Best Bucs Blog

Where I've been...

2008-06-09T18:16:00.002-04:00

In case anyone still stops by this site I should probably mention that I've now more or less moved over to the Sticks of Fire website. I've been writing for the Sticks for some time now but expect me to write there more often, mostly because the Sticks gives me the opportunity to cover sports other than the NFL. That's not to say I am abandoning this site, come the fall you will still be able to find rants and musings on this site. But if you want to continue reading about the Bucs, in addition to the Rays, Bolts, Gators, Bulls, etc. then head on over to the Sticks.

Of course, if you're looking for daily Bucs commentary (snark included) then I recommend visiting BucStats.com. Even if Scott is the bastard child of Phil Hellmuth and Sammy Farha.

I am the absentee slumlord of this site

2008-05-01T12:16:00.005-04:00

My apologies for my absence over the past two months but applying to grad school/work responsibilities have kept me occupied. There is simply not enough time in the day to devote to this crumbling, roach infested excuse for a blog.

Let's get to the most important news first, for the first time in a long time I liked the Bucs draft. As I mentioned at the Sticks, this was a more risk filled draft compared to last year. Last year's draft (and to a lesser degree previous drafts) featured more "safe" picks, i.e. guys who will be starters but not all-stars in the league. Which was mirrored in this year's Bucs team which was solid but lacked playmaking ability. I mentioned this multiple times last season but the Bucs offense was ranked the 10th most efficient by Football Outsiders but ranked only 18th when it came to scoring points (in the same company as the offensively inept Bears). The Bucs offensive weakness was exposed towards the end of the season when defense realized that to shut down the Bucs offense all you had to do was double team Galloway.

Now at this point the astute observer might argue, "Ski, the Bucs didn't draft any playmaking skill players on the offense this year," and those observations would be dead on accurate. I think the Bucs made a huge mistake passing on Limas Sweed in the second round and Mario Manningham in the third. That being written Dexter Jackson could develop into the guy who makes those 2 or 3 big plays a game the Bucs are looking for. I expect Jackson to be mostly used as a kick returner, a position which he could excel at as he was the fastest player timed at this year's combine. If Jackson can make the same impact on the team that Devin Harris has for the Bears or MJD has for the Jags then he was well worth a late second round pick. Jackson's value to this team is as a kick returner and it's just icing on the cake if he makes one or two deep catches a game this season as the 3rd receiver.

Moving on I liked the Aqib Talib over Mike Jenkins pick, even if it led all the Bulls fans to rise up in anger and promise they will never attend another Bucs game. Talib is rated the better prospect by most scouts, and has the ambiguous label of play-maker attached to him, which is best defined using the words of Justice Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it." A number of scouts considered Talib as top ten prospect talent-wise but he dropped due to concerns about his character. From what I understand the Bucs talked to a number of Talib's coaches and teammates at Kansas and they all had glowing things to say about the cornerback.

Looking around the intertubes at other Bucs blogs, the reaction to the Bucs draft is more subdued. Buccaneer Harbour finds the draft average and compares it to last year (on that point we could not disagree more) and BucStats response to the draft is "meh." Which I believe is the same sound a dying giraffe makes. Even though I respect both of these guys opinion's they could not be more wrong if they had advised Miley Cyrus to do that photo shoot. ~~Buc 'Em continues to offer zero analysis which I believe is a mistake since all that separates his site from Buccaneers.com is the word "official" and some pictures of cheerleaders.~~ UPDATE: Since writing this Buc 'Em has added draft analysis which runs with a similar opinion to my own. Draw conclusions on your own.

On a somewhat interesting sidenote Mel Kiper Jr.s' draft grade for the Bucs was a "B" which might be noteworthy if the guys at Fire Joe Morgan had not revealed that Kiper's draft grades carry about as much insight as a Brittney Spears Guide to Parenting. (That's two pop culture references in one post, an all time high for me. I'm the PerezHilton of Bucs blogs.) Apparently the only grades Kiper had given over the last 3 years are either a "C" or "B" with the exception of an "A" for Kansas City this year. That's some weak sauce from Kiper there.

On a related note, if you are at all interested in sports blogging as a whole it's worth your time to catch the piece on Costos Now on HBO featuring one of the guys from FJM (who also writes for the Office as well, take that blogger-living-in-his-mothers-basement stereotypes!) and Will Leitch from Deadspin. The piece began with a recored look at sports blogs which was balanced but was then followed by a live panel discussion featuring Leith, Buzz Bissinger and Braylon Edwards(?). FJM captures the essence of the panel pretty well but for those who haven't seen it Leitch was unfairly attacked as a representative of blogs. What everyone on the panel with the obvious exception of Leitch failed to grasp was that, as FJM best put it,

The argument I had tried to make in the pre-taped segment was: you can't say anything about "blogs," any more than you can say anything about any medium. There are good blogs and bad blogs. There are blogs that cover the personal lives of athletes, ones that cover only the games, ones that offer opinions, and even a few that quixotically and foolishly attempt to metacriticize the media as a whole.

For better or worse I don't imagine this is a conflict which will get any better anytime soon as sports columnists for newspapers continue to misunderstand and feel threatened by a new medium.

Anyway, with the draft having passed expect me to post more often over at the Sticks with the free time I hope to find more of over the summer. Or then again maybe I'll leave all you to rot in this rat infested blog while I'm busy with other nefarious matters like tying that maiden to the train tracks.

BWA HA HA HA!!!

This All Feels So Familiar

2008-03-03T20:27:00.004-05:00

Since I was one of the few (if not the only person) who was opposed to the Bucs cutting ties with Brian Griese in the first place, I guess it's only fitting that I defend the trade to bring Griese back as well. And for the record I feel some what vindicated in my original argument. So, here's my latest argument in support of Griese....

1. Depth - Gruden's strategy at this point is clearly to bring in as many arms into training camp and see who emerges as the second stringer. Jeff Garcia is clearly the starter but no one behind Garcia on the depth chart is lighting the world on fire. Luke McCown could eventually be decent but he may have hit his ceiling. I'm still trying to figure out why Bruce Gradkowski is on the roster (I have a theory involving pictures of Gruden and a donkey). And Chris Simms is still looking for his spleen.

2. Cost - I'm assuming the Bucs traded at most a sixth or seventh round draft pick for Griese, which is nothing for a decent quarterback with playing experience. Personally, I think sixth and seventh rounder draft picks are worthless (although there are always exceptions such as Tom Brady and Marques Colston).

3. Familiarity - Perhaps this explains why so many Bucs fans have contempt for Griese. If nothing else, as TK pointed out, he knows the system. And Gruden knows what he's getting with Griese, a quarterback who just a few years ago looked like the Bucs future quarterback.

On the other hand, there's a perfectly legitimate reason to despise Griese, namely that he is a poor man's Trent Dilfer. For a guy known as a game manager Griese has a high interception percentage (4.6%), the second highest among starters with five or more starts. (By the way, I love the new Pro Football Reference site which along with the Football Outsiders site makes it incredibly easy to compare player's stats.)

Another quick note in defense of the Bucs, they have had a lackluster free agency so far, especially for a team $44 under the salary cap. But with the exception of Randy Moss (whom the Bucs never had a shot at anyway) there weren't any outstanding free agents this year. And with the limited number of free agents available teams ended up over paying for free agents at the in-demand positions, namely receiver and corner. As it is the Bucs grossly over paid for a center.

Catching Up

2008-03-01T13:25:00.004-05:00

- First off, my apologies for my infrequent posting. Life and the real world has kept this already sporadic blogger from writing as frequently as I would like. I've mentioned this a few times but you can also find me writing at the Sticks with two recent posts on college basketball in Florida and Rays blogs going into spring training.

- The Bucs have made their first big splash of the offseason, signing Jeff Faine to the biggest contract ever for a center. The Bucs certainly had a need at center and were $44 M under the cap, but they still overspent on Faine. As the Tribune article points out Scouts.com didn't even have Faine rated as the top free agent center much less the best center in the league. What kind of precedent does this set when the other young lineman (Davin Jospeh, Jeremy Trueblood and Aaron Sears) become free agents? The Bucs can not afford to overpay everyone on the o-line.

That being written Faine certainly upgrades the center position. I have to admit even though Faine played the last few seasons with the Saints I knew nothing about him. Buccaneer Harbour says Faine is a much better pass blocker and slightly better run blocker than former Bucs center John Wade, and unless I see different I'm inclined to believe that.

One final thought on the Faine signing, what does this mean for Dan Buenning? He had an excellent rookie season playing at left guard but injuries and Aaron Sears have forced him to switch positions. It was originally believed that Buenning would be moved to center but it now looks like he will become the team's backup/utility interior lineman. Buenning makes a little over $500,000 for the next two seasons before becoming a free agent in 2010.

- With the center position covered the Bucs are now looking to pickup a receiver in free agency. According to the Times Bucs Beat the Bucs have stayed away from the bigger names at receiver, which makes sense with the big money being thrown at Jerry Porter ($30 M) and Bernard Berrian. Randy Moss is off the table as he will likely command the most money ever paid to a receiver. That leaves the Bucs with DJ Hackett and Devery Henderson, or possibly Donte Stallworth.

Hackett and Henderson have both been unimpressive and neither is the answer for the Bucs at reciever. Hackett appears to be a more hyped version of Michael Clayton and Henderson was sporadic as best last season with the Saints. Stallworth would be a valuable addition to the team, but he doesn't fit the Gruden model of a tall, physical receiver and there are no indications the Bucs are interested in him. The Times Bucs Beat seems to believe the Bucs will target a receiver in the first round, and I'm inclined to believe that as well.

- This falls under the obligatory mention of the draft but I feel very strongly that the Bucs will draft one of four players in the first round: Limas Sweed, Mario Manningham, Malcolm Kelly or DeSean Jackson. All four are considered the top four receivers in the draft although everyone has them ranked differently. At least two of the players will be available when the Bucs draft at #20.

UPDATE [3:44] - The last two days show the value of blogs as the Bucs blogs of the two major newspapers in Tampa Bay have broken most of the news about free agent signing and visits. I've already mentioned the Times Bucs Beat, but the Tribune's Bucs Report has been active the last two days as well. Also, the Pewter Report has a good roundup of activity by essentially turning their message board into a moderators-write only blog. BucStats also has a free agency tracker with a more detailed roundup.

Tightend Ben Troupe is visiting One Buc Place today and I hope the Bucs are able to sign him to a contract. Maybe I'm being swayed by my love of the Gators but I always thought Troupe had the ability to be a productive tightend in the NFL. He is in the mold of Alex Smith, i.e. is more of a pass catching tightend. His production has slipped the last few seasons but I like to think that is more a result of playing with Vince Young than a measure of his abilities.

The Meat Market Is Open

2008-02-23T12:12:00.004-05:00

- The NFL's Annual Meat Market and best example of the dangers of group think kicks off this weekend. Few events are more overrated than the NFL Combine, where NFL scouts throw all logic out the window and fall in love with the guy with the best 40 time. It's the time when analysts preface their statements with "of course college games are the most important factor" but then do the exact opposite and rank players based on their combine results. Mike Mayock of the NFL Network ranking's going into the combine partially reflect this backwards logic (although critics could argue I'm putting the cart before the horse here).

Mike Mayock is the latest hotness in NFL Draft "experts" and in his rankings not only does he have Sedric Ellis ranked ahead of Glenn Dorsey but he has Rashard Mendenhall ranked over Darren McFadden. Never mind that at the end of the season both Dorsey and McFadden were widely considered possible number one overall picks. If I'm a scout or NFL GM I'm taking into account both Dorsey's and McFadden's better and more consistent track records, not only are both players considered two of the best collegiate players right now, they were considered two of the best players at the beginning of the season. The problem with NFL scouting is the same problem with the media's coverage of the Presidential race, everyone falls in love with the latest hotness, aka contestant/player. For example, the media fell in love with Fred Thompson when he first entered the race but we all know how that ended. The same can be said of Barack Obama who the media has treated with kid gloves. The NFL Draft analysts are guilty of the same failing, falling in love with the latest hotness which in this case would be Ellis and Mendenhall. I could very easily turn this into a diatribe on the obvious media bias despite supposed journalistic integrity but I will avoid the Rush Limbaugh go to move.

Also, as long as I'm throwing stones at the NFL Combine it's worth mentioning that a cottage industry has sprung up in the last few years centered on training players for the Combine. As this Sun-Sentinel article explains, there are a variety of camps that train prospects how to excel at the Combine. (By the way, that's just one of dozens of articles which popped up when I googled "nfl combine cottage industry.") The argument can be made that very little advantage is maintained if everyone has the same training but much like the SAT prep courses which train people how to take the test but fail to actually measure their intelligence, the end result of the NFL Combine is that prospects are tested on their ability to run through hoops and around cones instead of measuring their ability to play football.

- As BucStats has pointed out the Falcons finally had some luck and won a coin flip giving them the third overall pick. The buzz is that the Dirty Birds would pick Matt Ryan, the underwhelming quarterback out of Boston College. I'm assuming the thinking behind this is that Atlanta needs the "franchise quarterback" and Ryan is considered the top quarterback in the draft. I'm really hoping Atlanta falls for this fallacy and drafts Ryan, a player who has consistently failed to impress me when I watched him play (and since I'm in ACC country I've watched a few of his games). Without going into the detailed argument against taking a quarterback in the first round there is more value in players like McFadden and Dorsey. There are typically only a half dozen or so guys that are not only great athletes but also great college players. (Last year those players would have been Calvin Johnson, JaMarcus Russell, Joe Thomas, Gaines Adams, LaRon Landry, and Adrian Peterson. With the exception of Russell all these guys will eventually be multiple Pro Bowlers barring injury and/or pulling a Pacman Jones.)

Since the new Atlanta GM is a former Patriots guy (although I may be wrong about that) I'm inclined to think the Falcons will NOT draft Ryan. The Pats draft strategy has been to ignore the hype and draft value players who fit the franchise. This is also where it would be convenient to spout some crap about drafting Tom Brady in the 6th round. As a Bucs fan my biggest concern is that the Falcons make the "smart" move and draft an offensive lineman (Jake Long) or a defensive lineman (Ellis, Dorsey, or Chris Long) as lineman typically make the most immediate impact on a team.

- A quick note on the Bucs and the NFL Draft as we begin the marathon to the NFL Draft in April. Gruden and Company have typically kept the players they like close to their vest and refuse to release any information to the media. As far as I know the Bucs refuse to even take phone calls from reporters during this period although I'm basing that on heresay and may be wrong. The exception to that is when Gruden clearly goes ga-ga for a player as he did for Calvin Johnson last year. One great press conference from last year comes to mind where Gruden went out of his way to praise all the top players not named Calvin Johnson but never mentioned the Tech receiver except for some very light praise. I did the same thing in middle school when I really liked one girl I would ignore her and talk to all her friends. Needless to say that strategy only made my crush all the more obvious and failed to work.

Anyway, my childhood embarrassment aside looking at Gruden's previous drafts one of the obvious trends is that Gruden loves him some receivers as well as offensive lineman. And since the Bucs are fairly full at the offensive lineman position it makes sense to predict Gruden will draft a receiver, considering the lack of depth at the position. Although Gruden's previous success or lack thereof in drafting receivers is a concern, Marquise Walker and Michael Clayton have been busts and Maurice Stovall is heading in that direction.

Charging at Windmills (Why Alge Crumpler Should Not Be a Buc)

2008-02-16T11:40:00.006-05:00

In what can only be described as an effort to remain the NFC South's doormat, the Falcons have released about half their decent players including Alge Crumpler. For reasons that are beyond me some have advocated signing Crumpler, despite the fact that he is an average tightend. What's even more amazing is that same person has demanded the Bucs offer Crumpler a $4.5 M contract, even when the widely acknowledged best tightend in the league (Antonio Gates) makes $3 M a year. So let's break down why this is a phenomenally bad idea.

First off the Bucs have a pretty good tightend in Alex Smith. I will admit some bias here as I've been a big fan of Smith since his first game when he caught two touchdowns. Smith is the new age prototypical tightend, a big man with speed and good hands, i.e. a tightend who is more receiver than blocker. Which is exactly what Alge is as well. Let's take a closer look at the stats (I know, a novel idea to say the least)...

The Football Outsiders have Alex Smith rated one spot ahead of Crumpler, which means the two players are about even. Both have a catch percentage of 60% and roughly equal value per play. So Crumpler is essentially Alex Smith part deux, or vice versa depending on how you look at it, i.e. they are almost exactly the same players. Now Alex Smith will make $460,000 next season and is under contract for the next two seasons. So explain why it makes sense to sign an identical player to Alex Smith for ten times more money? Of course, if Crumpler could be signed for the veteran's minimum I would sing a different tune.

NFL DRAFT

I am starting to feel better and better about the possibility of the Bucs drafting Mario Manningham in the first round. Mike Mayock of the NFL Network has him listed as the top receiver in this year's draft. And in Don Banks latest mock draft he has the Bucs drafting the Michigan receiver. Now at this point the draft is all speculation, at least until we get past the combine. But it appears most draftniks are running with the idea that the Bucs need a receiver or an offensive tackle in the first round.

Brian Kelly Doesn't Like Money

2008-01-27T16:05:00.000-05:00

Brian Kelly has made the odd decision to buyout the last year of his $3.2 million contract and test the free agency waters. Considering Kelly is 32 and has missed 20 games over the past two years because of injury I doubt he will get the big payday he hopes for. Kelly's best chance is to go for a multi-year contract with a decent signing bonus.

While this appears to be the perfect chance to resign Kelly at a lower price, Kelly's squabbles with Bruce Allen. Last offseason Kelly skipped voluntary workouts because Allen refused to negotiate a new deal. Seeing as how this came right after Allen negotiated a new deal with Ronde Barber you can see how Kelly would be miffed.

For next season the Bucs should be in good shape with Phillip Buchanon starting in Kelly's place, which worked pretty well for the Bucs last season. Although the Bucs should consider drafting a corner to eventually replace Barber, and in that vein Buc'Em has a list of the corners in the draft.

Catching Up

2008-01-26T11:19:00.000-05:00

Seeing as how this is a Bucs blog, I am required by the Buccaneer Blogging Code to mention that Mike Alstott has officially retired. Hurrah, Mike Alstott is/was awesome and the Bucs will never be the same without him. He is man, a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn.

With Alstott's retirement there is naturally talk about a) the A-Train's chances of getting into the Hall of Fame and, b) retiring #40. I don't believe there is any chance for the former to happen unless the sports writers/voters really have a hard-on for Alstott. And the latter is unlikely as it would set a precedent that would require the Bucs to retire Derrick Brooks', Warren Sapp's and Ronde Barber's numbers as well. Retiring four numbers from one team is a bit much and I can't think of any other teams which have won only one Super Bowl who have done so. If the Bucs are going to retire any numbers from that Super Bowl team they should limit the retired numbers to two: 99 and 55.

Alstott's retirement brings up a much more relevant question, why don't the Bucs have some way to honor their players of the past? This is the Ring of Honor idea which has been bandied about for the past few years. Conventional wisdom is that the Glazers have shied away from a "Ring of Honor" because they are ashamed of the past. A much more likely explanation is that with the exception of a few players there are not a lot of Buccaneers worth honoring, the players which come to mind would be James Wilder, Lee Roy Selmon, Ricky Bell, Hardy Nickerson, Doug Williams. But now with the retirements of Alstott and Warren Sapp, and with Derrick Brooks and John Lynch getting closer to that point the Bucs may finally have enough players to begin honoring them somehow.

In Defense of Jeff Garcia

Garcia's nomination to the Pro Bowl has come under fire in some quarters but ignoring total numbers Garcia put up some impressive stats. Garcia finished with the 3rd best QB rating in the NFC, and also had an impressive yards per completion average. Garcia had 11.6 yards per completion compared to 11.7 for Favre, 11.3 for Hasselbeck and 10.0 for Brees. Total yards and touchdowns can be somewhat misleading as teams which are behind more often (i.e. the Saints) will throw more often and have more passing yards. And as Warrick Dunn can attest to during his time in Tampa Bay touchdowns are not the best measurement of a player's value to a team.

[Insert Broken Cadillac Pun Here]

2008-01-23T11:06:00.000-05:00

The rumor of the day, courtesy of the premier rumor mongers in the NFL, is that Cadillac's career may be over. I put zero stock in this rumor, mostly because the PFT crotch puppets have admitted that they have zero journalistic integrity. This is a website which blatantly manufactures stories to generate traffic to their website.

That being written it is very likely we will not see Cadillac for the first part of next season. The knee injury Cadillac suffered (torn patellar tendon) is much more serious than an ACL tear. Before the 2006 season Browns center LeCharles Bentley suffered the same injury (although he also had to deal with serious staph infection) and Bentley has not played since.

It will be interesting to see if the Bucs consider drafting a runningback in this draft. While the Bucs look to be in good shape with Graham as the very-down guy and Michael Bennett potentially being the big-play guy, there is a good deal of back depth in this year's draft.

Gruden and Company Might still be w/ Bucs in 3 Years

2008-01-22T21:57:00.000-05:00

The big news out of 1 Buc Place (can we still call it that?) is that Gruden and Bruce Allen have been signed to 3 year deals. Which would be impressive if contracts actually meant anything in the NFL. If the Glazers (who are the 2nd richest owners in the NFL) really wanted to fire Gruden next season I doubt a three year contract is holding them back. Contracts in the NFL are about as meaningless as primaries in New Hampshire and Iowa SHOULD be.

That being written, Gruden and Company certainly deserved to have their contracts extended past next season. Gruden inherited an aging team, won a Super Bowl in the team's last window of opportunity to do so, and has been forced to rebuild without four high draft picks. For all the criticism thrown at him Gruden has been remarkably successful for the amount of talent he has had.

If there is a fair complaint to be throw at Gruden it is that he is a very poor talent evaluator when it comes to draft picks. He is average at best. And since Allen's real skill is negotiating contracts and cap management it might be a good idea for the Bucs to pick up a better talent evaluator to put in the front office.

ALSTOTT TO RETIRE

This isn't really much of news either, if Alstott didn't retire this season there was a good chance his head would simply fall off. The long time fan favorite should have retired a long time, in 2003 he had a vertebrae removed from his neck, replaced with bone from a cadaver and had the entire thing fused with titanium. Alstott was the NFL version of Frankenstein.

This has always been one of the things I felt uncomfortable about with the NFL, players sacrificing their long-term health for short term gratitude. We like to talk about how tough these guys are but when you see 55 year old players walking around with canes you can understand why Tiki Barber and Barry Sanders wanted to get out early.

