Hit the road and it usually hits back.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston (3) eludes Oakland Raiders outside linebacker Perry Riley (54), outside linebacker Bruce Irvin (51) and defensive end Khalil Mack (52) during the first quarter of an National Football League footba. The five straight road wins have come over New Orleans, Tennessee, Baltimore, Jacksonville and now Tampa Bay, the best team in that bunch record-wise being a 4-4 Titans club. Buccaneers 0-2 at home, 3-1 on road. Then the Raiders had nine players on the field for the ensuing two-point conversion by Tampa Bay. I like the learning curve that we’ve gone through, in terms of from Week One, in terms of giving up explosive passes and being where we’re supposed to be. “But we’ll get it corrected”.
“I thought our guys kept a really positive spirit on how we were going to respond to things, how we were going to continue to play and how we were going to continue to expect good things”. Winston and the Buccaneers offense got four first downs by penalties on their final drive alone.
The Bucs are 3-15 at home since the start of 2014.
Penalties have generally been a problem for Oakland this year. But there are signs that may be changing. Prior to that, he had just 10 catches for 113 yards in 48 career games with just one start.
There’s something about Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston and bouncing back.
Coming off a handed victory at Jacksonville, the Raiders are proving their ability to put teams away earlier in games. “We are going to have to clean it up on our end”. With the return of Latavius Murray and the deadly receiving duo in Crabtree and Cooper, this Raiders team is capable in exploiting teams in a variety of ways, which is one of the reasons that they have been so hard to stop.
BIG PLAY PUNTER: Raiders punter Marquette King has played a big role in the team’s success this season. It wasn’t enough pressure to impact Carr’s quick release or rattle his stout offensive line, who had given up just seven sacks heading into this game. “So, stick to that formula and try to stack up some more (wins)”. “Thankfully they don’t have (tight end) Tony Gonzalez also”. His third-year quarterback rewarded him with a strike to Roberts who broke a couple of tackles and scampered down the field for the win.
Whatever the outcome of next week’s game, we’re now witnessing the emergence of a star quarterback in this league. The offense has all the stats you could dream of, but part of that is because of how many times the penalties pushed them back on their drives. Look at us last week with Russell Shepard and running Jacquizz Rodgers. So, it’s a team game.
You can play bad football – no, make that the worst football you’re capable of playing – and still get a win.