Tampa Bay’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams on “Monday Night Football” continued the concerning trend of poor primetime showings for Bruce Arians’ club this season. It was no secret around the Buccaneers that they were looking to improve upon a 1-2 record on the national stage heading into this showdown with Los Angeles. This week, the team even altered their practice times in the days leading up to this matchup to try and perform closer to their peak ability. Those efforts didn’t produce a W, however, as the Rams were able to edge out a 27-24 victory over a Tampa Bay team that continued to look disjointed both offensively and defensively.
“Everybody’s disappointed,” said Arians postgame. “We played a game that we just didn’t make quite enough plays to win. Everybody’s ready to play. I mean, we just played a good football team, but we didn’t make enough plays to win.”
Back in Week 9, the New Orleans Saints were able to blow out the Bucs, 38-3, on Sunday Night Football, while the other primetime loss came back in Week 5 against the Chicago Bears on Thursday night where Tom Brady forgot it was fourth down in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter. When you factor in those losses — and even Tampa Bay’s poor showing against the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football” in Week 8 — it brings up legitimate concerns of how far they can go in any sort of playoff run.
In this game, the offense still looked out of sync at times, despite boasting immense talent. Brady wasn’t particularly sharp in this game either, especially with his deep ball as he was picked off twice in the middle of the field, including on his final pass of the night to clinch the win for the Rams.
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Arians said when asked why Brady continues to struggle against the elite teams in the conference. “At times, we look really, really good, and then there are times when we obviously don’t. I felt very, very comfortable in the two-minutes drive until [Brady’s final interception]. We made some plays, but obviously, we didn’t make enough in this ballgame — offensively, defensively, and in special teams — to win.”
Tampa Bay currently doesn’t have any more primetime games left on the schedule this season. That said, they are still in the thick of the NFC playoff picture so there will likely come a time at some point in the postseason where the eyes of the country will be on them again. If they continue to struggle in that situation, it could prove to be what spurns them from any shot at hoisting a Lombardi this year.