Finally Gruden announced he has a "mystery candidate" to fill an assistant coaching slot. Currently the Bucs are looking for runningbacks and quarterbacks coaches so unless they announce Mike Alstott is the new quarterbacks coach I'm not sure which hire would "shock" me.

The Super Bowl is Dead to Me this Year

2008-01-21T13:57:00.000-05:00

At the risk of 2 weeks of man-love from sports writers such as Peter King I was prepared to root for the Packers in the Super Bowl. Just about anything was better than the prospect of a New York-Boston Super Bowl featuring Tom Brady and Eli Manning. Both groups of fans are among sports most unbearable and leave me rooting against otherwise compelling teams. Boston's teams were so much better when they were the lovable losers, like the protagonist in a John Hughes movie. Now, despite having some of pro-sports best teams, Boston fans still have a massive inferiority complex.

As for the Giants, if anyone deserved to inherit the Dan Marino Mantle from Peyton Manning (best quarterback to not win the Super Bowl) it is Eli. Eli could have been the quarterback for San Diego yesterday, an incredibly talented team of players that if not for a gimpy quarterback and having their best player injured would have beat New England. The Chargers are going down as one of those great what if? teams. Considering how poorly Phillip Rivers plays what would have happened if the Chargers has drafted Eli instead? Or what would have happened if the Chargers had kept Drew Brees and drafted Larry Fitzgerald (who was drafted 3rd overall) with the #1 overall pick. If not for a few foolish mistakes by the Chargers management we could be talking about San Diego as the greatest team ever. Yet, I digress.

I never thought I would see the day where I would consider skipping the Super Bowl, but yet here we are. We saw this matchup 3 weeks ago, so we already have a rough idea of how the game will play out. And the best part about the Super Bowl, the commercials, will be replayed roughly 50 million times over the year.

BACK TO THE BUCS...

In some good news Monte Kiffin has apparently resigned w/ the Bucs for roughly $2 M. This after Rick Stroud of the St Pete Times "reported" both sides were no where close to a deal after the Bucs supposedly tried to low ball Kiffin. I will refrain from commenting further as BucStats has already done so, except to say all these rumors of Monte leaving town were just that...rumors.

Speaking of rumors the Bucs are being considered as one of four teams to potentially play a regular season game in London next year. I've not been a big fan of the NFL going overseas mostly because I don't believe there is the same potential market for the sport globally as there has been for basketball and baseball. If the NFL makes the mistake of tabbing the Bucs to play in London I will go into this in more detail but the NFL is not a sport you simply export especially when you are competing against futbol.

I'm Like a Dog w/ a Bone

2008-01-16T20:26:00.000-05:00

The Draft isn't until March and the Bucs don't pick until the 20th hole but yet here I am devoting my third straight post to the damn thing. The Draft is like Vegas, everyone goes in thinking they're going to win but you know the House is going to win. The odds are stacked against you, but everyone still get excited about it.

Scouts Inc and current ESPN Product Todd McShay (check your contract Todd, the WWL now owns your soul) has released his mock draft which has our Bucs drafting OT Sam Baker out of USC. While this isn't the only mock I've seen with the Bucs drafting Baker it does strike me as odd for the following reasons...

1) The Bucs already have two left tackles, Luke Petitgout and Donald Penn
2) The Bucs have bigger needs, notably receiver and undertackle

I'm not completely ruling out Gruden and Company drafting an offensive tackle with the first pick, based on the last two drafts it's obvious Gruden has a hard on for offensive lineman. But drafting an offensive tackle makes little sense after spending as much as the Bucs did on Petitgout unless Gruden has serious doubts about both Petitgout's ability to return next season and Penn's ability to start at left tackle. Even is the former is a likely possibility the latter is highly unlikely. While Penn is not about to make it to any Pro Bowls he was reliable at left tackle.

Which leads us right back to drafting a receiver. McShay has four receivers drafted around the Bucs pick, and most draft talk at this point has six possible receivers being drafted in the first round. The receiver crop this year appears to shake out much like it did in 2004. That was the year we saw 6 receivers drafted in the first round, including Michael Clayton. This year's potential 1st rounders include

DeSean Jackson - Cal

Malcolm Kelly - Okla

Limas Sweed - Texas

Mario Manningham - Mich

Early Doucet - LSU

James Hardy - Indiana

I've already stated my support for Manningham (the solid if somewhat overwhelming choice) but I'm starting to come around to Sweed. He was widely considered the top receiver before the season started and if not for a wrist injury could have gone in the top ten. He's one of those guys who you get the feeling that looking back in ten years could have been the steal of the draft.

Anyway, like I mentioned at the beginning, we're a long ways away from the Draft so I'm sure I will waste a few more words on the subject between now and April.

Better Know A Potential Draft Pick: The Receivers

2008-01-09T21:04:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in my offseason wish list that the number one priority for the Bucs should be getting a receiver. With the exception of Galloway the Bucs lack a dangerous playmaker, and their scoring suffered for it. To Gruden's and Garcia's credit, the Bucs had an efficient offense, in fact according to the Football Outsiders the Bucs had the 10th most efficient offense. But they were only 18th in the league in scoring, and might have been worse if teams figured out earlier that the key to stopping the Bucs was double-teaming Galloway.

BucStats makes a compelling argument for a few of the receivers who will be hitting the free agent market. Larry Fitzgerald and Jerry Porter are both appealing options, Fitzgerald because he is one of the best young receivers and Porter because he is the type of value player I mentioned before, i.e. someone who's stock has fallen because of personal issues. And while Fitzgerald may be too expensive for the Bucs, Porter may be a good fit, just look at how much Randy Moss's value went through the roof once he left the Raiders. Porter is one of the better receivers in this league, but you would never know it with the Raiders motley crew of quarterbacks.

Jamarcus Russell's Decision Making on Full Display

This looks to be a deep year at receiver for the NFL Draft, and while receivers are always dangerous picks (Exhibit A: Michael Clayton) it is worth the time to consider drafting a receiver in the first round. On to the picks.

Adarius Bowman (#25 Overall) - Oklahoma State
I'm going off the rankings found at Great Blue North Draft Report, which was updated just a day ago. I know little about Bowman other than he is tall which means Gruden is already considering drafting him.

Malcolm Kelly (#27) - Oklahoma
Another Big 12 receiver which I rarely watched.

DeSean Jackson (#31) - California
Jackson is one of the more intriguing prospects to me, he is raw as a receiver but has the speed and explosiveness to go in the first round based on potential. He could be the Ted Ginn Jr. pick of this draft, and could contribute immediately in the kick return game. Don't expect him to work his way into the starting lineup on opening day though.

Limas Sweed (#35) - Texas
Another tall Big 12 receiver Sweed was considered one of the best college receivers before the season started but injuries kept him out for much of the year. Another guy who will be drafted based on the mysterious "potential" aspect.

Mario Manningham (#37) - Michigan
Mario is one of the guys I'm leaning towards having the Bucs draft, he appears to be a complete receiver who does not excel in one area but is not lacking in anyone area either, i.e. this year's Anthony Gonzalez. While Manningham has not yet declared his new coach has mentioned that he expects Manningham to do so. Mario has missed one of the teams first meetings.

James Hardy (#39) - Indiana

Earl Bennett (#42) - Vanderbilt

Devin Thomas (#47) - Michigan State

Early Doucet (#51) - LSU
Early this late? Color me surprised.

The REAL Fans Offseason Wish List

2008-01-08T08:57:00.000-05:00

Hello to all the Bucs fans out there, my name is Big Al and I’m the newest writer at this website. I will be giving y’all a REAL fans perspective of the Bucs, not like the bunch of whining nancies who have been writing on this site. So since Ski has given y’all his offseason wish list here is the REAL fan’s wishlist:

1. FIRE GRUDEN!!!

This no talent hack has been stinking up Tampa ever since he arrived. What has he done besides winning a Super Bowl (with Saint Dungy’s players!) and three division titles? Nothing, that’s what! If the McKay’s had any brains the first thing they would do this week would be to fire Gruden and then get Bill Parcells to be the coach. The ’86 Giants were totally the BEST TEAM EVER plus the Big Tuna is a total badass.

2. Draft the Best Florida Player in the First Round!

This is a Flori-duh kind of move. Every year I argue we should draft the best college player in the state. Last year it was Jarvis Moss and the year before that Ernie Sims. Both years that dummy Gruden passed on the best player in the state. If he doesn’t draft Derrick Harvey this year Gruden TOTALLY deserves to get fired!

Derrick Harvey: Obviously The Best Player In The Country

3. Trade for Randy Moss!

This is a no-brainer. What did the Pats trade for Moss, like a third round pick? The Bucs can just up the offer and trade a second round pick for Moss. If that doesn’t work just throw in Michael Clayton as well. I don’t know why Gruden hasn’t thought of this trade.

4. Make Jake Plummer the Starter!

You know why the Bucs lost to the Giants? Besides Gruden being such a bad coach, it was because of that nancy Jeff Garcia. T.O. was right, if it smells like a rat. What do you mean Garcia is married to a former Playboy Bunny? Jake the Snake, his porn-stache, and his backwards passes are still more manly than Garcia and his “play it safe” game.

5. Guarantee Derrick Brooks a Lifetime Starting Spot!

Gruden is a moron if he doesn’t guarantee Brooks as a lifetime starter at linebacker, competition for the position be damned. Brooks is TOTALLY going into the Hall of Fame, and any player going into the Hall of Fame has to be great, right? And it’s not like players get slower as they got older, at least not great players like Brooks. Plus Brooks is a great community guy and benching him would hurt the feelings of all the kids Brooks takes to Africa during the offseason.

The Best Bucs Blog Offseason Wish List

2008-01-07T08:48:00.000-05:00

If you caught yesterday’s playoff game then you know the Bucs are about as close to winning a Super Bowl next season as Ron Paul is to winning the White House. Hindsight being 20-20 it’s pretty obvious the Bucs benefited from a weak schedule and an even weaker division. If they had played in the AFC this would have been at best a 6 win team.

The following list are the top three things I think the Bucs need to do in order to be considered Super Bowl contenders next season. I am assuming the Bucs keep most if not all their starters, and to be honest I have no idea which players will be free agents this offseason.

I have my doubts that Gruden and Company will make any dramatic changes seeing as how Gruden’s modus operandi has been to shy away from changing personnel unless he could potentially lose his job. Gruden stuck with Chris Simms after the Skins playoff loss even though the offense looked anemic during the game. I’m not suggesting the Bucs dump Jeff Garcia (although it wouldn’t kill the Bucs to finally get rid of Simms and Gradkowski) but there are some wholesale changes which should be made.

1. Get a Receiver
This is the one thing on the list I have the most faith in Gruden to accomplish considering how much he wanted to draft Calvin Johnson last year. The Bucs have no receiver depth behind Joey Galloway, and their two leading receivers are both over 30. If Galloway is shut down, like he was yesterday, then the Bucs offense is shut down as well. Alex Smith has shown promise and will be a greater receiving threat next season.

On the other hand the Bucs two young receivers, Michael Clayton and Maurice Stovall, have shown little promise. It’s safe to label Clayton a bust at this point and write him off as a cautionary tale of drafting receivers early. I’m not advising against keeping Clayton, he serves a valuable role as a third receiver, but he has failed to produce when needed and finished sixth on the team in total receptions. Stovall could turn out to be a good second receiver but much like Clayton appears to be a better special teams player than a primary receiver.

There are two obvious ways to get a receiver, through the draft and free agency. If the Bucs draft a receiver I hope they go after somebody who is already developed as a receiver (Mario Manningham, Andre Caldwell) as opposed to an unpolished receiver with a lot of upside (DeSean Jackson, Limas Sweed). I have no idea who the free agent candidates are at receiver but you typically don’t find good, young receivers in free agency. My suggestion to the Bucs is to make a stab at trading for Chris Henry, who for reasons I will get to in the next section has a lot of value for the Bucs.

Trading For Chris Henry Couldn't Possibly Backfire, Right?

2. Find the Value Player(s)
The key for any championship team is to find players which other teams undervalue. BnB pointed this out a few days ago but the Spurs built a championship team by drafting foreign born players with good fundamentals at a time when foreign-born players were undervalued. The Oakland A’s under Billy Bean found college players which other teams undervalued.

The Bucs have done a pretty good job of this so far, both Jerremy Stevens (DUI) and Phillip Buchanon (poor coaching) had been undervalued until they were picked up by the Bucs. Gruden has never shied away from giving players a second chance, and for the most part the strategy has worked out well for him. Chris Henry, the receiver for the Bengals fits this bill as the Bucs would probably not have to give up much and roll the dice with the hope Henry doesn’t get convicted a fourth time. Actually on second thought I’m not so sure about trading for Chris Henry.

The other position which has been undervalued in the NFL is kick returner, although I feel that tide is starting to turn. Devin Hester is the Bears only offense and was a late second round pick. The Steelers were forced to kick away or punt the ball out of bounds against the Jaguars this weekend because they were concerned about Maurice Jones-Drew (who was also a late second round pick). So far the Bucs have given little thought to the kick return position as evidenced by handing the position to a player who was on the practice squad for half the season (Micheal Spurlock).

Spurlock: Suddenly Expendable

3. Obtain Another Pass Rusher
While the Bucs pass rush got better as the season progressed the d-line never resembled the Bucs d-line’s of old. Monte Kiffin should be congratulated for generating as much of pass rush with this rag-tag bunch of misfits as he did but the lack of talent on the d-line was exposed by the Giants. Gaines Adams looks like he will turn out to be a very good pass rusher the Bucs defense has worked best when they have had two pass rushers (a la Sapp and Rice).

Preferably the Bucs will pick up an undertackle, seeing as how Jovan Haye has not been impressive this season. This may be the most difficult position to fill since there are such a small number of players with the skill sets required to play the position. A pass rushing defensive is also a consideration although the Bucs have a few players who fit the bill (Greg White, Kevin Carter) already.

Got any suggestions for changes you would like to see? Leave ‘em in the comments.

Gameday: Giants @ Bucs

2008-01-06T10:46:00.000-05:00

A Sticks preview chock full of more goodies than usual can be found here.

As far as predictions go I've been seeing a lot of love for the Giants but most writers are predicting a win for the Bucs (and the last one is sure to get a rise out of all the Dr. Z haters in the house)...

Bill Simmons - BUCS
Peter King - BUCS
Ron Jaworski - BUCS
Clark Judge - BUCS
Paul Zimmerman - GIANTS

While I don't agree with Dr. Z's prediction I do agree with his assessment. The Giants d-line is just plain nasty and the Bucs o-line has a long way to be considered one of the best in the league. Jeff Garcia will get hit today and the Giants will be a tough out for the Bucs.

One last thing before I head over to my buddy's place (who is a Giants fan) to watch the game, for all the talk about the Bucs resting their starters they for the most part played all their defensive starters over the last two weeks. Sure, in the third and fourth quarter they did pull a lot of the defensive starters but the Bucs defense will be ready to play today.

NEW YORK 24, TAMPA BAY 14

To quote Rays Index that game stunk like a baby diaper full of Indian food. With the exception of the first quarter the Bucs were outplayed by the Giants and Tampa Bay had no right to even play in that game. Most people are going to break down everything that the Bucs should have done but here's the secret to what went wrong for the Bucs............................................THEY DIDN'T SCORE ENOUGH POINTS.

This Bucs offense is pathetic and Trueblood was dominated by Strahan all day, as a result Garica couldn't throw it deep without throwing an interception. The Bucs need a lot of help to truly be Super Bowl contenders but I have little to no faith in Gruden and company to make the changes that need to be made.

Look for my offseason wish list to be published tomorrow.

Sapp Will Be the 2nd Buc in the HOF

2008-01-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

For those who have been living under a rock in a cave without access to television or the internet (kinda like I have the past week) our man Warren Sapp has announced his retirement. It would have been nice to have seen Sapp ride off into the sunset last season after he led all defensive tackles in sacks as opposed to this season when Sapp managed to garner three personal fouls in a minute. Sapp was the player every opposing fan loved to hate, but hated to admit they would want Sapp on their team.

It's a testament to Sapp's dominance that he is a lock to get into Canton (only one other Buc, i.e. Derrick Brooks, can make the same claim). Let's look at Sapp's credentials:

'99 Defensive Player of the Year
7 Pro Bowls
96.5 sacks over 13 seasons (7.4 sacks a season)
'03 Super Bowl Champion

By comparison Lee Roy Selmon was elected to six Pro Bowls, won Defensive Player of the Year in 1979 and recorded 78.5 sacks over 9 seasons (8.7 sacks a season).

Sapp's critics will likely point to his "controversies" with Mike Sherman when he was the Packers head coach and skipping through the Steelers warmups, overlooking that in both instances Sapp was not the one who initiated the confrontations (Sherman approached Sapp over a block which Packers player Chad Clifton admitted was clean and the Steelers Lee Flowers had taunted the Bucs as Paper Champions before the game). Even replays of the 3 personal fouls against Sapp a few weeks ago show he never touched an official.

By the way, gotta love Sapp's announcement at his website, QBKilla.com.

Gameday: Panthers @ Bucs

2007-12-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

No Sticks preview this week because 1) this is basically an exhibition game, and 2) I'm exhausted from mountain biking all day yesterday. I have muscles I wasn't even aware of which are sore.

The Bucs are wise to rest almost all their starters this week. Just look at the Giants last night who played their starters the entire game, only to lose in the closing minutes of the game. New York will very likely come out flat against the Bucs next week for two reasons: 1) teams tend to play flat after an emotional game, and 2) the Giants have to go on the road. I understand the Giants were playing for pride last night but that decision will likely come back to bight them in the ass.

Anyway, I off to the game which in all likelihood will be even uglier than last week's San Francisco debacle. Until I get back from the game I leave you with this image from the Onion titled "Vinny Testeverde Touchdown Dance Hopelessly Out-Of-Date."

CAROLINA 31, TAMPA BAY 23
This game had a definite exhibition game feel to it, there wasn't close to as much energy as the crowd would normally have, or will have for next week's playoff game against the Giants. On offense the backups all started at quarterback, runningback and receivers. On the defensive side of the ball the second stringers received starts at middlebacker and strong safety. And about the time the Panthers pulled away from the Bucs Gruden was playing mostly second- and third-stringers.

No POSITIVES/NEGATIVES for this week for the same reason as last week, this was little more than an exhibition game. But I think we need a new definition for Clayton:

Clay - ton
1. A first round draft pick for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (noun)
2. To come up big when it does not matter (verb)

With the exception of his rookie season when the Bucs were headed for a losing season Michael Clayton has failed to produce. And today Clayton didn't play well until the Bucs had almost certainly lost. Clayton had 3 catches for 45 yards after Carolina scored their final touchdown, putting the game out of reach.

Since I don't want to leave this post on an entirely negative note I will also give praise to Alex Smith, who made only one catch but made it the best catch of the day. With four defenders half a second from hitting him Smith went up and caught a hanging ball from McCown that should have been intercepted. Considering the injuries in the receiving corps Gruden will likely use his tightends in the receiving game often, which should give Smith a chance to excel in the playoffs.

Gameday: Bucs @ 49ers

2007-12-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

You know the deal, you can find the Sticks Buccaneer preview here.

I would be expecting the Bucs to come out flat based on their recent performance on the West Coast but I'm sure Jeff Garcia has a chip on his shoulder and will put up big stats (220 yards, 3 TDs). It looks like the Bucs will have some favorable weather (50's, slightly cloudy) so they have no excuse, this is a game they should win.

SAN FRANCISCO 21, TAMPA BAY 19

Today's game was ugliness personified, and had more mistakes than the Spears family. I guess when I pretty much guaranteed a victory I probably should have considered that Gruden wasn't going to play the starters for most of the second half. The Bucs came out flat, which was to be expected as the team flew some 3,000 odd miles.

I'm skipping POSITIVES/NEGATIVES for this week but Michael Clayton was a huge negative this week despite his 5 receptions for 71 yards. Given a chance to shine with Galloway out Clayton dropped passes and made a dumb mistake at the end when he landed with his foot out of bounds while catching the 2 point conversion which would have tied the game. With the exception of his rookie season Clayton has been a colossal bust who shows no signs of becoming a reliable receiver.

Why No Buc Was Snubbed (and other useless info)

2007-12-20T17:24:00.000-05:00

I have a bit of catching up to do seeing as how the real world has kept me busy the last few days so let's get right to it...

- The Pro Bowl rosters have been released and not a single Buc has been named to the starting or reserve roster. For those expecting a homer response look elsewhere, 'cause I have no problem with the lack of local representation heading to Hawaii. The Pro Bowl is an individual honor not a team honor so it doesn't matter that the Bucs have the second best defense in the NFL. Just look up the road at Waffle House USA aka Jacksonville where not a single Jaguar made the Pro Bowl. About a month ago I made an argument for a few Bucs to make the Pro Bowl, notably Jeff Garcia, Joey Galloway, and Ronde Barber. Garcia has been banged up the last few weeks so his stats don't compare to Hasselbeck's, whose Seahawks have the same record as the Bucs. Ditto for Galloway sans the injury. The best argument can be made for Barber who should at the very least should have been the reserve over Terrance Newman, who has been injured for much of the season.

Additionally, one of the things which bothers me the most with snubs lists is that the people who write them never mention who should NOT have made it to the Pro Bowl. This happens every year where people talk about who was should have gotten in but then don't mention who should be taken out. A Pro Bowl nomination isn't like your 3rd grade tee ball awards, not everyone gets one.

- I mispelled Micheal Spurlock's first name in the previous post and for that I offer a million apologies to Spurlock. I am an idiot.

- It now looks like the Bucs will play either the Giants or the Vikings for their first playoff game, based on these rough stats from Sports Club Stats (via Buc 'Em). Between the two I'm still not 100% sure who the better matchup is for the Bucs although I'm leaning towards the Giants based on their recent playoff failure under Eli Manning. The Bucs typically play better against passing offenses (i.e. the Giants) which their defense is designed to stop. Adrian Peterson and that outstanding Vikings offensive line would have me concerned if I was the defensive coordinator facing them, even if Minnesota has no passing game.

Who Is Michael Spurlock?

2007-12-16T19:42:00.000-05:00

Our longtime local sports nightmare is finally over, after 1884 attempts the Bucs finally returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Much like their former losing streak in cold weather games this was a streak which haunted the Franchise in every game they played as announcers felt obliged to rub it in the fan's faces. There is even a website dedicated to the former streak. And Tampa Bay has the the formerly unknown Michael Spurlock to thank for finally erasing that historic streak.

