Bucs continue struggles opening the second half

They were there again on Sunday. Alive and kicking at the half. Then came the third quarter. Disaster soon followed. It's been like that most of this year for the Bucs.

While most NFL games are decided in the fourth quarter, a lot of recent Bucs games have been decided in the third quarter.

Sunday's wasn't one of them. The Bucs eventually erased the 14-point deficit Carolina built on them in that quarter, but the Bucs' third-quarter struggles were certainly a contributing factor in the loss.

"I don't know if it's a mental thing, or if everybody's just not on the same page or what, but we need to come out and play in the third quarter like we have in the first and second," Bucs defensive end Jimmy Wilkerson said.

"We've been pretty dominant at times in the first half, and we need to be dominant in the second half, too. That means coming out in the third quarter and playing better."

It won't take much for the Bucs to be a better third-quarter team. Through six games they have been outscored 47-7 in that period, making it by far their worst quarter.

"We're just not executing there very well," linebacker Barrett Ruud said. "That's what it is. We just haven't executed for a full game and we need to find a way to put four good quarters together.

"You can't get by in the NFL and you're not going to win very much in this league by playing well in only three quarters. You've got to put a full 60 minutes together."

The Bucs were doing a better job of that early in the year. They were outscored just 7-0 in the third quarter during their first two games, against Dallas and Buffalo. Since then they've been outscored 40-7 in the third quarter.

The situation seems to be worsening. Of those 40 points, 37 have been surrendered in the third quarter of the last three games, including 16 against the Redskins three weeks ago and 14 Sunday against Carolina.

In both cases the third-quarter struggles helped rob the Bucs of a chance to break what is now a 10-game losing streak. Also in both cases, the Bucs' demise was sparked by an interception on the quarter's first drive.

DeAngelo Hall intercepted Bucs first-year starting quarterback Josh Johnson three plays into the third quarter three weeks ago at Washington and Thomas Davis intercepted him one play into the quarter on Sunday.

"Those things are always going to hurt you," Bucs coach Raheem Morris said of the early third-quarter interceptions. "You get the ball coming out in the half, and you've got an opportunity to do some things and we just haven't."

Johnson also was intercepted on the Bucs' final third-quarter drive at Philadelphia two weeks ago, that after driving the team 68 yards to the Eagles 12-yard line.

But the Bucs' third-quarter problems are not all a result of interceptions thrown by Johnson. The Bucs' defense has struggled to get off the field in that period as well.

Overall, the Bucs have been outgained 493-182 in the third quarter this year, including 254-110 in the last three weeks alone.

"Games like yesterday, we started out fast, but we couldn't keep the momentum going," safety Sabby Piscitelli said. "We just can't allow ourselves to ride that emotional roller coaster that Raheem talks about all the time.

"We did a little bit of that in the third quarter, not coming out as fired up as we were in the first, and we just have to keep that momentum going the whole game and keep that energy alive."