Notes and highlights from Buccaneers-Lions preseason Week 3

- On the game’s opening drive http://www.buccaneersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-bryan-anger-jersey , Tampa Bay drove 66 yards in eight plays, taking 4:35, culminating in a 14-yard touchdown run by Buccaneers RB Peyton Barber, his second rushing touchdown this preseason. - S Jordan Whitehead registered a sack in the first quarter, stopping Lions QB Matthew Stafford out of bounds for no gain. - The Buccaneers scored their second touchdown of the game in the second quarter, when QB Jameis Winston connected with WR Chris Godwin on a 10-yard touchdown pass to cap a 10-play, 66-yard drive lasting 6:21. Winston now has three touchdown passes this preseason and seven in his preseason career (four in 2016). Godwin has two touchdown catches this preseason. - DE William Gholston registered his first sack of the preseason in the second quarter, bringing down Stafford for a nine-yard loss – Gholston’s second career preseason sack (also one in 2016). - The third sack of the night for Tampa Bay came from DT Gerald McCoy, who dropped Stafford for a seven-yard loss. It was McCoy’s second sack this preseason and the fourth of his preseason career (0.5 in 2016, 0.5 in 2015, 1.0 in 2014). - With seven seconds left in the first half, the Lions lined up for a 62-yard field goal attempt, which was short of the uprights. The missed field goal was returned 109 yards for a touchdown by WR Adam Humphries. The Buccaneers have never had a missed field goal returned for a touchdown in the regular season. - On Tampa Bay’s opening drive of the second half, the team drove 88 yards on six plays, taking 3:22, finishing with a 19-yard touchdown pass from QB Ryan Griffin to WR Freddie Martino. The touchdown reception was the third of Martino’s preseason career (one with Philadelphia in 2015, one with Atlanta in 2014). Griffin now has three touchdown passes this preseason and five in his career (one in 2016, one in 2015 with New Orleans). - In the fourth quarter, the Buccaneers added three more points when K Chandler Catanzaro connected on a 42-yard field goal to finish an eight-play, 32-yard drive. Catanzaro has now made six field goals this preseason. - Tampa Bay has scored at least 30 points in each of the team’s three preseason games this year, the first time in team history that the Buccaneers have reached the 30-point mark in three preseason games (previous high was two). - Buccaneers quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick (115.5), Ryan Griffin (130.9) and Jameis Winston (110.4) each had a passer rating over 100 in tonight’s contest.Courtesy of the Buccaneers Communications Department. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were on a bye last week as was Chicago. But the rest of the league was in action. Here are my thoughts and opinions stemming from what we saw Week 5 while Dirk Koetter was golfing.OFFSIDES: Drew Brees’ escape from L.A. (Well, San Diego)How excited would any franchise be to have the NFL’s all-time leading passer. There are other great quarterbacks out there, sure, but nobody has thrown a football for as many miles as Drew Brees has.Kind of makes you go back and think about what the Chargers could have been thinking when they set the table for Brees’ eventual departure from San Diego.Well Lavonte David Jersey , this is exactly what happened to me, so I googled it. What I found was a pretty good description of how everything went down from John Gennaro written for SB Nation’s Bolts From The Blue.I’ll let you read the details at your leisure, but let’s basically summarize this by saying Brees ended up leaving San Diego and landing in New Orleans because of an end of year shoulder injury suffered because Marty Schottenheimer didn’t want to play Philip Rivers out of principle. Then, when Brees got hurt, nobody wanted to pay him or promise him a starting job, but the Saints eventually did promise the starting job. Boom, Brees goes to the Saints, punts are blocked, onside kicks are recovered and now:Cinderella, and it hasn’t hit midnight just yet. Gennaro basically argues that letting Brees walk was actually a really good decision - or at least one which made sense. And he’s right.But I have the power of hindsight, and I’m going to use it.The bad decision made in San Diego wasn’t letting Brees go, it was drafting Rivers in the first place. Oh, wait. It was drafting Eli Manning, in the first place.I’m not going to get crazy in-depth N-if-L style here, but if the Chargers don’t draft Manning out of spite, then they likely draft either Robert Gallery, Larry Fitzgerald or Sean Taylor. Or they trade out all together.Players like DeAngelo Hall, Will Smith, Vince Wilfork, Steven Jackson and Ben Watson were all first round picks in 2004. Any of them could have been Chargers. And any of them could have changed the trajectory of their own careers by getting drafted by San Diego as well as Brees’.But what about the injury? Well, there’s no guarantee the injury happens. Now, I’m not going to get into butterfly effect stuff and destiny and all of that.I basically wrote all of this to say:Congratulations, Drew! I’m not happy about the team you play for, but I’m truly happy to see you accomplish everything you have against the odds you’ve done them against.FALSE START: The NFL is failing.Quinn Harris-USA TODAY SportsMany predicted the downfall of the National Football League. No doomsday clock was set, but it was happening. The beginning of the end.TV ratings seem kind of like stock markets. It’s a long game. Today Authentic Chris Conte Jersey , you may lose some pennies, but tomorrow you may gain some nickels. Just stick it out.Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, the league’s viewership is actually climbing for the first time in three seasons.Why? Well, in part by the same rule which has had most of the fans watching up in arms for weeks now.For the last two weeks we’ve seen a shift in the way officials call the new roughing the passer penalty, and for good reason. If anything was threatening the legitimacy of the league, it was that.Apparently though, it will not do what CTE, domestic violence and social injustice before it couldn’t do, and that’s kill the league.As the article mentions, young faces like Patrick Mahomes are lighting up the score boards while team strife like those being experienced with the Pittsburgh Steelers are giving some new teams opportunities they haven’t had in a little while.The resurgence of the Cleveland Browns - sort of - can’t hurt either.Bottom line, the NFL is fine, for now. We’ll have to wait and see what the next controversy does though.FREE PLAY: I wish they all could be Ali Marpets.Kim Klement-USA TODAY SportsI’m sure you’ve heard by now, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made Ali Marpet a very well paid man.If you ask me, Marpet deserves to be paid higher up the chain. But you didn’t, and neither did the Bucs. Which is fine.Since joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marpet has played three different positions, and has showed Pro Bowl potential in all three.If you could build a team of guys with Marpet’s ability to learn and re-learn, and rise above his challenges, you’d win a lot of rings and trophies.When I saw the news break across my phone screen, I literally let out a celebratory cheer. Not only is he critical to any kind of continued success the Bucs hope to have, he just seems like the kind of guy you want to be around and want on your team.Hawaiian shirts and tacos, folks. Those are the keys to a happy life.