A soft reset sets the stage for a late-season playoff push…again

Winner, winner chicken dinner.

The Bucs feasted on Tommy “Cutlets” DeVito and the New York Giants as they came off their bye refreshed in a dominant 30-7 victory Sunday. The Bucs are a better team than their now 5-6 record suggested, but New York is every bit their now 2-9 record shows so this result should’ve been expected.

Baker Mayfield looked dialed in, the running back battery all got involved and each got touchdowns, and Mike Evans came back and looked good. Offensively, you couldn’t have hoped for much more.

Defensively, Tampa played soft in the late second half but pitched a shutout through 3 quarters against an offense that arguably has less life than a diseased fish from the East River. Still, having a healthy array of star players should bode well-ish for the stretch run.

Let’s do some shout-outs.

Offensive Top Performer: RB Bucky Irving

Irving continues to shine and stake his claim as the team’s No. 1 running back. He broke through for several massive chunk plays against the Giants defense and notched a season-best 152 yards from scrimmage (88 rushing, 64 receiving) on 19 touches. His dynamic change of direction ability, paired with his refusal to go down on first contact. has already made him one of the better pure runners in the league.

Rachaad White and Sean Tucker both scored but were generally much less effective. White carried 12 times for 36 yards with an uncharacteristic one catch for 10 yards. Sean Tucker followed Vita Vea in for a goal-line tuddy but fumbled on the same play not long after. He had 4 carries for 3 yards along with one catch for 7 yards.

Mayfield looked dialed in from the get-go. He failed to throw a TD pass for the first time this year but he did run one in, and he completed 24 of 30 passes for 296 yards along with 4 carries for 29 yards.

Evans made his return after a 4-game absence with a very solid 5 catches for 68 yards on what was a clear pitch count, the smart move.

Defensive Top Performer: DT Vita Vea

It’s not often you see fullbacks dominant on defense, but man what a jack of all trades Vea is!

In seriousness, Vea lived in NY’s backfield all game and made their interior offensive line’s collective lives hell. Another sack pushed his season total to 6, which still leads the team, and he logged 2 tackles as well (one for loss). He and Calijah Kancey, who also logged a sack for his career-high 5th of the year, remain the only semblance of consistent pass rush the Bucs have.

Antoine Winfield, Jr. looked the healthiest he’s been since Week 1, recording 6 total tackles, a sack, and a pass defensed. The secondary absolutely needs him to be his elite self again after being beleaguered by lower leg ailments all season to this point.

Special Teams Top Performer: K Chase McLaughlin

McLaughlin made a field and most of his extra points. Special teams was unnecessary Sunday given the huge lead that the team built early and easily maintained.

When you play the right way in the superior two-thirds of the game, the ST unit should be irrelevant so this is a good thing.