Bucs Win, Bucs Win, Bucs Win!!!
Ok now that I got that out of the way here is another edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Obviously a win in the NFL can be attributed to a lot of different players. The ones I am listing the Good column I am sure are not the only ones who made big plays. However I want to recognize the guys who had a good GAME not just a good PLAY.
The Good:
The defensive line. The D Line was dominant in this game and in my mind they were a big part of the win. In particular Greg (Stylez) White and Chris Hovan were very disruptive. You can see my full critique at joebucsfan.com.
Josh Freeman. The kid wasn't perfect but he did impress me in several ways on Sunday. For one he stood tall in the pocket and delivered some really good balls to his receivers. For another thing he showed that he is very mobile and can still hit some throws down field after scrambling out of the pocket. And for three he showed me a lot in his first regular season NFL 2 minute drill right before the half, leading the team down for a field goal to cut the lead down to 4 and give us momentum going into the locker room. There were a few things he needs to clean up of course, but its hard to say something bad about a guy who wins his first start and throws three touchdowns doing it.
Interceptions. I don't think people realize how big it is that our guys are starting to pick off a lot of passes. Not only are interceptions game changers, they are also usually hard to come by. But our much maligned secondary has shown that when they have a chance at a pick by in large they come home with it. Not only that our guys will try to take it back to the house. Tanard Jackson took another one back for six and Elbert Mack, after getting burned for a long touchdown just a little while earlier, tried his best to do the same.
For us to win more games this year we are going to need to keep those kinds of big plays coming.
Maurice Stovall. I think its time the kid started, and I don't mean just if Antonio Bryant is out again. I mean Stovall should be the starter and if Bryant is ready to roll then Clayton needs to sit down. Now I realize that Clayton had a long reception and caught a two point conversion but that is just not enough production for a starting receiver. Stovall not only caught 6 balls and was the guy who was featured on the 2 minute drive right before halftime, but he was also balling out on special teams at the same time. He still ran down on punt team and he made a key block to spring Clifton Smith on his long kick off return. The guy has put in the work, its time to give him the reward.
Special Teams. A blocked punt for a touchdown and an 80 something yard kickoff return. Enough said.
Derrick Ward. Ward had a big day as a receiver for us. He not only scored a touchdown on a flat pass but he also leaked out up the seam and helped change field position for the offense. Nice to see from a guy who really hasn't had a lot of production this year.
Ok now that I got that out of the way here is another edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Obviously a win in the NFL can be attributed to a lot of different players. The ones I am listing the Good column I am sure are not the only ones who made big plays. However I want to recognize the guys who had a good GAME not just a good PLAY.
The Good:
The defensive line. The D Line was dominant in this game and in my mind they were a big part of the win. In particular Greg (Stylez) White and Chris Hovan were very disruptive. You can see my full critique at joebucsfan.com.
Josh Freeman. The kid wasn't perfect but he did impress me in several ways on Sunday. For one he stood tall in the pocket and delivered some really good balls to his receivers. For another thing he showed that he is very mobile and can still hit some throws down field after scrambling out of the pocket. And for three he showed me a lot in his first regular season NFL 2 minute drill right before the half, leading the team down for a field goal to cut the lead down to 4 and give us momentum going into the locker room. There were a few things he needs to clean up of course, but its hard to say something bad about a guy who wins his first start and throws three touchdowns doing it.
Interceptions. I don't think people realize how big it is that our guys are starting to pick off a lot of passes. Not only are interceptions game changers, they are also usually hard to come by. But our much maligned secondary has shown that when they have a chance at a pick by in large they come home with it. Not only that our guys will try to take it back to the house. Tanard Jackson took another one back for six and Elbert Mack, after getting burned for a long touchdown just a little while earlier, tried his best to do the same.
For us to win more games this year we are going to need to keep those kinds of big plays coming.
Maurice Stovall. I think its time the kid started, and I don't mean just if Antonio Bryant is out again. I mean Stovall should be the starter and if Bryant is ready to roll then Clayton needs to sit down. Now I realize that Clayton had a long reception and caught a two point conversion but that is just not enough production for a starting receiver. Stovall not only caught 6 balls and was the guy who was featured on the 2 minute drive right before halftime, but he was also balling out on special teams at the same time. He still ran down on punt team and he made a key block to spring Clifton Smith on his long kick off return. The guy has put in the work, its time to give him the reward.
Special Teams. A blocked punt for a touchdown and an 80 something yard kickoff return. Enough said.
Derrick Ward. Ward had a big day as a receiver for us. He not only scored a touchdown on a flat pass but he also leaked out up the seam and helped change field position for the offense. Nice to see from a guy who really hasn't had a lot of production this year.
Kellen Winslow. This guy has made a believer out of me. Not only because of his great day catching the ball. But also because of the effort he gives as a blocker. Now nobody will ever confuse him with an offensive tackle but he goes hard on every running play and you can see that it matters to him when he doesn't make his block. It was also good to see John Gilmore replace Jerramy Stevens as the second tight end on running plays. It really made a difference in our running game if you ask me blocking is the one part of Winslow's game that most people don't give him credit for. Of course going up high to haul in that touchdown didn't hurt either.
The Bad.
Missed Tackles. All of a sudden we are back to missing tackles in the run game. Quite a few of those missed tackles came from the safety position when either Jackson or Sabby Piscitelli and even Will Allen started off disguising their role as the 8th man in the box and then took off running at the snap and either ran pretty much by the ball carrier or just didn't wrap him up. Now maybe they should come in a little more under control so they have a better shot at getting the runner down. Or maybe its just that there is still some confusion as to which gaps they fit into on run downs.
Whatever the reason we need to get that fixed this week before we go down to Miami.
Jeremy Zuttah. Zuttah was pushed around a lot this game, something I hadn't seen all year. Not only did he get his chest run through several times on bull rushes but he was also beaten on finesse moves too. He also pulled one time and literally didn't touch anybody a Packers uniform and Cadillac Williams ended up getting blown up. Thankfully is poor play didn't hurt us this game but he can't be inconsistent like that.
The 4th and 1 that almost was. When we almost went for it on 4th and 1 with a lead and less than 2 minutes left at about midfield I almost kicked my TV in. You don't even understand how happy I was when Zuttah jumped offsides which forced us to do what the hell we should have been doing from the get go. Its one thing to be aggressive, its another thing to damn near give the game away.
At that moment in the game our defensive line was humming and our defense had been playing well. Even though Green Bay had some success running the ball everybody on earth knew they weren't going to try to run it all the way down the field. If we didn't make that 4th and 1 they would have already damn near been in field goal position which means at the least they likely would have tied the game and sent it into overtime. There was absolutely NO reason to go for it there especially after we had already called time out. And thats another thing, us going for it cost us our final timeout which means again if we don't get it and Green Bay scores then we would have had to try to go back down teh field with likely less than a minute to go and no timeouts.
If we lost the game after going for it on 4th down I could have honestly seen Coach Morris getting fired. I am glad that it didn't happen but that decision could have been very costly both for the team and for him.
The Ugly:
I got nothing this week. See yall Sunday for the Dolphin game!
One in a row !!!!!
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