The aftermath: Week 1 – Bucs vs. Vikings

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20, Minnesota Vikings 17 (Sept. 10)

Ladies and gentlemen, I am back! It’s been too long. It feels good to be back writing again for the St. Pete Catalyst.

What a time to be alive! It’s football season and I know the weather in Minnesota was definitely football weather. On to the Bucs barely winning against the Vikings – I was reminded by Bucs fans that a win is a win. I couldn’t agree more.

Football Sunday was stressful. I saw an offense that should look different. I look at the game from a fan’s perspective, and also having knowledge of the game being as though I played it on all levels. In high school, college, arena football, NFL Europe. I have been around a football damn near all my life. I understand the high expectations us fans have. I will tell you Sunday’s game was very low on meeting those high expectations for the Bucs offense. I will tell you to keep in mind: This was the first game of the season. The offense will need more time. The Bucs ran the ball about 25 times in the game. That’s a good thing ,but the Bucs offense had only 60 yards in the first half. That is unacceptable.

Baker did a pretty good job of staying alive throughout the game. My expectation of Baker at the moment is to be serviceable. The offense needs to gel more, and I am sure the lack of preseason didn’t help. The identity of the Bucs offense is non-existent. They had nothing to go off on from last year. So people, they are making it up as they go along.

What I liked a lot was that the team didn’t quit. I saw stalls in the offense, I saw the defense giving up big plays. The Bucs offense played hard, and at the end they needed to make a play to seal it, and they did.

Now, let’s talk about the defense for the Bucs. Three turnovers in the game. Some of you may know this, others won’t. When the Vikings turn the ball over one time their percentage of them winning drops 16-22 percent, and the more they turn the ball over the less likely they are to win. Now, clearly there are other factors but think of it like this. Let’s say the football teams gets around six chances each on offense. When the Bucs get a turnover, they have stolen a possession which means they may get seven or eight chances while the other team loses a chance. It also sometimes means they get a short side of the field. Instead of the Bucs starting on their own 25 after a kick off, and having to go 75 yards for a touchdown, they start where the turnover happened. That could me only having to go a half as far to score.  You may even start already in field goal range. Ideally you would like to get seven points but you may have to settle for three points.

We all think, at that point, we are scoring. My point is when a turnover happens, blocking a field goal or getting an interception, fumble or onside kick, it tends to create a higher percentage of scoring and a higher chance of winning. It was the first game of the season, an away game, in a hostile environment with a new offensive coordinator. Yes, the defense gave up yards, but not too many points, and had three turnovers to keep the team in the game. The offensive came through at the end to get a first down and didn’t turn the ball over.

It was not pretty, but a win is a win.

Former defensive end Stylez White played for the Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears and Orlando Predators. He was on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defense from 2007 to 2010.