| Nothing went right for Tampa Bay QB Josh Freeman in Sunday's blowout loss to the Saints. (US Presswire) |
Tampa Bay is certainly out of playoff contention, and if Sunday's 41-0 loss to the Saints is any indication, the Buccaneers may just be done contending altogether in 2012. The Bucs showed no fight in the blowout loss.
Offense: F
Five turnovers. Zero points. One complete and utter disaster. Many thought this would be a shootout, but that never came to pass, as Tampa Bay became the victim of the Saints' first shutout since 1995.
QB Josh Freeman was again simply not good enough. He now has managed to complete 56 percent or more of his passes in only one of the team's last five games. He killed drives that could have ended in points with two early red-zone interceptions. But he wasn't the only one to blame. RB Doug Martin only managed 16 yards on nine carries -- and one of those went for 11, meaning he tallied only five yards on his other eight attempts. Receivers and offensive linemen weren't great either. There is plenty of blame to go around. Last game's grade: D
Defense: F
Even if the offense had been its old self on Sunday, it probably wouldn't have been enough, as the defense again had an awful day's work. It gave up 6.9 yards per play, had already yielded 24 points by halftime and never really offered much resistance to Saints QB Drew Brees, who had a field day with 307 yards and four touchdowns.
Even the run defense, stout in spite of the poor pass defense most weeks, wasn't itself. New Orleans RB Mark Ingram powered for 90 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries. This was simply a performance to forget. Last game's grade: C-
Special Teams: B
To be fair, they never had much of a chance to impact the game, but the specialists didn't do much wrong. PR Roscoe Parrish had an impressive early return of 39 yards on what proved to be his only opportunity all day. Coverage units were mostly respectable. (Other than on 37-yard punt return allowed to New Orleans' Darren Sproles). P Michael Koenen was solid, if not spectacular, and PK Connor Barth never even got to try a field goal. Last game's grade: B+
Coaching: F
This was an epic egg-laying -- the exact sort of performance the Bucs had avoided so far in coach Greg Schiano's first season. There was no fight back when adversity hit early.
Add that to the lack of respect being shown -- from a brief shoving match between assistant coach Bryan Cox and linebacker Adam Hayward to a Bucs player privately asking Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com if the Bucs could "send these coaches back to college," and it's time to ask if Schiano is losing his grip on this team down the stretch. Last game's grade: B-
For more from Tampa Bay Bucs blogger Patrick Southern, follow @CBSBucs on Twitter.