The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

The Good

- Josh Freeman: So at this point aren't we talking Pro Bowl? Yes I'm dead serious. This kid has impressed me more than any young quarterback in a very very long time.

- Gerald McCoy: Very good day for the rookie and you can read all about it in my Bull Rush post.

- Offensive Line: They kept Free clean for most of the day and opened up some huge holes in the running game. If they can play consistently like that I'm sure the wins will keep coming.

- Sean Jones: I thought it was Jones' most productive day since joining the Bucs. I had him with 3 tackles, 5 assists, a fumble recovery and a pressure. It appears the Bucs are getting him more involved in the game plan and blitzing him more and he is taking advantage of it.

- Kellen Winslow: What a sick touchdown catch! And as usual K2 helped the team keep moving the chains on several key drives. For as much as Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn have been praised this year, and rightfully so, I don't know where this team would be without Winslow's clutch catches. He is still a matchup problem for any defense.

- Geno Hayes: A tackle for loss, 6 other tackles and 2 assists, and a pressure made for a very good day from Hayes. But the real reason he's on the list is because it appears from the TV copy that he was the person primarily responsible for stopping the Panthers on the two quarterback sneaks at the end of the game.

- Cadillac Williams; They way Caddy picked up blitzing linebackers against the Panthers he should be an honorary lineman. Of course linemen don't run for 65 yards and a touchdown on only 6 carries. There was also the big time first down he made on the screen pass. He may not be the starter for the rest of the year but he continues to play a vital role on the team doing the little things to help them win.

- Barrett Ruud: 6 tackles and 4 assists plus a sack and a pressure, Ruud showed up big time against the Panthers. And that's a team that normally has his number.

- John Gilmore: His numbers weren't earth shattering but for Gilmore catching 3 balls for 52 yards is HUGE. Maybe the only reason Jerramy Stevens lasted on the roster so long for the Bucs is that they didn't believe they had another receiving option after Kellen Winslow. Now Gilmore is showing that he has the total package and teams can't just assume the Bucs are running because he is in the game.

The Bad

- 3-3-5: I don't really get what the Bucs are supposed to be getting out of this alignment but statistically it appears to be pretty hit or miss. I really wish they would tear it out of the playbook and throw it in the incinerator but it appears I will just have to get used to seeing it.

- Penalties: I can deal with aggressive penalties like a holding penalty or a facemask penalty, something that just happens while a guy is trying to make a play. But on Sunday there were too many illegal procedure penalties from the offense. They are clicking on all cylinders now but penalties can end up derailing even the most potent of offenses. Hopefully that gets cleaned up quick as its generally only a lack of concentration that's the culprit.

- Special Teams returns: Michael Spurlock is really starting to make a name for himself as a receiver for the Bucs. But the guy looks like a catastrophy waiting to happen on kickoff return this year. I don't know who can replace him but he makes me nervous every time I see him. Not only were the returns unproductive on Sunday, there was also a turnover due to the ball hitting one of the Bucs blockers. I really blame Spurlock for that because he wasn't forcefully telling guys to get away from the ball when he saw it would fall short.

Can't have that.

The Ugly

- Fox videography: I damn near pulled my hair out having to watch the replay with these clowns doing close ups on different players, mostly the quarterback, and then missing the wide shot of the play starting. Its enough to give you vertigo trying to figure out what is going on after they flash from a close up on Jimmy Clausen to a running play already in progress. I ask again, who in the HELL thinks that's a good way to shoot the game???

Extras

-After what I thought was a pretty disappointing game against the Falcons, James Lee bounced back well against the Panthers. He was really impressive and thing you have noticed over the last three games is that the running game has picked up and the pressure after Freeman has cooled off. I don't know how much longer Lee will be allowed to start for Trueblood but I really don't see a need to switch back.

- Another player Bucs fans should be voting in to the Pro Bowl is kicker Connor Barth. Every weekend a team loses a game they should win because of their kicker missing a chip shot. Barth is money and I don't know of a kicker in the NFC that I would take over him right now.

- Al Woods appears to be fitting in very well so far to our defensive line. You can read about my positive first impressions of him over on my Bull Rush post.

