Did Gerald McCoy Get Manhandled?

Soooooooo

This afternoon I was on with J.P. Peterson here locally on 1010 AM to talk about the Bucs. As we were discussing different situations and different players of course Gerald McCoy came up. I gave my opinion about how McCoy has been playing but then J.P. brought up the fact that McCoy didn't have a lot of reps on bench press at the combine (again) and said it looked like he was getting manhandled. I struggled to hold in a chuckle while I explained that McCoy hasn't been getting manhandled but that he does need to work on his technique and that if anyone has been getting pushed around it has been the starting nosetackle, Roy Miller.

Well J.P. brought up a play where he said McCoy got pancaked. It was the touchdown run by Larod Stephens-Howling in the second half of the Arizona game. I didn't have my notes in front of me and obviously I didn't have the game cued up so I wasn't sure about the particular play but I was sure that McCoy wasn't getting pushed around against the Cardinals. So we went back and forth about it and after the interview was over I decided to watch the play again on my DVR and go back over my notes. Before I could even watch it again or check my notes though, I got a message from a fan who basically repeated what J.P. had said word for word (with the added caveat that he thought it was McCoy's worst game and that he "gave up" in the second half")

Now I was really curious to see this play. So I pulled it up on the DVR and broke out my notes and...

Sure enough McCoy got pancaked.

And in my notes I even made a note that he got pancaked.

So was I wrong and J.P. and this other fan right?

Uhh, no.

Here is the thing about that particular play. Arizona was facing a 3rd and 1 from the Bucs 36 yard line and they lined up in shotgun with Stephens-Howling in the backfield. Its important to note here that LSH only had 9 carries total for the season going into our game. I'm not sure but it appears that the Bucs took all of that into account and instead of lining up defending the run, the defensive line was in pass rush mode.

Both McCoy and Miller lined up in three techniques with both A gaps open and the ends were in wide 5 techniques outside of the offensive tackles, getting up field on the snap of the ball. Now I personally didn't and don't believe that was a sound approach with a little over a minute to go in the 3rd quarter, but never the less it IS what the Bucs did.

So McCoy comes off the ball about to make a pass rush move and instead he gets double teamed by the guard and the tackle. And yes he gets crushed right onto his back. But it is what it is, the guy didn't know what hit him basically.

In the end it wouldn't have mattered because as I said both A gaps were open and had he stayed up LSH would have still had a hole big enough to drive a truck through to get the first down.

But more importantly than that, this one play was not close to being indicative of how McCoy played the rest of the game. And since everyone seems to have recorded the game and are now knowledgeable about defensive line play, let me give you a few other plays to take a look at so you can watch it for yourself and decide whether or not McCoy's low bench press numbers mean anything at this point.

11:03 in the 1st quarter: McCoy makes an inside move swatting the offensive guard to the side and ends up beating both the guard and the center to get a hit on the quarterback.

10:59 in the 2nd quarter: McCoy stands the guard up and pushes him back basically with one hand and uses his free hand to make the tackle. (By the way, that's six time All Pro and 9 time Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca just FYI)

5:30 and 4:52 in the 2nd quarter: On consecutive plays McCoy splits a double team and makes a tackle.

4:29 in the 3rd quarter: McCoy pushes the guard two yards back in the backfield and makes the running back cut back laterally.

2:15 in the 4th quarter: McCoy again swats the guard by and beats both the guard and the center to get a good rush on the play where Derek Anderson throws the interception to Aqib Talib that all but sealed the deal.

Now understand that these weren't the only plays where he did something good. These were just plays where he showed some strength and physicality. The truth is the Bucs ran at least 10 Pirate stunts so its not like McCoy was stationary all the time taking on double teams, and considering the fact that the Cardinals only ran the ball 21 times its not like he had a lot of opportunities to show his mettle against the run. But aside from that one play where he got caught slipping, McCoy played the run very well on Sunday. Any suggestion to the contrary simply isn't based in fact and just as I extended an invitation to J.P. if there is anybody who believes that McCoy has been getting pushed around based on that one play if you like we can sit back and watch the recording or the replay of the game together and I will point out just how wrong you are.