But who is Michael Spurlock?

If you do a Google search for "Michael Spurlock" the first result turns up this guy, a Doctor of Nutrition at Iowa State.

And the second result turns up a slightly closer although still wrong result, a former linebacker for the Memphis Tigers. While the Bucs kick returner may not be the best known Michael Spurlock on the intertubes he is certainly one of the best players to come out of the state of Mississippi.

The Buccaneers Michael Spurlock played quarterback at Gentry High School in Indianola Mississippi, a town of 12,000 whose claim to fame is that is was the hometown of B.B. King. During his high school career Spurlock passed for a state class 5-A records of 3,348 yards and 35 touchdowns in 2000. Spurlock also set a state record for points in a game when he three for 9 touchdowns, ran for 2 touchdowns AND kicked all of his team's extra points...accounting for all 71 of his high school's points in the game. He also lettered in basketball and baseball, and was voted the baseball team's MVP and Best Defensive Player three times.

Spurlock started out playing quarterback at Ol' Miss, and in 2003 was behind Eli Manning on the depth chart. He started seven games at quarterback in 2005 before being moved to, and starting at, runningback for the last game of his college career. Spurlock was recuited by former Ol Miss assistant Richard Bisaccia, who is now the Bucs special teams coach.

Spurlock went undrafted out of college and was signed by Arizona last season. Spurlock played in only one game for the Cardinals and caught four passes, in addition to spot kick return duties.

Spurlock started the season on the Bucs practice roster and was not promoted to the active roster until the week of the Cardinals game, which was the first week of November for those keeping track at home. Spurlock returned kickoffs for the Bucs that Week 10 but up until last weekend's game at Houston was splitting kickoff return duties with Michael Clayton and Phillip Buchanon.

Before this week's game local newspaper Florida Today interviewed Spurlock and asked him about the possibility of returning a kickoff for a touchdown. Spurlock's response was an uninterested, "I don't see why not. We'll see what happens." It was not even a sure thing Spurlock would be active for today's game, although credit Stephen Holder of the Times for arguing the Bucs should make room on today's roster for Spurlock.

So kudos to Michael Spurlock for being the First Player in 32 years of Tampa Bay Buccaneer history to return a kickoff for a touchdown.

Gameday: Falcons @ Bucs

2007-12-16T11:13:00.000-05:00

As usual, you can find my Sticks preview here.

The Falcons are like that crazy ex-girlfriend who at one time was a catch but has let herself go and is an absolute mess now. Sure she has potential and could be a winner but more likely than not she will self-destruct.

Huge line for this game as the Bucs are favored by 13 points. I'm not 100% sure that's the biggest line of the year for the Bucs but it's damn close. I'm expecting Graham (who has quietly had an outstanding season) to put up big stats today.

GET THE MONKEY OFF THEIR BACK!

BUCS SCORE THEIR FIRST EVER TOUCHDOWN OFF A KICKOFF RETURN! COURTESY OF MICHAEL SPURLOCK! I CAN'T STOP USING EXCLAMATIONS MARKS!

TAMPA BAY 37, ATLANTA 3

COMPLETE. ABSOLUTE. DOMINATION.

And Tampa Bay didn't even get a good game from Garcia or Galloway, which bodes well for the team going into the playoffs. Tampa Bay may be the team nobody wants to play this postseason, they have the best defense in the NFC and a balanced offensive attack.

POSITIVES
+ Michael Spurlock, 1883 kickoff returns w/o TD before Spurlock made History (HT to BS)
+ I'm 90% sure Trueblood leads the league in fights started, this is a borderline positive
+ Ronde Barber making a very strong case for both Hawaii this season and Canton eventually
+ Clayton with some tough catches
+ Greg White
+ Earnest w/ his 2nd game as both the Bucs leading rusher AND receiver
+ Gaines Adams finely getting comfortable, racks up a sack and a forced fumble

NEGATIVES
- the second fight w/ about 4 minutes left, completely unnecessary
- Garcia who looked rusty today

Run To Freedom Mr. Spurlock! Run To Freedom!

Vegas Knew It Was a Trap

2007-12-12T17:36:00.000-05:00

I briefly mentioned before kickoff that the Texans game had the whiff of a trap game to me, and it appears Vegas figured this out well before I did. From Dr. Z's power rankings today comes this bit of info...

On Sunday evening, the week before the game, I set my logical price at Bucs favored by three. They had beaten New Orleans on the road, Houston had lost to Tennessee by eight. The first line posted by Vegas, the opening line Sunday night, was Texans favored by one. It varied from mine by four, so it was a slam dunk formula pick. Go their way and take Houston because Vegas obviously is begging for Tampa Bay money. Sure enough, the opening line, also known as the "outlaw line," stayed up very briefly, and was quickly bet up to Bucs minus 3 ½. Vegas caught a lot of fish when the Texans won.

I had to read that twice just to fully comprehend what it meant, but essentially the Casinos knew this was a trap game for the Bucs and purposely set a low line to fool bettors into losing money on it. Which they promptly did even though, as the Football Outsider guys point out, the Bucs mostly outplayed the Texans during the game.

What is the lesson learned? Beware the trap road games the week following divisional road games. Especially when the opponent has Andre Johnson.

Not A Good Time To Be A Falcons Fan

2007-12-11T18:14:00.001-05:00

First, Vick goes to Federal-Pound-You-In-The-Ass Prison.

Then, your team loses on national television (even though nobody watched the game).

And now your coach is leaving for the Arkansas job.

I'm taking the ESPN report with a grain of salt, they have a history of getting these things wrong (just look at supposed Miles to Michigan rumors before the SEC Champ Game). If this is true, how much egg does Arthur Blank have on his face after telling the MNF Crew that he had Petrino's back through thick and thin?

A Few Updates:

- Upon further reflection, what does this say about the Falcons job that Petrino finds a job where the previous coach had to deal with fans who sued to make his cell phone calls public, spread rumors about his infidelity, and generally chased out of town a coach who averaged 8 wins a season and just last season was in the SEC Champ Game? Are the Falcons really in that bad of a position to make dealing with the Arkansas faithful the more appealing alternative?

- I should have mentioned this before but Roddy White has to be the front runner for next year's Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year right? I mean if making a weak show of support for a former teammate who has admitted his own wrong doing doesn't qualify as a heroic act what does? The guys at KSK have an excellent take on Roddy's heroism.
(Also, file this under "shit to random to believe" but the Falcons Director of Marketing is also named Roddy White)

Comment of the Day

2007-12-11T13:52:00.000-05:00

Not from this blog with its barren field of non-comments but from the St Pete Times Rays blog in discussing the proposed Rays stadium...

How dare the Rays try to develop two severely under-used parcels of downtown land! I love parking lots and barren, sun-scorched vacant lots! Walk down 1st Av South next to the Trop! So alive! So vibrant! So livable! I can't understand how it has failed to create a real ballpark district! It will be ruined by mixed-use, walkable development! Plus, Steinberg & Co are from the NORTH, and therefore untrustworthy!

If we try to build a new stadium, it needs to be off the interstate in a field in Tampa, defended by AT LEAST 20,000 parking spaces! I want to get out of my air-conditioned car and walk right into an air-conditioned stadium! Who cares about making downtown a functional, possibly even livable place! I love yelling!

Starting right now the Times is having an online chat with Rays prez Matt Silverman on the new stadium, which based on the comments (which the above one mocks) is sure to raise the mis-informed ire of Tampa Bay's best and brightest.

I am still waiting to hear a rational reason why the City should NOT approve a new stadium.

NFC South and Conference Playoffs Recap

2007-12-11T09:44:00.000-05:00

TAMPA BAY: 8-5 (DIV) 4-0
NAWLEANS: 6-7 (DIV) 3-3
CAROLINA: 5-8 (DIV) 2-3
ATLANTA: 3-10 (DIV) 1-4

While the Bucs have not yet technically clinched the division you might as well wrap up the division title in Christmas paper for the Bucs. All Tampa Bay needs is a win against one of three losing teams: Atlanta, San Fran or Carolina.

DALLAS: 12-1
GREEN BAY: 11-2
SEATTLE: 9-4
TAMPA BAY: 8-5
NEW YORK: 9-4
MINNESOTA: 7-6

*WASHINGTON: 6-7
*ARIZONA: 6-7
*DETROIT: 6-7
*NEW ORLEANS: 6-7
(* - outside looking in)

Five of the six NFC playoff spots are pretty much locked up leaving only the last wild card spot up for grabs with the Vikings in the driver's seat for that spot. Although based on the way recent NFC playoff races have worked out I'm sure we will see a dark horse team come out of nowhere to sneak into the playoffs a la Washington in '05 which won it's last five games to barely get into the playoffs.

Maybe this should be colored under wishful thinking but I'm starting to think the four seed will work better for the Bucs than the three seed. The Bucs matchup better against the Giants than the Vikings. And assuming the Bucs win their home playoff game they would travel to Dallas instead of Green Bay. As over-hyped as the Bucs record is in cold weather there is some truth to the statistic, the team is not designed to play in cold weather especially the speedy defense.

NEW ORLEANS 34, ATLANTA 14
With Reggie Bush likely out for the season and the Saints still in contention for the playoffs we can expect to see Drew Brees throwing the ball early and often. Which is great if you have Brees on your fantasy team but turns the Saints into a one dimensional offense. It doesn't bode well for the NFC that there is only one playoff team which isn't one dimensional, i.e. the Cowboys. Every other team either depends on their passing game (Green Bay, Seattle, Tampa Bay, New York) or their running game (Minnesota).

JACKSONVILLE 37, CAROLINA 6
This may sound crazy but if I'm Jacksonville I would draft Tim Tebow in two years (assuming he's available in the draft). I think Tebow, much like Vince Young in Tennessee, would be a great fit for a defensive team with a run first mentality. I know Garrard is having an excellent season but he strikes me as more of a place holder a la Trent Dilfer on the Ravens.

Gameday: Bucs @ Texans

2007-12-09T12:06:00.000-05:00

My Sticks preview can be found here.

Just saw on ESPN that Luke McCown is the starter for the Bucs today. Which may not be a bad thing considering the way Luke played last week. Plus it gives Jeff Garcia another week to get fully healthy.

This has the smell of a trap game for the Bucs as they are going on the road following a big division game. It also doesn't help that this is the second straight road game for the Bucs.

TEXANS 28, BUCS 14

We didn't learn much about the Bucs today we didn't already know. They need Jeff Garcia to have a chance in the playoffs. And even in the playoffs they would be lucky to win a road game (the Bucs have a 3-4 record on the road this season). With more time I would dig into the stats but the Bucs seemed more mistake-prone when they are on the road, with the Detroit loss and today's game serving as the best examples of their weak play on the road.

POSITIVES
+ Greg White was a beast w/ 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles (although his aggressiveness led him to overplay a few runs)
+ Graham & Galloway again having solid games for the Bucs w/ 193 total yards & 2 TDS between them

NEGATIVES
- Luke McCown, it's difficult to fault the backup quarterback for being average but I will do so anyway, there were plays he could have made (missing a wide open Galloway for a TD) but failed to
- Bucs secondary, which continues to struggle against big, physical receivers

NFC South Recap

2007-12-03T20:55:00.000-05:00

TAMPA BAY: 8-4 (DIV) 4-0
NAWLEANS: 5-7 (DIV) 2-3
CAROLINA: 5-7 (DIV) 2-3
ATLANTA: 3-9 (DIV) 1-3

Yesterday's win pretty much locks up the division for the Bucs even if it won't be official for another two weeks or so. The bigger question for the Bucs for the next month is which seed they finish with in the NFC. I think #1 and #2 are out of reach but the Bucs have a legit shot at passing Seattle to move into the #3 seed. It hurts that Seattle has the same record as the Bucs AND own the head-to-head tiebreaker.

CAROLINA 31, SAN FRANCISCO 14
It is good to see the 49ers (whom the Bucs still have to play) are more down on their luck than the Missouri football team (who got absolutely robbed by the BCS). Interesting side note to this game, it started two quarterbacks drafted by the Bucs over ten years ago (Testeverde and Dilfer). Which really just goes to show you that the Bucs have featured a lot of very lousy quarterbacks during the franchise's history.

ST LOUIS 28, ATLANTA 16
Why is it I get the feeling Petrino is playing for a top pick only to draft Brian Brohm with the third overall pick?

Gameday: Bucs @ Saints

2007-12-02T11:09:00.000-05:00

My Sticks preview can be found here.

A quick reminder, the Bucs game has been moved to the late afternoon (4:15) start time.

As of 1:45 I have still seen no definitive word on if Jeff Garcia is starting or not. He did practice on Friday but since the practice was closed to the media there is no word on how many reps he received if at all. If Garcia can not go Luke McCown will get the start.

BUCS 27, SAINTS 23

The Bucs must have made winning ugly their new philosophy because there was no reason the score had to be so close. The Bucs had 466 total yards to the Saints measly 246, and if not for a few extremely bone-headed plays by Luke McCown this game would have been a blow out. But in the end and most importantly the Bucs get out of New Orleans three and a half games up in the division (since the Bucs would own any head-to-head tie breaker).

POSITIVES
+ great play calling by Gruden, especially on the last drive
+ outstanding job by the defense limiting the Saints offense, which has proven weak against the Tampa Two
+ Earnest Graham will another quiet but impressive performance, 106 yards & 1 TD
+ w/ an exception or 2 good to see the Bucs playing aggressive to the point of getting in the Saints faces after plays
+ Joey Galloway again making plays en route to 159 yards
+ it looks like Gaines Adams is finally getting comfortable, 4 tackles and a sack
+ promising performance by Luke McCown in relief of Garcia, 313 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT
+ 10 different receivers all caught balls today
+ nice catch by Stevens at the end to win the game

NEGATIVES
- McCown's game management: gave New Orleans a safety, a TD and failed to manage the clock at the end of the 2nd quarter
- Michael Clayton w/ a late personal foul which erased an impressive run by Graham

Cautiously Optimistic

2007-11-30T18:24:00.000-05:00

I know it is blasphemy to talk about the Rays while we're in the middle of the Bucs season but forgive me for the transgression, I feel like the recent developments finally make the Rays worthy of NFL midseason discussion.

For ten years I’ve been looking for reasons to get excited about the Rays and until the last few weeks the closest the Rays have come to raising my expectations was the ill-fated Hit Show. But with more arms in the rotation and bullpen, and plans for a new stadium the Rays are finally giving me a reason to be optimistic.

The New Stadium

For the past few years I’ve been telling anyone foolish enough to listen to me that Al Lang Field would be the perfect spot to build a new open air stadium, so it is no surprise that I fully support the Rays’ plans for a stadium there. I have not met one person who would even rank the Trop as an average MLB stadium, much less a top ten one. Additionally, the new stadium would do so much to add new development to a downtown St Petersburg, more so than the current stadium ever did. Obviously I have no hard evidence to back this up but it has been my opinion that BayWalk did more to revitalize down town than the Trop ever did, mostly because BayWalk is actually in downtown as opposed to the Trop. Placing a new stadium along the water front would almost certainly have a similar effect but on a bigger scale as BayWalk.

The biggest complaint about the stadium (at least based on comments left on the Times article) centers on the Rays building the new stadium with revenues generated from taxes on new development where the Trop currently is. These complaints are fairly absurd when you think about it since 1) it’s a fact of life that new stadiums are built using tax payer money, 2) the proposed taxes would not even be generated unless the Rays move out of the Trop. Before the Rays made their announcement Wednesday I had assumed the city’s portion of the cost for a new stadium would likely be born by the business which would benefit from the new stadium, i.e. the hotels, restaurants, etc. which are downtown. Considering that the only new taxes the city would have to enact would be on new development in Tropicana which would not even exist unless the Rays moved further downtown I think St Pete is getting a pretty sweet deal here.

There are some legitimate complaints leveled against the new location, the two most important being parking and state funding. While it’s great to see our boy Charlie supporting the new stadium the state legislature is most likely hesitant to approve money for the Rays when you have other teams (Marlins, Bolts, Magic, etc.) who have made or are going to make similar demands. It will have to take a pretty convincing lobbying effort by the Rays to gain the support of state legislators for a new stadium, something which the Rays have stumbled with coming out of the gate. Parking is a lesser concern but still worth noting as parking is already starting to be a problem downtown. I honestly don’t know if they are comparable crowds but it is impossible to find parking on 4th of July or New Year’s Eve downtown.

The New Faces

My more cynical side paints the Troy Percival signing as little more than a PR move, bringing in a big name closer in a half-hearted effort to convince skeptical St Pete residents that this team is serious about contending. (Something the team will need to do to convince legislators to support a new stadium.) After all Percival is 38 and has already “retired” once because of injury problems. But then again, Percival did play well last season sporting a 1.80 ERA and 36 strikeouts through 40 innings. Most importantly Percival should strengthen a bullpen which looked atrocious last season.

Additionally, the Rays picked up one of the better young arms in the league and all they had to give up was one of their 25 outfielders. Rays Index has a wealth of information on the Delmon Young for Matt Garza trade, but in the end trading a bat (which the Rays have plenty of) for an arm (which they badly need) should be a huge gain for the team. I don’t like to see Young go, he was the one guy (even more so than Pena) that struck me as the closest thing the Rays have to a power slugger but Young and Carl Crawford were their two best outfielders so at the very least they kept Crawford and still gained a good arm for the rotation.

There are still plenty of question marks around this team’s future, can they develop the young talent, will the new stadium be approved, will the team even stay in St Pete? But at the very least the rays and their new ownership are finally giving fans a reason to be optimistic about the team’s future.

The Sean Taylor Memorial

2007-11-28T17:06:00.000-05:00

As many of you know I live in Skins territory, in fact I work not to far from Redskin Park. This morning I stopped by the makeshift Sean Taylor Memorial which has emerged outside of the Skins training facility and headquarters. Here are some of the photos I took.

A quick note, I am hesitant bestow Sainthood on Sean Taylor the way many people, especially in the Washington area, have been so quick to do. He was by no means perfect and one of his worst transgressions on the field occurred at Ray Jay against the Bucs two years ago. That being written by most accounts Taylor was turning a new leaf with the birth of his daughter, and had become a leader on the team.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived was the multiple news trucks parked outside. Sean Taylor has been the leading news story since Monday in all local media outlets.

Sean Taylor's 21 painted into the grass next to the memorial.

Even though it was 10:30 in the morning there were at least a dozen fans there coming and going while I was taking pictures. Almost all had Skins gear on.

The most striking thing about the memorial is the number of flowers and personal mementos left by fans. Few cities embrace their NFL franchises the way the DC area does. In Tampa Bay the Bucs are the talk of the town, but in the DC area the Skins are not just the talk of the town they are the common bond of the city.

A cork board signed by a number of Skins fans.

A Sean Taylor jersey with a personal sentiment written on it.

Another Taylor jersey with a number of personal sentiments written on it.

A hat with a message from one father to another in Sean Taylor.

A yard sign for Sean Taylor.

And on the back of the sign a quote from Sean Taylor.

NFC South Recap

2007-11-27T21:38:00.000-05:00

TAMPA BAY: 7-4 (DIV) 3-0
NAWLEANS: 5-6 (DIV) 2-2
CAROLINA: 4-7 (DIV) 2-3
ATLANTA: 3-8 (DIV) 1-3

We didn't learn much from the NFC South last week that we haven't known for the at least the past month. It will come down to the Bucs (who are the clear favorites) and the Saints (playing the role of the lovable underdog). The Bucs appear to be a lock to make the playoffs considering the soft schedule in front of them, and the only remaining question is will they have a playoff game at home or not?

NEW ORLEANS 31, CAROLINA 6
The Saints on the other hand are a dangerous opponent next week for the Bucs, they are like the wounded lion. They have the potential to be one of the more dangerous offenses but have been struck by a case of bi-polarism. One week they look unbeatable, the next fallible. Missing Deuce McAllister has exposed the offenses biggest weakness, Reggie Bush can not run up the middle. When Deuce was in the game defenses had to prepare for both Deuce running the ball AND Brees passing to the receivers. Reggie Bush never had to be the power runner at USC (he had LenDale White for that) so he has never established himself as someone who can bang bodies for 4 quarters.

INDIANAPOLIS 31, ATLANTA 13
And even if the Saints win this week the Bucs would still be the favorites to win the division. The Saints have two losses in the the division while the Bucs have zero losses. Assuming the Saints win they would still be a game behind and would lose the tiebreaker if the teams somehow finished with the same records (a highly unlikely situation). What am I getting at? No matter the outcome of next week's game the Bucs will be in the driver's seat for the division.

Gameday: Skins @ Bucs

2007-11-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

You can find my Sticks preview here.

I'm hearing a good deal of chatter that the Skins are an upset special. Which is incredibly fair when you consider the Skins were a Jason Campbell interception away from beating the Cowboys last week. The Skins have been doing their best Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde impression this season, and there is no guarantee which Skins team we will see today.

The Bucs, on the other hand, have been the model of consistency with Jeff Garcia at quarterback. While they have not been a top scoring team the Bucs have regularly moved the chains even without Cadillac Williams, Luke Petitgout, Michael Pittman and Alex Smith. Which means that while the Bucs are the smart pick the Skins are the sexy pick to win here.

I am off to the game but I will be back with a recap after the game.

BUCS 19, SKINS 13

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. The Bucs needed every one of the six turnovers forced by the defense today, especially with Jeff Garcia out most of the game with back problems. It's scary to think what would happen if Garcia was out for an extended period of time after Bruce Gradkowski's cheap imitation of a quarterback today.

POSITIVES
+ Greg White w/ 2 forced fumbles and a sack
+ Ronde Barber and Brian Kelly getting back in the act w/ an INT each
+ Earnest Graham with some very tough running against a defense expecting the run
+ BJ Askew opening up those holes for Graham

NEGATIVES
- Gradkowski who looked out of synch w/ his receivers
- sure Josh Bidwell punted well but what ever happened to the corner punt out of bounds?
- defensive play calling on the last drive which should have included a few more blitzes

Vote Early, Vote Often

2007-11-21T14:06:00.000-05:00

Pro Bowl balloting has been open for about two weeks now and there are several Bucs who deserve to receive a free vacation to Hawaii this year....

QUARTERBACKS
The two obvious choices coming out of the NFC are Brett Favre and Tony Romo. Both of whom are leading the NFC in the poorly understood quarterback rating as well as leading the two best teams in the conference.

