The win-less Tampa Bay Buccaneers demoted their starting quarterback Byron Leftwich to the third string quarterback and Josh Johnson is now the starter.  Johnson replaced Leftwich in yesterday’s 24-0 loss to the New York Giants, after Leftwich failed to get anything going.  The Buccaneers’ first round draft pick this year, Josh Freeman, will be Johnsons’ backup.  Johnson is in his second year and will be making his first career start next week in Washington against the Washington Redskins.

The Buccaneers failed to show up for the game yesterday in Tampa.  The Bucs only could muster 86 total yards of offense in this game (28 rushing, 58 passing) as they only had possession of the football for 16:22!  Byron Leftwich started this game and he completed 7 of 16 passes for 22 yards with 1 interception before he got yanked from the game.  Josh Johnson finished up by completing 4 of 10 passes for 36 yards and he also led the Bucs in rushing with 15 yards on 1 carry.  This was one of the worst displays of offensive football I have ever seen, period!

LB Barrett Ruud (14 tackles) and safety Will Allen (10 tackles) were very busy yesterday.  The Giants rolled up 397 total yards on offense (226 rushing, 171 passing) in this game. The Bucs are now 0-3 on the season and they appear to be getting worse.

The only way the Bucs have a chance to beat the Giants this week is if the Giants overlook them.  That is not likely with Tom Coughlin as the head coach.  The Giants can pick what they want to do on offense this week as the Bucs allow 168.0 yards rushing per game (5.7 ypc) and they also allow 282.0 yards passing per game (118.7 QB Rating against).  The Giants will likely try to run the ball with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw first against the soft front seven of the Bucs.  That will set up play action passing with Eli Manning looking for WRs Steve Smith and Mario Manningham down the field.  The Giants will also likely try to get TE Kevin Boss more involved in the passing game this week due to the injuries the Bucs have at safety.

The Buccaneers should try to eat the clock with the running game.  Derrick Ward will start against his old team this week and that could motivate him to have a big game.  The Giants are allowing 168.0 yards rushing per game (6.7 ypc) so far this season and that’s what the Bucs should try to exploit.  Cadillac Williams and Ernest Graham should also get into the action with Ward against the Giants on the ground.  The Giants have issues at strong safety so the Bucs will likely attack them there with Kellen Winslow (12 rec, 120 yards, TD). 

PREDICTION:  GIANTS 31, BUCS 21

The Buccaneers have signed 25-year old CB Marcus Hamilton and 24-year old safety Corey Lynch from the Bengals’ practice squad.  Hamilton played in 9 games (0 starts) as a rookie for the Bears and Bucs and he made 7 tackles and defensed 2 passes.  Lynch played in 7 games (0 starts) as a rookie for the Bengals last season and he made 9 tackles, defensed 1 pass and he had 1 interception.  Lynch could help out the Bucs at safety due to the injury problems they have there.  The Bucs should have signed some veterans to help out in the secondary seeing how they are $30 million bucks under the salary cap.

The Buccaneers have lost starting free safety Jermaine Phillips for the season due to a broken left thumb.  He has made 11 tackles in the Bucs first two games of the season.  Will Allen will replace Phillips in the starting lineup and he has 4 tackles this season.  There is no doubt that the Giants will be attacking Allen in the passing game this week and the results will not look to pretty for the Bucs who already had serious issues with pass defense.   Tanard Jackson will return in week #5 and will bump Allen from the starting lineup.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked overmatched again against the Bills in Buffalo yesterday.  Byron Leftwich was very busy in this game as the Bucs were playing catch up ball the whole game as they were down 17-0 after the first quarter.  Leftwich completed 26 of 50 passes yesterday for 296 yards with 3 TD passes and 2 interceptions (one was returned 76 yards for a TD by Dante Whitner in the first quarter).  Derrick Ward led the Bucs in rushing in this game with 32 yards rushing on 9 carries (3,6 ypc).  Cadillac Williams got stuffed running the ball against the Bills as he carried the ball 7 times for only 9 yards (1.3 ypc) but he also caught 7 passes for 56 yards (8.0 avg) with a TD grab.  Kellen Winslow led the way in the passing game for the Bucs with 7 grabs for 90 yards (12.9 avg) with a TD grab.  Maurice Stovall was also effective for the Bucs with 3 catches for 80 yards (26.7 avg).  The Buccaneers finished up with 353 total yards in this game (57 rushing, 296 passing).

