A look at Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ failures in 2011 season – NFL Season Review (Part VIII)
Continued from Part VII
Against Dallas Cowboys
Facing a playoff chasing team is never easy and after losing seven straight games no one could give the Buccaneers any chance of turning things around against the Dallas Cowboys.
That is exactly how it panned out as Dallas did not wait around to pick apart the woeful Buccaneers defence as Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo led his team to a 28-0 lead in the first half of the game.
Tampa Bay had simply no answer to the Cowboys in the first half of the game as they were thoroughly outplayed.
The Bucs did manage to score in the third quarter as Dekoda Watson scored a touchdown with a seven-yard fumble return early on and quarterback, Josh Freeman passed for a 13-yard touchdown to Dezmon Briscoe to bring the score to 31-15.
However, the Cowboys were never threatened by a comeback and went on to win the game comfortably as Tampa Bay ended up with its eighth straight defeat.
Quarterback, Josh Freeman said after the game that the team needs to show some pride and fight hard in the last two games of the season.
"If you're not going out and giving everything you have for these last two games, you don't really deserve to be out there. You've got to take some pride in what you're doing."
At Carolina Panthers
In the first game between these two National Football Conference (NFC) South rivals, Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton completely decimated the Bucs defence.
This time it was no different as once again Newton crushed the Bucs on his way to breaking Peyton Manning’s rookie season passing yards record.
Tampa Bay were woeful as they could not keep pace with the Panthers and were defeated by a 48-16 margin.
Fumbles and big mistakes once again led to the Buccaneers poor result and coach Raheem Morris said after the game.
"When you can't maintain possession, this is the result. It causes lopsided results. It causes mental mistakes. It causes poor performances on defense, and out-of-character offense. Things begin to spiral out of control."
At Atlanta Falcons
This was the Buccaneers final game to end what had been one of their worst seasons.
Tampa Bay faced NFC South rivals Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome and it seemed they played without purpose or pride.
Falcons scored 42 unanswered points in the first two quarters before Josh Freeman’s touchdown pass to Dezmon Briscoe at the end of the second quarter broke the Bucs duck.
Tampa Bay were better in the final two periods but Atlanta’s defence remained strong and the team were unable to get back into the game from such a huge deficit.
The Bucs went on to lose the game 45-24 and ended the season with 10 straight defeats.
Conclusion
With the end of the season coach, Raheem Morris and his entire coaching staff was fired by the franchise owners as they went for a completely fresh start.
The Bucs have now hired ex-Rutgers coach, Greg Schiano to lead the team in the 2012-13 season and the new head coach has already started making big changes as some of the biggest names available in this year’s free agency arrived at the franchise.
Things look bright for the team ahead of the new season and a repeat of 2011-12 remains unlikely.
(The views expressed do not reflect the editorial policy of bettor.com)
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