You Know What This Team Needs? Some Veterans.

November 27, 2009 at 12:12pm by Scott   •  5 Comments »

Did Raheem Morris just say this?

“We’re youthful,” Morris said. “We need some veteran players, so we’ll get some veterans here with these young guys and have them grow.”

He just said that, didn’t he? Yeah, if only this team had had a little veteran leadership to guide them through this transition, maybe things would have turned out differently.

Oh Yeah, T.O. Would Have Been Perfect

September 22, 2009 at 11:15am by Scott   •  1 Comment »

Ugh, I was going to ignore this steaming pile from John Romano, but I kept thinking about the picture he used as the teaser: Terrell Owens in his Jesus Christ pose, having just scored on the Bucs. And it just gnawed at me.

His whole thing is (AGAIN) that the Glazers aren’t spending enough money to buy a Super Bowl. Remember, he did this less than three months ago when Jason La Canfora‘s report came out about team spending over the last five years. My response is here, and I’ll try not to repeat too many of the same points. But it’s sad that Romano has to use the team’s recent losses to continue to cram his agenda of Buccaneer hate down our throats.

The Bucs went from spending more than most teams on player payroll to spending less than every team. And not just for one season. Based on reports, the Bucs have been the cheapest team in the NFL since 2004, which is around the time soccer became a family business.

We already covered all this.

So before you skewer Raheem Morris, you may want to consider the circumstances he has been given. Before you blame Mark Dominik, you may want to ask yourself how much of this is beyond his control.

Rational people aren’t “skewering” anyone yet because we’re only TWO GAMES IN. Just like everyone we talked about yesterday, Romano thinks it’s the end of the world because the team isn’t winning right out of the gate despite having a completely new coaching staff, offensive and defensive scheme.

The next two paragraphs are about how much money the team isn’t spending and what they could get for that money. You don’t mind if I skip them, right?

As much as you might want to start with a new quarterback, the truth is the Bucs have tied themselves to Josh Freeman‘s future. So we’ll accept Byron Leftwich as a temporary caretaker. And, besides, there are plenty of other areas that need upgrading.

Quarterback is where he’s going to stand pat? Even with Freeman being the future, I can think of other quarterbacks I’d like for him to learn from more than Leftwich. Watching Leftwich perform is not exactly like receiving a crash course in quarterbacking fundamentals.

Greg Ellis was available fairly cheap. Sure, he’s 34, but he also has had 20.5 sacks the past two seasons. Right on cue, he has three sacks in two games with the Raiders. And all for a reported $10 million over three years. Bertrand Berry is another 34-year-old working cheap. He has two sacks in two games on a one-year, $1 million deal.

By saying all this, Romano is implicitly skewering Morris himself. The whole idea of this season was to have a youth movement. You find young players that you think have potential, throw them in the water and see if they can swim. That was the purpose of the veteran purge. What would the fans have said if the team had cut Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn but brought on a couple other old guys? Hell, they could have just kept Kevin Carter if they were interested in old defensive ends. They’re not. Despite it being explained by various leaders from the Buccaneers, Romano obviously does not get what their plan is. Young players are cheaper than old players. When they figure out who they want to keep, they’ll pay them more.

As for interior linemen, the Bucs let Jovan Haye go because he was supposedly too small for Jim Bates’ new scheme. You may recall the run defense went into the tank last season when Haye got hurt, and it has yet to recover. Haye signed in Tennessee for $16.2 million over four years. And if you’re insistent on a bigger defensive tackle, 330-pound Colin Cole signed in Seattle for $21.4 million over five years.

Romano’s on crack if he thinks that Haye and Cole are better than the Ryan Sims, Chris Hovan, Roy Miller combo platter.

If Romano was being fair or impartial in any way, this is the part of his article where he would mention that the Bucs offered Albert Haynesworth more money than Washington did to try and land him at the beginning of free agency. But he didn’t. The word “Haynesworth” does not appear in his article at all. Haynesworth did not want to come to Tampa despite the extra money. You can’t spend money on something that isn’t available to you.

With Quincy Black, Geno Hayes, Sabby Piscitelli and Aqib Talib, the Bucs have four new starters at linebacker and defensive back. I understand the need for new blood, but the Bucs could have gone after a better blend. At 32, linebacker Mike Peterson still has good days left, and Atlanta got him for $6.5 million over two years. He has one interception, two passes defensed and 16 tackles.

