QB Brad Johnson sees two ways of looking at the Bucs' remaining schedule
(Editor's note: After a heartbreaking loss in Green Bay in Week 8, Bucs QB Brad Johnson talks about what it's like to play in Green Bay, and what it will take for the team to put some wins together, hopefully starting next week.)
The Green Bay loss was a tough loss to take, especially in the fashion that we did: a 50-yard punt return toward the end of the game. If you've never seen a game in Green Bay, you should go. That's a town with fans that really support their team through thick and thin. It's a great atmosphere to play in. It will be the last time the Buccaneers play there for five years, unless we head there for the playoffs.
You can look at our schedule a couple of different ways: Either we have three of our next four on the road, or we play our last three games at home. Regardless, we just have to get into a situation where we're playing more consistently. We're doing good things here and there, but we're not playing a complete football game like we did against Minnesota in Week 7.
As for our running back tandem of Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott, we need both players. They both make big plays for us, and the way we utilize both of them, we really need them. We want to establish a more consistent running game, especially on first down. We're completing a high percentage of passes, but we need to be more consistent -- not just one pass here or there, but more like stringing four or five passes together.
We're still at the point where no division team has won a road game yet and we're going up to Detroit in Week 9. You'd like to think that it's an easy game, but it's not. Detroit is always a tough team, especially in the Silverdome. Plus most of the teams that they've lost to are good teams: San Francisco, Green Bay, St. Louis and Tennessee just to name a few. On defense, they have a veteran club and they have some tremendous players on special teams, so we'll have our work cut out for us. It's a game we have to have.