In the end I am sure that this particular line of thinking won't go away any time soon. For some people McCoy's bench press numbers define who he is and will be as a player. As wrong headed as that is, I know that I won't be able to convince everyone that's hell bent on believing that, that it isn't true. But all I can do is inform people of the truth.  The reason behind the name of this blog is I feel compelled to share the information that I have with fans who may not know any better, particularly when they are hearing a lot of the wrong information from the media.  Its my intention to "pass on the game" that I have picked up over the years both playing and briefly coaching the game in hopes that not only will the people who read this blog be more knowledgeable, but that they will in turn be better able to teach the people they know about football as well.

So whether people ever drop this bullshit talking point about McCoy's bench press numbers or not, I feel good just knowing that at least the truth is out there if they ever want to find it.

It is what it is.

(P.S. Its generally accepted that Cardinals Pro Bowl defensive end Darnell Dockett is one of the stronger guys in the NFL. Just for shits and giggles watch the game again and focus on how many times James Lee put him on his back. I counted 3 times but I might have missed a few)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Final Roster Projections

There are a few questions I have about how the numbers will break down by position but I am just going to guess at it and make my projections for who will make the active roster this year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Without further ado

Quarterbacks

-Josh Freeman

-Josh Johnson

-Rudy Carpenter

Running Backs

-Caddilac Williams

-Kareem Huggins

-Earnest Graham

-Chris Pressley

Offensive Linemen

Donald Penn

Keydrick Vincent

Jeff Faine

Davin Joseph

Jeremy Trueblood

James Lee

Jeremy Zuttah

Donovan Raiola

Demar Dotson

Wide Recievers

Mike Williams

Maurice Stovall

Sammie Stroughter

Arrelious Benn

Reggie Brown

Michael Spurlock

Tight Ends

-Kellen Winslow

-Jerramy Stevens

-Ryan Purvis

Defensive Line

-Kyle Moore

-Gerald McCoy

-Roy Miller

-Stylez G. White

-Tim Crowder

-Ryan Sims

-Brian Price

-Michael Bennett

-Erik Lorig

Linebackers

-Quincy Black

-Barrett Ruud

-Geno Hayes

-Dekoda Watson

-Adam Hayward

-Niko Koutouvides

-Lee Robinson

Cornerbacks

-Aqib Talib

-Ronde Barber

-Myron Lewis

-E.J. Biggers

-Elbert Mack

Safeties

-Tanard Jackson

-Sean Jones

-Cody Grim

-Corey Lynch

Special Teams

-Brent Bowden

-Connor Barth

-Andrew Economos 


A few notes.  Before sitting down to write this up I kind of assumed Sabby Piscitelli was safe.  But then when I went back through the games last year for most of the year we only carried 3 safeties on the active roster.  I list Cody Grim as making the roster because he is the primary backup to Tanard Jackson and has played well in the preseason.  And even with Grim it was a toss up between he and Corey Lynch because of what Lynch brings on special teams and because he also played well this preseason.  Taking it all in I felt like the Bucs will probably carry both and just keep one less cornerback.  So even with them keeping one more safety than last year I still have Sabby being the odd man out.  Now it may not play out that way but I thought long and hard about this and I have a hard time seeing it going another way.  I can't see us carrying 5 safeties especially with Aqib Talib being suspended the first game.

Also I've heard that the Bucs wanted to keep 4 tight ends.  After watching some of the games I could see why they might want to.  But I couldn't get the numbers to workout.  The one obvious place where they could have opened up a roster space is quarterback where a lot of teams are now only carrying two guys on the active roster.  However with Josh Freeman still trying to get his thumb ready for the first game I feel like that would be a dangerous game to play potentially only having one healthy quarterback going against the Browns.  So I kept the tight end number at 3 and although I like John Gilmore, Ryan Purvis has shown a bit more potential this preseason.  He can block at least as well as Gilmore but he also can get open and make catches.  Considering how bad our tight ends were at blocking down linemen last year Purvis is going to have to play a major role in the running game this season.