- I thought Adam Heyward and Dekoda Watson filled in well for Quincy Black. Neither guy had a monster game per se but neither were a liability either as far as I could tell.

- I know players don't normally lose their position due to injury but I would think the Bucs are at least considering continuing to let Tim Crowder start or giving Michael Bennett a shot. Make no mistake, the left end position was better yesterday with Moore out. The question at this point is if the Bucs are willing to admit it.

- Even though I put the offensive line in the good category I do have to point out that if there is one offensive lineman who has been getting beaten this year pretty regularly its Davin Joseph. He gave up a sack on Sunday and it wasn't pretty at all. But for most of the day he was ok. It's just kind of odd to me that even though he has a couple of plays a game, every game, where he gets abused badly that nobody in the local media is saying anything about it. I mean hell I like Davin and I think he has been and hopefully will continue to be an important part of the team. But there is no doubt in my mind that he hasn't looked like the same guy this year. Whether that's because of injury or something else, it is what it is.

- I can't be the only one that's really curious as to why Elbert Mack continues to be active while Myron Lewis is deactivated. I mean is he THAT much better than Lewis on special teams? Jeeeeeeeeez

- One of my pet peeves last year about the defense was that in short yardage and goalline situations they used a five man line with a guy over the center rather than a six man line with the A and B gaps filled. This preseason however the Bucs showed that they had gone back to a six man line and to me it was a major reason why they didn't give up that touchdown right at the end of the game. At that point it likely wouldn't have mattered anyway with so little time on the clock but still a goal line stand on the one inch line for two plays is damned impressive.

Alright, that's it for this week. See ya in the comments!

Copy Cat League, Running Game Edition

I just wanted to weigh in on something that kept popping into my head while I was watching the game again.

Why don't the Bucs utilize the same kinds of running schemes as the Panthers?

I'm dead serious about this.

People always call the NFL a "copy cat league" because when one team has a success running a certain scheme then before you know it you will see other teams trying to do the same thing. And if there is one thing the Panthers have been good at over the years its running the ball.

Hell its part of the reason why we signed Keydrick Vincent this offseason.

But its not enough to just pick up their former players, why not pick up some of their plays.

Don't get me wrong, we run some of the same plays that they do. But we don't use them with the frequency or precision that they use them. And when you think about it our offensive personnel blocking wise is pretty similar to the Panthers.

A lot of what they do involves getting the defense moving one way and then cutting one guy on the back side so you have a cutback lane. Usually its a fullback or a tight end leading up on a defensive end or outside linebacker and they just cut them and the running back starts hard to the strong side then cuts back for nothing but open road.

And the Panthers themselves don't mind copying other teams. They ran a play yesterday that they definitely copied from the Saints, where they fake a bootleg to get the defensive end up the field then run a split belly inside of them. The Saints used the same play last year and killed us with it.

So why don't we take some of the things our opponents do well and use it against everybody else?

Ill tell you this much, it would help our tight ends a lot because Carolina finds ways to put their tight ends in favorable positions to block defensive ends and linebackers. Rather than always keeping them on the line they will put them just a little outside of the box and then have them come back in and crack on a linebacker. I think Kellen Winslow would be much better served in that set up. One thing is for sure, he isn't doing so hot trying to block a defense end right in front of him.

I would love to see the Bucs run a bunch of split bellys and Ram belly's this week and mirror the Panthers' running game. I think its a perfect scheme for Cadillac too because he likes to make one cut and then get down hill. It seems like it should be a no brainer.

So why not?

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

The Good

- Josh Freeman: Freeman continues to show that he is the real deal. Both with his arm and his legs he killed the Panthers yesterday by keeping the yard sticks moving and getting the team in the endzone. His ability to avoid the rush has helped our offensive line tremendously. And his maturation has shown in immense fashion by the plays he doesn't try to make as much as the ones he does. The fact that he was patient and didn't try to force the ball into coverage and yet still took shots down the field shows just how far he has come in a year. Hell even Peter King is now on board, he of the opinion that the Bucs would only win 2 games this year. :-/

- The Linebackers: All three guys, Geno Hayes, Barrett Ruud, and Quincy Black, deserve a mention this week. You are talking about two guys in Ruud and Black having 9 tackles or more. Then Quincy hits the Panthers for a sack, a tackle for loss 6 other tackles and a pass broken up.

