Case of the Mondays: Magic Has Run Out in Tampa Bay

by Ricky Dimon - 10/1/2018

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick

FitzMagic…Jameis Winston magic…there was no magic of any kind for the Buccaneers in Week 4. With both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Winston struggling, Tampa Bay went on the road and got blown out by Chicago 48-10. It was also a rough weekend on the gridiron for the Colts, Penn State, and Nebraska, while the United States' Ryder Cup team is once again limping home from Europe with a loss.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers . Fitzpatrick got the much-debated start on Sunday and went a mere 9-of-18 for 126 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. With his team trailing the Bears 38-3, Winston entered at the beginning of the second half and got picked off on his first possession. The former No. 1 overall pick finished 16-of-20 for 145 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Head coach Dirk Koetter said following the 38-point defeat that basically everyone in the franchise should be fired. Tampa Bay is +1200 to win the NFC South.

Frank Reich . The Colts could have settled for a tie against Houston; instead, they took a loss. With Indianapolis facing 4^th-and-4 at its own 43-yard line as 27 seconds remained in overtime, Reich decided to go for it and Andrew Luck threw an incomplete pass. The Texans took over at the 43 with 24 seconds left and moved the ball to Indy's 19 before Ka'imi Fairbairn booted a 38-yard field goal as time expired to give the visitors a 37-34 victory. "I'll address it now; I'm not playing to tie," Reich explained. "I'll do that 10 times out of 10. That's just the way it's got to roll. I think that's who we're going to be as a team; we're going to be aggressive. That's a mindset that we have. That's the only way to win in this league I think." The Colts are +10 underdogs at New England on Thursday night.

Penn State . It was déjà vu all over again for the Nittany Lions, who in 2017 squandered leads of 14-0, 21-3, 28-10, and 35-10 in the fourth quarter en route to a 39-38 loss at Ohio State. This time they had home-field advantage in Happy Valley and led the Buckeyes 26-14 with less than seven minutes remaining. OSU erased all of its latest deficit with a 47-yard touchdown pass followed by an eight-play, 96-yard drive that resulted in the game-winning score with 2:03 left. "It's not going to happen again," Penn State head coach James Franklin said of blowing another lead against Ohio State in the future. "I'm not a negative guy. But I am going to make sure that as our program, that we do everything right and we grow every single day and we challenge ourselves every single day and we get uncomfortable, we get comfortable being uncomfortable and break out to that next phase." Ohio State is +450 to win the National Championship (BetOnline Sportsbook).

Scott Frost . Frost coached the self-proclaimed best team college football last season; he may be coaching the worst team in the FBS this time around. In his first year at his alma mater Nebraska, Frost's Cornhuskers are 0-4 with setbacks against Colorado, Troy, Michigan, and Purdue. The Huskers' woes continued last week with a 42-28 home loss to the Boilermakers, who racked up 516 yards of total offense and benefited from 11 Nebraska penalties for 136 yards. Opponents have covered spreads by eight points (Colorado), 18 points (Troy), 28 points (Michigan), and 10.5 points (Purdue). The Cornhuskers are +21 underdogs at Wisconsin on Saturday.

St. Louis Cardinals . The Cardinals (88-74) went 1-5 in their final six games and were eliminated from postseason contention this past Saturday. They were all but finished following a three-game sweep by visiting Milwaukee and then had then nail put in the coffin by the fellow National League Central rival Cubs, who took two of three at Wrigley Field over the weekend. "(It's been) three straight years of coming up short," first baseman Matt Carpenter lamented. "We as an organization, as a total group, top to bottom, everybody in this clubhouse, all the staff, we have to find a way to get better, to compete if we want to play in October." St. Louis had a chance to play a spoiler role on Sunday but lost to Chicago 10-5 and the Cubs will now face the Brewers on Monday in a one-game playoff for the division title. The Cubs are -130 favorites.

Jose Mourinho . Things are going from bad to worse for Mourinho's Manchester United, which was eliminated from the Carabao Cup by Derby County last Tuesday (lost 8-7 in penalty kicks) and then dropped its English Premier League match 3-1 to lowly West Ham on Saturday. The Red Devils fell behind in the fifth minute, gave up an own-goal in the 43^rd minute, and watched West Ham score another one in the 74^th minute after they had pulled to within 2-1 three minutes earlier. Man United is now tied for ninth on the Premier League table with a 3-3-1 record (10 points), nine points behind Liverpool and arch rival Manchester City. There are rumblings that Mourinho will soon be out as manager and Zinedine Zidane could be his replacement. Man U is +225 to finish in the top four on the EPL table ( Bovada Sportsbook ).

Tiger Woods . The United States has now lost six consecutive Ryder Cups on European soil and has not won across the pond since 1993. Since that triumph in 1993, the Americans are 3-9 in 12 competitions following this past weekend's 17.5-10.5 humiliation in Paris. And what a difference a week makes for Tiger, who won the TOUR Championship for his first victory since 2013 before promptly earning a grand total of zero points for Team USA. He went 0-2 with Patrick Reed, 0-1 with Bryson DeChambeau, and also lost his Sunday singles match against Jon Rahm. Tiger, who is now a dreadful 13-21-3 overall in seven Ryder Cup appearances, is a +750 favorite to win the Masters.

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Case of the Mondays: Magic Has Run Out in Tampa Bay

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