TAMPA, Fla -- Fresh off an early bye week and with a chance to reflect on his team's progress through the first five games of the season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter is encouraged by what he's seeing and believes things are looking up for these next 11 weeks. They travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers this week.
"I like that our guys are competing hard," Koetter said. "Our guys are coming to work, they're learning what they have to do and they're trying to do it. As a coach, when you have guys freelancing or going off the reservation, they're not trying to do what they're supposed to do -- that’s frustrating."
Even at 2-3 and one game below .500, he's seen significant growth and resilience. They gutted out a 17-14 win against Carolina on "Monday Night Football" without several of their key starters, and are now 2-0 in the NFC South, trailing the 4-2 Atlanta Falcons, whom they beat in Week 1.
"Everybody would like to be 5-0, but not many teams are," Koetter said. "We’ve also done a good job of weathering some difficult storms from an injury standpoint. It’s one thing to test your depth when your injuries are spread out across the team, but we’ve been hit particularly hard at two positions: defensive line and running back. I’m proud of the way our guys have hung in there, and we’ve had guys step up at both positions."
The Bucs were without three starting defensive linemen against Carolina -- Gerald McCoy, Clinton McDonald and Robert Ayers -- relying on undrafted free agent rookie DaVonte Lambert, who played all but one snap and forced a fumble, and another undrafted free agent rookie (Channing Ward), who played 57 percent of defensive snaps. Then at running back, in the absence of Doug Martin and Charles Sims, Jacquizz Rodgers rushed for 101 yards in just his sixth career start.
The Bucs had a turnover margin of plus-4 in the game, their best mark of the season, by far. Though Jameis Winston did not have the high volume of throws he had in the first five weeks, he did not throw an interception, and in the second half made some difficult throws in tight windows in key moments. Among them was a 26-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans and a two-point conversion to Adam Humphries in the third quarter to tie the game 14-14.
There were also no lost fumbles. William Gholston had a fumble recovery, and Russell Shepard recovered a muffed punt. Then in the fourth quarter, Brent Grimes made a touchdown-saving interception.
"I think guys can see the light," Koetter said. "If we play good football, complementary football and don't turn it over and get some takeaways on the other side, that we can be right there."
