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Before kickoff Beau Allen Jersey , it was pretty clear that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would struggle offensively. one of the league’s best defensive teams - at home. To make things worse, the weather decided it would play defense on Sunday as well. To say that the Bucs struggled in the cold, wind, and rain would be an understatement. Let’s break it all down in this week’s final grades. OffenseSo yea, about that offensive performance.At 241 total yards, this was the Bucs’ lowest offensive output of the season. Jameis Winston finished with just 157 yards through the air and 64 of those came on the long pass to Mike Evans. It’s not like his receivers helped him much, either. Chris Godwin dropped a potential touchdown on the first drive of the game and Evans dropped a couple that would’ve moved the chains as well. The Ravens were able to control Winston on the ground as well. He had carried the ball 17 times for 119 yards (7.0 ypc) in the previous three games. He had two carries for zero yards on Sunday. Tampa Bay finished the game with 12 first downs, went 3/10 on third down, and held the ball for just 22 minutes. They did score a touchdown on their one red zone opportunity, though. The lone bright spot was Peyton Barber. He kept the Bucs in the game and even helped dictate game flow in the first half. With just over 12 minutes to play in the second quarter, he had 11 carries for 60 yards and a touchdown.Tampa Bay led 6-0 at that point. Coincidence? I think not. What raises eyebrows is the fact that he finished with 19 carries for 85 yards. So, over the course of the remaining 42 minutes of the game, he received just eight carries. We’ll get to that later in the coaching section. But it boggles the mind that Barber didn’t continue to receive a steady flow of carries. The offensive line played OK. The were able to open some running lanes and only gave up one sack, but Winston was pressured on close to 25% of his drop backs. The worst offensive output of the season usually gets the worst grade and rightfully so. Final Grade: 0.5 (F)DefenseThe best way to think about Sunday’s defensive performance is this: imagine stepping in front of a Mack truck over and over again, except you think you can stop it from splattering your puny body all over the interstate. That’s what happened to Tampa Bay. Baltimore was blanked in the first quarter and held the ball for just six minutes. But things fell apart from the second quarter on. The defense allowed the Ravens to go on scoring drives of 8:10, 4:57, and 7:11. Baltimore held the ball for 31 of the final 45 minutes. The Ravens destroyed them on the ground to the tune of 242 yards - easily the worst total of the season.It doesn’t stop there, either. Tampa Bay gave up 12 plays of 10 yards or more and allowed the Ravens to go 9/16 on third down. They also allowed four straight drives that ended with a either a field goal or a touchdown. The field goal right before halftime was a killer as well. Chunk plays were handed out on the drive and it culminated in a 10-9 deficit entering halftime. Allowing that field goal became an even bigger deal after the Ravens came out and immediately scored a touchdown on the first drive of the second half. Tackling was also an issue. There were plenty of instances where the Bucs had a bead on a Raven Authentic DeSean Jackson Jersey , but couldn’t bring him down. But it wasn’t all bad. They were able to take down Lamar Jackson twice, force two turnovers, and put consistent pressure on Jackson a lot. Lavonte David was all over the place and made one of his best tackles of the year on Jackson inside the five-yard line. Nevertheless, it was a poor performance overall. Final Grade: 1.5 (D)Special TeamsThings got off to the absolute worst start for this unit after Garrison Sanborn’s snap ricocheted off of Bryan Anger’s hands during the Bucs’ only extra point attempt of the game. Baltimore was able to chase down the loose ball and recover it to prevent Tampa Bay from converting. But they recovered pretty well after the debacle. Cairo Santos hit both of his field goal attempts with ease.There was another instance where Tampa Bay allowed a 32-yard return on a kickoff in the third quarter. The botched snap and the big return is enough to sink this unit, but the two made field goals allows it to keep its head above water for the week. Final Grade: 2.0 (C)CoachingI really don’t know what in the hell this staff was thinking for 3鈦? of the game. As mentioned earlier, the Bucs completely abandoned the running game from the second quarter on. Of the eight carries that Barber received over the remaining course of the game, four of those came on the drive after the Ravens scored to make the game 20-12. Oh, and he was the only running back to record a carry for the Bucs in this game. So that means the Bucs ran the ball just eight times over from the second quarter until the end of the game. That alone is enough for a failing grade. The running game was obviously working and the Bucs never trailed by more than one score throughout contest’s entirety. Another confusing coaching situation was Mark Duffner’s strategy before halftime. He had the defense just sit back in zone and it allowed Jackson to drive right down the field and take the lead back. There were multiple instances where he was clearly out-schemed by the Ravens offensive staff. Not all of the blame goes toward the staff, but most of it does. Final Grade: 1.0 (D)Overall Grade: 1.25It was a performance that was as dreary as the weather. But that’s to be expected from this team at this point. Now it’s just a matter of where the Bucs will pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Overall Grade For The Season: 2.01 (C) Should players be paid for what they’ve done, or what they will do? Well, if you’re Le’Veon Bell, you want to paid for what you’ve done.If you’re a first-round draft pick, you’d like to be paid for what people think you will do.The right answer? There isn’t one. It’s a balancing act of rewarding past behavior and securing future contributions. Every situation is unique.Get it wrong, and a general manager not only puts the future of their franchise at risk, but their own