's chances of winning.The Bucs (3-5) have lost five of six following a 2-0 start. Neither changing quarterbacks nor firing defensive coordinator Mike Smith has been an answer to ending a tailspin that's dropped the team into a familiar hole: last place in the NFC South, where they've finished six of the last seven seasons."I don't think the past equals the future," coach Dirk Koetter said after Sunday's 42-28 loss to the Carolina Panthers, a game the Bucs trailed 35-7 at one point. "We've got to play better football, more consistent football. We have to get off to better starts. We've got to be in the hunt in (the) turnover battle."The Bucs are first in the NFL in passing offense and second in total yards. But well as they've moved the ball through eight games, they're just as bad defensively in allowing a league-high 275 points (34.4 per game) and ranking 30th among 32 teams against the pass.To make matters worse, Tampa Bay hasn't forced a turnover in a club-record five consecutive games.Winston lost his starting job after throwing four interceptions two weeks ago. Fitzpatrick flourished early in the season filling in while Winston was serving a three-game suspension. However, in his last three starts the Bucs have been outscored 103-27 in the opening half.Inconsistency on offense has been part of the problem. Shoddy defense has been a recurring theme, even in the games the Bucs have won.Carolina scored on five straight possessions during one stretch of the first half to build a 28-point lead. Fitzpatrick rallied the team within 35-28 in the fourth quarter before the Panthers put away the game.The loss dropped the Bucs to 2-3 in games started by Fitzpatrick. Winston, who's thrown 10 interceptions in four games, is 1-2.A common denominator in Tampa Bay's three victories is the Bucs have played mostly with the lead and found a way to hold off New Orleans, Philadelphia and Cleveland late.In the other five games — all losses — opponents have compiled double-digit leads in the first half, and the offense has spent the second half trying to make up ground.Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said players have to own the ineffectiveness."It's frustrating, but that's on the players. It's not on the coaches. It's on us, it's on me," Pierre-Paul said. "I'm tired of the coaches saying they have to take it because it's up to the players to play ball."Koetter said poor tackling was the primary culprit against the Panthers. Mistakes on offense and special teams contributed to falling by 28 in the second quarter."We actually did start fast on defense Tampa Bay Buccaneers Hoodie ," Koetter said Monday. "On those five straight drives where they scored, on three of those drives we put them in horrible field position with an interception, two sacks, a punt return and a fake punt."Fitzpatrick rallied the team from a big second-half deficit for the second straight week, only to fall short in the end, throwing for 243 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.Not good enough to win, but encouraging enough the Koetter said the 35-year-old will start again Sunday at home against Washington."We know we have the talent, it's just we can't keep digging ourselves in these holes, especially on the road," Fitzpatrick said."I don't know that there is an answer or a magical formula or anything; it's just frustrating right now to not play well and then play well in spurts," the quarterback added. "We're just not a very consistent team and not a consistent offense right now."