-The Buccaneers it seems have finally turned a corner when it comes to penalties after their home win over the Chicago Bears last weekend. After incurring seven or more penalties in most of the prior games, the Bucs committed just one infraction against Chicago. That was progress that will need to continue – despite the fact that they'll be in the definition of a hostile environment.
"Yeah, that's the thing," said Head Coach Bruce Arians. "We didn't do it very well on the road so far, and it's going to be loud. It's time to clean it up. The post-snap penalties, they happen, but the pre-snap [penalties] have got to be eliminated. You can't go into a game against these guys and beat yourself."
Part of that will also be no personal foul penalties. There's some, let's say, competition between these two teams and in individual matchups. I can think of one very prominent one off the top of my head. But the Bucs can't let their tempers get the better of them. They'll have to stay cool, calm and collected – no matter what the Saints throw their way.
"No retaliation penalties," Arians stressed. "You've got to be really calm. You've got to play really hard. They're going to play really hard, but you can't retaliate. Those are the selfish penalties that get your team beat."
-Tampa Bay cruised to a 38-3 victory over the Bears last week in part because all three phases of the ball worked together. The very first punt return of the game was rookie Jaelon Darden breaking off a 43-yard run that set the Bucs' offense up with a short field. They'd score on that first drive.
Now, special teams will be another thing the Bucs will look to build on as they head back on the road.
"I think the biggest thing is we've got to execute our coverage principles," said Special Teams Coordinator Keith Armstrong. "We have to take care of things in the return game and take care of our principles and our concepts in terms of what we want to do, whether it's punt coverage, kickoff coverage, punt return – we have to go execute our coverage concepts and take care of our business. Not try to do something that we're not use to doing."
Bucs Tweet of the Day: Happy Halloween, Bucs fans!
