Bucs DTs Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR Bowles lined Kancey up as an off-ball linebacker on multiple plays throughout the game and let him attack from various alignments and angles. This took advantage of Kancey’s two best attributes – namely his speed and athleticism. Kancey, as a part of a six-man front that continually confused the Philadelphia offensive line, was a force that helped cage the Eagles offense. Paired with Kancey was outside linebacker YaYa Diaby, the team’s third-round pick, who added a tackle of his own. While he was quiet on the stat sheet, Diaby also created multiple pressures on Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts while also being instrumental in shutting down the Eagles run game. After allowing 201 yards on the ground in their last meeting, the Bucs defense held the Eagles to just 42 yards on 15 carries. Diaby helped set the edge all game as a major part of that effort. Wide receiver Trey Palmer blew the game wide open with a 56-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown late in the third quarter that put the Bucs up 25-9. His TD followed a Bucs safety that allowed the team to breathe easy with a two-score lead. The Bucs drafted Palmer in the sixth round in large part due to his speed. Palmer’s 4.33 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine was the fastest by any receiver this past year and it was on full display as he was able to shake his defender and sprint past any would-be tackler to the end zone. Palmer has played in all 18 games this season. After catching just 17 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns in the front half of the season, Palmer has come on during the stretch run with 23 catches for 253 yards and two touchdowns. The arrow is pointing up for the Bucs young receiver. Nickel corner Christian Izien, an undrafted free agent, added two tackles as a part of the defensive effort that held Philadelphia to just two scores on the night. 
Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Adam Slivon/Pewter Report Right guard Cody Mauch helped create holes in the run game that allowed Rachaad White to gain 72 yards on the ground while giving quarterback Baker Mayfield time to throw for 337 yards and three touchdowns. Mauch, a second-round pick out of North Dakota State, switched sides from left to right, and positions from tackle to guard, while also transitioning from FCS competition to the NFL – all in one year. His development has been far from linear, but in the biggest moments of the biggest games Mauch has been nails, giving his quarterback time to make pivotal throws, while also helping lock down games late with his run blocking. There was no bigger game for Mauch in his young career than this one. Against a formidable Eagles pass rush, he was able to hold his ground to help the offense score 30 points. The Bucs received additional contributions from two late Day 3 picks – special teams ace Josh Hayes and backup tight end Payne Durham. The totality of this draft class was on full display, and all shined in their own ways. The future is bright for Jason Licht’s young group of players. Bucs Free Agents Showed Up Big Quarterback Baker Mayfield was impressive playing through multiple injuries (ribs, ankle). Despite those ailments and six drops from his receiving corps Mayfield still had a banner night, completing 22-of-36 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns. Mayfield was largely smart with the ball, not putting it into harm’s way with turnover-worthy plays. And he even took sacks when the situation called for it after his protection broke down instead of trying to create and potentially turning a negative into an even worse play. 
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today If you account for the drops, Mayfield would have tipped the scales at over 400 yards and an additional touchdown. Depending on your measurement/metric Mayfield has been a Top 12 to Top 20 quarterback this season. In this game he played the role of playoff quarterback well and was most definitely the best one on the field. Jason Licht also gets some credit for the unheralded off-season signing of wide receiver David Moore. The veteran did not make the final 53-man roster out of training camp but stayed with the team on the practice squad. Added to the roster late in the year after rookie Rakim Jarrett landed on the IR, Moore was targeted three times on the night. He hauled in two of those targets for 66 yards and the Bucs first touchdown of the night. The touchdown was a 44-yard catch and run that saw Moore gain most of his yardage after the catch as he bounced off of multiple Eagles defenders on his way to paydirt. On the defensive side of the ball free agent acquisition Greg Gaines, the team’s backup nose tackle, was instrumental in the Bucs defensive front that wreaked havoc on a very good Eagles offensive line. Gaines had two tackles and a sack, and was in on the Bucs’ stop of the vaunted Eagles “tush push” on an attempted two-point conversion. Of the 32 points the Bucs scored, 12 came from the right foot of kicker Chase McLaughlin. McLaughlin, who had the best season by a Bucs kicker in history, was a $1 million find for Licht. Hitting field goals from 28, 54, and 48 while adding three extra points, McLaughlin gave the Bucs the coaching staff the confidence to go for a shot play on third-and-1 from the Philadelphia 36. This Isn’t The Old Super Bowl Bucs Anymore 
Bucs GM Jason Licht and assistant GM John Spytek – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR Looking over the Bucs’ current roster only 14 players remain from the 2020 Super Bowl LV team. And despite keeping over 90% of that team intact the following year in 2021, Licht has quickly remade this Bucs roster on the fly using journeymen quarterbacks in Baker Mayfield and John Wolford, cast-off free agents, and 21 first- or second-year players. That feat is nothing short of amazing, as Jason Licht’s efforts have allowed the Bucs to be one of the final eight teams left standing in the 2023 playoffs. In a year in which very few in the media expected the Bucs to even compete for the NFC South or the playoffs, they are now thriving in large part due to a fantastic offseason by Licht, his personnel department and the Bucs’ front office. The post Jason Licht’s 2023 Offseason On Display In Bucs’ Playoff Win appeared first on Pewter Report. https://www.pewterreport.com/jason-lich ... -bucs-win/
