Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Bucs 'in a dark place' after last-minute loss

Published Oct. 27, 2015 10:06 a.m. ET

foxsports

By David Kenyon

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers coughed up a 24-point lead, lost to the Washington football team and now find themselves in a bad place mentally.

According to Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Bucs coach Love Smith said for the moment, the mood around the squad is poor.

“We’re in a dark place. We’re miserable around here. … So, today, it’s miserable around here. It’s a dark day. But it won’t be for long.”

It’s refreshing to hear a coach say something like that, but the quote also provides a little insight into why coachspeak is such a popular thing. The insight into the Tampa Bay Bucs locker room is actually a little depressing.

Now, while Tampa Bay wasn’t expected to break out as anything close to elite in 2015, every NFL team should be able to hang onto a 24-point lead—no matter who it’s playing against but especially against Washington.

Several think the collapse could signal the end of Smith’s tenure in Tampa, which has gone 4-18 under his watch and hasn’t shown significant improvement this year. The 2-4 Bucs finally have what they think is a franchise quarterback, but offense isn’t Smith’s calling card anyway.

Tampa will attempt to bring itself out of that dark place when they challenge the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, but Matt Ryan and Julio Jones realistically could send the Bucs right back to miserable.

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