Anleitungen » The good and bad through the first two weeks for Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 2-0 for the first time since 2010 Peyton Barber Jersey , after upsetting both the New Orleans Saints, and Philadelphia Eagles in weeks one and two. No one expected this start from Tampa Bay outside of the people inside the building at One Buc Place. While their overall record is 2-0, stat wise, the Buccaneers need to be better in certain categories if they want to sustain this success all season long. The Good (Offense): The Buccaneers lead the league in total YPG with 482.5 and also lead the league in passing yards per game with 405. A big part of this has been due to the explosive plays through the passing game. If the team is consistently getting long plays down the field, there is no reason why they won’t be top five in both categories all season long. Oh, and on Monday night, the Steelers come in to town and they rank second behind the Bucs in both categories. Get ready for a shootout folks. The Good (Offense) : The offensive line in pass protection has been nothing short of fantastic. Collectively, the group has only allowed two sacks, and one was on a Fitzpatrick run where he couldn’t outrace the linebacker to the sideline. This group has taken theirfair share of blame over the years, but they are all playing at an extremely high level through the first two weeks. The Bad (Offense): Tampa Bay ranks 27th in rushing yards per game, with an average of 77.5. Outside of a few big runs during the first half in New Orleans, the running game has been horrid. It hasn’t been able to close out either game, which has resulted in nail biting plays through the passing game. To be fair, the Eagles and Saints both have fantastic front sevens, but the Buccaneers need to find a way to average better than 2.7 YPC (last in NFL). You don’t want your quarterback having to throw for 400+ every week. Once they establish the balance in the ground game, this offense will be nearly unstoppable. The Bad (Defense): It’s still the same old Mike Smith soft coverage defense that is allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 77.5% of their throws. Through two games, Tampa Bay ranks 31st in the NFL in passing yards allowed with 376.5 YPG. Yes, the team is without Brent Grimes Cheap Justin Evans Jersey , and lost Vernon Hargreaves for the season, so you absolutely have to take that into account, but it’s still not good enough if this team has true aspirations of winning the NFC South. You can understand getting shredded by Drew Brees and all his weapons in the Superdome, but allowing Nick Foles to complete nearly 73% of his passes for 334 yards with virtually no weapons outside of Ertz and Agholor is not good. The secondary is young and inexperienced, so naturally there will be growing pains. I get all of that, but if the pass defense doesn’t improve in week three, Big Ben might just throw for 500 yards with all the toys he has. The Good (Defense): The Buccaneers rank second in rushing yards allowed per game at 67.0 YPG. The goal all off season was to improve in the trenches. They wanted to get tougher, nastier and more physical at the point of attack, and it seems Tampa Bay has done just that. Keep in mind, the Buccaneers are playing so well against the run without Vita Vea and Mitch Unrein, who both succeed in stopping the run. While the yards per game is right where it needs to be, Tampa must improve on their red zone rush defense. Tampa is tied for the league lead with four rushing touchdowns allowed through two weeks. The Good (Defense): Timely turnovers. When Vernon Hargreaves forced the fumble in week one that led to a touchdown, all the momentum shifted to Tampa. When the Saints were putting together a long drive in the third quarter,Kwon forced Michael Thomas to fumble, and you felt the momentum shift to Tampa.The same happened on Sunday when Kwon forced another fumble on Foles. With that being said, the Bucs have had great fumble luck through the first two weeks. They can’t rely on that all season long, but it’s good to see them forcing turnovers at key points in games. It’s only been two games, so the sample size is small and I’m sure some of these rankings will change Buccaneers Caleb Benenoch Jersey , but there are definitely areas the team needs to improve on in the coming weeks. