:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/23231137/20131020_lbm_sz2_424.0.jpg)
Once again, Sander from Bucs Nation was kind enough to answer our questions! What a swell guy.
Dave Choate: The Buccaneers won their first game, which deserves congratulations. What's the end goal for the season now if you're Greg Schiano, Mike Glennon and/or the fanbase?
Sander: If you're Greg Schiano, it's win every game you can so you have a shot in hell at retaining your job. With seven games remaining, he likely has to win four or five of them to even be in the conversation for 2014 head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, let alone definitely keep his job.
If you're Mike Glennon, you just need to play better every week. And by 'play better' I mean 'play a lot better', because while some of his numbers look okay, his tape does not. He must get better at throwing with anticipation, on time, and with the right ball placement.
As for the fanbase, for most of them the goal is just to survive this season without going insane. It has been a bit of a trying period for them. If Greg Schiano is retained, things will get more difficult -- but then the number of wins would help mitigate the issue.
DC: The injuries to Doug Martin and Mike James were devastating. Who will be carrying the rock for the Bucs this week against the Falcons?
S: I would expect Brian Leonard and Bobby Rainey to split the carries, with Leonard getting all of the third-down work. Rainey has some explosiveness that Leonard lacks, but Leonard is a little more experienced and reliable. The running game has managed to function regardless of who actually carries the ball the past two weeks, though, mostly because of tweaks to the blocking scheme. If that continues, the identity of the running back shouldn't matter too much.
DC: In the last game, the Bucs left Darrelle Revis on Darius Johnson for much of the game. Do you think they'll change the coverage around this time to get Revis on Roddy White?
S: Last game, they didn't see Harry Douglas as a real number one receiver, which is likely why they didn't let Darrelle Revis track him across the field. They've done that with Mike Wallace, Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Smith and even Golden Tate, though, so I'd expect them to do it with Roddy White, too.
That doesn't mean Revis will be playing man coverage all of the time, but he'll certainly line up over White more often than not.
DC: Matt Ryan played one of his best games against you guys last time out, but he's been scuffling since and the Buccaneers have had time to think about how they handled him. How do you expect the D to attack Ryan this time out?
S: They're going to blitz Matt Ryan because, well, they blitz everyone. It's what they do. I wished they would let Gerald McCoy just destroy offensive guards one-on-one more often, but that's not really what they want to do. I would expect that to happen a lot more without Tony Gonzalez, too. If Gonzalez can't suit up that should eliminate some hot routes and automatic adjustments to the blitz.
DC: Prediction for the game?
S: Despite a win on Monday, many of the team's problems remain and I don't think that will be fixed against Atlanta. The offense continues to struggle, although the running game at least is getting on track. The defense continues to struggle with coverage breakdowns. The Falcons did a great job of finding ways to exploit that last game, and I don't see why that would change this time around.
I'd expect it to be a close game and I don't expect the Bucs to come out on top, because they haven't shown that they can do that consistently. So, 21-17 Falcons sounds about right.