There are about four quarterbacks to choose from for the last spot: Jeff Garcia, Jon Kitna, Matt Hasselbeck, and Donovan McNabb. McNabb has suffered his yearly injury, which means you can fully expect the Eagles to make another playoff run without McNabb playing. Hassselbeck could be the darkhorse in this race seeing as how the Seahawks could be forced to throw the ball more often with Shaun Alexander out. Kitna will continue to put up impressive yardage and touchdown totals as long as Mike Martz is coaching that offense. Let's take a look at 3 of the quarterbacks stats so far.....

Jeff Garcia: 7.6 yards per completion, 11 TDs, 3 INTs, 96.6 QB rating
Jon Kitna: 7.8 yards per completion, 12 TDs, 11 INTS, 90.2 QB rating
Matt Hasselbeck: 7.2 yards per completion, 17 TDs, 8 INTs, 91.3 QB rating

Our boy Garcia has fewer touchdowns but he also has dramatically fewer interceptions (all of which came in the Jags game oddly enough) which explains his superior QB rating. Kitna and Hasselbeck will both finish the season with superior passing yardage and total touchdowns but that does not mean Garcia is any less vital to his team's success than Hasselbeck or Kitna. Anyone who has watched the Bucs recognizes that the key to their success has been Jeff Garcia, which is why Garcia deserves a trip to the Pro Bowl this year.

RUNNINGBACK
If Cadillac was still healthy he would have likely been the clear cut favorite to be the NFC's third representative at runningback for the Pro Bowl. After Adrian Peterson and Brian Westbrook there is a clear dropoff in backs. I voted for Clinton Portis as the 3rd NFC Back based on the excellent rebound season he is having (802 yards, 6 TDs) even while splitting carries with Ladell Betts. I also considered voting for Marion Barber simply because he is one of the most exciting players to watch right now.

RECEIVER
After Terrell Owens there is a log jam for the last 3 receiver spots. For the hell of it I will list the contenders and their stats although I expect you to vote for ol' man Galloway anyway.

Larry Fitgerald: 904 yards, 13.7 y/c, 4 TDs
Torry Holt: 755 yards, 12.4 y/c, 5 TDs
Marques Colston: 754 yards, 12.4 y/c, 5 TDs
Bobby Engram: 744 yards, 12.4 y/c, 3 TDs
Kevin Curtis: 722 yards, 16.0 y/c, 4 TDs
Roy Williams: 719 yards, 13.1 y/c, 5 TDs
Joey Galloway: 711 yards, 17.8 y/c, 6 TDs
Bernard Berrian: 709 yards, 13.9 y/c, 2 TDs

If you're looking for a reason to elevate Galloway above everyone else on this list his yards per catch is the best reason. Galloway has done an excellent job of taking a 12 yard reception and turning it into a 30 yard touchdown.

TACKLES, GUARDS, CENTERS AND FULLBACKS
As Mike Alstott has taught us these honors typically go to the players with the most name recognition. There are no reliable stats to measure their performance and the best players are the ones who are rarely recognized.

With Luke Petitgout out for the season the Bucs best lineman has probably been guard Davin Joseph although I could easily be persuaded to pick another Bucs lineman as the best. BJ Askew has also done an excellent job filling in for first Mike Alstott and then Michael Pittman. Maybe this has more to do with Gruden's offense since I've seen Alstott and Pittman do the same thing out of the fullback position but I have been impressed by Askew's ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and turn it into a big gain.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE
D-tackles, like every position on the defense, are more difficult to rank based on their stats. The Football Outsiders made an interesting observation that we often judge offensive players by how well they perform on the field but judge defensive players on how their teams perform when without them. For example, the FO guys look at how Tennessee has struggled without Albert Haynewsworth in the lineup. For a more local example just look at how the Bucs failed to generate a pass rush last season when Simeon Rice was injured.

Anyway, that's a long way of saying you should vote for Chris Hovan at defensive tackle since he has been the lynchpin for the Bucs d-line as they have rotated players in and out. Hovan is the one player the Bucs d-line could least afford to lose.

LINEBACKERS
At outside linebacker even though he has slipped a bit Derrick Brooks is still deserving of a Pro Bowl nod. He has the fourth most tackles among NFC outside linebackers, and more importantly is the leader of the best defense in the NFC. The linebacker nominations typically go to the players on the best defense and it doesn't hurt that Brooks is a well known name. Cato June is a bit more of a question mark as he has played better than Brooks but is not as well known. At the very least one of the two deserves to get to the Pro Bowl.

Barrett Ruud definitely deserves a Pro Bowl nomination, even among a deep field of inside linebackers. He has been the key to the Bucs defensive renaissance, playing the most difficult position in the Tampa Two defense.

CORNERBACKS
Phillip Buchanon has been a pleasant surprise since the Bucs picked him up in the middle of last season. All that was expected of Buchanon was to help out on special teams and maybe be the fourth corner. Instead Buchanon has exceeded expectations and has filled in for the oft-injured Brian Kelly. That being written Ronde Barber is the corner more worthy of the Pro Bowl nod, although I'm willing to hear arguments to the contrary.

SAFETIES
No question both Jermaine Phillips and rookie Tanard Jackson deserve Pro Bowl berths. It's amazing how much better the safeties are playing this season. The Bucs are much better at shutting down the run this season and both players have been brought back memories of John Lynch in the Pewter and Red.

NFC South Recap

2007-11-19T21:35:00.000-05:00

TAMPA BAY: 6-4 (DIV) 3-0
CAROLINA: 4-6 (DIV) 2-2
NAWLEANS: 4-6 (DIV) 1-2
ATLANTA: 3-7 (DIV) 1-3

I mentioned in week 2 that the Football Outsiders Statistical Predictions had the Bucs winning the NFC South. Those same predictions had the Saints finishing last in the division. When you take into account that Atlanta and Carolina both lost their starting quarterbacks for the season (which as the Bucs learned last year) their respective season's went down the tubes, the predictions by FO appear amazingly prescient despite the fact that the FO guys did their best to explain away these computer results.

In other words, the NFC South is once again the Bucs division to lose, the way it has been since the division has existed (even if the division has only existed for five years).

HOUSTON 23, NEW ORLEANS 10
While I was not as opposed to the Mario Williams over Reggie Bush move as most people, I still believe Houston made a mistake not drafting a runningback. Personally I have avoided the Reggie Bush bandwagon for the same reason I warned people against jumping on the Saints bandwagon....all hype and no substance. Sure Bush gained a 100+ total yards in the game but look closer at his stats, he gained only 34 yards on 15 carries against a less than impressive Texans defense. Additionally he had a key fumble on the goal line when he tried try to run up the middle. Mario Williams, on the other hand, had a sack a forced fumble.

Of concern to me is a Saints team which just got back the Next Terrell Owens (in a good way). Andre Johnson has that extremely rare combination of size and speed that only two other receivers in the NFL have (the third being Calvin Johnson). The Bucs have excelled at shutting down opposing offenses but outside of Washington it looks like Houston poses the next biggest test on the Bucs schedule.

GREEN BAY 31, CAROLINA 17
I mentioned it last week but it's worth repeating, the Panthers will be scary next season. Assuming they get Jake Delhomme back they should have a slew of draft picks on the defense, in addition to a number of developing players on the offense and defense already. This was the Bucs blue print for success this season and assuming Petrino figures out how to coach an NFL team (admittedly a big if at this point) the NFC South could be very competitive next season much the same way the AFC South is this season. Notice how I leave the Saints out of this equation.

Bucs 31, Falcons 7

2007-11-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

Now that was the kind of dominating performance I was hoping we would see from the team. Sure it was against a team which has given up and for some odd reason started Byron Leftwich at quarterback. (For all the hype about Petrino being a great offensive mind he has made some highly questionable moves on the offense. Starting Leftwich over a luke warm hand in Joey Harrington. Giving Warrick Dunn more carries than Jerious Norwood. Either Petrino is angling for a high draft pick or he just doesn't care anymore.)

Anyway, to be honest my attention shifted from this game during the first half and I changed the channel at halftime. Quite simply, this was a game the Bucs should have won and they did so.

POSITIVES
+ Galloway, who has become a frequent occupier of this space
+ Bucs D, which except for a garbage TD would have shut out the Falcons offense
+ Ronde Barber, w/ his 11th career TD
+ Earnest Graham w/ 100 plus yards rushing and a TD
+ Chris Hovan w/ a sack and the rare d-line INT
+ Alex Smith providing some much needed plays in the receiving game

NEGATIVES
- I'm sure if I looked for something wrong I could find it but in a blowout win on the road there is little to complain about

Just For The Hell Of It: 2nd Half Predictions

2007-11-14T22:53:00.000-05:00

Call me a broken record but I just don't understand how people can continue to pick the Saints over the Bucs for the NFC South, especially after the Saints got crushed by a previously winless Rams team. For those who missed PTI today (one of my favorites sports shows) both Kornheiser and Wilbon picked the Saints to make the playoffs and ignored the Bucs. Now for as much as I enjoy his DC local radio show Kornheiser knows nothing about football despite broadcasting the sport. Wilbon, on the other hand, watches a good number of the games so it was a slap in the face to see him pick the Saints to win the NFC South.

To that effect here are my predictions for the NFC playoff teams:

Green Bay
Dallas
Tampa Bay
Seattle
Detroit
New York

A lot will come down to the Green Bay versus Dallas game which will be in Dallas. I'm going with Green Bay in that game since the Dallas secondary can't stop anyone while the Green Bay D can at the very least slow down the Cowboys offense.

The Bucs have a game and a half lead on the Saints and just as easy as a schedule down the road. Both teams only play one more team which currently has a winning record; Washington for the Bucs and Tampa Bay for the Saints. Throw in a feisty Eagles team the Saints play in Week 16 and the schedules are about equal.

The NFC West is garbage. It's a shame the Bucs didn't play the Seahawks later in the season because the Bucs team which lost in Week 1 to Seattle is completely different from the current team. Ruud's increased level of play is a perfect example of that.

I am very tempted to pick the Skins over the Giants but the way Gibbs is coaching that team right now I just can't rationalize it. I would also love to pick a darkhorse team to make a late run but I just can't rationalize any team making that kinda run out of the NFC. Philly always makes late runs when Donovan McNabb gets hurt but they don't have Jeff Garcia this season (suckers) and still have to play New England, Dallas and the Giants.

And now some predictions....

MVP - Tom Brady, this is a "no shit Sherlock" pick so I take no credit for it

ROY - Adrian Peterson, see above about "no shit Sherlock"

Defensive POY - James Harrison, this is the most wide open race so far with Harrison, his teammate Ike Taylor, Antonio Cromartie, Osi Umenyiora all good canidates. Truth be told I'm probably forgetting some people as well but I'm going with Harrison since he is playing on the best defense in the NFL right (Steelers)

Offensive POY - Brett Favre, this award should prob end up going to Brady but Favre has a slight lead in passing yards over Brady (71) and the media love fest for the Something About Mary star will help

Comeback POY - Randy Moss, although seeing as how Moss is viewed as the anti-Favre (despite being just as self-centered) I wouldn't be surprised to see some else (like Clinton Portis) get this award.

Super Bowl Champions - Tampa Bay Buccaneers, ok not really. The Lombardi is New England's to lose at this point and I see no reason to pick against them (as much as I want to)

NFC South Recap

2007-11-12T22:22:00.000-05:00

TAMPA BAY: 5-4 (DIV) 2-0
CAROLINA: 4-5 (DIV) 2-2
NAWLEANS: 4-5 (DIV) 1-2
ATLANTA: 3-6 (DIV) 1-2

Good news for the Bucs, they moved up in the division on a bye week. Although that isn't the first time that has happened in the NFC South. The Panthers moved to the top of the division after their bye in week 7.

ST LOUIS 37, NEW ORLEANS 29
During my criticism of the Saints I forgot to include one very important point- the Saints defense can't stop a passing team. I touched on this before the season but New Orleans secondary is the best reason not to pick this team to repeat as division champs. All of the talent is on the d-line, which works well when you are trying to stop the run but in passing situations offenses can go to max protect to negate the Saints rushers.

ATLANTA 20, CAROLINA 13
The Panthers are this year's version of the '06 Bucs, a team with a ton of talent a quarterback unit which resembles a triage unit. With their starting quarterback (Jake Delhomme) out for the season and David Carr also injured the 44 year old Vinny Testeverde got the start. I hereby nominate the Panthers for biggest turnaround next year seeing as how they get Delhomme back and then add some talent on the defense through the draft, a la what the Bucs are doing this season.

Even More Bucs Ecetera (You Didn't Even Have To Ask)

2007-11-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

If I learned anything from Swingers it's that LA has the best parties (that and always double down on eleven). Which is why it makes perfect sense for THE OFFICIAL TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS BYE WEEK PARTY to be in the City of Angels. To make things even better everyone's favorite Buccaneer Donald Penn is hosting the soirée, which guarantees Dwight Freeney and Dewayne White can get right in.

(and a big tip o' the ol' hat to Gordy McBlum for tha story)

On a slightly different note, the Saints bandwagon has been filling up at an increasingly alarming rate. Don Banks prediction that not only will the Saints win the NFC South but that they will make the Super Bowl is a perfect example of this. I like Banks and think he is typically spot on but this is the perfect example of over rating a team based on: A) preseason expectations and, B) their last game. People are overlooking the Saints two losses in the division compared to zero losses for the Bucs in the NFC South. It's unlikely the Bucs early December game at New Orleans will decide the division even if the Saints win. Instead it will likely come down to the Bucs last game against Carolina in Tampa Bay.

More importantly, the Saints offense has been exploited by defenses designed to stop the pass. Stats based on passing defense rankings do an excellent job of bearing this out:

Indy - #3 - L
TB - #2 - L
Tenn - #12 - L
Carolina - #16 - L
Seattle - #25 - W
ATL - #15 - W
SF - #14 - W
Jax - #26 - W

With the exception of the Carolina game, which was a narrow win for the Panthers, the Saints have been defeated by quality pass defenses. It's no secret that with Deuce McAllister out the Saints have to throw the ball most of the time, for all the hype Reggie Bush is still nothing more than a poor man's Brian Westbrook aka a receiver disguised as a back. The Saints, much like our Bucs, are fortunate they have a soft schedule down the home stretch with only two teams posing a challenge, the Bucs and Bears. The Tampa Two defense has proven to be the Saints kryptonite. Still I have a tough time buying the Saints as a Super Bowl team much less NFC South champions.

More Essential Bucs History (and a rare midday post)

2007-11-08T13:47:00.000-05:00

To piggyback off my post from yesterday there has been some conversation on what the largest spread ever has been for a game as the Pats are playing the Jets (revenge for Spygate) and 'Phins (who are just plain bad) later this season. The Pats have seen a 17 point spread a few times this season (against Buffalo, Cleveland and Miami) and have covered each time. In fact the Pats are perfect against the spread for the season (although technically they pushed on the 4 point spread against the Colts). Which leads to the question, will we see the highest spread ever in the NFL this season?

First off, we need to know what the highest spread ever has been. Apparently this honor belongs to the '76 Bucs, who were 24 point underdogs to the defending Super Bowl Champion Steelers. For the record Steve Spurrier's team lost to Pittsburgh by a score of 42-0. Kudos to Dr. Z at SI for figuring this out. For all the grief BucStats gives him, the guy is one of the more knowledgeable NFL guys out there.

Anyway, I doubt we will see a spread that high this season. I could see 21 points but even that is getting into rarely seen levels for the NFL. Which means Steve Spurrier and his 0-14 Bucs team will likely keep at least one record for mediocrity this season.

Bucs Bits

2007-11-07T20:57:00.000-05:00

There has been a good deal of hub bub about the Pats run at the '72 Dolphins perfect record but there is another perfect record which could go unchallenged. The Bucs perfect losing season of '76. Since the AFL merged with the NFL in 1970 the very first Bucs team is the only team to lose every single game it played. (The '82 Baltimore Colts went 0-8-1 in a strike shortened season but technically that doesn't count.) This years 'Phins team is making a serious run at that Bucs record.

Only two teams are winless so far, the Phins and the Rams. Considering their best players have returned from injury (Bulger and Stephen Jackson) and they still get to play the Cards, Falcons and 49ers St Louis is bound to win a game eventually. Miami, on the other hand, has lost their best player for the season (Ronnie Brown), their quarterback could be done with his career (Trent Green), and traded away their best receiver (Chris Chambers). Miami's best chances are at home against the Jets and Bengals, and I'm willing to bet Miami will be an underdog in both.

Steve Spurrier and the '76 Bucs better watch their backs this season.

On a slightly different note, Sports Illustrated released their list of best NFL stadium experiences with the Ray Jay coming in at #17. Typically I stay away from lists since they are purely arbitrary but this list attempts to quantify the stadium experience. One of the better points raised by the break down of Tampa Bay is in the Accessability part, which addresses the horrific road situation after games. 'Cause of whatever misguided reasoning the police shut down certain rods which would clearly alleviate traffic. I experienced this two weeks ago at the Jags game when my family tried to get to 275 only to be forced to go in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go and then cut through a neighborhood. How is having a massive amount of traffic cut through neighborhoods better than keeping traffic on the main roads?

NFC South Recap

2007-11-05T21:53:00.000-05:00

TAMPA BAY: 5-4 (DIV) 2-0
CAROLINA: 4-4 (DIV) 2-1
NAWLEANS: 4-4 (DIV) 1-2
ATLANTA: 2-6 (DIV) 1-1

First off, the Bucs Midseason Recap is up at the Sticks. Many thanks to Scott from BucStats and John from BoltsMag for making that happen.

NEW ORLEANS 41, JACKSONVILLE 24
It's official, the Saints are back. I was bullish on the "Saints are back" story considering they had won against mostly bad teams with the exception of a primetime win at Seattle. But as the Bucs learned last week the Jags are a tough team with a very good defense. I caught most of this game and the Saints had little trouble moving the ball against the Jags. On the bright side for Tampa Bay the Jags defense is focused more on stopping the run while the Bucs Tampa Two defense is better designed to stop a passing team like the Saints.

TENNESSEE 20, CAROLINA 7
This game was in no way shape or form as close as the score indicates. I fail to understand how David Carr, who has experience throwing to an elite receiver in Andre Johnson, can not get the ball to Steve Smith.

ATLANTA 20, SAN FRANCISCO 16
Neither one of these teams won in October. If they had not played each other they very likely would have gone all of November without a win between them.

Tampa Bay 17, Arizona 10

2007-11-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

This game was much closer than it should have been. The Bucs dominated the first three and a half quarters but failed the scoreboard again failed to reflect the statistical advantage the Bucs had over their opponent. I have harped on this before but the Bucs offense lacks playmakers (with the obvious exception of Galloway) who can get into the end zone on a consistent basis.

POSITIVES
+ Galloway AGAIN disproving the notion that old people can not contribute to society
+ Tanard Jackson has turned out to be the steal of the draft, coming up w/ an INT
+ Earnest Graham didn't do anything all that special but he was consistent
+ Bucs secondary limiting one of the best passing attacks
+ Maurice Stovall on punt returns

NEGATIVES
- Jeff Garcia running the ball, would it kill him to throw it away and avoid injury?
- going against an immobile qb in Kurt Warner the Bucs failed to ring up a single sack
- not to pile on but come one Alex Smith, that was an easy touchdown catch
- followed by a miss on an easy field goal by Matt Bryant
- Trueblood flipping his shit again and trying to start fights

NFC South: Recap

2007-10-30T21:39:00.000-04:00

CAROLINA: 4-3 (DIV) 2-1
TAMPA BAY: 4-4 (DIV) 2-0
NAWLEANS: 3-4 (DIV) 1-2
ATLANTA: 1-6 (DIV) 1-1

First off, I am awesome. I have been participating in a blogger picks league organized by the SportsFrog and after an 11-2 week I am tied for the lead with The Mirl, who if memory serves is a Ravens fan. So the way I see I might as well be on a Mission from God to beat the Fan of God's Linebacker. (Although my memory is almost always hazzy so take the above with a grain of salt.)

INDY 31, CAROLINA 7
It would be hypocritical to criticize the Panthers for getting humiliated by the Colts after something similar happened to the Bucs but I will do so anyway. The Panthers have yet to win a game at home and it is an absolut travashamockery that this team has a winning record. Sure they have lost Jake Delhomme for the season but Steve Smith's disappearance from this offense has been mystifying. For all his shortcomings at least Delhomme was skilled at getting the ball to Smith, something which Tesetverde and Carr have failed at.

NEW ORLEANS 31, SAN FRANCISCO 7
Sure the Saints have won three straight but I would hesitate to say they are back. It helps when only one of those teams has a winning record (Seattle). I will give New Orleans this, out of all the teams in the NFC South they have the most potential to challenge the Bucs for the division title. The offense has apparently gotten back on track but the defense is still a mess, and it will be interesting to see how they fair against Jacksonville this weekend.

Gameday: Jags @ Bucs

2007-10-28T09:51:00.000-04:00

Sticks game preview can be found here.

I like the Bucs in this game for the same reason as the rest of America, Garrad is injured and the Jags are starting a former PRACTICE SQUAD RECEIVER in Garrad's place. It doesn't help Quinn Gray that this is his first start at quarterback ever.

In response to Garrad's absence I'm sure the Jags will pound the rock even more so than usual which means we will see plenty of Fred Taylor and possibly injured Maurice Jones-Drew. The key for the Bucs will be their ability to stop the run.

Reason #195 the NFL is Retarded
There is only one early game on in the Tampa Bay area....the sure-fire blowout Giants game. I am in Tampa Bay this weekend for the Bucs game which means no Sunday Ticket for me. To be fair I have no idea if the NFL is to blame, more likely than not the TV networks are to blame. But the NFL makes a much more convenient target for my wrath, so screw you Roger Goodall.

JAGS 24, BUCS 23
Close does not begin to describe how today's game played out. The Bucs had multiple opportunties to win the game but failed to take advantage of those opportunities. This was a game which came down to a few plays which could have gone either way.