I had to choose between Rico McCoy, a guy who played at my alma mater of Tennessee, and Lee Robinson for that final linebacker slot.  I ended up going with Robinson because it appears to me that the coaches are more comfortable with him in the lineup.  I've noticed that he tends to get into the game before McCoy and he has made some pretty nice plays in the preseason.  Hopefully Rico can stick around on the practice squad at least though.

At running back I had to choose between Chris Pressley and Clifton Smith.  I just can't believe that the Bucs would go into a season where they say they want to run the ball with only one fullback who really is a tweener anyway.  Besides that we are going to need someone to give our defense a look when we go against teams that have a true thumper type fullback.  With Clifton he would have basically been a luxury this year as he isn't likely to get a lot of snaps at running back and with Sammie Stroughter and Michael Spurlock on the team we don't really need him for the return game.

I expect that come tomorrow I might be wrong on one or two guys just because of how the numbers end up working out but I'll be willing to bet that I won't get any more than two wrong.  Who do you see making it that I don't have listed?  Who do you see getting cut that I have listed as making it?  Let me know in the comments section.

Combine Bench Press

One of the top prospect for this year's NFL draft, Gerald McCoy had a disappointing day in the weight room yesterday. While his main competition for the top spot, Ndamukong Suh, was busy tossing up 225 pounds 32 times, McCoy only manged to get the same weight up 23 times (a report on NFL.com's blog of 26 reps was evidently erroneous). Of course this has sent all of the draftniks into a tizzy and now people are openly questioning McCoy's work ethic.

Well I don't know if McCoy has been sitting on a beach every day sipping pina coladas or if he has been locked up somewhere with dumbells and hot sauce all day. What I do know from personal experience is that the combine bench press can be deceiver, both on the positive and negative side. If you google "Gerald McCoy" and "work ethic" you get tons of articles about people raving about how hard he works. But with one bad showing on his bench press he has opened himself up to people questioning what had been one of his biggest selling points.

McCoy wasn't the only highly rated prospect to fall short in the bench press either. USF's Jason Paul-Pierre, a guy some think may go as high as 3 to the Bucs (which I already thought was crazy) only managed to get the weight up 19 times. Now its a kind of unwritten rule for defensive linemen. You want to get the weight up 25 times or more so you can be one of the leaders in that categor, but to not be seen as too weak to play in the NFL you want to at least get the weight up 20 times so as to not raise any red flags. For a guy like JPP whose rise up the draft boards has been driven more by potential than production, only putting the weight up 19 times may have some serious consequences.

I am a long time proponent of film over workouts anyway. I think that you will always have guys who look average on film who put up great numbers at the combine. But being a great athlete doesn't always equal being a great football player and coaches and GMs should always be aware of that. I will say however that plenty of teams use the combine numbers for question marks. What I mean is if a guy looks good on film but there are some nagging questions about them, many times teams will use combine numbers to answer them. If a guy looks good but might be a tad slow then the 40 numbers are brought into play. If a guy looks fast in a straight line but maybe not very quick in changing directions that's when the cone drill numbers come into play. And if a guy looks good but maybe gets pushed around a bit, that's when the bench press numbers get pulled.

Now I don't know for sure if teams have questions about McCoy's or Paul-Pierre's strength, but if they did before the combine, its going to be even worse now.

Its at this point that I want to make an observation about the process and also to give a personal anecdote.

