2-Point Conversion: Bucs Need To Decide Who They Want To Be

It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ post-game 2-Point Conversion column, which features two big statements, two probing questions and two bold predictions. Six days after a thrilling comeback win over the Saints got them to 6-6, the Bucs were dominated on the road by the 49ers, losing 35-7 to fall back under .500 with another tough matchup ahead in Week 15.

STATEMENT 1: Bucs Need To Decide Who They Want To Be

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is exactly right. Following Sunday’s 35-7 ass-kicking at the hands of the San Francisco, the Bucs need to decide whether they want to be a playoff team or not.

“We have to decide what team we want to be,” Bowles said. “We can’t be one set of Bucs and another set of Bucs. It’s got to mean something. We’ve got a one-game lead – with four games to go. Either we want it or we don’t. You can’t care more than everybody else. As a coach you don’t go on the field. But we got out-coached, so we’re not excused from this at all. We got out-played as well. So as a team, as a group, we have to buckle down and we have decide what our fate is in the next couple of weeks.”

Of course, that will only happen if this team can get out of its own way.

On the 49ers’ first snap, Bucs safety Keanu Neal comes in for a bone-crushing sack, but aims too high and hits Brock Purdy in the helmet. Instead of losing yardage and facing second-and-long, San Francisco gets a free 15 yards and wound up scoring a touchdown a few plays later to go up 7-0.

Tampa Bay had a chance to tie the game 7-7 in the first quarter, but Tom Brady’s 68-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans was nullified due to Donovan Smith’s holding penalty on Jordan Willis on a three-man rush. Two devastating penalties that robbed the Bucs of any early momentum on both sides of the ball.

“It’s devastating because we’re playing the 49ers and we’re playing the Bucs – and we can’t beat two teams,” Bowles said. “We’re beating ourselves and credit to them – they beat us as well. They had a good scheme, but we’re beating ourselves too and making it even harder.

“We were bad in all phases. We coached bad. We got out-coached. Credit to Kyle [Shanahan] and his guys. They did a great job. We got our ass kicked on offense. We got our ass kicked on defense.”

It’s almost embarrassing to write at this point of the season, but the 6-7 Bucs are still in first place of the awful NFC South. Yet, if the Bengals win this Sunday in Tampa Bay, the Falcons beat the Saints and the Panthers beat the Steelers this week, there will be a three-way tie in the division at 6-8. Tampa Bay and Carolina would be tied with 3-1 records in the division, but the Panthers would actually own the head-to-head tie-breaker – for now.

The Bucs host the Panthers, who won 21-3 in Carolina earlier this season, in the home finale on January 1. Not only is that a must-win for the Bucs, but so is the 2022 regular season finale at Atlanta the following week.

This is gut-check time for the players. We saw too many mistakes, too many half-hearted attempts at football from the Bucs against a much better team in San Francisco. We all know that this Tampa Bay team is not going anywhere playing like this if it does get the automatic home playoff game that comes with winning the division. But at least the Bucs could still somewhat salvage this crappy season by at least repeating as NFC South champions.

“They kicked our ass,” Brady said. “That’s the reality of this sport. Every time you take the field you have the opportunity to get your ass kicked or to kick ass. Obviously we were on the wrong end of it today.”

Yes, the Bucs got out-coached in San Francisco. Bowles admitted that.

But the players need to rise up and play the final four games like they actually want the divisional title that no team seems to really want.

“Decide who we want to be,” Bowles said. “We can’t be an up-and-down team. We have four weeks left to find out who we want to be this season and accomplish our goal.”

STATEMENT 2: Brady Might Return To Tampa Bay In 2023 – By Default

Tom Brady just blew his audition for the 49ers next year. The 45-year old Brady just got outplayed by Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy, a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft on Sunday. The 49ers rookie completed 16-of-21 passes for 185 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a rushing touchdown in his first NFL start.

If the 49ers have given up on former first-round pick Trey Lance and want to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo next year, Brady would be a free agent option. But after Sunday’s performance where Brady completed 34-of-55 passes for 253 yards with one fluky touchdown and two interceptions, did he prove to be a more viable option to run Kyle Shanahan’s offense next year? Brady tried to do too much on Sunday and looked awful with some bad misfires, including a potential touchdown to Mike Evans in the first half on fourth-and-goal.

“I made a shitty throw to Mike,” Brady said. “At the end of the day that was a terrible throw. Got to make it.”