POSITIVES
+ Ronde Barber had a few big plays including a 4th down tackle behind the line
+ Old Man Galloway bouncing back w/ 115 yards and a TD
+ Bryant has been quietly reliable w/ 3 field goals in this game
+ BJ Askew catching the ball, shades of the A-Train when he caught the ball
+ Ruud who came up strong against a Jags team which consistently pounded the rock
+ safeties Jackson and Phillips who did an excellent job of plugging holes in running lanes
+ was that a Maurice Stovall sighting? 5 catches for 47 yards plus a blocked punt
+ Jeff Garcia running the ball in the 1st quarter, which was the Bucs ONLY offense

NEGATIVES
- Jeff Garcia throwing the ball, yes he had 267 yards and a TD but he also had 3 INTs and under threw Hilliard (?) on the last drive for what would have been a first down
- Garcia again for his first INT for a TD, swear to God I called Galloway for a hook before the play which goes to show you there is a certain amount of predicatability there
- Galloway returning punts, he let a punt go over his head in the 4th which cost the Bucs at least 30 yards
- officiating, I normally hate to single out the refs but they missed some calls including a spearing against Garcia

NFC South Recap

2007-10-22T22:03:00.000-04:00

CAROLINA: 4-2 (DIV) 2-1
TAMPA BAY: 4-3 (DIV) 2-0
NAWLEANS: 2-4 (DIV) 1-2
ATLANTA: 1-6 (DIV) 1-1

With a bye week the Panthers pass the Bucs for first place in the division. Shame the Panthers don't have a bye every week.

In case you have not seen wide receiver and worst player in Madden Mark Jones is out for the season. Which makes Jones the fourth player on the offense to suffer injuries knocking him out for the season. And while Jones' absence at the receiver position will barely be felt his loss will impact the kick return game. The Bucs primary kick and punt returner the Bucs will have to turn to some combination of Ike Hilliard, Phillip Buchanon, and/or Torrie Cox. I don't like using Ike Hilliard as the punt returner, he's not very effective and is far too important to an offense which is already thin at receiver. (Speaking of receiver depth, where the hell has Maurice Stovall been? He was supposed to blow up this season but has been a bust.)

Side note: I know every team suffers injuries but it seems like the Bucs are suffering a good deal of injuries this season and an especially high number of season ending injuries.

New Orleans 22, Atlanta 16
I'm not sure the Saints are back as I am certain that the Falcons are really, miserably bad. I had soured on Reggie Bush this season since I think he is vastly over rated for a few big plays while his flaws are over looked. (Maybe I would have more reason to doubt myself if the sports media didn't have the habit of over rating players similar players, see Vick, Michael and Hall, Dante.) Bush makes a few big plays but he typically does so by running to the outside as opposed to a back like Maurice Jones Drew who gets his big plays by running up the middle of the defense and breaking tackles. It seemed to me like Bush had shied away from contact which didn't bode well for his future. But then his tough touchdown run against the Falcons made me doubt my theory so now I'm back on the fence on the USC back.

That Was Ugly

2007-10-21T19:24:00.000-04:00

By every single statistical measurement the Bucs should have won today's game. Instead the Bucs committed a litany of mistakes and gave the game to an inferior Lions team. Let's count the way things went wrong.

Fumble by Jeff Garcia which was fortunately reversed
Lions block Josh Bidwell punt
Garcia fumbles AGAIN, this one was not over turned
Garcia fumbled a third time, this time at the goal line
Bucs defense allows Calvin Johnson to run 30 yards on reverse for a TD
A total of 6 penalties on the offensive line including 3 on Jeremy Trueblood

It's painful to focus on the Calvin Johnson play since he was so close to being a Buc but that 30 yard run touchdown really stands for me as the difference between the Lions and the Bucs. Obviously if Megatron does not get that touchdown the Bucs win the game but more imporantly it points out the lack of play makers on the offense for the Bucs. With the exception of Mr. Grey Beard aka Joey Galloway the Bucs don't have an offensive weapon who can turn the game around a la Calvin Johnson. Chris Collinsworth commented on NBC's over produced Football Night in America that the Bucs reminded him of the Jets, a team that dinks and dunks but does nothing outstanding. (Tiki Barber disagreed with that sentiment but then again as Eli Manning pointed Tiki's opinions aren't worth the paper they're printed on.) Garcia has been effecient but with the loss of Cadillac, Michael Pittman, Alex Smith and now Michael Clayton the Bucs don't have a lot of play makers left on the offense.

POSITIVES
+ Earnest Graham making a surprising showing as a receiver w/ 13 receptions for 99 yards
+ Ike Hilliard, whom the Lions went w/ the unusual strategy of leaving uncovered
+ the Bucs D which did well limiting the Lions offense to 23 points
+ on side kick #1: 1st time i've seen that kick formation and surprisingly it worked

NEGATIVES
- everything i listed above
- where was Joey Galloway? only 5 catches for 46 yards

I'm heading down to Tampa for the Jaguars game next week, a matchup I'm not feeling at all confident about the Bucs chances to win.

Welcome Michael Bennett

2007-10-16T12:19:00.000-04:00

With little depth at the position the Bucs traded for Chiefs back Michael Bennett. BucStats speculates that at the most the Bucs gave up a fourth rounder since that was Minnesota's asking price for Mewelde Moore. Which is not a bad deal for the Bucs as Bennett has the speed and hands to compliment Earnest Graham's power running.

And while Bennett appears to be a replacement for Michael Pittman for the next six or seven weeks, the new addition could end up taking over Pittman's duties for the long term. The two have very similar skill sets and fill the team's role as third down backs. Pittman has done an excellent job in that role for the Bucs but in the NFL all it takes is one injury to loss your job.

NFC South Recap

2007-10-15T22:34:00.000-04:00

TAMPA BAY: 4-2 (DIV) 2-0
CAROLINA: 4-2 (DIV) 2-1
NAWLEANS: 1-4 (DIV) 0-2
ATLANTA: 1-5 (DIV) 0-1

If there has been any kind of a consistent theme in this space it has been the criticism directed towards "Offensive Genius Gruden" for failing to upgrade the offense, which is why it warmed my heart (and possibly cockles) to see the emminently readable BucStats take up the same cause. Just looking at the stats the offense has been stagnant if not regressive since Gruden took over. The best explanation I can find for this is that the offensive talent has not been there at the same level that it has been since the Dungy days. Yes, Gruden has invested draft picks on the offense (Clayton, Simms, Joseph, Trueblood, Buenning, Sears, Cadillac, Alex Smith, Stovall) but the Bucs have also lost a number of players on the offense through either free agency/being cut (Keyshawn, McCardell, Griese, Thomas Jones, Warrick Dunn) or injury (Simms, Alstott, Griese again, Joseph, Cadillac, Pittman, Petitgout, Buenning).

What am I getting at? The Bucs are about even, if not worse off, than they were under Dungy when you only consider offensive talent. The line has been slightly upgraded, as has the quarterback position. But the runningback position (even when Cadillac was healthy) and the receivers are worse under Gruden than when Dungy was in town. Which is no fault of Gruden since with the exception of the Griese release the moves have made sense or not been his fault.

Point of the story?

Gruden is deserving of a pass when you take a look at the offense. The play calling is clearly superior to when Mike Shula was in town, and The Garcia Renaissance is in full effect. The offensive line is young and talented and on its way to gelling into the dominant line Gruden had in Oakland. Anyway, if you're going to go after Gruden for anything, criticize him for his questionable drafting.

CAROLINA 25, ARIZONA 10
The $8 Million Dollar Man proved that you can rebuild him, you can make him stronger. In the battle of two former Bucs quarterbacks Rattay lost and Testaverde won. Which begs the question, does anyone really win when you have to watch these two quarterbacks play?

NEW ORLEANS 28, SEATTLE 17
Was that a Drew Brees sighting Sunday night? In notching their first win of the season the Saints further laid claim to the tenet that the NFC is garbage by laying waste to a reeling Seahawks team. It remains to be seen if the Saints are back or if Sunday was an aberration (I'm banking on the latter).

NEW YORK 31, ATLANTA 10
We're six games into the season and already the Falcons have given up on their coach. And Petrino doesn't have Vick to take the blame, although I'm sure the fans in Atlanta will find a way to make Vick the scapegoat for this season's woes. Atlanta is horrible and if they some how beat the Bucs this season I may have to commit seppuku.

Gameday: Titans @ Bucs

2007-10-14T11:53:00.000-04:00

Sticks preview can be found here.

Despite the commonly held belief I'm not a big fan of Vince Young, he's not nearly developed enough as a quarterback to pick apart defenses with his arm. What I would be worried about if I was Jon Gruden is the Titans defense, which is vicious, like sid vicious. I think the Titans have the better defense and what with the all the backs Gruden has been losing Jeff Garcia will have to carry the offense.

INJURIES
Bucs
Brian Kelly is doubtful to play. Kelly has been struggling with injuries all season, but thankfully Phillip Buchanon has been a diamond in the rough for the Bucs.

HALF TIME REPORT
It doesn't show up in the stats but Earnest Grahams having a really good game. On the last drive before half time he did a good job of reaching behind him to grab a bad pitch by Garcia when the play could have easily been a turnover in the Titans favor. He also made a very nice catch where he got hit as soon as he caught the ball. The Titans defense has done a great job of getting to Graham at the goal line which has limited his rushing yards but if Graham plays like this the rest of the season the Bucs will be in good shape.

Where has Joey Galloway gone? He has only two catches for 14 yards, and has disappeared from the offense the last few weeks.

FINAL SCORE
Bucs 13, Titans 10
Today's game was a great rebound win for the Bucs, especially considering how close it was the entire time. Credit the Titans defense for limiting a tough running Earnest Graham while constantly putting pressure on Jeff Garcia. But today's game is why Gruden wanted Garcia so badly in the offseason, if that had been Chris Simms or Bruce Gradkowski back there the Bucs would have lost today's game.

POSITIVES
+ Jeff Garcia w/ season high 274 passing yards & a HUGE game winning drive at the end
+ Matt Bryant, who has quietly been making game winning field goals
+ Bucs defense which swarmed a Titans team which loves to run the ball
+ Tanard Jackson doing his best John Lynch impression
+ Joey Galloway making the Titans secondary his bitch
+ Phillip Buchanon making people forget about Brian Kelly
+ Ronde Barber putting himself in position to make plays

NEGATIVES
- Ronde Barber THRICE failing to make the above mentioned plays
- Alex Smith's ankle injury on an offense which was already injury plagued
- Bucs defense on the Titans last touchdown drive
- Pass rush is a STILL a mess, Bucs sacks have all been coverage sacks

This is why you don't get drunk in Tijuana (or possibly Ybor)

2007-10-10T22:28:00.000-04:00

Good to see Vince Young is not disproving that Wonderlic score.

(HT: fanIQ.com)

NFC South Recap

2007-10-10T13:26:00.000-04:00

TAMPA BAY: 3-2 (DIV) 2-0
CAROLINA: 3-2 (DIV) 2-1
NAWLEANS: 1-3 (DIV) 0-2
ATLANTA: 1-4 (DIV) 0-1

Sometimes you hit the road and sometimes the road hits you. Sunday's road trip to Indianapolis would qualify as the latter. The Colts, even without Addai and Harrison, were the model of efficiency. Frequent commenter t.k. sums it up the best...

The Colts just dinked & dunked the defense to hell, and the key stat of [the Colts was their ability] to complete 75% of their third-down plays shows it. 12 of 16, and the four they didn't make were followed by field goal, punt, fourth-down conversion, and field goal. We played it totally clean but even that's not enough against these guys. Aiyiyiyiyi...

I'm not so sure what that last aiy... part was about but I agree with the above sentiment; the Colts with Peyton Manning are an offensive juggernaut. The Bucs secondary played well but the front four have to do a better job of pressuring the quarterback. A good number of the Bucs sacks or qb hurries have been because the secondary is blanketing receivers, not because the defensive lineman have been getting to the quarterback quickly enough. The key to the Tampa Two is the ability of the front four to get to the quarterback, something which the Bucs have struggled with this season. Gaines Adams has been a dissapointment and is clearly not ready to play in the NFL. He has all the physical skills to be a top tier defensive end but looks uncomfortable playing the position.

If the Bucs pass rush is hurting then the run game is on life support. The Bucs only chance to beat the Colts the was to establish the run, something which they failed miserably to do. The first four runs all lost yards and the Bucs finished the game with only 17 yards rushing. On the flip side the passing game was efficient (Garcia went 18 for 23) but with Michael Pittman now out 2 months the Bucs are going to be in trouble if they can't find a run game (or a runningback).

PANTHERS 16, AINTS 13
If the Bucs have any competition for the division title it will come from Carolina, although right now the Panthers don't look like much in the way of competition. I don't believe David Carr is a big step down from Jake Delhomme but at least Delhomme was on the same wave length with Steve Smith. Smith is the Panthers only offensive weapon, but he has struggled since Carr became the starter.

TENNESSEE 20, ATLANTA 13
The Falcons had a very good chance to win this game at the end but as has been their MO this season they failed to capitalize on the opporutnity. With about 2 minutes left in the game the Falcons had the ball in the red zone and couldn't score a touchdown to tie the game. Bringing in Byron Leftwich at the end was a horrible move and if I didn't know better I would have thought Petrino was trying to throw the game. On the bright side, this game gave me a lot more faith in the Bucs chances against the Titans next week.

Gameday: Bucs @ Colts

2007-10-07T12:41:00.000-04:00

My Sticks preview is here.

If Addai is really out then I like the Bucs to upset the Colts. Both teams have been bitten by the injury bug but the Colts have been hit harder, especially on defense. With Bob Sanders (and to a lesser extent Rob Morris) out the Colts will have a difficult time stopping the run. Hopefully Gruden will not repeat his mistake from New York last season when he forced the pass when it was to his advantage to run the ball. I like Graham up the middle and then Garcia working off the playaction to Galloway deep.

I'm in Arizona today so my access to the internet (and possibly the game) will be limited. Might have to wait until late tomorrow for a recap.

Better Know a Potential Draft Pick

2007-10-03T20:29:00.000-04:00

Facing the very likely possibility that Cadillac Williams' career could be over, I figured now would be a good time to introduce a new gimmick here at the BBB. Throughout the season we will take a look at college players playing a position of need for the Bucs. First up, runningbacks which it now looks very likely to Bucs will have to draft on the first day.

DARREN MCFADDEN (Arkansas)
164.3 yds/game, 6 TDs
The manbeast. If you haven't seen McFadden yet you are missing out on one of the best players in college football. He's a lock for a top five draft pick which would put him out of the Bucs reach as well as they have been playing.

STEVE SLATON (West Virginia)
111.2 yds/game, 9 TDs
Overlooked coming out of high school, Slaton fell to West Virginia. An undersized runner with an extra gear Slaton can also catch balls out of the backfield. Slaton's 54 yard performance against South Florida is a little discomforting but then again he was limited to 13 carries for 4.2 yards a carry against a very good Bulls defense.

JONATHAN STEWART(Oregon)
124 yds/game, 5 TDs
RYAN TORAIN (Arizona St)
102 yds/game, 5 TDs
I have not seen either on of these guys play but Phil Steele is high on them and rates them as the #3 and #4 backs in college football. Maybe if ESPN has decided to play the Cal/Oregon game on the east coast I would have some more info on Stewart. Torain, good luck getting on the east coast until you play USC and their shut down defense.

JUSTIN FORSETT (Cal)
117 yds/game, 9 TDs
The only Pac-10 back I've seen, Forsett is another speedster. Impressively, Forsett had his best game (156 yards, 1 TD) against a very good defense in Tennessee.

MIKE HART (Michigan)
152.2 yds/game, 7 TDs
An Emmitt Smith type back, Hart has excelled despite less than impressive physical attributes. Not the fastest back or the biggest, Hart has exceptional vision and patience. He has been Michigan's only offensive weapon and leads the NCAA in carries by a signifact margin, 157 to the next closest of 139.

RAY RICE (Rutgers)
132 yds/game, 9 TDs
A similar back to Hart, Rice has been the engine for the Rutgers resurgence machine. He is a better athlete than Hart and, again, very similar to Emmitt Smith.

With the obvious exception of McFadden there is no back that jumps out at me as an obvious selection. I was high on Slaton until his game against USF, although USF was very lucky to get out to an early lead in that game thus negating Slaton as a back. Whomever the Bucs potentially select I hope they draft a back who can catch the ball. Pittman has done a good job filling in obvious passing downs but the Bucs need a back who stay on the field no matter the down. In Gruden's west coast offense it would help if the back could be involved in the passing game.

There might be a few guys I add onto this list, and a few I take off as the season progresses. Additionally, I will take a look at other positions in the college football realm.

NFC South Recap

2007-10-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

TAMPA BAY: 3-1 (DIV) 2-0
CAROLINA: 2-2 (DIV) 1-1
NAWLEANS: 0-3 (DIV) 0-1
ATLANTA: 1-3 (DIV) 0-1

One last word on the Caddy Tragedy (seeing as how I've nearly exhausted the subject); as interchangable as backs are I have serious doubts about the Michael Pittman/Earnest Graham combo. Pittman has had multiple opportunities to establish himself as the primary runner and except for the Super Bowl game has never had a memorable performance. Pittman really excels when you don't ask much of him, i.e. when he was getting spot duty as the third down back and spelling Caddy. I imagine Pittman will see an increased workload but will continue to be the secondary back. Earnest Graham is somewhat of a question mark for me seeing as how until this season the only time he received any carries was in the exhibtion season. Graham looked good two weeks ago but failed to punch the ball in from the goal line when given four attempts on Sunday.

ATLANTA 26, HOUSTON 16
It appears the biggest change from the Mora Regime to the Petrino Regime is that Atlanta has gone from a rushing team to a passing team. Petrino has managed to make Joey Harrington into a servicable quarterback and those Atlanta receivers who were supposedly holding Vick back all of the sudden look good. Speaking of Vick, the whole dog-fighting charges may have been a blessing in disguise for Petrino. It gave him a valid excuse to get rid of their formerly most popular player without either paying Vick any money or incurring the wrath of the fans. Not just that but Petrino is basically given a one year pass no matter how badly the team sucks seeing as how they lost their "star player."

Caddy, Petitgout Out for Season

2007-10-01T18:12:00.001-04:00

In case you haven't heard both Cadillac Williams and Luke Petitgout are out with season-ending knee injuries. Which, to use the vernacular of our times, sucks.

Caddy appears to have suffered a torn patellar tendon, which has much the same recovery time as an ACL tear. Which means Caddy could come back next season but he would not be fully recovered. It would likely take two years for Caddy to get back to 100 percent. Which means the Bucs should highly consider drafting a back in next year's draft (more on that later in the week).

As for the debate over which player is the bigger loss, I fully agree with BucStats on this one. Runningbacks (and linebackers) are a dime a dozen in the NFL. Back and backers are the most common athlete types. Every year we get a story about some late-drafted back (Willie Parker, Terrell Davis) who blows up when given the chance. At the other end of the spectrum are top tier left tackles who are one of the rarest types in the NFL, 300 pounders with cat like quickness and agility (Michael Lewis what what!). Petitgout falls into that category and Donald Penn, who is normally the third string left tackle, is a poor replacement.

Gameday: Bucs @ Panthers

2007-09-30T02:54:00.000-04:00

Sticks preview can be found here.

A Bucs win is desperately needed today, if for no other reason to protect my sanity. A Gators loss coupled with a Bucs loss is that rare occurence which sucks any pleasure from my weekend.

The first round of games is suckastic, NFL Sunday Ticket has no reedeming quality to me right now. By the way, Joey Harrington has 89 yards and a touchdown through one quarter. All that talk about the Falcon's receivers putrid play might have had more to do with Vick than anything else.

INJURY REPORT
Bucs
Inactive: G Dan Buenning, T Anthony Davis, CB Brian Kelly, QB Luke McCown, DT Ryan Sims, LB Jeremiah Trotter
Panthers
Inactive: QB Jake Delhomme, DE Charles Johnson, G Evan Mathis, LB Dan Morgan, LD Adam Seward

Ouch, Brian Kelly is a last minute scratch. Kelly is very good player but you never know if he'll be healthy enough to play. Phillip Buchanon has stepped in nicely for Kelly but the Bucs should storngly consider picking up a corner next offseason.

Great move by the Bucs, as the entire team goes across the field to pay respect to a Cadillac Williams who is likely done for the season with what looks like an ACL tear. I hope I'm wrong but Earnest Graham will have to step up.

BUCS 20, PANTHERS 7
You can find my analysis at the Sticks.

POSITIVES
+ defense, this was the third strait game the Bucs shutout their opponent though halftime
+ Ike Hilliard, coming out of no where with 114 yards, experience has won over youth in the receiving corp
+ Phillip Buchanon, who helped shut down Steve Smith today
+ the Bucs didn't have a penalty until the 4th quarter when they purposely took a delay of game to punt
+ firm #1 in the division, no question Bucs are team to beat in NFC South

NEGATIVES
- Cadillac, who is at the very least out for awhile
- Luke Petitgout, see above
- Gaines Adams, sure he's a rookie but teams are running plays to his side

BucStats loses a mancrush, Panthers gain a quarterback

2007-09-27T22:10:00.000-04:00

First, a moment of silence for Scott who has lost his most favoritist player EVAH. Rookie safety Sabby Piscitelli is out for the season with a broken right foot. Which is a huge blow to the special teams.....and that's about it. The Great White Hype has been put on hold for another year.

BF's FOREVAH

Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme is also likely out for Sunday's game, which should be a blessing in disguise for Carolina fans. The Carolina offense isn't all that complicated, all the quarterback does is toss it someplace close to Steve Smith and try not to get sacked. Hell, Brian Griese could do that. Stepping in for Delhomme is the highly underrated David Carr, who is still shell shocked from his experience in Houston. Behind the Texans offensive line (or lack thereof) Carr led the league in sacks during his tenure in Houston (249 in 5 years). If you give Carr time he will find open receivers downfield, but if you can get pressure on Carr he becomes a turnover machine. Fortunate for Panthers fans the Bucs have not been able to generate any thing resembling a pass rush through the first three games (note to Gaines Adams, this would be a good game to finally step up). Sunday is shaping up to be the first game in a long career in Carolina for Carr.

Recapping the NFC South

2007-09-24T22:30:00.000-04:00

TAMPA BAY: 2-1 (DIV) 1-0
CAROLINA: 2-1 (DIV) 1-0
NAWLEANS: 0-3 (DIV) 0-1
ATLANTA: 0-3 (DIV) 0-1

Following up on yesterday's game Gruden has declared there is no tail back controversy to worry about. Which is pure foolishness on Gruden's part. It is obvious that Caddy's ribs have been bothering him and giving Cadillac 20 carries a game isn't going to do anything to improve the injury situation. Why not give Earnest Graham some carries to spell Caddy? At the very least Graham should be worked into a few series in the next game to see if he can replicate his performance from Sunday. I've been a Gruden fan but it is this kind of stubborness which makes it so hard to root for the guy.