For what purpose would you bring in Peterson? He is a middle linebacker by trade and the Bucs already have a franchise middle linebacker. Why bring a 32-year old linebacker to switch positions when you could just go with young guys who have already trained at those spots. I will grant that switching Peterson to a WLB makes more sense than switching Jermaine Phillips to WLB, but it didn’t work out that way anyway. And, to reiterate, if the Bucs had brought in a 32-year old linebacker to play WLB when they had just cut Derrick Brooks, there would have been a mutiny in Tampa.

The offensive line is promising, and the Bucs upgraded at running back and tight end. Still, it would have been nice to have another receiving threat. They were available, and they weren’t expensive. Jabar Gaffney ended up in Denver ($10 million for four years), Devery Henderson remained in New Orleans ($12 million for four years), Nate Washington went to Tennessee ($27 million for six years) and even Terrell Owens was a relative bargain in Buffalo (one year at $6.5 million).

And this is where I went insane.

He’s really lamenting the loss of Jabar Gaffney?!? That’s fucking sad. The Bucs made Henderson an offer and he decided to stay in New Orleans. Washington hasn’t helped the Titans win any games yet with his 44 yards so far. And then there’s Owens. Can you even comprehend the shitstorm that would have been wrought on the Buccaneers by bringing a volatile personality like Owens into a locker room that had just been picked clean of strong leadership? Morris, more than anything, wants to build team chemistry. And for all his physical talents, Owens is not a team guy. He’ll block, he’ll catch across the middle, he’ll do the dirty work — but in the end if he’s not catching touchdowns, you’re fucked.

Oh what would the Tampa papers have said if the Bucs had released Brooks and signed a 35-year old Owens to their youth movement? Romano would have been in a race with the rest of the Bucs beat writers to see who could eviscerate Morris, Dominik and the Glazers first and with the most melodrama. It would have been a media bloodbath and Romano would have provided the Luffa. For him to say otherwise is insincere at best.

Dominik says — much like Bruce Allen before him — that the Bucs need cap space so they can tie up core players. Except they rarely do that. Barrett Ruud is their best player on defense, and he’s annoyed because he doesn’t have a long-term deal. Antonio Bryant was the team MVP, and he’s ticked because he’s on a one-year deal.

This is the only part of his story that has merit. The team should be locking up good, young players so they don’t hit free agency. We have speculated why they haven’t on here before and one obvious possibility is that the Glazers are, in fact, being cheap. We have no way of knowing, and neither does Romano. But if he had wanted to investigate that topic further and lay out his reasons, I wouldn’t have commented on it because it’s a valid concern. But not signing old and/or crap players for big money just because the Glazers have money to spend? That’s smart business that is in line with the goals of the coaching staff to develop a team from the ground up.

“Intriguing” Players Not So Intriguing

July 10, 2009 at 10:04am by Scott   •  No Comments »

Anwar Richardson of the Tribune, apparently with time on his hands and stale stories to rotate, came up with a list of several players whom the Bucs might, or might not as the case may be, sign. I’ve said in the past that I enjoy Anwar’s writing, and I do. He gets a mulligan on this one because he’s not pushing some alternate Buc-hating agenda. But such an obvious waste of pixels does need to be examined.

First of all, from the title of the article, “Bucs have intriguing options to fill camp roster”, Richardson seems to think there are roster spots to fill. There are not. There are currently 82 players on the Bucs’ roster. The NFL limit is 80, but unsigned rookies don’t count and both Josh Freeman and Roy Miller have yet to sign. So, as he points out, the team will likely cut Brian Griese and one more player to make room. The point is that if you want to sign any of the guys below, you have to cut someone to do it.

He thinks the Bucs should seriously consider signing Kevin Carter, Michael Pittman and Plaxico Burress. Let’s get one thing clear first. You don’t sign any of these guys as camp meat. If you sign them, you expect them to make the team. Carter’s value as a pass rusher is seriously diminished at this point. His main appeal is as a locker room leader, but if the Bucs were interested in that, they never would have cut Derrick Brooks. They want new guys to step up and take those roles. I’ve said in the past that I wouldn’t mind Pittman, but how many running backs do you want on the team? Unless you cut Jameel Cook or Cadillac Williams, you just don’t have room in the backfield. And lastly, Burress?