You may think I'm crazy but if these guys keep playing up to this level by the end of the year people may see the Bucs as having the best linebacking corps in the NFC. Quick, try to name a better group, I dare you.

- Mike Williams: I have a feeling the kid will be up here a lot this year. Only two catches but one of them was a 35 yard touchdown where his run after the catch was ridiculous. I thought sure they would bring him down just short of the goalline but he ran through those tackles and damn near didn't even break stride. He definitely has to be seen as the steal of the draft so far.

- Tim Crowder and Stylez White: You know what to do

- Kellen Winslow: K2 was HUGE yesterday. Four catches for 83 yards and if I'm not mistaken each catch was for a 3rd down conversion. The forty yard bomb he hauled in from Freeman was just sick. And to think that he was a game day decision as far as whether he would even play. I would hate to think what we would have done without him.

- Connor Barth: No jinx so far, the guy is still perfect with two more FGs yesterday. Again a lot of people don't understand the value of a good kicker until you don't have one. Not me.

- Ronde Barber: Five tackles an assist and his second interception in as many weeks. Its going to be hilarious if Ronde makes the Pro Bowl after all those haters were saying he should retire. I know I'm pulling for him!

The Bad

- Missed tackles: We had too many of them yesterday. I know we were going against some good backs but most of their big runs came when someone had a shot at bringing them down but didn't do it. I love the fact that we are back to swarming to the ball and that helps minimize the damage of those missed tackles, but how about not missing them in the first place?

- Deep balls: For the second week in a row we let guys get behind our backline and for the second week in a row we were bailed out by the other team not making us pay. Well our luck is going to run out sooner or later so we need to get that fixed and quickly. I know everyone was all abuzz about the fact that we only ran Tampa 2 one time in the first game. Well hell if this is the consequence of that, maybe we should run it a lot more than that.

Just a thought.

- Five man defensive line on short yardage: Throw that out of the playbook, please and thank you.

- Busts on blitzes: If we can't run these new Tampa 2.0 blitzes any better then maybe we need to get back to Bark and Frisco or Boston and Fox. You may not know what those words mean but I'll bet Ronde, Coach Morris, and a few others over there do. First off I think we should be going four man rush more on 3rd downs anyway but that's just me. But if we are going to send pressure then we should try to, you know, actually pressure somebody. And failing that at least cover the people we are supposed to.

Otherwise maybe we should stick to what we know.

Again just a thought.

- Davin Joseph: I started to put Davin up last week but I held back because I wasn't 100% that he didn't play well. Well this week I'm 100% sure he didn't play the way we are used to seeing him play. I don't know if his leg is still bothering him or what but you didn't see the power on his run blocking that we are accustomed to seeing and he got beat quite a few times on pass rush. Whatever the problem is I hope he figures it out because we need him and the rest of the offensive line to be playing at a high level if we want to win those close games this year.

The Ugly

- Jerramy Stevens: I really need to know why Stevens is still on our team. I'm serious about this. And it has nothing to do with his past transgressions. It has everything to do with the fact that he's a shitty blocker. Now he isn't the only shitty blocker on the team to be sure. Winslow is probably a hair worse in fact. But the flip side is Winslow had 4 catches for 83 yards. What has Stevens done lately?

I listened all last year when people blamed the offensive line the Bucs problems running the ball. And finally I came out and stated what was obvious to me, that Stevens was the primary culprit. But yet and still another season is here and the guy is still out there getting people killed. I don't know how it is that Cadillac Williams hasn't put his foot in his ass by now but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened soon.

Its a damn shame when one guy can screw it up on a running play were everybody else is blocked up. There was one lead play to the offenses' left where all Stevens has to do is block a corner, A CORNER, and Caddy is out the gate. He should be ashamed that the cornerback not only got of his block like he wasn't even there but ended up making the play. Now sure Jeff Faine got a holding call on the play so it was coming back anyway but Stevens didn't know that at the time. And that play is just indicative of how Stevens perpetually stands in the way between a good run and a great one or a good play and a disaster.

