Was our offense really that bad in the last game? Considering...

Brunell was called upon to pass two times on first down the entire game. 15 attempted passes the entire game. As Paul Mcguire would say..."Are you kidding me?"

Listening to Trev Matich on the Fox Redskins extra - once Gibbs had a 14-0 lead, he was going to take the long passing attack out of the equation and stick to bread and butter run plays and short dink passes, AND FORCE CHRIS SIMMS TO BEAT US WITH HIS ARM. The way our defense was playing, Gibbs probably figured this strategy gave us the best shot at winning. He didn't care about the slew of 3 and outs in the late 3rd and 4th quarter. He just didn't want to throw it up there and give the TB defense a chance to pick it. That said, Brunell only made one key mistake in the game - he should've thrown that ball away instead of the risky pass to Jacobs.

All the great analytical geniuses such as Sean Salisbury and Tom Jackson, the chumps from SI etc. chose to ignore this angle and simply focus on net yards of offense.

Macguire also likes to say "LOOK AT THIS."


I really think the game was masterful ... Joe gave Tampa the rope, they hung themselves ...

Brunell was called upon to pass two times on first down the entire game. 15 attempted passes the entire game. As Paul Mcguire would say..."Are you kidding me?"

Listening to Trev Matich on the Fox Redskins extra - once Gibbs had a 14-0 lead, he was going to take the long passing attack out of the equation and stick to bread and butter run plays and short dink passes, AND FORCE CHRIS SIMMS TO BEAT US WITH HIS ARM. The way our defense was playing, Gibbs probably figured this strategy gave us the best shot at winning. He didn't care about the slew of 3 and outs in the late 3rd and 4th quarter. He just didn't want to throw it up there and give the TB defense a chance to pick it. That said, Brunell only made one key mistake in the game - he should've thrown that ball away instead of the risky pass to Jacobs.

All the great analytical geniuses such as Sean Salisbury and Tom Jackson, the chumps from SI etc. chose to ignore this angle and simply focus on net yards of offense.

Of all the posts in this forum, this is one of them. Paul Macguire at his best.

I think you're right, the playcalling got very conservative. And the Bucs front 7 did do an excellent job of shutting down our running game.

If we didn't go up 14-0 so quickly, I'm sure we would have seen some more chances being taken.

I can agree with that, but I thought we would still attack some. I just do not like that approach because if that play was overturned for TB we would have let another team back in the game by going conservative. It may be the right thing to do and we did get the win which I am estatic with, but this could have been another late 4th quarter comeback by the opposing team. It is all hindsight after the win, but like you commented we stop taking the chances downfield and ran on 1st and 2nd and passed on third. They are the #1 defense in the league they did not get their by being slouchy especially when we basically came in and had a same predictable routine. The offense will step it up in Seattle, but it is not a sign of regressing or our offense is absolutely horrible. We made this last run the final 5 weeks of the game after just attacking in the second half and not going conservative. I can't fault anyone though with the win and the way the defense came out and made the statement that this game belongs to us and no matter what you do we are going to match.

Of all the posts in this forum, this is one of them. Paul Macguire at his best.

I think you're right, the playcalling got very conservative. And the Bucs front 7 did do an excellent job of shutting down our running game.

If we didn't go up 14-0 so quickly, I'm sure we would have seen some more chances being taken.

What's more...had Portis been healthy, Gibbs may have tried a little more creativity on the run plays to pick up a first down or two in the 4th Q. Given that Portis was struggling with injuries, he simply called for 40 and 50 gut "run it right up their a$$ for minimal gain" type safe plays.

If you read some of the comments after the game pretty much everyone echoed that sentiment.. They got purposefully conservative once the for their lead and didn't try to move the ball thru the air..

The 'anal-ists' at ESPN, SI, etc. are focusing on the number and saying 'well that's not going to cut it next week'. Very insightful. I expect to see the offense from the Cowboys & Giants game this week. Gibbs knows he needs to score 24+ to win this game and will game plan accordingly.

If you read some of the comments after the game pretty much everyone echoed that sentiment.. They got purposefully conservative once the for their lead and didn't try to move the ball thru the air..

The 'anal-ists' at ESPN, SI, etc. are focusing on the number and saying 'well that's not going to cut it next week'. Very insightful. I expect to see the offense from the Cowboys & Giants game this week. Gibbs knows he needs to score 24+ to win this game and will game plan accordingly.

Which begs the question. Say we're up 14-0 at the end of the 1st Q against Seattle. What do you think Gibbs would do? Go safe and vanilla as against TB, or realize that 14-0 isn't a good enough lead against the Seattle Offense and keep trying to score.

The one interesting thing was Gibbs really tried to stick the dagger in with the CLinton Portis halfback pass to Moss, but TB foiled the play. Had we been up 21-0, there was no way Brunell would've been asked to attempt a pass after that.

I didn't like the play calling in this game because it the playoffs.., when you have a lead you don't just sit on it, you stomp the other team out. like the panthers destroying the Giants. Playcalling like that make our offense's confidence go down.

Which begs the question. Say we're up 14-0 at the end of the 1st Q against Seattle. What do you think Gibbs would do? Go safe and vanilla as against TB, or realize that 14-0 isn't a good enough lead against the Seattle Offense and keep trying to score.

The one interesting thing was Gibbs really tried to stick the dagger in with the CLinton Portis halfback pass to Moss, but TB foiled the play. Had we been up 21-0, there was no way Brunell would've been asked to attempt a pass after that.
I think he keeps the gas on the pedal.. You have to assume 17 pts for Seattle so you have to keep pushing..

I'm as happy as anyone else about the win. Sitting on the lead almost/maybe even should have cost us the game b/c of a dropped ball. I trust and admire Joe G. as much as anyone, but we have to do more than we did. I said this in another post, but i like the way Carolina didn't let up after they got a 10 pt- 17 pt lead. They continued to throw to Steve Smith. They didn't need a dropped pass to "escape." I know the Giants are not Tampa and we haven't been together as long as Carolina, but i think when we get up, we shouldn't sit on the lead. I think our offense will be a whole lot better next week.