Everyone knows he made a mistake and is paying for it, but there is no denying his impact on Sunday.

No, he’s not paying for it. The process hasn’t even really started because he keeps getting his court dates pushed back. But Roger Goodell has said he is going to investigate the situation sooner rather than later, so unless Burress can somehow convince the commissioner that the hole in his leg is not proof positive that he was carrying an unlicensed gun into a public place, he’s going to be suspended. Add that to the well-known reputation Burress has of being difficult in the locker room, and for a team that is trying to find leaders and chemistry, you have a poor fit.

Richardson thinks the Bucs should moderately consider Derrick Brooks, Pacman Jones and Reche Caldwell. Here’s what he has to say about Brooks:

It is hard to imagine there is a linebacker on Tampa Bay’s roster better than Brooks.

Really? Let’s take the nostalgia factor out of it and pretend that Brooks isn’t one of the top three Buccaneers of all time. He’s still good, but you think he’s better than Barrett Ruud today? Hell, I’d take Quincy Black over Brooks right now. Richardson doesn’t seem to understand that this is a team that is building for the future and needs young players to get experience. You can’t sign Derrick Brooks as a camp body. If you sign him, he HAS to make the team AND play at least half the defensive snaps. Brooks won’t sign unless that’s the case. So who do you cut to make room for a 36-year old part-time linebacker? Niko Koutouvides and Matt McCoy are the weakest links so far, but they’re both excellent in special teams which Brooks won’t be playing. Stop saying shit like this.

Pacman Jones looked awful in Dallas and was even beaten a couple times by the dudes on Pros vs. Joes. One of the Joes said it best when he said Pacman was a 25-year old has-been. Why does Richardson want to bring malcontents into a locker room that has been stripped of its leaders? I have no real opinion on Caldwell. He might be better than a couple of the obvious camp bodies at the WR position, so I guess one of them could go, but I hardly find him intriguing.

His three to definitely ignore are Michael Vick, Marvin Harrison and Jeremy McDougle. On Vick:

Although he did his time and deserves to play football again, Tampa Bay’s dwindling fan base would evaporate with his signing.

But somehow Pacman would be okay? I don’t follow that one. Harrison and McDougle I also agree with him on, but it’s not hard to come up with a list of players that shouldn’t be signed.

So there you have it. The camp roster is pretty much set, so unless there is some gem out there that the Bucs have scouted and no one else knows about, you’re not going to make many improvements at this point. Like I said, I’m not going to hold this article against Richardson. He’s just trying to kill time and fill space, and we don’t all have the freedom to post pictures of naked chicks so one easy thing to do is a list. Even easier? Criticizing the list.

Jason Taylor Considering Tampa. Or Not.

April 28, 2009 at 11:23pm by Scott   •  1 Comment »

Even the Times admits this barely qualifies as a rumor since they don’t even hide behind a “league source” on this one. But for what it’s worth, they are reporting that Jason Taylor may be considering coming to Tampa. Possibly. Probably not.

Taylor is narrowing his choices of teams as he prepares to play another season, and we were told the Bucs are among the teams interested. They are said to be joined by the Patriots and Dolphins, his original team.

But there is some conflicting information here. A different source indicated Taylor is not someone the Bucs have targeted.

The rest of the article is just as informative, so take it for what it’s worth, which is squat. If Taylor did join the Bucs, he’s probably fit in like Kevin Carter did, except with better pass rushing and worse leadership skills. It would most likely be a two-year deal that either party could opt out of after one year. What I’m personally hearing about Taylor is that he may have a verbal agreement with New England to sign a deal sometime in July so he doesn’t have to deal with training camp. That’s from an actual Boston source, but he’s just throwing out barely-educated guesses. Are we really this information-starved two days after the draft?

Hey, speaking of Carter, he’s visiting with Detroit. He’s got a history with Jim Schwartz, so that makes sense. Carter’s a good dude, so here’s to hoping he gets what he’s looking for.

Gruden Turns Off The Coachspeak

April 22, 2009 at 08:57am by Scott   •  2 Comments »

Jon Gruden will be part of NFL Network’s coverage team this weekend and was part of a conference call in support of that. When it came to Tampa Bay’s draft, he did what he could never have done when he was head coach — spoke completely honestly about their personnel situation, needs, and talent.

…I really think Tampa Bay lost some key players on defense and they struggled down the stretch last season on defense, let’s be honest, for whatever reason — most of that obviously was the head coach’s inability to get it going.