The difference between his blocking and John Gilmore's blocking is unbelievable. And I don't know that Gilmore is a world beater. The point is if we have a tight end on the roster who can't block and isn't catching any balls at some point we need to evaluate why he's there in the first place. I am pretty sure there is somebody on the street right now who is hungry and will knock somebody's block off if given the opportunity and maybe, just maybe, we will get our running game on track.

Anybody who knows me knows I don't like saying people should be fired in general, but this is officially ridiculous now.

Extras

- Maurice Stovall should get an honorable mention. In his first work back off of that ankle injury he sustained in the preseason he forced two holding penalties on the Panthers' punt return team. He is still an animal out wide at gunner.

- I wasn't thrilled with our clock management in the fourth quarter. We were already up 20 - 7 with a little over 10 minutes left and then we all of a sudden got pass happy and had to punt the ball. Yes I like being aggressive but when you are so aggressive that you end up costing yourself a game then call that stupid. Thankfully that didn't happen yesterday but hopefully in the future we will run the ball at least once to try to milk it down.

- Earnest Graham's touchdown catch yesterday was the first of his career, who knew?

- The defense as a whole holding the Panthers to 7 points and making them go to the backup rookie quarterback on their home field was pretty damned impressive.

- Having said that, I would love to see us run under defense more. I think its a much better defense against the run than our 3-4 look and when a team is really trying to run it down your throat it makes it harder for them to do that. We ran it about 8 times yesterday but I would think more in the 15 play area would be better. Just my opinion

Bull Rush

Well what do you know, for at least a few more hours the Buccaneers are in sole possession of first place in the NFC South. Who woulda thunk it?

In fairness some of us did see the potential for this kind of success but none of us really knew how things would work out once the regular season began. Its just great to watch the team performing up to its potential and getting back to what we have come to know as "Buc Ball"

It was particularly gratifying to see us dominate the Panthers, a division opponent, on their home field after so many years when they had dominated us. They showed a shot of the stadium at the end of the game and just seeing all those empty seats made me smile

Having said all that the reality of the situation is that the Buccaneers have beaten two teams that have yet to win a game. That doesn't mean the Bucs aren't good, but on the flip side it doesn't mean they are world beaters either. Even though they won yesterday we still have a lot of things to work on. They continue to let guys get deep on our secondary and just thankfully haven't faced a quarterback that could get the ball to them or the receivers are dropping the passes. Their run defense was good overall yesterday but we had too many missed tackles and gave up several big runs. They ended up with 4 sacks yesterday but at times our pass rush was none existent on early downs. They continue to have busts on blitzes that lead to big plays against us. And up front we have to get better on some details.

The Bucs are going to have to get better if we have any expectations of beating a Steelers team that is also 2 - 0 and is playing some fantastic defense themselves.

Still there was a lot to be excited about. Holding the Panthers to 7 points. Keeping DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart under 100 yards COMBINED. Forcing four turnovers including a turnover on downs after a magnificent goal line stand. And the hustle to the ball was outstanding.

So Bucs fans should enjoy this victory and in fact savor it. Then get ready to give the Steelers hell this Sunday. Only one team is coming out 3 - 0 and it needs to be the Bucs!

Now for the individual breakdowns


Kyle Moore: Moore played ok notching two tackles, a pressure and a fumble recovery by my count. I saw a little more out of him from a pass rush stand point and he had a really good spin right at the level of the quarterback in the second half of the game.

There are two major things I think Moore needs to work on. First and foremost he needs to be more physical on the tight ends. As a starting left end the tight end is going to be on his side the majority of the time. And Moore is definitely strong enough to win the matchups in dominant fashion. Unfortunately it seems like he catches the tight ends block instead of dishing out the blow. The more he gets knocked off the ball the easier it is for opposing runners to get to the corner. It doesn't help that he also starts peeking around the block to try to find the ball.

