Bucs Give Chiefs Heap Big Disappointment

November 03, 2008 at 11:51am by Scott   •  1 Comment »

Remember last week at Dallas where Jeff Garcia started out hot and then kind of pissed the game away? Yesterday was exactly the opposite. Garcia had a passer rating of 56.8 in the first half and 114.4 for the second half and overtime. It’s hard to know if Garcia figured out what was wrong on his own or if Jon Gruden chewed him a new asshole at halftime, but whatever it was, it worked.

That interception was all his fault, though. Jerramy Stevens didn’t have a chance at it. When I was talking about taking shots down the field for this game, I didn’t mean into double coverage.

Speaking of going deep, I’ve watched that pass to Joey Galloway in the endzone a few times and don’t necessarily agree with the commentators. Garcia’s pass was off, but not by that much. It doesn’t look like Galloway really knows what’s going on until the last second. If that were Antonio Bryant in the endzone, I’ll bet he adjusts to that pass and catches it. Does Galloway have to be 100% before he can be counted on anymore?

I’m not sure what’s up with Garcia’s vision, but he seems to be missing a lot of open guys. Maybe it’s just me and I’m paying more attention to the secondary receivers than I used to. One place I know he should have seen is the gaping hole to his left during the first two-point conversion attempt. He could have run for that. Of all things I should be able to expect Garcia to see, it’s a running lane.

It was a pretty good day for the offensive line. Garcia was never sacked even though Garcia broke a perfectly nice pocket a few times. Run-blocking was pretty rough, though. Jeremy Zuttah didn’t look as sharp as in previous games. He was responsible for Glenn Dorsey‘s backfield tackle of Earnest Graham.

Hey, finally Jeremy Trueblood‘s tendency for false starts pays off! The Chiefs would have gotten the ball back in decent field position if Matt Bryant‘s miss had counted.

Four fumbles by running backs. Wow. Some self-scouting is in order to see whatever it was the Chiefs saw that tipped them off to Graham being vulnerable to fumbling. I can blame Gruden for a lot of shit, but I expect running backs to know how to secure a ball before they get into the NFL. If he doesn’t, it should be the first thing his running backs coach does.

I guess I’m done defending Michael Bennett. He had a chance to make an impression in the red zone by running with authority over whoever was in front of him and picking up a first down or even a touchdown. Instead he was obviously confused about where he should make his cut and lost two yards. Graham had just gotten eight yards on the last two plays and Bennett couldn’t just lower his shoulders and push ahead for two? Warrick Dunn was out, the two other halfbacks in the game fumbled the ball a total of four times, this was Bennett’s old team and Gruden still didn’t trust him enough to give him the ball? That’s not a prejudice or some unfair assessment. There’s something wrong with Bennett’s game.

Gruden finally called a real trick play? And look at that, it worked. I think Gruden thinks that if he doesn’t win a game straight up that it counts less. Maybe he thinks that as an offensive guru that it’s almost like cheating if he uses them. Fuck that. When called at the right times, they work. More of these, please.

I don’t know if it was just the shitty Kansas City secondary or what, but Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton made some amazing catches yesterday. That run along the sideline after Clayton broke a tackle in overtime was awesome.

Ike Hilliard deserves special mention because of how clutch he was all day. And that pass interference call on him was pretty bogus. I can see what he did wrong, but that doesn’t get called very often. That was more of a “just let them play” situation.

How Gaines Adams left the game without a sack even though he was paired up with a rookie tackle is beyond me. This was a horrible day for the defensive line altogether, but Adams especially should have had a couple big plays.

I mean, who the fuck is Jamaal Charles and how does he become the first 100 yard rusher against this defense? Kolby Smith? Never heard of him, but he’s the first guy to score a rushing touchdown against the Bucs this year. Sometimes you can blame the offense for putting the defense in bad positions, but not every time. The middle of the line was wide open for their running backs. Jovan Haye and Chris Hovan had terrible games and got pushed around like their shoes were greased.

Never watching Chiefs games much, I always thought Tony Gonzalez was overrated. I didn’t have anything to base it on; he just seemed like one of those pass-catching tight ends with those huge egos that make me want to shove a compass in their eye. Nope, he’s really fucking good. The Bucs linebackers had a hard time with him all day, and even when they were in position, Gonzalez still came up with the catch.

Ronde Barber needs a vacation. Or maybe he needs extra work. I don’t know what the hell he needs, but it’s something. That pass to Tyler Thigpen should never have happened. All season long he’s been giving up plays.

Phillip Buchanon is no prize pig, either. Mark Bradley beat him for a huge gain. And right after that they show him on the sideline laughing? LOOK SAD, YOU FUCK! You’re supposed to be mad at yourself, sitting on the bench mumbling to yourself about how bad you fucked up. Maybe throw your helmet when you get to the sideline. Smiling is forbidden after you give up a big fucking play like that.

Overall the secondary wasn’t so bad. They had some nice passes defensed and tackled well when they had to. But, again, the big plays stung.

So, undrafted rookies Micheal Spurlock and Clifton Smith have now each returned a kickoff for a touchdown. And Dexter Jackson, who was drafted in the second round specifically for his return skills, is on the bench. Lay that one squarely at the feet of Bruce Allen.

Someone fucking educate Brian Clark on the finer points of downing punts before they hit the goal line. Josh Bidwell should be able to slap Clark’s mother for that one.

It would be pretty easy to go negative on a game like this. There’s no reason why it should have been as close as it was, but the fact that the Bucs came from 21 points down to win in overtime is a huge gut check and confidence builder. This is the biggest deficit the Bucs have overcome in franchise history and should prove to them and us that this team is never out of a game as long as they play hard for 60 minutes (or longer). Everything fell apart in the first half, but the whole team stepped up their play and redeemed themselves in the second. Even the areas where I am critical seem like they should be easily correctable. I think 11-5 is a reasonable goal and 12-4 is not completely out of the question. If someone comes at you with a negative spin on this game, here are the counterpoints:

Garcia: Never sacked, excellent second half
OL: No sacks allowed
RBs: Kept defense honest, loosened up linebackers for receivers, passing TD
WRs: Excellent day overall
TEs: Blocked well, John Gilmore had big receiving day
DL: Didn’t get lost on way to stadium
LBs: Sack, made up for DLs off day
2nd: Timely passes defensed, tackled when they had to
STs: KO for TD, winning FG, nice punt return average

Don’t bury your heads in the sand about obvious shortcomings and mistakes this team has made, but don’t get sucked in by what will surely be some negative press during the bye week.