Fansided

Bucs Twitter eviscerates team as Tampa Bay self-destructs in second half

ByAryanna Prasad|
TAMPA, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 18: Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looks on prior to the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Raymond James Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 18: Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looks on prior to the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Raymond James Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

Once again, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are falling hard and beating themselves, letting a 14-point lead slip away in a single quarter. 

It’s a challenge to describe what Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans have been witness to against the Cincinnati Bengals, but USA Today’s Luke Easterling put it rather succinctly.

“Bucs follow up the most impressive half of football they’ve played all year with perhaps the most embarrassing quarter any team has played all year,” Easterling wrote on Twitter.

Once again, fans of the beleaguered Tampa Bay team are slamming their heads and smashing keyboards — possibly throwing remotes at televisions — because the Bucs are being the Bucs in the worst way. Not in the fun Super Bowl run way, not in the astounding 27-3 near comeback way.

In the “Joe Burrow almost suffered a 26-yard sack that got called back by a defensive hold penalties. A few more penalties propel the Bengals into the red zone, and suddenly, it’s a Bengals touchdown.

As if giving away points due to reckless penalties wasn’t enough, the Buccaneers also managed to turn the ball over twice, resulting in points both times.

In the third quarter, the Bucs went from 17-3 to 17-20, and Twitter commiserated over what’s become a classic Tampa Bay meltdown.

Bucs Twitter losing it over rapid third-quarter meltdown versus Bengals

Plenty of tweets focused on why this was happening: because the Bucs beat themselves with penalties, poor ball security and an inability to right the ship.

https://twitter.com/NFLonCBS/status/1604622406118768641?s=20&t=QOBuY5kSa7q0r9xjjHS_vw

NFL journalist Jon Ledyard doubts if the Bucs even practice at this point, and it’s hard to argue against that assumption considering the discombobulation onfield.

To add further context, there were plenty of memes that captured the essence of watching the second half of the Week 15 upset.

Browns fans lamented the phrase “the Browns is the Browns”, but watching Tampa Bay allow the lead to fall through their fingers, it feels like an Atlanta Falcons meltdown mixed with Browns despair. What makes this uniquely Bucs is that the team loses winnable games with Tom Brady, which makes the pain of these entirely avoidable losses unbearable.

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