Gruden has pointed the finger at himself numerous times by now, but this quote is for anyone who still thinks he hasn’t taken responsibility for the 2008 collapse.

“Kevin Carter is still out there. I think Greg White – Stylz White — he obviously had a disappointing sophomore season. This is a big year for Gaines Adams and the new scheme. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do target a defensive end.”

He means in the first round. And it’s not news that Greg White had a disappointing season, but it’s weird to hear something like that come from Gruden.

“The interior linemen, I think everybody down here expects them to draft a defensive tackle. I just don’t know if that player is there for them in the first round. I don’t know if that kind of guy is in this draft, other than the (B.J.) Raji kid at Boston College.

He goes on to talk about the potential first round defensive tackles and why they wouldn’t fit Jim Bates‘s scheme and then lists a couple cornerbacks that the Bucs might like. Just good, solid, honest analysis. At the end of the article, he makes an interesting admission about wide receivers.

“Last year, we were starving to take one and probably reached, if you want to be honest, in the second round, taking a young guy (Dexter Jackson) who might still develop into a player.”

Again, everyone else in the world knew it was a reach. But that’s not the kind of thing he could say as the head coach because it would have driven a wedge between him and Jackson. Now that Gruden is gone, he can open up about some of the stuff he had to sit on before. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but at some point ESPN or SI or one of the local rags needs to do a full-on retrospective interview with Gruden and get him to spill about all the shit we were speculating on for all those years. His true opinions on Rich McKay, Chris Simms, the Glazers, Simeon Rice, Keyshawn Johnson… there are so many. That would be an awesome read.

But for now, this little article about the draft is pretty interesting.

Distant Early Warning: Defensive Ends

January 26, 2009 at 11:53am by Scott   •  1 Comment »

Here’s the second part of the defensive line preview — the defensive ends. The Buccaneers aren’t getting anywhere near the kind of pass rush they need in order to make a defense work, and in the schemes Jim Bates has used in the past, the ends are all about pass-rushing. It looks like they’re keeping the 4-3 alignment, so most of what I’d prepared for the Tampa 2 version of this will still hold true. I hope it does, anyway, because I’m going with it. “Editing” and “retyping” aren’t my thing, man.

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Distant Early Warning: Defensive Tackle

January 21, 2009 at 12:00pm by Scott   •  6 Comments »

I covered the entire offensive line in one entry because the needs there were relatively few and the analysis was straightforward. The Bucs’ defensive line, though, is a different story. A sadder one. For example, if the offensive line was Lassie, the defensive line would be Old Yeller. Sorry, didn’t mean to make you think about dogs getting shot. Anyway, that’s why we’re splitting up the defensive line. Prior to Friday, I would have said that defensive tackle is definitely the biggest need on the team. But after all the personnel changes and the fact that we don’t know who the defensive coordinator is going to be or even what kind of scheme they’re going to run, it’s a little harder to predict what the team needs are going to be. Let’s assume for now that they’re sticking with a standard Tampa 2 as their base and go from there.

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Controlling Your Own Destiny Is Overrated, Anyway

December 22, 2008 at 03:14am by Scott   •  7 Comments »

I’ll probably be a little late with the game summary Monday morning. Most of that time will be used to find synonyms for the words “fuck” and “fail”. Go ahead and start in with the comments on this thread and I’ll add to this post in the afternoon.

UPDATE: Okay, I think I needed to wander the streets of Atlanta and sell some fake crack to desperate whores to get my spirits up. Man, there’s nothing like the toothless smile on a ragged-out crackwhore’s face when she buys a $10 piece of rock salt to get you in the Christmas spirit. There was even this one with a limp that I started calling Tiny Tim. Hoo boy, that was classic. Well, I guess you had to be there.

Anyway, let’s start with Jeff Garcia. I think it’s pretty obvious by now that Garcia is the best quarterback the Bucs have, which is really kind of sad. He’s tough, yes. He’s elusive, no doubt. And he made some plays when there were no plays to be made initially. But come on… missing a WIDE OPEN Antonio Bryant — twice!?! Throwing to a blanketed Ike Hilliard when Bryant was running free down the right sideline? I’m not even so mad about the interception off the deflection as I am that he missed the open receiver yet again. Are you kidding me?