I always try to tell guys that the blocker will tell them where the ball is or is going to be. You don't have to look for the ball if a tight end tries to cut you off from the gap inside. The ball is going to be inside. You don't have to look for the ball if the tight end tries to block your outside shoulder. The ball is coming outside. The easiest thing to do is just get your hands inside on the tight end and run your feet then depending upon the block rip off to where the ball is going. Or just rip off to your gap. You won't be wrong and you will put yourself in position to make a play instead of allowing yourself to get pushed around.

The other thing Moore needs to work on his is pass rush. Specifically he has to learn when to stop running passed the level of the quarterback and come back to make a play. Too many times he is ending up five or more yards behind the quarterback when the ball is thrown. Its almost impossible to affect the quarterback from that position. At least if you come back to the level you have a shot to get a hand in his face or tackle him should he decide to take off running.

Kyle Moore is a second year player and he didn't play all that much last year so he's still learning and I realize that. But if he just works on those two things I think he will see his productivity go up dramatically in a short period of time.


Gerald McCoy: I had mixed feelings watching McCoy yesterday. On the one hand he was productive with two tackles and two assists along with a quarterback pressure. He really played the slip blocks and double teams well in my opinion. And his effort, as always, was outstanding.

But on the other hand I thought he regressed as far as his pass rushing went. Especially when it comes to pass rushing play action on early downs. Too many times I saw him just running right down the middle of guards with no plan on how to get off the block to try to get to the quarterback. And I saw him in wayyy too many K Lang's* against an offensive line that I thought he would dominate. He also came out of a pirate defensive line stunt instead of staying in the gap and he ran what looked to be a pass rush game with another defensive tackle and instead of looping around the opposite side guard where he likely would have gotten a hit on the quarterback, he stopped in the middle of the game and tried to go back the other day.

Obviously those things didn't hurt us too terribly yesterday, but against a better team it will. On the line stunt and the pass rush game the thing he has to know is that although he might not come free if he runs it right its highly likely that someone else will. But conversely when he doesn't go where he is supposed to be, with violent intentions, he will end up in a situation where he isn't in position to make the play and nobody else is either. And when it comes to pass rushing he just has to be ready every play to make a move. Its not like he can't get good pressure with a bull rush, but for a guy that has his kind of skill and quickness that shouldn't be his signature move.

Now I don't want to come down too hard on him because its not like he didn't play well. But I just have seen what he can do now so that's what I expect every week. And in fact that's what that defense is going to need from him every week in order to be special.

Roy Miller: Roy had a tackle for a loss, two other tackles and an assist by my count. But he also was a little soft playing the double teams yesterday. He is a guy who usually plays with great pad level but for whatever reason he appeared to get high against a lot of those double teams which made it much easier to push him around. Now its not easy holding that point, especially against a team as physical as the Panthers. But that's the job of the nose tackle on this defense so Roy is going to have to figure out away to anchor down in there against the run. He isn't getting any burn on 3rd downs so he is going to have to make his name as a run stopper.

Last week I suggested he tilt a little more to give the offensive linemen less surface to hit. This week I'm going to recommend that he work on being a knee bender and staying low when he feels that double team coming. But I know that's all easier said than done. At the end of the day Miller is going to have to find his own way when it comes to playing those double teams. But one way or another it has to happen because we all know he has a guy breathing down his neck coming off he bench.


Stylez G. White: Stylez had another productive day at the office, this week turning in two tackles, an assist, a sack and a pressure. He is off to a very solid start to the season. He continues to be really technically sound in the run game and physical on his tackles as well. He did however let one running play get outside of him and missed the tackle as he was trying to rally to the ball.

As well as Stylez is playing I think he could be even more productive. So far he hasn't really run many pass rush games on his side on 3rd and long. Some of that is because we aren't always getting four man rush calls on 3rd and long. But still there have been opportunities in both games for him to run an EX or TEX game and he hasn't taken advantage of it. I know some guys just prefer to do one on one rushes and I totally get that. But one thing I have noticed is that offensive tackles are setting Stylez for an outside move now. One way to get them to stop doing that would be to run some pass rush games and give them something else to think about.

