After a heartbreaking loss yesterday to the Miami Dolphins, I will break down the weekly grades for the 1-8 Buccaneers.

Offense

Tampa’s offense in the first half clearly wasn’t clicking at the level in which they had hoped for. Tampa only had 91 total yards in the first half. Luckily for the Bucs’ recent acquisition K Connor Barth made two field goals from 51 & 50 yards to give the Bucs some offense. In the second half however, the offense stepped up with 211 total yards and 17 points. However, Josh Freeman struggled holding onto the ball, and after it was over had 4 fumbles (1 lost) on his stat sheet. A combined 122 yards on the ground was a solid output from the Bucs, with the most yards coming from starting running back Carnell Williams (52 yards). Overall, the Bucs made some transitions in the second half to give them a fighting chance and almost an upset for the second week in a row.

Grade: B-
Last Week: B

Defense

The defense stepped up in the second half only giving up 6 points. The problem however is the fact that the Tampa defense couldn’t stop the Miami offense one last time, which resulted in a game winning field goal by Dan Carpenter with ten seconds left. Also, unlike last week, the Bucs D was unable to get a single sack against Dolphins QB Chad Henne.

Grade: C
Last Week: A-

Special Teams

Last week the Special Teams was a huge reason why they upset Green Bay last week. This week, the special teams was relatively quiet. Clifton Smith did well with the kick returns averaging 28.5 yards on six attempts, to go along with four punts returns for 31 yards (7.8 Avg.). The special teams D kept Ted Ginn Jr. from reaching the endzone or even breaking a kick return for great yardage considering his long for the day was a 28 yard return.

Grade: B-
Last Week: A

Overall

The Bucs made the necessary adjustments at halftime to get back in the game, which is a positive for the now 1-8 team. However, letting the Dolphins win the game in the final 10 seconds of the game is a huge letdown for Tampa. The Bucs had the Dolphins where they wanted them, but were unable to pull off a second straight upset, giving the Bucs one of the most heartbreaking losses of the season.

Overall Grade: C+
Last Week: A-

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