Let me calm down a little. Garcia also took that shot to Bryant which, though underthrown, wound up being a 71-yard touchdown to put the Bucs ahead. He also hit a couple really nice passes in the first half as well as making some key scrambles to keep drives alive. But then he does something stupid like throwing behind Michael Clayton or taking an intentional grounding penalty when getting the ball to Jerramy Stevens was not only possible, but very doable. At the least he could have overthrown him intentionally just to avoid the penalty.

I can’t put this loss on Garcia. I can’t even say that he didn’t put the team on his back and try to lead them to victory. He did — bloody face and all. But where great quarterbacks do that and win, he did that and lost. Is that an indictment of him? Probably a little, yeah. It means that the Bucs don’t have an elite quarterback that can take over a game. Peyton Manning is one of those guys. Hell, Phillip Rivers might even be one of those guys. Jeff Garcia is not.

Now that I think of it, it was kind of the same with the offensive line. They tried, you could see it. But the year has taken its toll on them and they’ve just gotten weaker over the course of the season. The running lanes aren’t there very much. The first drive of the second half had a couple holes for the running backs to run through. They also created just enough daylight for Garcia to squirt through a few times. And the pass-protection was pretty good for the most part. The team did get 342 yards of offense. But this is not an offensive line that can dominate a good (or even decent) defensive line. Not at this point in the season. Even a mountain of a man like Davin Joseph got blown up a couple times.

The running backs were nearly worthless yesterday. The best run of the day was a one-yarder that Cadillac Williams took for a first down after being stopped initially. Again, great players make something out of nothing. The offensive line didn’t open up many holes, but the running backs didn’t make many of their own. Without Earnest Graham, the team doesn’t have a bruising running back that can plow through the defensive line and punish linebackers. Warrick Dunn can make guys miss, but he didn’t do it yesterday. The Charger defenders were still fresh after three quarters because no one really took the game to them.

Did anyone else notice that the Bucs started the game in a run-and-shoot formation with no tight end and no fullback? So, I guess it is possible to get Bryant and Joey Galloway on the field at the same time? Who knew?!? Oh, right. We all did. Galloway had one catch that didn’t mean much, but the time he was on the field, he took more than one defender with him. That won’t work forever if Garcia doesn’t ever try to get the ball to him on the deep routes, but it worked yesterday.

Bryant’s day started with a couple drops, but he made up for it later and actually ended the say stronger than he started it. To me, that’s a key quality of a great player. If 2009 is going to be a rebuilding season with a new quarterback, he’s going to need a reliable #1 target to go to. Bruce Allen, do not let Bryant test free agency.

The good news for the defensive line is that they held LaDainian Tomlinson to 90 yards. The bad news is that Tomlinson isn’t half the running back he was last year. Jovan Haye helped out a lot in that area, though, and his presence evidently really does make a difference.

But the pass rush was pretty awful. The only guys to really make Rivers uncomfortable were Jimmy Wilkerson (who had the only sack of the say) and Kevin Carter. Neither Gaines Adams nor Greg White got any measurable pressure on Rivers and, like most of the rest of the team, have faded down the stretch of the season. Isn’t this about the time in a high draft pick’s career that he really starts taking shit over? His first year you can forgive. Training camp and the first part of the season were awesome for Adams. Then a few weeks ago, POW! It’s like the fuse blew and now he’s powerless. Is he hurt? Is he sad that Monte Kiffin is going away? Did he drop his low fat diet and now he’s all lethargic? Why are you sucking, Gaines?

Barrett Ruud continues to be the best player on the defense. I understand why the other MLBs on the Pro Bowl roster were chosen, but Ruud is better than Jon Beason.

So when there’s no pressure on the quarterback from the defensive line, it’s up to the secondary to pick up the slack, right? They have to maintain their coverage longer and keep up with their responsibilities. Pfffft.

They all got torched, but none more so than Phillip Buchanon. Vincent Jackson and Antonio Gates picked on Buchanon all day and it always paid off. Rivers even told the announcers that they were going to pick on him. Sabby Piscitelli got burned pretty good a couple times, too. I’m glad Piscitelli is getting some starting experience and he’s going to be a better player next year for it. I just wish it wasn’t coming during a must-win stretch.

And who the hell is Legedu Naane? And why was he allowed to get any catches at all? Two first downs in the second quarter, one over Ronde Barber and one in front of Tanard Jackson. Are you kidding me?