First, I think its ludicrous that defensive linemen and offensive lineman are still being made to life 225 pounds for reps. It makes sense for the smaller guys because by and in large they probably rep out with 225 on a regular basis. However for most big guys this is some thing that they rarely if ever do aside from at the combine or at their pro day at their school. To be honest with you doing 225 for reps is more about endurance than strength anyway. There are some guys who can do 225 pounds 30 times or more but couldn't shed a blocker to save their life. There are other guys who can barely get it up 20 times but can rag doll an offensive lineman. That's because there is never going to be a time in any game where a guy has to do 30 bench presses in a row but there WILL be a time when a 325 plus pounder will try to lock on to them and they need to be able to get that guy up off of them.



For most big guys this means that you train with heavier weights for lower reps most of the time. I for one would much rather see an offensive or defensive lineman rep out with 275 pounds than 225. For one 275 pounds is closer to the weight they will have to push around when they face off with an opponent in football, and for two you would get to see how well they handle heavier weight consistently. I would be much more impressed with seeing guys do 275 15 or 20 times than watching them do 225 25 times or more.

But hey, that's just me.

As for my story....

I was a guy who played for a high school team that didn't have a weight lifting program to speak of. For that reason when I got to college at UT I was behind most of the guys in my class. I worked my butt off in the weight room the whole time I was there but even though I got stronger every year it seemed like I could never catch up to some of those guys. I believe I ended my career at UT having maxed out with heavy weight for reps that was the equivalent of a little over 400 pounds. Not bad, but certainly not as good as some of my classmates who had maxed out at 450 and above.

Well thankfully for me I hooked up with a guy by the name of Dean Lotz (rest in peace) who had formerly been the strength coach at several colleges, most recently at that time the University of Memphis. The one thing he did in training me to get ready for our pro day at UT (I wasn't fortunate enough to get invited to the combine even though I had 9 sacks as a senior in the SEC, go figure) was to explain to me the why we needed to train certain ways for the testing that were different from how I had trained at Tennessee. Specifically while we would be working on trying to build up my strength for sure, he was more concerned with building up my endurance for the bench press test.

At first I have to admit that I wasn't convinced. Instead of doing 225 on a regular basis, instead every week he would have me max out at least once with 185, a 90 pound difference. He explained to me that I would be plenty strong enough to lift the 225, but I had to get used to the breathing and timing of doing a lot of reps. The most we used to do with heavy weights at Tennessee, like I imagine it is at most schools, was 10 reps and that was just every blue moon. The scouts, as I said before, want to see you do 20. So the first day I was with him I tried to max out with 225 and I ended up getting in about 14 or 15 reps. After that I didn't max out with 225 again for two months. Instead we worked really heavy weight for low reps most of the week and then every Friday I maxed out with 185. It got to the point where I could easily do 30 reps with 185 so I started feeling somewhat confident. Finally a week before it was time to go do my pro day we tested again with 225. This time I got it up 26 times with relative ease and I have to say I shocked myself. I should note that while we were still lifting heavy most of the week, my low rep bench max hadn't gone up more than 10 pounds.

So off I went to my Pro Day and many of my classmates were there as well. I ended up doing 24 reps that day which was less than I hoped for but still pretty good for me. By contrast some of my teammates who had always been stronger than me through out our time at UT ended up with several reps less than me. I don't doubt that they could still bench more than me if we had gone to a higher weight, but what was apparent to me is that they didn't have someone training them properly to get ready for the endurance part of repping 225.

I say all that to say this, a guy not putting up big numbers on the bench press COULD be a sign that they haven't been working out, but it COULD have also been that they weren't trained properly. I can't say which is which quite honestly and I wouldn't want to unless I was sure. But I will say that the way to try to decide on something like that is to watch the rest of their workout. Guys who haven't been training will end up gassing out when its time for position drills. In most of the timed drills their second time will always be slower than their first time. And the last thing to look for is pulled muscles as that is usually a sign that either a guy isn't flexible, and or they aren't in good enough shape to finish all the drills.

And for any future NFL prospects, please be sure to train properly for the combine bench press. If you don't you might be one of the strongest prospects there but end up having folks question your strength and work ethic. And trust me, nobody wants to have that happen to them.