CAROLINA 27, ATLANTA 20
DeAngelo Hall pulled a Milton Bradley yesterday and single-handedly lost the game for his team. The well written Atlanta blog BnB breaks it down, and Atlanta's dedication to drafting Hokies may not have been such a good idea. Worth noting is how easily the previously maligned Joey Harrington passed against the Panthers defense, ringing up 351 yards. This game was close much of the way until the Hall Breakdown essentially gave the Panthers the lead.

TENNESSEE 31, NEW ORLEANS 14
Just because it has to be mentioned the NFC South looks fairly atrocious this season. It was just Saturday I was telling my dad on our way back from watching UVA somehow beat Georgia Tech how good the division had become. My basic argument was that with four good coaches for the first time in the history of the division this was bound to become the most competitive division in football. The NFL has become a coach's league, just look at the resurgence of the NFC East after the additions of Joe Gibbs, Tom Coughlin and Bill Parcells after Andy Reid had been able to run away with division title after division title. The NFC South looks like one of the more competitive divisions in the NFL but not because the teams are any good.

By the way, New Orleans sucks.

Gameday: Rams @ Bucs

2007-09-23T11:26:00.001-04:00

My Sticks preview can be found here.

The Bucs have an advantage over the Rams, especially when we take a lot at the numbers for both teams. But this has trap game written all over for the Bucs, as the Bucs are coming off a big division against the Saints last week and the team may already be looking ahead to the trip to Carolina next week.

INJURY REPORT
(BUCS)
Questionable- CB Brian Kelly, WR Ike Hilliard, DE Patrick Chukwurah
Kelly and Hilliard will likely play while Chukwurah remains a question mark. As this is the best receiving corps the Bucs will have faced so far Kelly's return to the field will be crucial in shutting down Issac Bruce and/or Torry Holt.

(RAMS)
Out- LT Orlando Pace, C Ritchie Incognito, CB Tye Hill
Ouch. Pace and Incognito are two of the better lineman in the game and the Bucs defensive line might actually get a pass rush going with these two guys out. Hill's absence should guarantee another good week for Joey Galloway.

RECAP: Bucs 24, Rams 3
Great job by the defense but it looks like we have the beginning of a running back controversy with a strong closing performance by Earnest Graham, formerly Mr. August for the Bucs. Cadillac Williams' rib injury took him out of the game Graham took full advantage. I will break down the game later but for now let's see what Gruden has to say about Caddy, who has typically been Gruden's guy.

POSITIVES
+ Phillip Buchanon with a point saving interception and what should have been a fumble recovery for a TD
+ Barrett Ruud leading the team in tackles for the third strait game
+ Earnest Graham with 75 yards and 2 TDs on 8 carries
+ the defense holding the Greatest Show on Turf to 3 points

NEGATIVES
- Cadillac Williams was less than impressive, 12 carries for 46 yards a TD and a fumble
- @ what point can we label Michael Clayton a bust? Only one catch and he fumbled that.
- taunting call on Ronde Barber
- what was Phillips thinking when he tried to run the interception out of the endzone?

STIRRUPS IN '08!

2007-09-20T23:17:00.000-04:00

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN! MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR YOUR COMMUNITY! DO YOU LOVE FREEDOM, AMERICAN PIE AND MACHINE GUNS! THEN JOIN THE CAMPAIGN!

AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!

Times Fishes for Story, Catches Nothing But Cliches

2007-09-18T22:27:00.000-04:00

Leave it to the St Pete Times to fabricate a story where none exists. From the ink rag which brought us proprioception, we now have Brooks-gate.

Background: After the Bucs win, the Times Bucs blog ran a story entitled "Is Brooks miffed?" In it the Times accused Brooks of harboring some deep seeded hatred against the franchise based on nothing more than a sports writer's hunch and a smile from Monte. Never mind the Bucs had just come off a win due in part to a great performance by Brooks.

Kudos to the Times though, much like the Philly papers they know how to play down to the lowest common denominator of fan. For what I guess are the same reasons certain people find Larry the Cable Guy funny there are fans who believe Gruden's only goal in life is to ostracize Brooks from the Bucs. These same people ignore that Brooks has lost a step, and can not play as many passing downs as he once did. And the Times, nevers ones to shy away from a little yellow journalism, play up the "Brooks miffed" angle in a desperate ploy to increase readership.

Is Brooks upset? Of course, no player ever wants to come off the field willingly. But Brooks is also a professional, and understands that he has to put the franchise before himself. There is no story here, only a desperate newspaper's shameless bid to save themselves from the rising tide that is reader indifference.

Recapping the NFC South

2007-09-17T09:06:00.000-04:00

Tampa Bay: 1-1 (DIV) 1-0
Carolina: 1-1 (DIV) 0-0
Atlanta: 0-2 (DIV) 0-0
New Orleans: 0-2 (DIV) 0-1

One more thing about yesterday's game which I found interesting. The Football Outsiders DVOA Projections predicted that Tampa Bay would win the NFC South while New Orleans would finish last. And while the FO guys did everything they could to explain why that would not happen yesterdays results would indicate the numbers don't lie. Quite simply, the Bucs are for real and opposing teams underestimate them at their own risk.

HOUSTON 34, CAROLINA 21
Chalk the Panthers loss up to a Texans team which has sleeper written all over them, and much like the Bucs will finish better than most people expect. The Swashbuckling Steve Smith notched three touchdowns and 153 receiving yards but the rest of the Panthers offense failed to show up, which is nothing new for Carolina. What is surprsing was the defense giving up 34 points to what had been an inept Texans offense. Maybe it wasn't such a bright idea for the Falcons to trade away Matt Schaub (227 yards, 2 TDs).

JACKSONVILLE 13, ATLANTA 7
I don't know if the Falcons defense is that good or the Jaguars offense is that bad but one thing is for sure, Joey Harrington is not the answer at quarterback for Atlanta. Harrington was sacked seven times and Warrick Dunn scored the first and only touchdown of the season for a Falcons team which appears ready to hit rock bottom. Carolina travels to Atlanta next weekend in what should be a rebound game for the Panthers.

Bucs 31, Saints 14

2007-09-16T20:02:00.000-04:00

Most people expected complete domination of one team over another today. What was unexpected was that Tampa Bay was the team doing the dominating.

At no point today did New Orleans look like they could win the game. And while the Garcia to Galloway Connection (135 yards, 2 TDs) put points on the board it was the defense which I found impressive. This was the swarming, playmaking defense we have come to expect in Tampa Bay. One of the hallmarks of the Bucs defense has been their tackling and the way defenders swarmed to the ball. These hallmarks were the backbone the defense's "bend but don't break" philosophy, which was missing last year. But through just two games it is obvious this team is playing with more fire as evidenced by the number of defenders flying to the ball. Barrett Ruud in particular had an outstanding game, forcing two fumbles and recovering one of those while also totaling a team high nine tackles. No question Ruud was the MVP of today's game, even more so than Joey Galloway and his two touchdowns.

POSITIVES
+ Ruud, who as I mentioned above was all over the place
+ Garcia to Galloway, almost half of Garcia's 444 passing yards have gone to Galloway (207)
+ the rest of the defense: Derrick Brooks, Cato June, Ronde Barber, Phillip Buchanon, Jermaine Phillips all looked good
+ Cadillac, who picked up 2 TDs, more than he had all last season
+ that block downfield by Michael Clayton which leveled the Saints safety and freed Galloway to get to the endzone
+ 110 degree heat, which seemed to affect the Saints more so than the Bucs
+ #1 in the NFC South!

NEGATIVES
- O-line run blocking, sure the Saints have a good d-line but the Bucs invested a good deal in their o-line to open up holes for Caddy. Today they struggled to do that
- Pass rush, which is still not up to par for the Bucs. The Hawks and Saints have done a good job of taking Gaines Adams out of the game but once Adams gets comfortable this defense will be scary
- Garcia diving head-first to gain a first down when he just suffered a concussion last week

Overall this game will be a great boost on confidence for a young team heading into a difficult part of their schedule (St Louis, @ Carolina, @ Indy). To be honest, I did not think the Bucs would win today, not because I don't believe the team is talented enough but because I thought they needed more time for both the offensive and defensive units to gel. It's only one game but if they can improve on today's performance (which they should) this is a team which can compete for the division title with Carolina. It's 2005 all over again!

The next three weeks (St Louis, @ Carolina, @ Indy) will be important tests for this team. Obviously the Panthers and the Colts will be tough and the Bucs would be lucky to come away from that road trip with one win. But the Rams are a very good offensive team who are better than their 0-2 record would indicate. The Bucs defense will need to play with the same passion they brought today if the team expects to win next week.

Rambling Predictions

2007-09-12T22:30:00.000-04:00

A bit belated but here is my NFC South Preview, in the order of how the teams will finish...

CAROLINA
I predicted Carolina to win the NFC South back in July, and after one week I see nothing to shake me from that prediction (although it should be noted I also predicted Vick would NOT be suspended and we all know how that turned out). The NFC has some of the best coaching in a coach’s league, which makes it one of the more difficult divisions in the league. I’m still not sold on their offense, as good as Steve Smith is Jake Delhomme is the definition of running hot and cold, but the defense should be up to snuff. I had to go back and check but the Panthers had the 7th rated (by yards) defense in the NFL last season, and to be honest I figured it would be much worse than that. The Panthers have a hole at safety with Mike Minter retiring and as the Bucs can attest to last season the last thing you want is a weak secondary. But then again the Panthers had no problem holding Marc Bulger to 167 passing yards on 42 attempts.

I have no idea what to make of Jake Delhomme, the guy vacillates between Favre-in-his-prime-esque and the current interception prone version of Favre. Considering how good their defense is it makes a good deal of sense to follow Chicago’s game plan from last season and give 40 carries a game to their two backs, DeShaun Foster and Deangelo Williams. Instead I get the feeling John Fox will continue to put the ball in Delhomme’s hands and hope Steve Smith can make enough plays for an inexperienced receiving corp. I really like the quarterback backing up Delhomme and I don’t look forward to the day Carr becomes the starter. Carr’s a guy who’s been sold short but Peyton Manning would look like Eli Manning if he had to play behind that offensive line in Houston.

NEW ORLEANS
Everyone had fallen in love with the Saints in the preseason ignoring their fairly obvious weaknesses on the defense. Last year the Saints were able to sneak up on people but this year every team in the NFC is going to spend more time looking for ways to beat the Saints. As the Colts proved last week the Saints secondary, especially the corners, is the best way to do that. With the exception of the defensive line the Saints defense is largely cast offs from other teams or young guys still struggling to make an impact. Last season, the leads given by the offense and the pass rush from the d-line covered up the deficiencies in the back seven. This year, I expect teams to pass early and often against the Saints.

As bad as the defense may be the offense should make sure this team competes for the division title. I think people are underselling the Joe Horn loss, sure he was getting older and slipping in skills but great offenses (i.e. Rams with Isaac Bruce or Vikings with Chris Carter) keep that veteran receiver to help take the pressure off of the younger guys.

TAMPA BAY
We’ve learned a few things from the Boston DUI fiasco. First, GHB is a steroid (who knew?). Second, Boston is an idiot (we knew). Third, Bruce Allen is a liar (nothing new). Bruce Allen claiming he is releasing Boston for injury reasons is about as hollow as Jessica Simpsons acting career. If you released players for injuries reasons Chris Simms would be a Falcon right now. The Bucs released Boston 'cause he is being prosecuted for a DUI.

And speaking of negligent driving what the hell is going on with Donald Penn? Between Penn, Boston and Stevens the Bucs may want to offer a remedial driving course.

ATLANTA
It will be a dogfight between the top three teams with Atlanta at the bottom of the dog pile considering Vick has been sent to the dog house. Woof.

Atlanta is going to truly horrendous unless they can get some semblence of a running game going. The Falcson haven't had a passing game since Vick came to town but at least with Ron Mexico opposing defenses had to worry about the possibility of the quarterback run. The Falcons used the shotgun option (for lack of a better term) extensively and with a good deal of success last season. With Joey Harrington opposing defenses have nothing to worry about.

Although on the bright side the Falcons defense could be much improved considering all the young talent they have added to the team. Throw in the your defense and the Petrino coaching up the offense and the Falcons have the potential to be a dangerous team in two years. Assuming they can find a quarterback.

Hawks 20, Bucs 6

2007-09-09T22:04:00.000-04:00

Different quarterback, same offensive results for the Bucs. Although for once the quarterback is not to blame. Once again we saw Cadillac pulled out of the game early because of injuries (ribs) and the Bucs were forced to piece meal together a rushing attack out of Michael Pittman and Earnest Graham. When Cadillac was in the game the Bucs had a considerable amount of difficulty getting the running game going although much of that blame appeared to fall on the o-line's shoulders. Bottom line, if Cadillac is going to be nothing more than china doll in a Bucs uniform the franchise may want to draft a back to split carries with Caddy, a la Julius Jones and Marion Barber in Dallas.

Silver lining to today's game, Jeff Garcia is going to be a hell of a quarterback for the Bucs. He was consistently able to find open receivers down the field, somthing which doesn't sound that toughuntil you take into account some of the Bucs recent quarterbacks. Plus, Garcia had that certain je ne sais quoi on the field. When other quarterbacks would have been flustered playing from behind Garcia appeared confident in the team's abilities up until the last few minutes of the game. Additionally, Garcia's ability to buy time with his feet will lead to more plays even if it does lead to a better chance Garcia will be injured (as we discovered today).

The defense seemed to play with more passion, especially early in the game which can be tough when you have flown across the country to play. The new assistant coaches must be doing their jobs since this was the swarming Bucs defense we are used to seeing. Give them credit, this is a damn good Seattle offense which will likely average someplace well in the area of 30 points a game. Throw in the number of new starters on the defense and by mid-season we can expect good things from this defense.

I've written it before, this team will struggle coming out of the gates. They are not only breaking in a number of new starters on the defense but they have several key new starters on the offense and it will take the team some time to gel. It doesn't help that many of the Bucs most difficult games come in the beginning of the season. So don't sell this team off if they start out with a losing record through their six or seven games, they should rebound down the stretch.

Let's Get This Started

2007-09-08T23:54:00.000-04:00

CAUTION: SUPER POST COMING UP. STRAP YOURSELF IN, PREPARE YOURSELF AND TELL YOUR LOVED ONES YOU.....UHMMM, LOVE THEM.

As you have already noticed the layout has been changed a bit. Get used to it. Besides being visually superior the new design features a constantly updated Buc News (for when I'm on sabbatical) and all kinds of Bucs Bits. And the excitement doesn't end there, I'm by no means done with the designing, which means expect new shiny things to come. But on to real news...

It's gameday bitches, that special time of the year when we consume massive amounts of buffalo wings and ignore loved ones. Our Bucs open the season against the Seattle ~~Supersonics~~ Seahawks, a team which figures to be much improved this season. But before a preview of the game.....

Go check the Sticks preview for THE BUCCANEER 2007 SEASON. Many gracias's to both Scott from BucStats and John from BoltsMag for their contributions to THE BUCCANEERS 2007 PREVIEW, sure to be THE definitive preview you will find. In fact, it's so definitive it had to be broken into two parts, PART ONE and PART TWO. Read them, and be wiser for the experience.

THE SEASON~
It should come as little surprise but I like the Bucs to rebound this season. Let's rundown the checklist.....
+ Jeff Garcia is better than Bruce Gradkowski
+ Monte has new weapons on the defense
+ This is the best o-line in the Gruden era
+ Easy schedule
+ Gruden's job is on the line

I've predicted the Bucs to rack up 9 wins which may be a bit overambitious. But factor in the above mentioned factors and you understand where I'm coming from. I lost count of the number of times last season Joey Galloway was wide open last season only to be underthrown by Gradkowski. Garcia should not only correct those sins but will provide a degree of leadership not available since Brad Johnson left town. Throw in the new additions on the defense (Gaines Adams, Cato June, Kevin Carter, Sabby Piscitelli, Tenard Jackson, Patrick Chuckwara, Greg Peterson) and the additions to the o-line (Luke Petigout, Arron Sears) and the Bucs have the most talent since they made their run to the Super Bowl.

People are throwing Cadillac Williams under the bus this season, which is plain foolishness considering Caddy finally has a decent o-line and a competent quarterback. Sure, everyone knows Gruden loves to the throw the ball but what Gruden is secretly in love with is running the ball. Gruden and company have been beefing up the o-line the past three seasons, and expect Cadillac to be the primary beneficiary of the beefcake line.

And don't underestimate the pressure on Gruden to win. Gruden's best performances have come under pressure, two years ago his job was on the line and all he did was win the NFC South again. And the pressure, not to mention the expectations placed on the team by the media, was through the roof during Gruden's inaugural season. We all remember how that turned out.

THIS GAME~
The Bucs will lose today. Which seems like an odd thing to write after I ranted about how good the Bucs will be. But keep in mind that the Hawks are a very good team and the Bucs have to travel all the way across the country. Sure the Bucs are six point underdogs and are being underestimated.....but so are the Hawks. Shaun Alexander should rebound this year and the Matt Hasselbeck should gel with his relatively new group of receivers.

Garcia is not yet 100% comfortbale with the offense, which is to be expected. Sure Garcia is comrfortable with Gruden's play-calling (being west coast and all) but from what I've seen in this exhibition season Garcia still looks out of synch with the rest of the players on the offense. And considering how tough the beginning of the Bucs schedule is they could very well end up with a losing record in their first 5 games. But fear not, the last two months of the Bucs schedule possess little difficulty and should ensure our Bucs finish on a strong note.

Predictions~
yours truly: 9-7
Scott: 8-8
Roy Cummings: 7-9
Ira Kaufman: 6-10
Anwar Richardson: 6-10
and more to come as i find them....

Bring It~
Consider the gauntlet thrown, boys and girls. BucStats, Buccaneer Harbour, Buc 'Em, Red Tide News, Pewter Plank, Buccaneers Locker, Red Tide News, every other contender for the throne......you are all on notice. You all got off easy last season, I had other distractions. But this season I'm back with a vengence and ready to lay claim to the title "BEST BUCS BLOG."

Welcome Jeremiah Trotter

2007-09-04T22:59:00.000-04:00

Consider me a fan of the Jeremiah Trotter signing, especially since the Bucs linebackers could use some veteran leadership to replace Shelton Quarles. Trotter was a leader on the Eagles, even Donovan McNabb questioned his release. Although to be fair Trotter was cut because he had become a liability in pass coverage, which is why he will remain at most number two on the depth chart, behind Barrett Ruud. What Trotter gives the Bucs, in addition to even more veteran leadership, is linebacker who can play the middle backer in the 3-4 and help stuff the running game. This is the deepest linebacker corp the Bucs have had......well, ever.

On a completely seperate note, what the hell happened to the David Boston drug test? I assume everyone remembers the Boston/DUI stop/Superman video from about two weeks ago? The test results were supposed to be released a week ago but I have not heard a peep about the results. I thought maybe it was just me but the Pewter Report message board is asking the same question. If Boston is innocent then the Times and Tribune should give equal time to that story that they did to the DUI stop.

(ToH to Johnnie for the pic)

You're SOOOO Cut

2007-09-02T11:02:00.000-04:00

The Bucs announced their final round of cuts yesterday and surprisingly Chris Simms made the roster. Gruden made the unusual move to keep four quarterbacks thus proving the notion that Gruden has never met a quarterback he didn't like. Although Simms potential (he's only 27) and higher contract (2 yrs, $7 M) likely played into the decision. Supposedly Atlanta, which only kept two quarterbacks, was eyeing Simms and Byron Leftwich. If for no other reason holding onto Simms helps keep the Bucs audibles and play calling out of the Falcons' proverbial hands.

Since the Bucs are keeping Simms they only have room for four runningbacks, which means promising rookie Kenneth Darby was cut. Which leaves the Bucs with precious little depth at the position. Keeping the versatile Michael Pittman helps but Gruden is likely hoping Darby is not claimed by another team and the Bucs can place him on their practice squad.

Who gets to return kick now that Mark Jones, the worst player in Madden, has been cut? The updated Bucs depth chart leaves the kr/pr positions empty. Pittman has returned kickoffs before and Joey Galloway could pull punt returns duties if push comes to shove, but the Bucs desperately need a to get a kick return specialist.

On defense three cuts surprise me: Ellis Wyms, Jamie Winborn and Alan Zemaitis. Wyms was a starter last season but depth at the undertackle position pushed Wyms out. Winborn had the same problem as Wyms, despite showing potential depth at the linebacker position forced the Bucs to cut Winborn. And a forth round draft pick from last season Zemaitis never really caught on with the defense.

And Now A Break From Your Regularly Scheduled Programming....

2007-08-31T10:27:00.000-04:00

If there's one thing I enjoy more than the NFL it's college football, although that might have more to do with my rooting interests (Gators and Bucs) lately. The NCAA has an overwhelming rootability (might not be a real word) to it which the NFL lacks. Each game holds so much more importance and the players have so much more passion compared to the NFL. The NFL has become a collection of free-lancing assassains offering their services to the highest bidder. So with the NCAA kickoff weekend beginning tomorrow I present previews of the Sunshines State's college football programs....

University of Florida
Florida State University
University of Miami
University of South Florida

And for what it's worth I will have recap of last nite's game later, much later, like tomorrow.

Bucs Cut Players We've Never Heard Of

2007-08-28T20:36:00.000-04:00

The Bucs released nine players yesterday which means they have to trim two more of the roster by today to get down to 75. And chances are the two other players cut are no names as well.

The final round of cuts comes Saturday, which promises to be much more interesting. Teams will have to reduce their rosters down to 53 by then, and Chris Simms' job hangs in the balance.

Exhibition Game 3: Recap

2007-08-27T18:02:00.000-04:00

No question about it, Cato June made the play of the game stripping the ball from a Phins receiver and running it in for a touchdown. June's play was positively Derrick Brooks-esque. If June keeps playing at this level he will be THE steal of the NFL offseason.

I still don't see think Jeff Garcia is 100% comfortable with the offense, which is to be expected. While the interception wasn't completely his fault it was still a poor pass and Garcia has enough experience to know NOT to throw that pass. While the offense has plenty of potential it will take them a few more weeks to gel.

Speaking Brooks before he looks like he still has it. During a goal line stand Brooks did a nice job of getting into the backfield to hit Ronnie Brown. This defense badly needed playmakers, guys like Brooks who can make those special game changing plays, and the additions of June and Gaines Adams should get the Bucs closer to the level the defense was on just a few years ago.

For an exhibition game there were a good number of trick plays run. The Phins scored on a statue of liberty play, the Bucs ran a double reverse with David Boston, and the Bucs even faked a field goal and had Matt Bryant pooch punt the ball. My guess is the trick plays were more for the player's amusement than any greater analysis purpose.