I guess I’ll cover special teams, which was okay. Clifton Smith had a great return, Donte Nicholson had a great open field tackle, Matt Bryant actually had a touchback on a kickoff. But then there was the Darren Sproles returns (average 22.5 per punt and 31.8 per kickoff) and the Josh Bidwell shank for 25 yards. The Chargers kept getting good field position, but I have a feeling that it wouldn’t have mattered. The way Rivers was playing against the Buccaneer secondary, it would have been only a matter of time before they got into position anyway.

I know some of you are calling for Jon Gruden‘s head. This loss wasn’t on him — it was the execution of the defense that really lost it. But eventually the head coach has to take some responsibility for the team’s overall performance. If one area gets sloppy for a game or two, you can forgive it. But over the course of the last several seasons, you’d hope to see some kind of forward progression. Some kind of indication that this team is built for the long haul. They’re going to lose their starting quarterback next season, a wide receiver, a safety, maybe a linebacker or two… they’ll be halfway rebuilding. Not a full-on rebuild; the offensive line will stay intact and probably all the running backs will stick around for another year. But if a good chunk of this team is going to fall away in the offseason, you would have liked to have gotten something out of it. The Bucs got a NFC South championship last year which led to a one-and-done against the Giants. And this year, at best, they get to back into the playoffs in order to get slaughtered, probably by Minnesota. That’s not a lot of return on a head coach that has been treading water for a number of years now.

Is it him? Is it because he sticks with the same offensive line coach that only gets him marginal improvements before taking steps backwards? Is his playcalling getting stale? Does he need an offensive coordinator to give him some fresh ideas? This is all stuff we’ll talk about in the offseason. He’s not going anywhere at the end of this season. All you Gruden haters can save your breath for another year. Even if he loses next week, he’s the coach in 2009. Believe it. But something has to change. Just about everything around him has changed — players, general manager, assistant coaches (mostly). If he continues to be unsuccessful with a stagnant offensive and a defense that can no longer bail him out, what’s left?

So, Who Appreciates Jeff Garcia Now?

December 15, 2008 at 11:09am by Scott   •  3 Comments »

If you’re looking for the perfect Christmas present to get Brian Griese, buy him a gift certificate for a nice pressure-washing. That’s how you clean a statue, right? Holy shit, as soon as this guy takes his drop in the pocket, it’s like his feet grow roots into the turf. At first I thought Brian Baldinger was making too big a deal out of it, but if anything he didn’t say it enough. No quarterback can just stand back there and survey the field without any attempt to step up in the pocket or get out of harm’s way. I’ll take Jeff Garcia‘s happy feet over Griese’s anchors any day.

That’s quite a vote of confidence for Luke McCown, isn’t it? He’s gotta be pissed that Jon Gruden went with the gimpy Griese over him. I was thinking the quarterback competition for 2009 would involve McCown, Josh Johnson and some veteran, but I’m thinking now that McCown may not be part of the equation.

Seriously, this was the worst coaching decision from Gruden that I can remember in a long time.

The second-worst was the decision to, for some reason, forget about Antonio Bryant in the second half. I realize the Falcons adjusted to protect him better after halftime, but why would he ignore him altogether? Was that Griese’s call? Did Gruden not have enough faith in Griese to have him throw the ball to a receiver that is covered more tightly? And if that’s the case, why play Griese in the first place? Bryant can make plays. He makes quick adjustments and can catch poorly thrown balls. Everyone was clamoring for a playmaker this offseason. Now they’ve got one — one that had 200 yards last week and over 100 yards before halftime yesterday. I don’t get it.

Did you see the replay of the Domonique Foxworth interception where Bryant was running free well in front of his coverage? Griese threw it to a tightly-bracketed Michael Clayton instead. The only reason to have Griese at quarterback is because he makes better decisions than McCown. If that’s not the case anymore, Griese is nearly worthless to this team.

Joey Galloway was inactive and didn’t even dress for this game. He’s done as a Buccaneer. This was the biggest game of the year for the Bucs and if Gruden doesn’t trust him enough to put him on the field even as a decoy, there’s some kind of unfixable rift there. When he drops easy balls and doesn’t get separation, I can understand that his value as a playmaker are diminished, but shit, the defense would have had to respect him at least a little, right? Enough to at least free up Bryant a little in the second half?