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been here before. Often in fact.A jarring early-season misstep filled with mental breakdowns and missed opportunity is kind of their thing.So too, it seems, is finding new ways to explain the erratic behavior of All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown.Even a day removed from a 42-37 home loss to Kansas City that dropped the two-time defending AFC North champions to 0-1-1, the talk didn't center on a defense that gave up a franchise-record tying six touchdown passes , but on the latest outburst by the talented if mercurial Brown.The four-time All-Pro — who caught nine passes for 67 yards against the Chiefs — responded to a tweet by a former team employee who suggested Brown wouldn't put up his eye-popping numbers without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger by suggesting "trade me let's find out."The post caused an immediate stir on social media but not in the Pittsburgh locker room, even after cameras caught Brown venting on the sideline in the second half and slowly trudging off the field even as his teammates celebrated Roethlisberger's diving 3-yard touchdown run with 1:59 to go that pulled the Steelers within five.Brown did not make himself available to media afterward and was nowhere to be found Monday, leaving his teammates to try and explain away his behavior. Again."I'm not worried about his frame of mind," veteran wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey said. "I know football is No. 1 to him. He works his butt off to be the great player that he is. As long as he brings that same energy in practice and brings that same energy to the game, I don't have any problem with him, because I've seen guys who don't care in this league and they don't last long."The issue with Brown has never been work ethic. The former sixth-round pick is the only player in NFL history to post five consecutive seasons with at least 100 receptions. Yet the 30-year-old has become increasingly volatile. During minicamp he complained about having the spotlight on him , then arrived at training camp in a helicopter . He called a reporter who noticed him limping off the field during workouts at Saint Vincent College — in full view of fans — a clown. Last Friday he issued a bizarre soliloquy about his status, calling himself "an exceptionalism" before adding he's "not an ordinary guy."Of that there is no doubt. And his teammates stress there is no issue with everything that comes with having Brown in the fold."AB is a hell of a player and I'm glad he plays for our team," defensive end Cam Heyward said. "It's as simple as that. I wouldn't trade him for anybody in the world."At the same time, Heyward made it a point to steer the topic away from Brown, who had nothing to do with Pittsburgh's defensive issues against the Chiefs."If we ain't talking about football, we're talking the wrong thing," Heyward said. "All this other stuff is beside the point."The point being the Steelers find themselves preparing for a Monday night trip to surprising Tampa Bay (2-0) at crossroads, familiar territory during their run to four straight playoff berths.Last fall Buccaneers Ryan Jensen Jersey , it was the national anthem debacle that preceded an overtime loss to Chicago. Two years ago they started 2-0 only to get drilled on the road in Philadelphia by a rookie quarterback named Carson Wentz. In 2015 they celebrated the first day of October by blowing a fourth-quarter lead at home to Baltimore. Back in 2014 they allowed Tampa Bay's Mike Glennon to spark a late rally at Heinz Field, one of two games the Buccaneers would win all season.Each time, the Steelers chose patience over panic. Each time, they recovered to reach the postseason."I think you panic when you know you've lost control," Heyward Bey said. "We haven't lost control."Maybe, but it looked like that way at times against Kansas City. The secondary, playing without injured veteran cornerback Joe Haden, looked flat-footed at times and lost at others. There was no pass rush to speak of — the only sack came when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes crashed into nose tackle Daniel McCullers. After spending camp talking about improved communication, the Steelers spent plenty of time looking at each other before Mahomes snapped the ball, as if trying to figure out where they were supposed to go."We've got to make sure we're on top of each other," cornerback Mike Hilton said. "We've got to make sure we know what we're doing so explosive plays like we gave up yesterday don't happen all the time. It's a copycat league, so some team might be doing the same thing Kansas City did."A team like, say, the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay is unbeaten thanks in large part to 35-year-old quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has gone over 400 yards in each of Tampa Bay's first two games. What looked like a mismatch two weeks ago looks far different now."It's a big week," Heyward-Bey said. "It's a Monday night game. It's prime time against a team that's thrown for a lot of yards and scored a lot of touchdowns and are confident. We've got to find a way to light our fire and put theirs out."