Portrait » we knew it couldn’t last forever, right?

Okay http://www.authenticstampabaybuccaneers.com/cheap-jason-pierre-paul-jersey ,That at some point this season the Fitzmagic would run out. That said, Ryan Fitzpatrick almost generated the biggest fourth quarter come back in franchise history. The Buccaneers fell to the Steelers 30-27 in Raymond James in their final game without Jameis Winston. Now, will Winston start against the Bears given the rocky start by Fitz on Monday night? Possibly, but in all likelihood it seems as though Fitz should start off the short week.Anyway, lets dive into Pick Six (albeit, a slightly abbreviated one).Six Topics Suitable For Conversation1.) Midnight Strikes On Fitzmagic? That first half was ugly. No way around it. Fitz was getting rushed, making poor decisions, turning the ball over. It was bad. Then he comes out in the second half and returned (somewhat) to how he looked in the first two weeks. Seems as though Fitz served his purpose and did what no one believed he could - get the Buccaneers two wins in the first three weeks. The debate will rage on until a starter for Sunday is announced, but neither decision will surprise me.2.) Brent Grimes Looked...Rusty. It was a tough return for Grimes. He was slipping, getting beat, and overall looked like a guy who hadn’t been playing for three weeks. That’s to be expected. Grimes is still a phenomenal corner, but this was a tough matchup to return to. The secondary as a whole looked bad - for the second quarter. Other than that, they stood their ground and played well. Grimes should be looking like himself again in no time.3.) These Gerald McCoy Takes... How is it that McCoy misses a sack that could have gotten 4.) the Bucs the ball back with around two minutes left makes him the problem on this team? I swear, some people just love to cry about having one of the nest defensive tackles in the game if he doesn’t make one particular play. He was great throughout the game and missed a sack on Roethlisberger. Guess what - so does half the NFL. Roethlisberger is one of the toughest quarterbacks to bring down and the Bucs still managed to get to him three times - half of a sack credited to McCoy. Can’t pin this one on him, McCoy haters... 4.) Why The Force Feeding Of Godwin? Yes, I get it. The Bucs were undefeated when Godwin scored a touchdown. That said Youth Gerald McCoy Jersey , the force feeding of him in the red zone with the drops - and fumble - he had was puzzling. Twice the Bucs had 1st and Goal from the 5 and settled for field goals both times. Neither possession had a single target towards Mike Evans who towers over every member of the Steelers’ secondary. I love Godwin, but he’s not the top guy. Feed the beast that wears number 13.5.) Kudos To Tony Dungy. The greatest coach in Buccaneers’ history finally got his due when he was enshrined in the Ring Of Honor at halftime. I don’t really have much to say about it that I didn’t already say in the “Chasing The Booty” column Gil and I released Monday morning, but I certainly wasn’t going to ignore it.6.) It Is Far From Panic Time. I saw some people on Twitter going FULL TILT during this game. Ready to fire the coaches, ready to trade everyone. It was insane. As I said on Twitter, at the end of last night - no matter the result - the Buccaneers are still lightyears ahead of where everyone projected them to be. No expert, no analyst gave them a snowball’s chance in Hell at winning one game, let alone being 2-1 and atop the NFC South during Winston’s suspension. This team is exactly that. If they were going to lose one of the three, the Steelers game was the one to lose. They’re 1-0 in the division, 2-0 in the conference. The Steelers loss will have no playoff tiebreaker implications for the Bucs should they get that far. Stop flipping out. Revel in the fact that this is a first place team right now. That, unlike in previous seasons they didn’t see the 30-10 deficit and roll over. They had the resiliency to fight, scratch, and claw all the way back and almost steal victory from the jaws of defeat. They weren’t going undefeated. No one does. We all know about that obnoxious Dolphins team that pops their champagne because it is such a rare feat. Yes, it sucked that it was a prime time game but guess what - if the Bucs keep playing this way, they’ll find themselves in a Sunday night flex game later on. This is a team that can compete. The sky is not falling.Six Numbers To Consider1 - Quarterbacks in NFL history with three consecutive 400+ yard games - Ryan Fitzpatrick6 - Consecutive Monday Night Football wins for Ben Roethlisberger35 - Career touchdowns by Mike Evans, now the all time leader for the Bucs (and he’s only 25 years old)4 - Consecutive games Chris Godwin has scored a touchdown11 - Passing touchdowns by Ryan Fitzpatrick, most through three games in Bucs’ history 15 - 100 yard receiving games by Mike Evans, tied for most in team history with Mark Carrier (Again http://www.authenticstampabaybuccaneers.com/cheap-vernon-hargreaves-iii-jersey , people...he’s twenty-five)Six Ways To Recover From The LossRemind yourself that despite the loss to the Steelers, it was the Steelers. I mean, it’s not like the Bucs were favored by 16.5 points and lost at home to the Bills. Could you imagine that level of embarrassment?Breathe a sigh of relief that even though the Bucs lost their lone prime time game, none of us will be forced