Sorry, I have to go back to Griese for a second. Brian Clark and Sabby Piscitelli got the offense the ball back at the 22-yard line and the offense couldn’t score a touchdown in the last two minutes to win the game. First play: 10-yard completion to Clayton. Yeah! Second play: 3-yard run by Cadillac Williams. Fine. Then an 11-yard sack that could have been avoided with a little rolling out. I realize Donald Penn got beaten, but a few steps to the right and then throwing the ball away would have saved 11 yards. Then a holding penalty by Arron Sears, a penalty that probably wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t in third-and-18 because of the fucking sack. The more I write, the madder I get.

Hey, Cadillac Williams was the leading rusher yesterday! He really looks like he has his strength back and he has no problem going up the middle and pushing the pile. Things really got rolling for him in the second half when the offensive line figured out run-blocking. He’s always been a guy who gets better as the game goes on. Yesterday he had 14 carries, which is a nice number. But I think that if he gets up into the 20-ish range that he’s likely to break out a few really long ones.

Warrick Dunn may not have looked good on the stat sheet, but when you consider that some of his three and four yard runs should have been stuffed in the backfield and that his shiftiness and quick-cutting ability were the reasons why they weren’t, he didn’t do too bad. He also caught the ball seven times for 50 yards, so you have to add that into his production as well.

The offensive line was pretty bad yesterday. Everyone except Penn got hit for a penalty, some of them at the absolute worst times. Jeff Faine‘s false start on a third-and-inches that forced a long field goal that Matt Bryant missed was especially bad since it looked like he was the one that didn’t know the snap count. He knows he’s the center, right?

You guys didn’t pray hard enough. John Abraham beat both Penn and Jeremy Trueblood for sacks. Abraham had three sacks total, but then again, it’s a lot easier to hit a stationary target.

In a fun twist to the typical pattern of offensive line play this year, the guys changed it up a bit and were decent pass-protectors during the first half and decent run-blockers in the second half. Once again, they seem to not be able to do both simultaneously, but at least we’re getting both performances in the same game now. That’s progress, right?

Alex Smith is frustrating the shit out of me. Hold on to the fucking ball! I know he got leveled by Foxworth and it was a great hit, but shit, you’re only thrown to a couple times per game now. You’re expected to perform when you get your chance. Thrown to three times; one catch for two yards.

With Jovan Haye only playing a limited number of reps, Kevin Carter played a lot of under tackle and did a very good job. Much better than Jimmy Wilkerson did, who started at the position. Wilkerson looked like he got pushed around a lot.

In fact, Carter may have been the only real bright spot. No sacks by the defensive line and only one “QB hurry” — by Carter. Gaines Adams is playing the run pretty well (3 tackles) which is, you know, great and all. But he’s supposed to be the elite pass rusher that gets consistent edge pressure. But he takes his such shallow angles from so far away that there’s no way he can get to a quarterback with any kind of mobility no matter how fast Adams runs. Which means the only person he could possibly sack is Griese.

It’s entirely possible that Cato June gets cut after the season. He was repeatedly burned in pass coverage and he was lucky he wasn’t called for a taunting penalty after Aqib Talib‘s interception. He needed to be benched for a while to get his head straight.

Barrett Ruud and Derrick Brooks were a lot better at tackling than they were last week, but there were still a couple misses. Yes, Michael Turner is good, but so are most NFL running backs.

Note to Jermaine Phillips: Wrap up. He would have had Turner for a great tackle if he had just put his arms around him. Instead he bounced off him like he was made of rubber.

Tanard Jackson had the kind of game we’ve been expecting from him all year. He tackled solidly (seven tackles,) had the Bucs’ only sack and forced Matt Ryan to fumble.

Let’s be clear. Even though this still wasn’t a stellar defensive performance, they were not the reason for the loss. After starting slow, they held the Falcons scoreless for three straight quarters. They had three turnovers that the offense only managed to turn into seven points. The blame for this game comes down to Jon Gruden, Brian Griese, and offensive and special teams penalties. Special teams especially gave up a ton of yardage on kick returns, forcing the offense to start in bad field position. Not that it mattered much. Did I mention that they started at the 22-yard line one time and only got a field goal? Anyway, this was undisciplined and uninspired football from both of those squads. The defense tried to keep them in the game, but in the end the team couldn’t overcome its own shortcomings.

