The Day After: Buccaneers vs Saints Week 18 Reactions

What did social media think of the Bucs clinching the division?

On Sunday the Buccaneers found themselves in a hole against the New Orleans Saints but were able to dig themselves out and rally for a 27-19 victory. The win clinched their fourth straight NFC south title and fifth straight postseason birth, both franchise records.

It was an up and down day on social media, let’s see what they had to say about it.

Baker comes up clutch

Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield didn’t have his “A” stuff on Sunday, especially early but he came up big when it mattered the most. In the second half, Mayfield made clutch play after clutch play including a great throw to Jalen McMillan on a 4th down and then a few plays later for a touchdown to give Tampa the lead.

That is a dart by Baker. He also used his legs to his advantage, scrambling to avoid pressure and picking up first downs. He rallied the team on Sunday and deserves some big credit for bringing life to Tampa Bay when they didn’t have any.

Mike Evans. History.

Things were looking bleak for Mike Evans’ 1,000 yard receiving streak late Sunday afternoon. The Bucs had scored a touchdown to put them up 8 and with under 2 minutes left in the game, Evans was 5 yards short of 1,000. Credit to the Bucs defense as well because they were able to force a turnover on downs and gave Tampa Bay and Evans one last shot at tying Jerry Rice with 11 consecutive 1,000 yard receiving seasons.

What a moment. The Bucs had just clinched the division and had some big plays down the stretch, but that was probably the loudest Ray Jay was all day. Evans was even mic’d up for the game and simply put, it’s pretty awesome.

Also credit to Todd Bowles for giving Evans the opportunity for this moment. Passing the ball in that situation is not smart at all but Bowles knew what that meant to Evans and the fans.

Kings of the South Once Again

Winning the division yet again is a major accomplishment for this team. Many folks (including myself) picked the Falcons to dethrone the Bucs and win the division. There were times this year when that looked like a reality especially with Atlanta sweeping Tampa Bay but the Bucs rallied and went 6-1 down the stretch after the bye week to secure the division yet again.

The success they’ve been able to maintain post Tom Brady is really a testament to the work Jason Licht and his team in the front office have done. Finding key contributors through the draft outside of the first round like Yaya Diaby, Cody Mauch, Jalen McMillan, Tykee Smith and Bucky Irving plus many others.

The Bucs are in good hands with Licht at the helm.

Now we have playoff football on Sunday night in Tampa as the Bucs play host to Washington, the team that Tampa Bay defeated to open their season.