Finally, we have a Michael Clayton signing. Clayton had two catches for 24 yards and played with some fire, fightin for yards after the catch. With Maurice Stovall's disappearing act Clayton looks like he locked up the second receiver battle.

The Bucs startinig defense struggled against Ronnie Brown but that is hardly new. The Bucs undersized defense has historically struggled against power running attacks. The Tampa Two defense is designed to stop the west coast passing offense and has limited success against running teams.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record but Garcia to Joey Galloway is going to be money this season. In a very similar play from last week's game Garcia's ability to scramble gave Galloway extra time to get open in the end zone. Last week it was Boston who made the catch but Galloway's speed and awareness will get him open consistently.

Finally, ~~Chris Simms did not play. Simms has still not played a single play this exhibition season.~~ My mistake, Simms did attempt one pass but it was incomplete.

The David Boston Video

2007-08-26T15:10:00.000-04:00

So I just finished watching the video of Davis Boston's sobriety tests and there is a whole lot to digest. It seems pretty damn likely to me that Boston is inebriated some how, most likely on pain killers or grass, (as the kids call it). After all he was found asleep at the wheel of his car at an intersection with the motor running. Sure that happens all the time in Florida, but the drivers are typically about 60 years older than Boston and have hearing aids and pacemakers.

As was pointed out in the Swamp, the cop who administered the sobriety test was a bit of a dick. Despite constantly referring to Boston as a professional athlete and asking him about training camp at the end the cop says he wants to protect Boston's privacy. This after a series of smart ass questions formt he cop about if Boston went to college, as though it takes a college education to repeat the alphabet.

For the record Boston passed all the sobriety tests including the breathalyzer at the station. At no point did he test positive for alcohol, although I am assuming the cops drew blood and will test that for other substances.

It's amazing how quickly this video made it onto the internet. The arrest happend at about 8 pm Thursday and by Saturday morning it was on the internet. SportsCenter/OTL had a special this morning on how social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have gotten college athletes in trouble for the kind of shenanigans we know go on (hazing, under age drinking) but when they come to the light of day the administration is forced to punish. It's kinda scary we are getting to the point as a society where everything we do is recorded and played back on the internet, and it is just magnified for someone already living in a fish bowl like Boston.

Hate to Say We Told You So

2007-08-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

David Boston was arrested for a DUI last night. Raise your hand if you are surprised.

Nobody? Yeah. me neither.

That's what I thought.

cross posted at Draft Day Suit

So Much for the David Boston Reclamation Project

2007-08-24T13:39:00.000-04:00

David Boston arrested early last night on DUI charges.

I gotta run but go check out BucStats for all the juicy details and dripping sarcasm. Even if he occasionally gets his facts a but confused.

Comparing Apples to Oranges

2007-08-23T15:08:00.000-04:00

The Sticks of Fire (#1 blog in da TB hood G) is running a poll asking which team will be better this year, the Bucs or the USF Bulls. The results are not encouraging for our beloved Bucs, who are getting smoked. Ignoring that there is no reliable statistical measurement to compare the two teams (winning percentage does about the best job but is still shaky) I will instead use this space to praise The Juggernaut To Be That Is The USF Bulls.

The Bulls are poised to pull a Rutgers type run this year in the Big East. Jim Leavitt has done an absolutely amazing job building this team from literally nothing, as the Bulls football program did not even exist 12 years ago. The depth and quality of high school recruits coming out of the Sunshine State is outstanding, Florida is not only able to sustain three top tier football programs but has lifted both the USF and (oddly enough) Rutgers programs. If the Bulls can get past their early season game at Auburn, they will have a chance to run the table with WVU and Louisville coming to Tampa.

On a somewhat parallel note, I will be writing a good deal for the Stick this season. You will be able to find Bucs game previews in addition to posts on other goings ons, such as the Wide Web of (Tampa Bay) Sports.

Ruud Takes Vacation From Himself

2007-08-22T15:49:00.000-04:00

If there have been any worries about Barrut Ruud assuming the Mike position full time, I can safely dismiss those worries after witnessing Ruud's mustache. In the grand ol' tradition of Tom Selleck, Teddy Roosevelt and Salvador Dali it appears Ruud sported the 'stache for much of training camp before finally bowing to the societal norms of lesser people. If I have one plea this season to Ruud hear me now, GROW IT OUT! LET YOUR LIP HAIR BE FREE!!!

(And one million Best Bucs points to Ruud for the obscure Seinfeld reference.)

Fantasy Take: Drafting a Buc

2007-08-21T18:15:00.000-04:00

With the exception of a few of their receivers drafting a Buc the last few seasons has been a really bad idea. Chances are if you had Cadillac Williams last season he was nothing more than an anchor dragging your team down. But things appear to be different this season, Jeff Garcia has come to save the day and the offensive line should be the best of the Gruden era. Let's take a look at the Bucs players worth considering for your fantasy team (last season's stats are listed)....

Cadillac Williams - 798 rushing yards, 1 TD
ESPN.com has Williams going off the board on average somewhere in the middle of the fourth round (44th overall) which seems a bit late based on some of the drafts I've seen. After a stellar rookie season it appears a good number of people are backing off Cadillac following his sophomore slump. And with good reason, Cadillac has struggled with injuries (although which backs haven't?) and he is unlikely to supplant Michael Pittman as the team's third down back.

That being written, Cadillac has a good deal of value especially if you can get him in the late third or fourth round. I subscribe to the theory that says nothing is more valuable to a fantasy team than a good running back, and I believe we will see more of the rookie Cadillac than the sophomore Cadillac this season. While having a competent quarterback will certainly help, the upgraded line should do the most good for Cadillac (although the apparent loss of Arron Sears is a setback). Additionally, not having touchdown vulture Mike Alstott around should bump up Cadillac's touchdown numbers.

Joey Galloway - 1057 receiving yards, 7 TDs
Old Man Galloway has been the Bucs most successful fantasy contributor and should continue to be worth starting this season. The biggest knock on Galloway had been his age and people have backed off him despite back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons (71st overall pick). What most people don't know is that Galloway has a super duper secret off season workout program which has kept him in near mint condition.

More importantly, the arrival of Jeff Garcia should be a huge boost for Galloway's numbers. Garcia's ability to buy time in the pocket should pair perfectly with the speed of a veteran receiver like Galloway. I lost count of the number of times Galloway was wide open last season only to be underthrown by Bruce Gradkowski. Galloway remains the number one receiver by a wide margin and Gruden's obsession with throwing the ball should guarantee Galloway touches the ball plenty no matter how many games the Bucs win (or lose).

Jeff Garcia - 1309 passing yards, 10 TDs, 2 INTs
It's kinda pathetic that Garcia is the best quarterback the Bucs have had since Steve Young left town. But on the bright side that means we can look forward to the best fantasy season from a Bucs quarterback in the history of fantasy football. Garcia is a perfect fit for Gruden's offense, a mobile experienced quarterback who is an accurate passer.

One of Gruden's greatest strengths as a coach is his ability to turn middling quarterbacks into very good quarterbacks (Exhibit A: Rich Gannon). One of the better offensive play callers in the NFL Gruden has invested a number of picks on the offense, most of them on the line. All these factors combined should create a perfect storm of sorts for Garcia, who is drafted on average at 154 over all, which makes him the 26th quarterback off the board. Draft Garcia higher than that and expect good results.

Alex Smith - 367 receiving yards, 2 TDs
Oddly enough, after the Bucs Top Three the next Tampa Bay player off the board is Jerremy Stevens at the average position of 185 overall. Which is insane since there has been little doubt the entire training camp that Alex Smith will be the Bucs starting tightend. I've been high on Smith since his first game when he caught two touchdowns but since then Smith has been handicapped by the offensive line's inability to pass block. Gruden has been forced to keep Smith on the line to help block as opposed to running routes. Which is a shame since Smith is the prototypical receiving tightend a la Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez. Unfortuantely I still don't see a huge improvement in Smith's stats until the line can prove it can pass block on a consistent basis but keep an eye on Smith for the future.

So yeah, stay away from Stevens.

Buccaneer Defense - 41 TDs allowed, 25 sacks, 3 INTs
Even when they where one of the top ranked defenses the Bucs did not have one of the better fantasy defenses. For the first time in eight years the Bucs dropped out of the top ten ranked defenses at the end of the season. While the Bucs have added a good deal of talent to the defense I would not recommend going anywhere near the defense come draft time.

Michael Pittman - 245 rushing yards, 1 TD
One of the more versatile backs in the league Pittman has pulled triple duties as the kick returner, third down back and part time fullback. But even with Alstott gone Pittman does not have much fantasy value unless Cadillac is unable to play.

Michael Clayton, Maurice Stovall, David Boston, Ike Hilliard
While the Bucs have a good deal of depth at the receiver position out of the above named group there are a lot of "buts". For the past two seasons Clayton has been tabbed as the second receiver but has failed to live up to expectations. Stovall looked good in his rookie season but it remains to be seen if he is anything more than a third receiver. Boston has excelled in the exhibition season but has yet to prove he carry that success into the regular season. And Hilliard is just really old.

Preseason Game 2: Recap

2007-08-19T13:32:00.001-04:00

I've been noticably absent the last week (or judging by my hits no one noticed) but that should change over the next few weeks. With the first round of cuts approaching we could see a few well known names not making the team, especially with the influx of new players. Additionally, coming soon I will release my second fantasy football look at the Bucs.

Jeff Garcia is still not 100% comfortable with the offense. He had two fumbles which resulted from miscues with the center and with Michael Pittman. Garcia's struggles are to be expected, he is after all learning an entirely new offense in addition to working on his timing with new receivers. But at this rate Garcia will struggle going into the beginning of the regular season.

That being written Garcia did display some flashes of excellence which goes to show why Gruden wanted this guy so badly. Garcia's mobility gave the Jags top rated defense problems and Garcia's ability to buy time in the pocket allowed David Boston to get open in the end zone for the first touchdown of the game.

It is looking more and more likely we will see a considerable amount of the 3-4 formation out of the defense this season. The Bucs ran the formation successfully during yesterday's game, which produced at least one sack. The Bucs added some personnel (Patrick Chuckwara, Kevin Carter, Quincy Black) who are tweeners well suited to running the 3-4. In fact, considering both the 3-4 and Tampa Two defenses rely on speedy tweeners it makes a good deal of sense to run both defenses.

Was that really Luke McCown who caught Jags safety Jamal Fudge from behind? For those who missed the play Fudge recovered a fumble in the middle of the field and looked like he a clear lane to the endzone before McCown caught up with Fudge. He's no Vince Young but McCown has some wheels as evidenced by his team leading 37 rushing yards yesterday. Speaking of fast white guys.....

Just when Sabby Piscistelli seems like the next great Bucs safety he goes and makes a boneheaded play. Sabby did a good job of putting himself in position to makes plays and clearly has some speed, but he also missed at least one tackle in the open field and dropped an easy interception. Sabby is competing with Jermaine Phillips for the starting spot, and Sabby would be the clear favorite is he was just a bit more consistent.

B.J. Askew appears to be the favorite to win the starting fullback spot, although to be honest I don't know for sure who the Bucs starting fullback was. I watched a replay of the game on the NFL Network which showed the local Jacksonville broadcast of the game for the first half. No surprise but the local Jacksonville guys didn't even bother mentioning who was starting for the Bucs and rarely announced position changes.

Tackling, which was one of the Bucs weaknesses last season, was problematic again last night. It wasn't just the backups who missed tackles, Ronde Barber struggled against guys in the open field for the second straight exhibition game. One of the Bucs hallmarks during the zenith of their defense was their sure tackling, once they wrapped somebody up that person rarely escaped.

Finally, for the second straight game Chris Simms did not play. It it looking very likely Simms will be cut from the team.

Exhibition Game 1: Recap

2007-08-11T16:40:00.000-04:00

Last night's game is a prime example of how misleading both final stats and final scores can be in exhibition games. Despite winning the game and outrushing the Pats 169 to 89 it's clear that the Pats starting offense is better than the Bucs starting offense. Jeff Garcia and the rest of the offense looked out of synch, and the line was clearly not up to pass blocking. Granted it was only the first game of the exhibition season and the Bucs were missing several starters on offense.

Interesting enough Michael Pittman pulled double duties last night as both Mike Alstott's replacement at fullback and the third down back. Pittman has excelled as the third down back, in fact he is one of the best receivers on the team. I don't know how good of a blocker he can be on a consistent basis though, so it remains to be seen if he could potentially be the full time fullback.

Speaking of backs, Earnest Graham has a new competitor for the title of Mr. August. Kenneth Darby looked damn good, and even broke off a run of 21 yards to go with 84 total yards in rushing. Both Graham and Darby will have a tough time making the roster, so the competition between the two should get interesting.

Gaines Adams looked good in limited play, although he still has some work to do in playing against the run. He was a bit overeager to rush the passer, and took himself out of the play a few times. He did look good against the pass, and even gave the Pats starting left tackle fits.

Exhibition Game 1: What to Watch For

2007-08-10T18:30:00.000-04:00

I can't stand the hyping of exhibition games, for the most part they are meaningless and are boring to watch. It's criminal that teams charge fans full regular season price for preseason game tickets. Even the term "preseason" is misleading since it implies these games have some value approaching that of a regular season or even postseason game.

That being written, there are some things to watch for tonight. It is always interesting to see how rookies will do during a full game speed situation. Additionally, these preseason games decide closely fought position battles. So here's what to watch for....

Rookies: The Bucs have a number of rookies to watch on the defense but the only rookie who will be starting tonight will be playing offense. Guard Aaron Sears is the latest addition in Gruden and company's attempts to rebuild the line, and it will be interesting to see how Sears plays with left tackle Anthony Davis.

Other Rookies: Highly touted defensive end Gaines Adams is supposed to be the savior for the franchise but even with Simeon Rice cut from the team Adams is second on the depth chart behind Patrick Chuckwurah. Which means Adams will likely be playing against the Pat's second stringers, so take any plays he makes with a grain of salt.

More Other Rookies: Rookie safeties Sabby Piscitelli and Tanard Jackson both have a realisitc shot at ursurping Jermaine Phillips and Will Allen. Allen was shaky at times last season and Phillips was downright pitiful to watch. Despite battling injuries Sabby has played well during training camp and if he plays well in the exhibition games will likely surpass Phillips on the deoth chart.

Position Battles: Despite what the analysts on SportsCenter are declaring at this very moment Jeff Garcia has a stranglehold on the starting quarterback position. His only realistic competition, Chris Simms, has struggled in training camp. Instead the position battle to watch is for the flanker receiver spot between Michael Clayton and Maurice Stovall. Despite playing in just his second year Stovall has surpassed Clayton on the depth chart. Considering how depleted the Pats secondary is at the moment we could see some fireworks from the receivers as they attempt to outdo each other.

Alstott in the Hall of Fame?

2007-08-10T15:34:00.000-04:00

I have little to add to Mike Alstott's retirement beyond what has already been written. In his eleven years in Tampa Bay Mike has become THE fan favorite. The A-Train's legacy with Tampa Bay rivals every Buc but Lee Roy Selmon. But does Alstott deserve to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

The trickiest thing with Alstott is figuring out which position he played. Alstott carried the ball more than other fullbacks in the modern era. Six times Alstott made the Pro Bowl as a fullback even though he received ten or twelve carries a game. So is Alstott a fullback, a halfback or a hybrid?

If we compare Alstott to other halfbacks he does not stand a chance at getting into Canton. Let's do a quick comparison of Alstott with some other halfbacks in the HoF...

	RUSHING YARDS	YPC	RUSHING TDs	RECEIVING YARDS	YPC	RECEIVING TDs
Mike Alstott	5088	3.7	58	2284	7.5	13
Franco Harris	12120	4.1	91	2287	7.4	9
John Riggins	11352	3.9	104	2090	8.4	12
Jerome Bettis	13662	3.9	91	1449	7.2	3

For comparisons purposes I tried to select halfbacks with a similar style to Alstott, i.e. power runners. I threw in Jerome Bettis as well, who is not in the HoF but is a lock to get in when he is eligible. The first thing that jumps out at you is how many more yards everyone else has compared to Alstott. John Riggins, who is probably the most similar back to Alstott, has more than twice as many rushing yards as the A-Train. To Alstott's credit he has compiled a considerable amount of receiving yards, more than most other power backs. Alstott's receiving skills have been the most underrated part of his game. But if you consider Alstott to be a halfback then there's no way you can vote him into the HoF.

Now let's compare Alstott to fullbacks in the HoF....

	RUSHING YARDS	YPC	RUSHING TDs	RECEIVING YARDS	YPC	RECEIVING TDs
Mike Alstott	5088	3.7	58	2284	7.5	13
Larry Csonka	8081	4.3	64	820	7.7	4
John Henry Johnson	6803	4.3	48	1478	7.9	7
Jim Taylor	8597	4.4	83	1756	7.8	10

Even when you factor in receiving yards Alstott still falls short of what other fullbacks have accomplished. More importantly Alstott was never the devastating blocker that a guy like John Henry Johnson was. So even when compared to fullbacks Alstott does not have the stats OR blocking ability to get into the HoF.

Alstott is a throwback to an earlier era, an era before Bill Walsh made the west coast offense the style du jour. He's one of the few players from the present day game that would have been more comfortable playing fifty or sixty years ago. In fact, Buccaneer fans will remember the days when Mike Shula did his best to recreate a throwback offense, which was remarkable only in how predictable it was. "First Down: Alstott up the middle. Second Down: Alstott to the right. Third Down: Incomplete pass. Fourth Down: Punt."

In the end, I don't think you can make a rational argument for Alstott to get into the HoF. Sure he deserves to be in the still mythical Buccaneer Hall of Fame, and there's something to be said for a guy like Alstott who brought a lunch pail mentality to the field. But the A-Train has not accumulated the kind of stats necessary to get into the HoF.

On a side note, despite playing only five seasons together, Alstott will always be linked with Warrick Dunn. It's no coincidence that Alstott had the best years of his career while he played with Dunn. The highly acclaimed Thunder and Lightning combo comlimented each other perfectly. Dunn kept opponents guessing where he would go and what he would do. And when Dunn had defenders on their heels, Alstott ran guys over straight up the middle. During their five years together in Tampa the duo averaged 1561 rushing yards a season. If there was some way you could roll Dunn and Alstott into one player that player would be voted in the HoF.

But while Alstott may not get into the Pro HoF he has earned his way into the Fantasy HoF....

Son of a...

2007-08-09T15:13:00.000-04:00

I have a problem. Behold my football jerseys:

Joe Jurevicius
WR Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2002 - 2004

Martin Gramatica
K Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1999 - 2003

Warren Sapp
DT Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1995 - 2003

John Lynch
FS Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1993 - 2003

Simeon Rice
DE Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2001- 2006

Mike Alstott
FB Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1996 - Not looking good

I'm starting to feel responsible. I should have purchased a Kenyatta Walker jersey years ago.

I still have this:

But there is a small problem:

At least my kids are current.

Cross posted at Draft Day Suit

1st Depth Chart Released

2007-08-07T09:12:00.000-04:00

You can find the entire thing here.

No huge surprises, especially since it is so early. Worth noting is that Maurice Stovall has surpassed Michael Clayton as the number two receiver, although I am willing to bet both receivers will see an about equal amount of playing time (barring injury) by the end of the season.

The left side of the line is still in a state of flux. Rookie Arron Sears is listed as the starting left guard even though Anthony Davis initially worked with the first team at the position. Projected starting left tackle Luke Petitgout's nagging injuries make it look likely Davis will receive a majority of the starts at left tackle this season. Which is troubling since Davis' struggles in pass blocking required Gruden to take a receiver off the field the last two seasons to be replaced by an extra blocker, typically a tightend.

Times Continues to Beat Dead Horse

2007-08-04T14:32:00.000-04:00

Never mind that both the Tribune and Pewter Report have reported that Chris Simms' velocity and accuracy have returned, the St Pete Times continues to stick to its claim that Simms is suffering from proprioception.

Chris Simms' arm isn't reacting as quickly to his mind and he indicated his struggles are related to surgery to remove his spleen last September. Simms has been struggling with symptoms of irregular proprioception, a sixth sense that allows a person to know the relationship of their arms and legs to their body.

Despite repeated assurances to the contrary by Bruce Allen, Gruden and Simms the Times has stuck to their proprioception story. There are numerous others reasons why Simms has struggled; confidence, conditioning, and time spent away from the field. The Times has conveniently ignored all these simple explanations to instead follow the best tactics of yellow journalism, create an absurdly believable story and then attack those who question your credibility. BucStats touched on just this with Shelton's unprovoked attack on Gruden.

I've always believed that sports reporters are just journalist who weren't smart enough to cover real news and this just confirms my belief. Let's keep things in perspective, we're talking about the health of a backup quarterback of a sports team not a White House coverup.

In other news, Cadillac Williams appears to be having a great camp and could be in line for a outstanding season. Having Jeff Garcia under center should help a good deal since opponents weren't exactly losing sleep thinking about the Bucs passing attack last season. This should sound familiar but Cadillac's success will come down to two things: health and the offensive line. Which leads me to the next bit of news.....

Luke Petitgout was supposed to be the answer at left tackle for the Bucs but his health has raised some troubling question marks. Petitgout has missed most of training camp so far, which is troubling because Petitgout's back problems were the reason the Giants were so quick to get rid of the left tackle. The left side of the line, Garcia's blind side, appears to unstable at the moment. All we know for sure is that Anthony Davis will start some where on the left side, either at guard or tackle.

For all the criticism recently of Gruden and company they should be congratulated for their midseason signing last year of Phillip Buchanon, who has been one of the stars of camp. A former first round draft pick Buchanon has played for three teams in five years, and was released in the middle of last season by the Texans. Since then Buchanon has secured a spot as the team's nickelback and could become the team's punt returner. It appears that Buchanon, who is still an outstanding athlete, just needed the right coaches.

But Did They Test Rice for Proprioception?

2007-08-01T08:57:00.000-04:00

The Times is reporting Simeon Rice has been cleared to play by an orthopedist in Pensacola, which of course raises questions about what series of tests the Bucs put Rice through at the beginning of traing camp.

"It was all 100 percent," Rice said. "Dr. Andrews said, 'What kind of physical did you take down there?' I told him they just checked for my mobility in the shoulder and said I failed. He said, 'They didn't even test you for any kind of structure in the shoulder?'"

This is more stating what is widely believed, that Rice was released for salary cap and personal reason. Rice was scheduled to make $7.5 million this season, but Bruce Allen attempted to renegotiate Rice's contract to $5 million for the third straight offseason.