career.Every year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pay their players to perform. Winning is what matters most, but the value of a player lies in a non-specific calculation of value vs expense.Bottom line, if a player isn’t performing up to his paycheck Adam Humphries Jersey , then he isn’t worth the money he’s being paid.This is true of all professions really. But in the NFL, we all know how much each and every one of them is making. And in this series, we’re going to take a look at some of the biggest names on the 2018 roster to find out whether the Buccaneers got ripped-off, got a bargain, or if they got what they paid for.Since he cost the Bucs the most in salary cap space on the defense this year, we’re starting with...Defensive Tackle, Gerald McCoyKim Klement-USA TODAY Sports2018 CAP EXPENSE: $12.75 MillionTEAM COMPARISON: 2ND ON TEAM; 1ST ON DEFENSELEAGUE COMPARISON: 57THPOSITION COMPARISON (DL): 14TH; 6TH AMONG *DTsAs the most expensive player on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defense for 2018, its no surprise there was a ton of pressure on Gerald McCoy to lead from the front - literally and figuratively - and become the first Bucs defender to notch double-digit sack numbers since Simeon Rice last did it in 2005. The franchise quarterback was suspended, and his future in doubt. A new defensive tackle had just been drafted, and a veteran defensive end by the name of Jason Pierre-Paul was brought in via trade by general manager, Jason Licht. Finally, the defensive line was going to help carry the load, and they were led by McCoy.Did the line produce fair value for the investment put in to it by the Bucs? More importantly, today, did McCoy?TEAM PRODUCTIONMcCoy played in fourteen games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018, missing some time due to injuries. Nothing out of the ordinary in the NFL business unfortunately.In fact, no other defensive tackle on the roster played more in this battle of attrition. McCoy led all interior defenders with 28 tackles (17 solo, 11 assists) Demar Dotson Jersey , six tackles for losses, and six sacks.He was also the only defensive tackle listed with a recorded pass deflection.Expanding the view to the entire defensive line, McCoy finished tied for third in tackles, tackles for losses, sacks and pass deflections.To answer the question about whether or not he earned his top earnings spot on the team is difficult. Not all positions play the same way, and not all stats are easily compared.However, when you consider rookie defensive tackle Vita Vea tallied half the sacks in around half the starts (Vea started eight games, McCoy had fourteen), and that both Vea and McCoy had the same amount of tackles - with Vea having more solos - and then add in that Vea had just two fewer tackles for losses, it’s hard to justify McCoy’s top spot on the team.It’s hard to be king. Just ask Simba. Or any other king, fictional or not.Where McCoy gains back much of his value though, is in pressures. He may not have become the first double-digit sack guy since 2005, but he led the team in quarterback hits with 12.Only he and Jason Pierre-Paul had 20 or more. Nobody else had more than fourteen.LEAGUE PRODUCTIONSolid tackling is a thing of beauty. Quick, tell me the NFL record for tackles in a single season.....If you’re a Bucs fan, you might know it off the top of your head. Because it belongs to Hardy Nickerson who tallied 214 in 1993. Since 1993, no single player has even come close to breaking the record. Ray Lewis has the most since ‘93 with his 156 tackles in 1997.So, safe to say, teams aren’t paying defensive linemen to break tackling records. They’re paying them for sacks and for quarterback pressure. Emphasis is on sacks though.That single-season record is held by Michael Strahan Chris Conte Jersey , who recorded 22.5 - kind of - in 2001. Since then, six other players have had twenty or more sacks in a single season. Four of them being defensive lineman, including Aaron Donald who had 20.5 just this year.No surprise then, that Donald also led the NFL in sacks this season.McCoy on the other hand, finished 37th in the league in the same category, and tied for eighth among defensive tackles, with his six sacks in 2018.Here’s a final stat people seem to love. McCoy was paid over $2 Million per sack this season. Donald made less than $500,000 for each of his.Grain of salt: this is cap cost, not bonus, incentives, etc.CONCLUSIONStats don’t tell the whole story. They never have. What they offer is just one lens to view a multi-layered picture through.The value of a player extends beyond the field of play. Which is why it was news when the team didn’t vote McCoy in as a captain for the 2018 season.Prior to this season, McCoy had been a captain on the team for six straight years. Every year since 2012.McCoy played it off. He had to. But if you don’t believe it wounded his ego just a bit, I doubt you’ve ever been in a locker room.In January of 2018, McCoy was a Pro Bowler and a Pro Bowl captain at that. One year later, he’s not a Pro Bowler, not a captain on any team, and is on the lips of just about every Bucs fan, media member or casual observer wondering if and how the team might open up some more cap space for 2019.Pro Football Reference founder Ryan Smith Jersey , Doug Drinen, has developed his own equations to measure what he calls, Approximate Value (AV). In it, Drinen tries to put a number value to players for their holistic contributions to the team.For 2018, McCoy - the leagues fourteenth most expensive defensive lineman and Tampa Bay’s second-highest cap investment - tied for 343rd with a value of six. So, how did the Bucs make out with this investment for 2018?VERDICT: OVERPAIDTampa Bay didn’t get ripped off, by any means. McCoy’s 38 quarterback pressures tallied by Pro Football Focus consisted of his six sacks, twelve hits, and 20 hurries.Those are solid numbers and places him 19th among interior defensive linemen. However, he was paid to be Top-10 on the interior and Top-15 on the defensive line among his NFL counterparts. Which he simply wasn’t.What does it mean for the soon to be 31-year old and his future in Tampa Bay? Well, that decision is Jason Licht’s. The vote is yours. So, what do you think?