to endure Jason Witten’s “commentary” anymore. Can networks stop hiringformer Cowboys, now?Revel in the fact that Saints fans think they can talk trash to you after the loss, somehow forgetting they lost to the Bucs in week one. At home. Drop Ryan Fitzpatrick from your fantasy team and put in that waiver claim for Jameis Winston. You’ll thank me later.Smile knowing Bolts hockey is right around the corner.Get amped that the next Bucs game is only five days away!Six Best Tweets(In no particular order)Six Super Bowl Bets1.) Kansas City Chiefs - Are you kidding me with this Mahomes guy?2.) Los Angeles Rams - Gurley is a monster, that defense is unreal. Hands down NFC favorite3.) Jacksonville Jaguars - Minor setback, still an elite team4.) Minnesota Vikings - *See ‘Jacksonville Jaguars’*5.) Philadelphia Eagles - Wentz is back, Alshon isn’t far behind.9.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - No shame in their game. Bounce back vs Chicago comingSix Final WordsMagic Man In The Windy City? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers stumbled out of their Monday Night Football contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They proceeded to flat out faceplant their way out of Chicago to enter the bye looking like an 0-4 team, not a 2-2 team.On Monday’s episode of the Locked on Bucs podcast my co-host James Yarcho asked me what I do to kind of get my mind off of how my favorite team has done these past two weeks. Well, one of the ways is this column right here. Not necessarily dedicated to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it doesn’t exclude them. I get my crack at three topics from anywhere in the football universe. This week, here are the three I chose.FALSE START: Patrick Mahomes II is the real deal.They said this. I am they.Ok, so it’s not like I thought Mahomes would be a bad quarterback, I just didn’t think he’d light the world on fire like he has.When he did, I kind of viewed him the same way I viewed Ryan Fitzpatrick’s hot start. Great for football, great for him White Adam Humphries Jersey , great for his team, temporary in every way.I assume at some point Mahomes will have a bad game. It happens. But if I learned anything from Monday night’s game featuring the Broncos and Chiefs, it was that I was wrong about Mahomes.Not only is he ready to lead this team for good, he’s even better than advertised.It’s not even so much the plays he made to get his team the win, it’s more how he did it. Completely poised. Never looked panicked. Certainly didn’t look like a young man starting just his fifth NFL game.Mahomes is 5-0 as a starter and 2-0 in Denver. Pretty impressive.He’ll come down to earth at some point, but not because he isn’t talented enough to have done what he’s done so far, but because even Tom Brady loses Super Bowls.Still, I’m going to enjoy watching this quarterback for what I hope is a long career.OFFSIDES: Earl Thomas pays for being a team guy.Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsLe’Veon Bell has been bashed by media. Bashed by fans. Bashed by teammates. He’s a bad guy.Earl Thomas came back. Was ready for Week 1, and has been on the field for the Seattle Seahawks for each of the opening kickoffs so far this season.Bell has made zero progress on his new contract. Thomas has gone backwards.With his broken leg there’s little to no chance an NFL franchise will pay the safety what he’s looking for in 2019’s free-agency period.But hey, at least he was a team guy.If you only care about the laundry, why are you upset the man wearing it left the way he did?The Legion of Boom is gone. Earl Thomas was the last remaining member and expected to somehow continue the legacy the “12s” expected. But, he should do so quietly. Well, he quietly had three interceptions in the first three games this season. Seattle is 2-2, and they’re about to find out why they needed Thomas around so badly.Richard Sherman is gone. Kam Chancellor is gone. The defense you once knew and loved, and allowed the offensive flaws to not take center stage, is gone.When Thomas returned in time for Week 1 - read that again - returned in time for Week 1, here’s what his Ken Norton Jr. had to say Youth Vita Vea Jersey ,Bobby Wagner said this,A generational player according to both teammate and coach. And he was the sixth highest paid safety in the NFL until Kam Chancellor retired at the age of 30. The same age Thomas will be next spring.If you don’t think that little occurrence had anything to do with this, you’re wrong. Earl Thomas has made more money right now than I likely will in my entire life. And he’s earned it. He earned even more, he just didn’t get it.One would think the Dallas Cowboys will likely get the first shot at signing Thomas in the off-season, so we’ll find out just how real Jerry’s love is for Earl.Bell is the bad guy, and it’s gotten him hate and no money with the potential to earn more next year.Thomas was the good guy who came back to a ghost of a team compared to the ones he starred on previously, and it’s earned him a broken leg, the ire of Seahawks ‘faithful’, and no shot at getting the money he should have gotten from Seattle or Dallas or whoever.But I’m sure someday the Seahawks will invite him back to put him in their Ring of Honor, or Nest of Greatness, or whatever. If it happens to coincide with when their ticket sales are low and they need to fill seats, that’ll just be a coincidence.