Injuries have killed the Bucs.
Joe saw screamin’ Stephen A. Smith talking but all he heard was Tony Kornheiser.
The acerbic, award-winning former columnist of the Washington Post, who later turned into a BSPN Radio talking head who still hosts a tired hollering show on the four-letter, once openly scoffed at all the coverage the Bucs got in 2020, “Nobody ever gave a damn about that team until Tom Brady went down there and played for them.”
(To this day, Joe is simply flabbergasted that the four-letter fired Kornheiser from his radio gig only to replace him with a fraud like Colin Cowherd. Still boggles Joe’s mind some 20 years later. What on earth were they thinking? Or were they thinking?)
So when SAS was hollering about the Bucs yesterday morning on the four-letter, Joe swore it was Kornheiser talking.
“Right now when we look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they’re a decent team, but we don’t view them the same way we view Seattle. We don’t view them the same way we view LA, and we damn sure don’t view them the same way we view Philadelphia. We just don’t.
“And then when you combine the fact that you got cats missing multiple games, that includes Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, OK? Bucky Irving as well. I mean, those are pivotal, pivotal absentees right there when they’re not in the game. That affects you.
“We know that Baker Mayfield has been trying to hold down the fort despite oblique injuries and knees and all of this other stuff, he’s been trying to hold down the fort. But there’s only but so much he can do. There’s only so much that defense can do.
“Tampa Bay is a damn good team. They’re in the mix. They’re respectable, but you need all your weapons. Tristan Wirfs [missed time]. You’ve got to have him on the offensive line. You need that, brother.
“If you don’t have these cats available, you have no chance against these teams that we’re talking about in the NFC.”
SAS isn’t exactly wrong. Look how the Bucs struggle in primetime games. Look how the Bucs couldn’t get over the hump with two strong AFC teams the past two weeks. Both winnable games.
If the Bucs had Calijah Kancey, Jalen McMillan, Bucky, Evans and Godwin on the field, there’s a damn good chance the past two losses are wins.
And now we wait to see if Jamel Dean can play Sunday night. Joe isn’t holding his breath. Last year the Bucs only won one game in which Dean didn’t start.
If the Bucs can get healthy, this is a different team. Even Kornheiser would admit that.