The aftermath: Week 14 – Tampa Bay/San Francisco

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7, San Francisco 49ers 35 (Dec. 11)

Sunday’s game was not a surprise. I am not surprised that the San Francisco 49ers won. No one. Was. Surprised.

I knew that the 49ers defense was going to play a stout football game. I knew the Top 5 defense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was going to give Brock Purdy a fit. I knew that the Coach Bowles game plan would set the Bucs line loose on him.

Purdy, the rookie QB who has only played in three quarters prior to this game, could not be ready for this type of game. Then I realized that since the beginning of the season Purdy was going against one of the best defenses, if not the best defense in the league, every day in practice.

Purdy was ready. The 49ers were more than ready. The Bucs team as whole was outplayed and outcoached. In every facet, the Bucs deserved to lose that game.

I’m trying to be logical. I’ll try to give you numbers and stats that make sense, to tell you why the Bucs fall short. I don’t want to look at this with emotions and say what I feel right now, that Tom Brady’s excellence is over. The is the guy who put on a clinic and led the team to one of his iconic finishes not once, but twice in the last three weeks. I refuse to believe that this guy is so far removed from his former self. It can’t be so!

Mostly I refuse to move on from Tom Brady because believe it or not, like it or not, Tom Brady gives the Bucs the best chance to win games.

Now, let’s go back to the Top 5 defense. I want to give you a number: 404. That’s how many yards the Bucs defense gave up. And make no mistake, in the middle of the third quarter the 49ers pumped the brakes or it could have been much worse. Yes, towards the end of the third they slowed the game down to run out the clock. By the fourth they had the backup QB, other backup players … probably the backup water boy working to run out the clock and not demolish the Bucs any more. 

As a former player, I can tell you there is nothing more embarrassing than putting your backup against our starting defense. 

I have been on the wrong side of a blowout. It was painful knowing that I needed to stay on the field against a backup QB because their team had beaten us to the point of no return. I also was on the other side, where I pulled because we were up by or lot. Players don’t like that either because that’s a great time to stay in to get more stats!

I mean, you can’t blame them. You pull off a great win and get pulled when you’re at your best. Like it or not, players get paid based on those stats. 

I know this game left a bad taste in your mouth, as it did mine, but the Bucs are still 1 in the NFC South and with a losing record! Impressive … maybe? I know that the Panthers are one game away in the South, and the Bucs do play them later this year. The room for error is getting smaller and smaller.

I know this: Sunday afternoon playing San Fran one of the biggest highlights of the game was when a SF linebacker asked Brady to sign his ball, the same ball he picked off Brady with. Tom signed it.

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.