So, two weeks ago the Bucs were 9-3, had the second seed in the NFC and were in line for a bye week and a home playoff game. Now, if the season ended today, the Bucs would have choked away their playoff spot and would be sitting at home. As it stands, they need to win out and for Atlanta and/or Dallas to lose. If the Panthers shit themselves for the next two weeks, there’s still an outside chance at winning the NFC South, but I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed. Dallas plays Baltimore at home and Philadelphia on the road; both games they could lose. Atlanta plays at Minnesota and at home against St. Louis. There’s a good chance they win both of those. Of course, none of this matters if the Bucs can’t beat two losing teams at home over the next couple weeks. San Diego is a desperate team. This isn’t going to be easy.

REAR ENTRIES: Seattle Special

October 17, 2008 at 12:45pm by Scott   •  3 Comments »

WALLACE TO START FOR SEAHAWKS: In case you haven’t heard yet, Seneca Wallace looks like he’ll get the start for Seattle against the Bucs this Sunday. Matt Hasselbeck is out for the game with what the Seahawks are claiming is a bad back, but what my inside sources are telling me is really Rogaine poisoning. And if Wallace can’t make it because of a calf strain that he’s playing through, their next in line is Charlie Frye. Now do you feel better about the Bucs’ quarterback depth?

JULIUS JONES CALLS BUCS DEFENSE FEEBLE PUSSIES: Well, not in so many words. But Jones did say how smart the Bucs defensive players are and that in order to beat them, they’ll have to do it athletically.

“They’re smart players and what you have to do with those guys is kind of beat them athletically,’’ Jones said. “I know a couple guys are up there in age and that’s how we’re going to try to get around those guys – beat them athletically.’’

Jones’s comment got noticed by the same dudes who are going to try and plant his spine in the ground like a sapling. Why do people try to piss off Kevin Carter?

Bucs DE Kevin Carter, who is 35, took Jones’ comments personally. Carter printed Jones’ quote and hung it on the locker-room door. He is using that criticism as extra motivation for Sunday’s game against Seattle.

“I feel young again. Dare I say, I feel young?” Carter said.

The Seahawks have been leaning on Jones this season since their passing game sucks red hot asshole. He’s having a decent season so far with 417 yards in five games. But, then again, so were Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart, Matt Forte…

GALLOWAY 50/50 FOR SEAHAWKS: Man, I’ve got mixed feelings about this. Jon Gruden is saying that Joey Galloway is 50/50 for the Seattle game. I really like having Galloway in there to stretch the field, but he’ll be a liability if he’s not 100%. He’s brittle enough when he’s feeling good. If he’s out there hobbling around like he did against the Giants last year, no one on the Seattle defense will respect him and the middle of the field will get crowded fast. This may be just so Seattle has to plan for him being in there. I’m betting that’s the case because Joey just isn’t a fast healer. It’s more likely that Gruden will hold him out again and get him ready for Dallas.

NOTHING NEWSWORTHY EVER HAPPENS IN SEATTLE: The Seattle Times continues to run lengthy pieces on a player who hasn’t been with them for several years now. Though the latest article on Jerramy Stevens isn’t quite as scathing as the one that changed his life a few months ago, it’s still weak and one-sided even though it pretends to be balanced. It recounts all of Stevens’s legal troubles, including the one that was never actually a legal matter, and then gets quotes from Steve Duemig, the number one Stevens hater in the Tampa Bay area.

“Outrage, backlash, hostility, all of those adjectives,” said Steve Duemig, an afternoon drive-time host on WDAE, a sports-radio station in Tampa, Fla.

“I’m all for second chances,” Duemig said. “My reaction was to the allegations of the rape charges.”

Yeah, it must have been the rape allegations since being upset by the DUI would make Duemig a big fucking hypocrite. Drunk.

But if he wants to talk about allegations, here we go. Steve Duemig raped me. Yep. He was leaving Mons Venus pissed off because he had spent two grand over three hours and still couldn’t get one of those skanks to blow him. I was just pulling into the parking lot and getting out of my car. He looked at me with my Volunteers shirt on and decided he was going to take out his frustrations and explore his obvious closeted gayness at the same time. He hit me over the head with his empty Fleischmann’s bottle (because he’s too cheap to buy good vodka) and I woke up an hour later sore and reeking of Obsession and a failed golf career. There. Now he’s just as guilty as Jerramy Stevens of rape. Because I said so.