Bill Walsh and the Bucs

2007-07-31T16:20:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to touch on what Bill Walsh meant for the NFL and for the sport in general, others have done that better than I could. Dr. Z has a good piece on Walsh worth checking out.

Gruden touched on this briefly today at practice but despite never coaching or playing for Walsh Gruden's entire career has been shaped by the offensive innovations Walsh is responsible for creating. Gruden is a second generation disciple of the Walsh offense, in other words an acorn of the Walsh tree.

‘’I’m one of those acorns that kind of fell far away from the tree. Again, I can just say that it was a great experience to be educated by guys like that, and I’m going to miss him.’’

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

What's surprising to me is how many guys there are on this tree, and how many of them have won Super Bowls. Additionally, the Bucs offense is based on the offense pioneered by Walsh, a quick hitting, passing offense which substitutes short routes for running plays. The offense also placed a new emphasis on efficiency and consistency (a la Jeff Garcia) in quarterbacks over rocket arms and gun slinging (a la Chris Simms).

Times Still Dogging Simms

2007-07-31T10:34:00.000-04:00

The St Pete Times has not given up on their quest from yesterday to label Simms with proprioception (see post below), following up yesterday's training camp blog with an article today. To the Times credit they quote Bruce Allen's denial of their story but still, as the saying goes where there's smoke there's fire....

Dr. Koco Eaton, the team orthopedist for the Devil Rays, said Monday it's not unusal for patients to suffer irregular proprioception after abdominal or thoracic surgery.
"Those nerves are stretched during surgery," Eaton said. "Think of them as electrical wires that have a covering. Those nerves don't take a jolt like that very well. It can take a long time for those nerves to recover. For some people, it can take a couple years before they feel normal."

The Times Bucs training camp blog then reports this morning that Simms has thrown three passes to this point, and one of his deep passes looked weak. By comparison, Garcia and McCown both threw at least fifteen passes. Simms has been mum on the whole proprioception thing but has admitted he is injured and is still recovering from surgery last season.

The Tribune Bucs blog is reporting that they will know more about Simms condition at 11 am.

Training Camp: Weekend in Review

2007-07-30T21:57:00.000-04:00

Nornally I would wrap up the weekend's training camp but BucStats and Buc'Em have already done so and I see no reason to reinvent the wheel. Instead I will focus on what I see as the most important story of the weekend, Chris Simms. First, a quick vocab lesson....

proprioception (PRO-pree-o-SEP-shu): from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body.

Where am I going with this? As usual nowhere and everywhere. The St Pete Times is reporting that our boy Chrissy Simms has a case of the proprioception, which essentially means he has no idea where is arms and legs are in relation to the rest of the body. Which of course leads me to ask, does that mean he can always give himself a "stranger"?

To make things interesting, Bruce Allen this afternoon dismissed the Times story as untrue. Despite what the Times said Simms was taking snaps at practice today, and appears to be #2 on the depth chart. Which means Tampa Bay still has the most homosexual quarterbacks in the league.

Of bigger concern is that Simms appears to still be suffering the effects of the surgery last seasons. What really killed the Bucs last season was their lack of quarterback depth, once Simms went down the team was fucked. I have been in favor of the Bucs bringing in as many quarterbacks as reasonably possible since all the quarterbacks previously on their roster were/are crap. But with Simms still recovering from injury then the Bucs are essentially in the same situation they were in last season, with one decent quarterback on the roster (Garcia) and a bunch of crap. The last thing I want to see anytime soon is Gradkowski or Rattay under center.

Where am I going with this? Maybe it IS a good idea to bring Daunte Culpepper on board. All he wants is a one year contract, perfect for the Bucs. Gruden would be in a bit of a bind, since he only has room for 3 quarterbacks. In fact signing Daunte would be a HUGE indicment of Simms health. Although money says the Bucs stay away from Daunte, who is still damaged goods as well.

Did Somebody Piss in Bruce Allen's Wheaties?

2007-07-26T22:30:00.000-04:00

So right after releasing Simeon Rice for no good reason (see below) it looks like Bruce Allen plans on fining jake Plummer $14k a day for missing training camp. For those who have not been keeping track at home, upon being traded to the Bucs Plummer announced his retirement but never officially filed his retirement papers (damn lawyers and their technicalities) which means the Snake has essentially become one big, hairy piggy bank for the Bucs. All indications are that Plummer has no desire to play for the Bucs, which means until he files those retirement papers he's going to owe the Bucs some dinero (thats Spanish for moola).

Which leaves open speculation in the interim that Daunte Culpepper might join the Bucs, especially since they have about $7 million in cash lying around now that they don't have to pay Rice. I still don't see Culpepper in a Bucs uniform, he's also recovering from injury and signing him would make Allen a bit of a hypocrite. But in the interim its makes for some more of those hilarious "the Bucs have a DOZEN quarterbacks jokes" every NFL ~~jock-rider~~ commentator feels obliged to tell.

Rice is Cooked

2007-07-26T21:00:00.000-04:00

Shit just got interesting in Tampa Bay. The player whom Gruden once jokingly put in charge of the team when the players left for the Super Bowl and the coaches stayed behind in Tampa to plan has been cut from the Bucs for what are reportedly health reasons.

"We anticipated and he anticipated being healthy coming to camp,'' Allen said. ""We held him out of our off-season programs. I don't think it was any burden to him. He needs some more time to recover. Simeon agreed. He's going to get aggressive with it. He was very confident he has a lot of football left.''

Considering Rice initially played through his injuries last year I am surprised Gruden and company weren't willing to give Rice the chance to get healthy during training camp. If they had just sat Rice during training camp it would have both given Rice a chance to heal and given Gaines Adams more reps at the position. I had considered it odd that for the last month or so the Bucs had been insistent on making Adams compete with Rice for the same position, but now you have to wonder if this was a preplanned move on the Bucs part. After all the Bucs knew Rice was recovering from injury and would still be suffering some of the ill effects of it.

The Bucs have previously had problems with Rice, who has always been a bit of a primadona. In 2005 Rice was suspended before a game against the 49ers (which the Bucs lost) for missing a team meeting. Additionally, in both the offseasons of 'o5 and '06 Rice refused to renegotiate his contract even when other players (i.e. Derrick Brooks) did renegotiate.

On the other hand, Rice had become the leader of the defensive line since Warren Sapp left. From '02 to '05 Rice had ranked in the top five each season in total sacks. For a Bucs defense which depended on the front four to generate the pash rush, Rice was the lynchpin of the defense.

Obviously, Adams becomes the starting right defensive end, which is why it's a very good thing Bruce Allen got Adams in camp and signed in time. Tip of the hat to Allen who has done a remarkable job of negotiating contracts with players. It helps that the Bucs have drafted high character guys but kudos to Allen for getting all of his rookies, including two top five picks, in camp in time. The youth movement on the defense really begins this season, with at least Adams and Ruud starting.

As for Rice, I hope we see him in a Bucs uniform again. He may have been a selfish, egoitiscal primadona, but he was OUR selfish, egoitiscal primadona. Rice seemed to really enjoy playing in Tampa, and Bruce Allen hinted Rice would play somewhere again.

Training Camp Battles

2007-07-26T09:24:00.000-04:00

With Buccaneer camp set to begin today (with the first practice scheduled for tomorrow) it is that magical time of year when every team is competitive and the Super Bowl appears to be within arms reach. Today I will identify the training camp position battles to watch, but before we get to the meat I present an appetizer to wet your palate.

The following is an ESPN commercial (probably the only thing the WWL does well anymore) featuring two of the greatest Bucs runningbacks of all time, Warrick Dunn and "Touchdown Vulture" Mike Alstott...

(HT: Awful Announcing)

Personally, I love the part at the end where the A-Train tells Dunn to just "let it go". Here's hoping the commercial doesn't put the jinx on Alstott the same way the Chris Simms fantasy football commercial did last year. Anyway, on to the training camp battles.....

Right Defensive End: Simeon Rice vs. Gaines Adams
The right defensive end is the pass rush specialist on the line as opposed to the left defensive end who's responsibility is more to shore up the d-line against the rush. Which is the only reason it makes sense to have the two most talented defensive ends compete for one starting position. Although it will likely not be a very competitive battle since Adams and the Bucs have not come to agreement on a new contract which means the rookie is likely to report to camp late, giving entrenched starter Rice even more of an advantage.

2nd Receiver: Michael Clayton vs. Maurice Stovall
Joey Galloway has a stranglehold on the top receiver spot but the most interesting position battle of training camp will be between Clayton and Stovall. One time Golden Boy Clayton has seen his level of play slip considerably while Stovall turned in a solid rookie season. But as good as Stovall looks to be I am hesistant to pick against Clayton, who is still one of the better blockers at the receiver position.

Under Tackle: Kevin Carter vs. Julian Jenkins vs. Jovan Haye vs. Greg Peterson
The under tackle is the pass rushing defensive tackle position made famous by Warren Sapp, and then made infamous by Booger McFarland. This is the one position battle I have the worst read on since there are so many relative unknowns and newcomers competing for the position. We're likely to see a rotation of guys but I'll tab Kevin Carter as the favorite even though he has traditionally played defensive end.

Left Guard: Matt Buenning vs. Anthony Davis vs. Arron Sears
Buenning was the starter at this position last year but is injured going into training camp and could be moved to center to compete with John Wade. Sears has still not signed a rookie contract and will likely report a few days late. Which really just leaves Davis, last year's starter at left tackle, as the remaining competitor for the left guard position.

3rd Cornerback: Torrie Cox vs. Phillip Buchanon
Brian Kelly's injury last season gave both these corners extended playing time. While Cox has been solid and reliable Buchannon showed the flashes of brilliance which made him a first round pick of the Raiders. The Bucs starting corners, Kelly and Ronde Barber, have been two of the best in the league and with Phillip Buchanon starting at the nickelback spot the Bucs will have some of the best cornerback depth in the NFL.

For those who have not noticed yet, much like a grizzly bear slowly awakening from hibernation, I have increased the frequency of my posting as training camp nears. What's that mean for you? More updates on training camp, more posting both here and at the Sticks, and more Bucs goodness. There have a been a few contenders and pretenders for the title of Best Bucs Blog which have popped up during my hibernation, and much like Warren Sapp in his prime I plan on picking up and slamming all other Bucs blogs to the ground.

The Falcons Should Just Stay Out of Virginia

2007-07-24T08:16:00.000-04:00

While they are still not on the level of the Bengals, the Falcons are doing their very best to be the very worst. Atlanta cornerback Jimmy Williams, who was the team's first pick last year, has been cited on a misdemeanor marijuana charge in Virginia. Williams' timing on this could not have been better (or worse), considering that the league is still trying to figure out what to do with Vick.

To refresh your memory Williams was considered a first round talent but dropped to the second round because of the now dreaded "character issues." Much like Vick, Williams attended the Old Dominion State's farmer's college, Virginia Tech. Playing seven degrees of Kevin Bacon, the two other players to get in trouble this offseason (Pacman Jones and Chris Henry) also come from a Appalachia college, West Virginia. West Virginia plays in the Big East, which is the same conference Louisville is in. Which is where Petrino probably wishes he still coached.

NFL Predictions for 2007

2007-07-23T12:58:00.000-04:00

With training camps across America set to start this week here are some very early predictions for the upcoming season. These predictions were inspired by Mark Bradley's own college football prognostications (hat tip to BnB). You will probably notice the conspicous absence of a certain team, I will have a series of predictions for the Bucs closer to the start of the season. Well deserved mocking can be directed towards the comment section.

- Much to PETA's chagrin Vick will play this season. Vick means too much to the Atlanta franchise NOT to play but will sit out the last five or six games of the season citing injury concerns (real or imagined). Most pundits will blame Vick's legal troubles for his poor play ignoring Ron Mexico's poor play prior to the federal dog fighting charges.

- Carolina will win the NFC South after finally realizing DeAngelo Williams is the better runningback than the oft-injured DeShaun Foster. John Fox is too good of a coach to waste Williams' talent for another season. Carolina seems to alternate between mediocrity and excellence every two years. In 2005 the Panthers made the NFC Championship game and in 2003 they went to the Super Bowl. In 2004 and 2006 they missed the playoffs.

- The Saints will fall back down to earth. The best story from last season, the Saints will struggle with a more diificult schedule and the loss of Joe Horn. New Orleans weakness on defense, notably the linebackers, will be exposed.

- The Pats will make a run at the '72 Dolphins undefeated regular season record but will lose to Baltimore early in December. The two teams will meet again in the AFC Championship game to different results. The Tom Brady-Joe Montana comparisons will return in full force, and football fans everywhere outside of New England will despise the Patriots quarterback all that much more.

- The Raiders will finish the season with the worst record in the NFL for the second straight year. Even though Al Davis has become the crypt keeper Lane Kiffin will stay on for another year but will either quit or be fired half way thorugh the 2008 season.

- Chicago will again finish with the best record in the NFC but San Francisco will be the surprise team in the NFC finishing with the second best record in the conference. Frank Gore will become a household name as he leads the NFL in rushing, narrowly edging out Willis McGahee. Clinton Portis will bounce back and finish the season ranked in the top ten in rushing yards. The U's fourth runningback, Edgerrin James, will continue his run of mediocrity in Arizona.

- The Chargers will run LaDainian Tomlinson to the point of exhaustion under new head coach Norv Turner, who loves to pound the rock. Tomlinson, who ranks 26th all time in rushing attempts (which is more than Shaun Alexander and Jamal Lewis), will be injured going into the playoffs and Phillip Rivers will be too inexperienced to carry the offense. San Diego fans will quickly realize getting rid of Schottenhiemer may have been a bad idea (if they don't already).

- Indy will win their division but lose in the first round of the playoffs. Fans will not be seperated from Peyton Manning for long, we will be bombarded with Peyton commercials until the Super Bowl.

- In a rematch of 2003 Carolina will play New England in the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the game will be played to the same results as in 2003. Peter King and Bill Simmons will try to out do each in their slurping of Tom Brady, with Peter King winning out when he claims Brady to be the Greatest Athlete in the History of the World.

You have you own predictions for NFL teams not named the Bucs? Drop them in the comments so I can mock you.

In full salivation mode.....

2007-07-22T13:49:00.000-04:00

With training camp starting on Friday here are some important dates which are also quickly approaching....

The First Exhibition Game....

Bucs First Exhibition Game....

The First Regular Season Game.....

Bucs First Regular Season Game.....

NFL Draft........

And now presenting, your Tampa Bay Devil Rays..........

2007-07-21T20:03:00.000-04:00

I meant to mention this in the previous post but my damn ADD and 30 second memory span (fucking television) got the best of me.

Rays Index has released their ALL-TIME TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS roster. And while it is cetainly a very fine list I still take umbrage that Jose Canseco was left off. Anyone that tipped me $20 at the Vinoy deserves this sacred honor.

Weekend Roundup

2007-07-21T15:15:00.000-04:00

-For what can only be Nelson Muntz reasons (laughing in Gruden's face) all the major sports news sites ran the "Bucs Looking at ANOTHER quarterback" AP story on their front pages. On the face of it Gruden giving Daunte Culpepper a tryout appears as foolish as asking Paris Hilton if she wants another drink before she drives home. The Bucs already have four starters on their roster (Garcia, Plummer, Simms and Gradkowski), why should the add another? But how's the saying go, when you appear to have a lot of quarterbacks you really have none?

First, Gruden and company have a history of trying out once accomplished players and even signing them a la David Boston. The risk on these players is often minimal and the reward can be great if they pan out, as Chris Hovan did. Additionally, if the quarterbacks are hit by the injury bug, which seems to happen often in Tampa, Gruden will have the option of signing a potential free agent in Daunte Culpepper without having to take the time during the season to try him out. If preperation is truly 9/1oths of success, Gruden will be one step ahead of the game.

Second, trying out Culpepper hints at one of the larger weaknesses during Gruden's tenure, his inability to develop a franchise quarterback. This has been mentioned on other sites but I will attempt to offer an explanation for it. With the exception of a third round pick in Simms, Gruden has not invested in a potential franchise quarterback. Gruden seemed to think he had that potential franchise quarterback in Plummer, before the Snake retired to whatever it is that Snakes like to do. Considering Garcia's age it is likely Gruden again spends a high draft pick (first day) on a quarterback if Plummer does not come out of retirement.

-Sergio is again sporting some unusual colors which may be familiar to long time Buc fans. Perhaps these are not exactly creamsicle, but they are close enough to allow me proclaim that if Sergio wins the British then I will take it as a sign the Bucs creamsicle unis are bound to return. (And props to the well written Sobel blog for the heads up on this.)

-With training camp set to begin in less that a week (Friday) it's time to start salivating over the Bucs chances. Most reports I've seen have them at six or less wins, and Vegas has their line at 7 1/2 wins. Before the Vick scandal I would have pegged the Bucs for seven wins but the thought of Joey Harrington under center for the Falcons has me feeling better about the Bucs. If the Bucs eeked out four wins with instability at quarterback they should be able to at least double that total with an easier schedule and Garcia's steady hand. A lot will depend on if the defense, which slipped below the top ten defenses in the NFL last season for the first time in eight seasons.

You're the man now dog!

2007-07-17T21:59:00.000-04:00

Hey, Michael "Ron Mexico" Vick.....

My personal opinion is there is no way Vick is suspended this season, supposedly Vick would need a prior criminal record for Goody Two Shoes Goodall to suspend his for a few games. Which means Vick might need to be convicted of the dog fighting charges first. And if Vick is looking for a lawyer in the ATL I suggest checking out this guy. (Completely random side note, I heard from a completely reliable source the dude's wife LOVES anal.)

A Very Pre-emptive Fantasy Look at the Bucs

2007-07-15T20:40:00.000-04:00

If there's anything lamer than a dude with a blog it's a dude with a blog who writes about his fantasy team. So no worries, I ain't gonna be that lame. What I am gonna do is break down the fantasy stock of the Bucs offensive players.

Cadillac Williams

If Cadillac went to high last season he could be a sleeper this year. He has all the tools to be a top ten back with the exception of catching the ball out of the backfield. Cadillac's lack of production last year can be blamed mostly on the poor play from the quarterback position and the Bucs constantly being forced to play from behind. This year Garcia should stabalize the quarterback position, which means Cadillac's production will rely on how the rebuilt offensive line plays.

Joey Galloway

Galloway was the diamond in the rough for the Bucs last year, and should remain their best receiver going into this season even at the ripe old age of 35. Galloway has that rare ability to turn a ten yard button hook into a 25 yard gain. Much like Cadillac, Galloway should benefit from Garcia's tenure. My biggest warning flag for Galloway is not his age but the other receivers who may take away Galloway's targets.

Jeff Garcia

Garcia has not had a whole lot of success since he left the City by the Bay, that is until late last season when he replaced an injured McNabb. To be successful Garcia needs to be in a west coast offense which doesn't ask him to be the main man. In Philly last season Westbrook touched the ball more often once Cadillac went down, in San Fran Garcia had T.O. as a safety blanket. Gruden knows his quarterbacks and plays to theirs strengths, which is fortunate because Garcia is the perfect fot for Gruden's offense. With Simms it was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but with Garcia it's like inserting a round pole into a willing round hole, and Garica is very willing.

Michael Clayton

While's its a bit too early to label Clayton a bust he is getting awfully close to that point. An outstanding rookie year followed by two subpar seasons Clayton has become the anti-Galloway, a player who's lack of training in the offseason has hurt him in the regular season. He has the talent to be the best receiver on the team but drops and lack of conditioning have cost him. I would stay away from drafting Clayton.

Maurice Stovall

One player who could see an increased role in the offense is second year receiver Stovall, who is threatening to take Clayton's starting role in the offense. Stovall is the type of receiver Gruden tends to fall in love with, tall and lanky. Stovall looked good in limited action last season and could be worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses.

Alex Smith

Eventually Smith is going to make the jump to elite tightend, and I think this may be the season. He's one of these new age Tony Gonzalez/Antonio Gates receiving tightends with the wheels to stretch the field. The only reason he hasn't caught more balls is Smith has been forced to stay on the line to help block for the pitiful offensive line. If the line can improve their pass blocking (fingers crossed) Gruden will be able to deploy Smith down the field more often.

I might just try and make this a regular feature so to be sure to check back later in the year, when I will check in with a update and where each of these players should/could be drafted.

Just 2 More Weeks

2007-07-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

With just two more weeks to go until training camp, the sports columns factories of ESPN.com and their ilk are beginning to churn out columns like "10 Best Punters" and "3 Things Your Team Needs to Do to Win: #1 SCORE POINTS." Kudos to Scott for pointing out all the things that are wrong with Bucky Brooks article on the 3 major challenges the Bucs face. What Scott failed to do was offer up 3 challenges of his own, which is just pure laziness on his part.

#1- Figure Out What the Fuck is Going on with the D-line

No other position has been as massivley rehauled (not even the linebackers) as the d-line, which promises to look different than last year. To my knowledge Kiffin has still not tipped his hand on what he's doing with Gaines Adams, have him backup Rice or play on the other side? It seems to make some to have Adams and Rice on the field on the same time to pressure the quarterback but the rightend spot Adams would occupy has traditionally been played by a bigger end who is used more to stop the run. For all the concern about who will play the undertackle (likely a platoon of players) I haven't seen much about where the Bucs will play their first round pick.

#2 - Re-establish the Run

I know runningbacks burn out quickly but just one season for Cadillac? I stand by my assertion Williams can be a top ten back in the league but it all comes down to blocking and staying healthy. A big part of the blocking will come down to the rebuilt left side of the line, which was the side where Cadillac found much of his success two seasons ago. Gruden has been building a offensive line for some time now, it's about time all that time and energy (and draft picks) paid off. Although on an odd side note anyone else find it distressing that Clayton and Cadillac both had stellar rookie seasons followed by sophomore slumps?

#3 - Find Someone to Play Safety

The Bucs were so weak at safety last year they ended up moving a corner or two to safety during training camp. Gruden and company seem to have realized their mistake and went fishing for safeties in the offseason, notably drafting the Italian Stallion to be the Next John Lynch (not so much in talent but as a whitie on the defense for fans to root for). I eagerly await for annoucers to describe Piscitelli as "doing all the small things" while Will Allen is a "pure athlete." Speaking of Will Allen, I have been disappointed by his play lately especially since he has showed such promise. But most of that I will blame on the recently departed secondary coach, since safeties depend so much more on coaching than any other position in the defense.

Anyway, those are my 3 Challenges for the Bucs. You got any better ones?