Nope, Tampa Bay still can’t defend the pass

Perhaps you've already seen the clip of Danario Alexander's early 80-yard touchdown catch against the Bucs. If not, here it is. Alexander redirected Tampa corner Leonard Johnson at the line, then ran a quick slant, shrugged off tacklers after the catch, and outran everyone to the goal line. Too easy.

Alexander was a popular waiver add this week, because A) he's seriously skilled, and B) Robert Meachem has been notably awful. Health has been the issue with DX over the years, never talent. When he's right, he's a dangerous man -- certainly dangerous enough to torch the Bucs.

At the end of the first quarter on Sunday, Chargers QB Philip Rivers had already passed for 148 yards and two touchdowns against Tampa. Antonio Gates snagged the second score without much difficulty. The Bucs entered the day ranked dead-last in the NFL in pass defense (321.1 YPG), and it appears they'll exit in the same spot. We'll be picking on this team the rest of the way, whenever possible.

Here's a look at their upcoming schedule for planning purposes...

So yeah, Matt Ryan's season can, in fact, get better.

---

Fourth quarter update: Outside of your local rec league, are there any quarterbacks who make throws like the one that resulted in that late Rivers pick-six? Yikes. A remarkably bad play. Not a decision you'll see a pro QB make too often. Rivers is still piling up stats (271 yards, 3 TDs as of this writing), but the giveaways are ridiculous.