Another way to do it, of course, would be to make a....say it with me...inside move. I am going to make this suggestion into I'm blue in the face because I know the impact it can have. If Stylez would just hit a spin move on an offensive tackle early in the game, even if it didn't work, then for the rest of the game that guy is going to have to worry about him doing it again. That means he can't feel as comfortable kick stepping back looking for a speed rush. And conversely it means it will open up the outside rush even more.

One thing I worry about with Stylez is that he doesn't use finesse moves enough. Its not like he isn't strong enough to bull rush and all that, but using those kinds of rushes repeatedly game after game wears your body down, and takes a lot out of you from rush to rush. The reason why making a spin move or for that matter any other quick inside move matters is because when you have an offensive lineman worried about that inside move now you he's not jumping way out for the speed rush and thus you don't have to run into him as much and instead you have the opportunity to run around him.

I know Stylez says he isn't a spin guy but I think if he just tries it out a couple of times early in the game he will see how much easier it makes pass rushing the rest of the game for him.

Tim Crowder: See now this is the Tim Crowder I expected to see in the preseason. Of course in the preseason Crowder wasn't on the left side, but instead the right side. I won't keep beating that dead horse but if you have read my blog any length of time I think you see what I'm getting at.

Crowder hit the Panthers over the head with two sacks, one of which was accompanied by a caused fumble, a tackle an assist and another really good bull rush on a play where the ball was completed. The Panthers came into the game without their starting right tackle and Crowder made them pay for that. He was also stout in the run game as that assisted tackle came on the fourth down play on the goal line where he jacked up the tight end and got a hit on the running back to finish him off after Geno Hayes clipped his ankles. If there was one guy that I was say had the most consistent pass rush all game it would have to be Crowder. The sack he got on the roll out play was just an awesome display of hustle and he was very physical in his hit on the Panthers quarterback Matt Moore.

The question for me is how long can Crowder continue to be this productive, especially pass rushing, and continue to be a back up?

I guess we will all see.

Brian Price: For what ever reason Price didn't play all that much this game. I guess when you aren't in for most of the third down plays and you are a backup to a guy who mostly only plays on first and second down then the numbers are just going to end up that way for now. Still he was productive with limited reps notching two tackles. He also had great penetration on that 4th and goal goaline play which helped to clear the lane for Hayes to come in and hit the running back.

Because we haven't gotten a lot out of Kyle Moore as an inside rusher on 3rd and long I would expect to see Price inserted into those situations going forward. Pairing him and McCoy up inside to pass rush on 3rd downs just makes sense to me and honestly I can't understand why it hasn't happened so far unless maybe Price's hamstring is still holding him back. I just do not believe that Moore is a better interior rusher than Price and I don't think its even close.

But hey just because something makes perfect sense doesn't always mean it will be done does it?

Although one has to wonder how long a high second round pick can only play a handful of plays before someone (maybe the player himself) complains. Id say not very long.

Ryan Sims: Sims also didn't play much. But when he was in the game he was also high and a little soft playing the double teams. Not many reps to go on but I thought he could have played a lot better.

*P.S. - I was so ecstatic to see the defense go back to using six defensive linemen on the goal line I almost didn't know what to do. Last year we kept trying to use five linemen and we kept getting our ass kicked but nobody did anything about it. I wrote so many posts on it that my fingers were about to start bleeding. I'm not saying that because we were successful yesterday that it means we will win on the goalline every time. But I am saying that using six defensive linemen instead of five gives us a hell of a lot better chance at doing so.

2 - 0 HATERS!!!

Here are my quick thoughts on the game.

-Right now its a lot of people in this area who are pissed off that Coach Morris and the Buccaneers are 2 - 0. Make sure you rub it in!

-The defense was balling and the pressure was there all day. Tim Crowder is pushing for more playing time every week.

-Much was made about us only playing Tampa 2 one time last week but me personally I would like to see more of it on 3rd down. Our pressure packages aren't always on point and our four man rush is getting pressure so why not let the guys rush?

-I still wish Quincy Black would get another step or two up field before he loops inside on a TEX but if the young man keeps hitting quarterbacks in the mouth like that I promise I won't complain too much lol.

