Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas
I watched the last few minutes of the Tampa Bay-Buffalo game from the press box in Atlanta and tried real hard to look for positives from the Bucs.
There’s no quit in the Bucs? They didn’t lose, they just ran out of time?
No, those don’t quite work, although it’s nice that the Bucs didn’t quit. They simply went up to Buffalo and got beat by a team that may or may not be any good. Did you really expect anything else?
The Bucs don’t like to use the word “rebuilding’’, but it’s clear that’s exactly what they’re doing in just about every area. Yeah, Byron Leftwich put up some pretty decent numbers, but that’s not really what the Bucs are looking for. Leftwich is a bridge to Josh Freeman, who is the future of this franchise.
But it is obvious there are some other things this franchise needs to work on, long before Freeman takes the field. If Raheem Morris’ plan is going to work, the Bucs need to be able to run the ball consistently and play good defense.
They’re not close to doing either of those things right now.