Yes, Brady is still playing at a very high level, but the 49ers turned down his overtures in 2020 when Garoppolo led them to the Super Bowl in 2019. Brady wound up signing with the Bucs in free agency and led the team to a Super Bowl LV championship. With just the narrative building that Brady is getting too old to be effective any more and a lackluster season with just 17 touchdowns and five interceptions, there might not be a strong free agent market for a 46-year old quarterback.

And if Brady wants to continue playing, does he want to go somewhere new at this stage of his career? He’s spent three seasons in Tampa Bay and has a strong relationship with both owner Joel Glazer and general manager Jason Licht, and Brady likes the philosophy of head coach Todd Bowles. If Brady wants to play one more year, I’m beginning to think that just may happen in Tampa Bay rather than elsewhere.

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: Will Leftwich Be Fired At The End Of The Season?

I don’t know how Byron Leftwich survives this season. Pewter Report was the first to report the bloom coming off Leftwich’s rose early in the season when the predictability and lack of creativity on offense began to emerge during the team’s 2-3 start. That got noted in a Bucs Monday Mailbag column after a 20-18 loss at Pittsburgh, and then I called for Leftwich to be fired after the 21-3 loss at Carolina in a previous 2-Point Conversion column.

The Bucs offense only scored seven points on Sunday, which marked its lowest point total since the lost to the Panthers. The Bucs’ scoring average has now slipped to just 17.2 points per game, which ranks 28th in the NFL. That’s nearly a two touchdown decline from last year. There has been so much happening behind the scenes too – not much of it good – to think that Leftwich returns in 2023. He won’t be fired in-season, but it would take an immediate, mighty turn around offensively and a deep run in the playoffs to change Leftwich’s fate.

“I think all year we could never get off to fast starts and it turns into a pass-a-thon,” Bucs quarterback Tom Brady said. “It’s hard to play football like that.”

QUESTION 2: Have The Bucs Found Their Return Specialist?

Absolutely. The Bucs did the right thing by cutting Jaelon Darden and replacing him as the return specialist with undrafted rookie free agent Deven Thompkins, who was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday. In one game Thompkins, showed more heart, determination and ability than Darden, the team’s fourth-round pick in 2021, showed in his nearly two seasons in Tampa Bay.

Darden was scared of getting hit and looked for the closest sideline to run to when returning punts and kicks. In one game, Thompkins ripped off the longest kickoff return in Tampa Bay this year – a 54-yarder to start the third quarter. Thompkins averaged a healthy 24.5 yards per kick return and 10.5 yards per punt return, although he did fumble one punt return out of bounds after getting hit near the sidelines.

“He gave us a spark,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “He’s got to hold on to the ball, but he gave us a spark. But he’s quick and we know he can do some things with the ball. He showed that today.”

Darden failed to improve as a receiver behind the scenes, while Thompkins has been a playmaker in practice on offense and in the return game. Yet, what’s troubling about the organization this year is how slow it has been to make necessary changes. This roster swap should have happened weeks ago – just like the Bucs should have replaced struggling rookie Luke Goedeke at left guard with Nick Leverett much earlier than they did.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1: Bucs Endure Another 3-Game Losing Streak, But Win The Division

If you think you’re upset now by Tampa Bay’s 35-7 loss at San Francisco, wait until the Bucs get beaten by a better Bengals team this week, followed by a Christmas night loss in Arizona to the Cardinals. That’s right, the Bucs very well could be 6-9 heading into the final two games of the season. Tampa Bay would need some help from NFC South foes Atlanta and Carolina losing over the next few weeks, coupled with wins over both the Panthers and Falcons for the Bucs to win the division.

But I can see it happening. Even after another three-game losing streak, which started in San Francisco, Tampa Bay could rally and still win the NFC South the week after the new year with an 8-9 record. I wouldn’t necessarily rule out a win against the Cardinals, but the Bucs just aren’t playing well and probably won’t be enthused about spending Christmas Eve in a hotel room in Arizona.

PREDICTION 2: Bucs Consider Starting Wirfs At LT

This is just a hunch, but at some point – probably next year – the Bucs have to think about switching All-Pro Tristan Wirfs from right tackle to left tackle. Wirfs has the athleticism and talent to do it, and he even played a few games at left tackle at Iowa. Starting left tackle Donovan Smith is having a terrible season while dealing with some serious personal issues. He’ll be back next year at age 30 in a contract year, but can the Bucs trust him and his up-and-down career?

The safer bet would be to move Wirfs to left tackle, possibly next year and have him serve as the blindside protector for Tampa Bay’s quarterback in 2023 and beyond. It’s easier to find right tackles in the draft and in free agency than premier, franchise-type left tackles. And Wirfs is an elite player with the skill set to play either side of the line. He should be the successor to Smith at left tackle.

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