-If anybody still had any doubts it should be apparent now that Josh Freeman is the real deal. He can do it with his arm and his legs and he's gonna give defenses fits all year.

-Mike Williams continues to defy any talk about rookie wide receivers not being able to perform at a high level. His run after the catch on the touchdown got me up out of my seat!

-When everything is said and done our linebacker corps might be seen as one of the best in all the NFL.

-It was good to see Aqib Talib get a pick in his first game back. Ronde also got his 2nd in as many games. We have to keep winning the turnover battle to help our young offense out. Crazy question, can Ronde make the Pro Bowl this year?

-Jerramy Stevens is as soft as puppy shit when it comes to run blocking. I'm surprised Caddy didn't get up and punch his ass in the mouth after he got him blown up today. Something has to give man, the guy isn't catch passes and he isn't blocking. What use is he?

That's all for now. I'll watch the game again and give my regular breakdowns tomorrow.

Bucs Films Review: Carolina Panthers #2 Week 13

After a two week hiatus we are back this week with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

Antonio Bryant: This guy made all kinds of circus catches all day and you just had to wonder what the season might have been like had he not hurt his knee in training camp. I have no illusions that we would be in the playoff hunt right now, but THAT guy is a game changer without question. He would have made a difference.

The Offensive Line minus Jeremy Trueblood: For the most part these guys really played well on Sunday. They gave up 2 sacks but kept Freeman clean for the better part of the game. They really physically took it to the Panthers on the run game also. Now if only we called more runs....

Maurice Stovall: You would have to be blind not to see that Stovall has been an upgrade over Michael Clayton. I never want guys to get hurt, but I sincerely hope that Stovall has shown the coaches enough now so that whenever Clayton gets back Stovall continues to start. A wide receiver is paid to make catches and Stovall does that better than Clayton, hands down, end of argument.

Cadillac Williams: In one of his best performances of the year Caddy had 92 yards on just 17 carries and was a physical presence all day long. Again, if only he had more carries...

Chris Pressley: That young guy can really block. I think its time to see a backfield with him and Earnest Graham in it, especially close to the goalline.

* I would like to recognize a defensive player as having a good game, especially since as a unit they played relatively well. But I just couldn't find anybody on defense who did enough to be recognized as having a good game. They all did some things good and they all did some things bad. It is what it is.

The Bad

Greg Olsen: I was lightweight considering putting Offensive Coordinator Olsen in the Ugly category but I showed some mercy this time. But his play calling for much of the day was suspect at best. Any time you have both of your running backs running well and your team ends up with whopping 5.4 yard average from the running back position but you decide to only run the ball 22 times, something is fucking wrong. Especially fucking wrong when you end up throwing the ball twice as many times, on the road and only down at most 10 points. I had a feeling this kind of bullshit would happen though once Josh Freeman was named the starter. Because the perception is that the coaching staff will rise and fall with Freeman's performance the pressure is there to showcase him so to speak. The problem of course is that he is still a rookie and he is still going to be prone to making mistakes.

It's precisely for that reason that you run the ball, particularly in the redzone, to take pressure off the guy. What you DON'T do is line up in shotgun on first down at the 20 or closer and try to chunk the ball around. For anybody reading this that ever wants to go into coaching, pay close attention to what I am about to say. If you want your redzone percentage to be close to 100% RUN THE GOT DAMN BALL IN THE REDZONE! And it wasn't just that we didn't run the ball, it was also that our power 0/counter play to our right with Jeremy Zuttah pulling play side was friggin killing the Panthers all day. Hell I am not sure that we got less than 3 yards on that play all day. Yet we get close to the endzone and instead of running the play that evidently the Panthers just can't stop, we keep running slants and having Freeman throw into traffic where he tends to have problems as any rookie quarterback would.

One final note. We have two guys who catch the ball on offense who are 6 ft 5 or better. You mean to tell me that out of all our trips in the redzone we can't throw a fade to Stovall or Jerramy Stevens even once? Hell if we aren't throwing Stevens the ball on fade routes close to the endzone, I am not sure at all why we even have his non blocking ass on the team. Real Talk.

