After months of anticipating a new offensive and defensive scheme for the 2019 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ultimately came out flat against the San Francisco 49ers.
Tampa Bay starts the season 0-1 after a 31-17 defeat. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense scored just one touchdown, while San Francisco’s defense took two of their three interceptions back for touchdowns. Bruce Arians and his staff certainly have a lot to look over, and in a short amount of time. The Buccaneers will travel to Carolina on Thursday night for their Week Two matchup.
This is the first time the Buccaneers have lost a Week One game since Jameis Winston’s debut in 2015. Former Buccaneer linebacker Kwon Alexander was ejected for targeting in the first quarter.
Total Yards
Buccaneers: 295
49ers: 256
Time of Possession
Buccaneers: 29:56
49ers: 30:04
Jameis Winston
Winston is getting harder and harder to defend. I know his O-Line did not give him much time, but he seems to just never make the smart throw and panics way too much under pressure. His finishing stat line was 20-36 for 194 yards. He threw one touchdown and three interceptions (two returned for touchdowns.) He was also sacked three times. Since entering the NFL in 2015, no quarterback has thrown more multi-interception games than Jameis Winston (17).
Ronald Jones
Ronald Jones was Tampa Bay’s leading rusher on Sunday. He carried the ball 13 times for 75 yards. Jones had five more carries than Peyton Barber, which may be a sign of things to come for the Buccaneers backfield.
Chris Godwin and Vernon Hargreaves III
Two of the bright spots on the team were Godwin and Hargreaves, who each scored touchdowns. Godwin led the team in receiving yards with 53, as well as targets (6). Hargreaves scored his first career touchdown in the second quarter when he picked off Jimmy Garoppolo and took it 15 yards to the end zone. These two should have pretty big seasons ahead of them and they started off on a solid note.
Nick Bosa and Devin White
Two of the top five players taken in the 2019 draft made their debuts in this game, and both looked good. Bosa, the second overall pick registered three tackles, one for loss, and his first career sack. He pressured Winston all day and made him very uncomfortable in the pocket. White, the fifth overall pick, was questionable to play in this game with the flu, but ended up finishing third on the team in tackles with six. White also forced a fumble that was recovered by Shaquille Barrett. It will still take time for White to fully reach his potential, but for what it’s worth, at least the future appears to be bright at the Linebacker position in Tampa Bay.