LBs Barrett Ruud (14 tackles) and Geno Hayes (10 tackles) led the way for the Bucs on D.  Safety Sabby Piscitelli was also busy in this game with 9 tackles, a fumble recovery and a interception in this game.  The Bills finished up with 438 total yards (218 rushing, 220 passing) yesterday.  The Buccaneers fell to 0-2 on the season with this loss.

This game could wind up being a shootout based on both teams’ first game of the year.  The Bucs gave up 462 yards to the Cowboys while the Bills allowed 441 yards to the Patriots.  The Buccaneers would prefer to run the ball to control the clock and keep the ball away from the Bucs.  The Bills did well against the run last week holding the Patriots to 73 yards rushing and 3.2 yards per carry, so it won’t be easy for the Bucs to run the ball.  Cadillac Williams (97 yards) and Derrick Ward (62 yards) led the way for the Bucs on the ground and they will likely split carries against the Bucs.  Kellen Winslow could be in for a huge game for the Bucs this week as Ben Watson of the Patriots tore up the Bills last week.  The Bills only had 1 sack last week so Byron Leftwich should have the time needed to throw the football when he wants to.

The Bills played o.k. on offense last week despite only having possession of the football for 22:52 of the game.  The Bills will likely get the ball into Fred Jackson’s hands quite a bit in this game against a Bucs’ D that allowed 119 yards rushing and 4.9 ypc last week.  With this matchup though the Bills will likely turn Trent Edwards loose.  WRs Terrell Owens and Lee Evans could be in line for huge games against the Bucs’ D.

PREDICTION:  BILLS 31, BUCS 27

The Bucs weren’t counting on Cadillac Williams this season due to all of the massive injuries he has had in his young career.  But the 27-year old came back with a vengeance against the Cowboys last Sunday carrying the ball 13 times for 97 yards (7.5 ypc) with 1 TD run.  The Bucs will likely continue to limit Williams’ carries in an attempt to keep him healthy.  Williams has now played in 39 games in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 645 times for 2,514 yards (3.9 ypc) with 15 TD runs.  He has also caught 60 passes for 337 yards (5.6 avg) in his NFL career.  This is a great development for the Bucs as they weren’t counting on Williams to do anything.

The Bucs have signed 24-year old DE Tim Crowder.  Crowder played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Broncos last season and he made only 1 tackle.  In 19 games (1 start) in his NFL career, Crowder has made 17 tackles, has 4 sacks and he has forced a fumble.  The Bucs got some nice depth here as Crowder is a good pass rusher if nothing else.

28-year old QB Luke McCown was traded last week to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a undisclosed draft pick.  McCown played in 7 games for the Bucs in his time in Tampa and he completed 94 of 140 passes (67.1%) for 1,009 yards with 5 TD passes and 3 interceptions.  He also ran the ball well carrying it 15 times for 132 yards (8.8 ypc) in his career with the Bucs.  Josh McCown had the highest QB Rating in the pre-season for the Bucks (86.6) compared to that of Byron Leftwich (72.2), Josh Freeman (41.0) and Josh Johnson (76.8).  Is it just coincidence that he was the QB the Bucs decided to get rid of?  Or was it because of his skin color?  The Bucs now have three black QBs to go along with a black head coach.  Makes you wonder as McCown clearly outplayed Byron Leftwich who was named the starter shortly before the trade.  If race had anything to do with this decision then shame on the Buccaneers.