Chris Hovan: My critique is here.

Connor Barth: Doesn't take long for a kicker to go from looking like a savior to looking like a goat. I am not the world's biggest fan of kickers any damn way and Barth HAS to make those two he missed on Sunday. They weren't chip shots but they weren't long shots either. That bad karma we have from cutting Matt Bryant seems to be lingering for the whole season. I really hope it doesn't bite us in the ass big time when we play the team he just signed with, Atlanta, in a couple of weeks.

The Ugly

Jeremy Trueblood: The guy is a LOSER!

Josh Freeman: Yeah I could make a lot of excuses for the kids but I am not going to. Five interceptions is unacceptable on any level of football. Four interceptions in the redzone basically kills your team. Its funny because as I was replaying the game again I heard avowed Freeman Fluffer and otherwise great guy, John Lynch, say after the first interception that basically it was no big deal because Freeman would bounce back and it wouldn't affect him the rest of the game. I don't know if he jinxed the guy or what but Lynch for damn sure ended up with egg on his face by the end of the game. To be sure it wasn't all bad. A few of those passes to Antonio Bryant were just sick and he made a couple more really good runs off scrambles. But it seems that he gets locked in on the guy he wants to throw the ball to presnap and really doesn't deviate from that much even when other reads are open. Again, that's what rookies do. But that is something he is going to have to get better with if we stand any shot of winning any of these last few games.

Well that's it for now. I do have a bonus for you this week though. I am playing around using my white board and I decided to diagram a counter play the Panthers ran on our defense several times on Sunday to illustrate where Geno Hayes SHOULD have been to make the play.




On this play we are in an under defense and its in the 2nd quarter. If you need a reference point, its right before Geno gets his interception. The Sam linebacker (Quincy Black) is up on the line in front of the guy on the line in the bunch set as he should be. The defensive end (Tim Crowder) was in a 5 technique, outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. The tackle to that side (Chris Hovan) is lined up on the outside shade of the center. The tackle backside (Ryan Sims) is in a 3 technique outside shade of the guard and the backside end (Jimmy Wilkerson) in a wide 5 technique outside of the offensive tackle. The middle linebacker (Barrett Ruud) is lined up in the B gap strong and the Will linebacker (Geno Hayes) is lined up in the A gap weak. Now it appears that the strong safety (Sabby Piscitelli) is supposed to be in the box but I personally would have liked to see him with a wider alignment against that bunch set and about a yard or two closer to the line of scrimmage.

As you look at the blocking scheme here is what should happen on this play. The Sam LB should spill the offensive guard's block, meaning go inside of it to make the running back have to bounce outside. The defensive end to that side should fight the double. The defensive tackle to that side should play back into the playside guard and maintain his gap in case the ball cuts back. The backside defensive tackle should play the center's block and stay in the gap for cutback. The backside defensive end should get upfield to check bootleg then run to the ball.

The Mike linebacker should spill the tight ends's block coming out of the bunch. And the Strong Safety should play over the top of the wide receivers block trying to keep his outside arm free. And then we come to Hayes, the Will linebacker.

Once he sees the guard to his side pull he has to know that he has to get over the top to the other side of the formation. He basically has to pull just like the guard once he reads run because the guard is effectively creating another hole to the other side. The thing of it is, its not necessarily that Hayes would end up making the tackle, however if he gets over the top one of two things SHOULD happen. Either he should make the tackle, or he should take up that wide receiver's block leaving Sabby unblocked to make the tackle. Either way, if he gets over the top, Johnathan Stewart doesn't get 28 yards. If you look on the diagram the green line is where he should have gone and the red line is where he actually went, trying to shoot the gap and make the play in the backfield. That's what I mean when I say he plays too much on instinct and not enough of his playbook.

Now I know most people focused on the fact that Ronde Barber whiffed on the tackle attempt, and truly that was not a good look. You would definitely like to see Ronde make that tackle, but even though he didn't he still made the smart play. Ronde is one of those guys who always knows where his help is. And for that reason he took his shot at Stewart's outside leg, knowing that if he cut back that there should be help there to make the tackle. Because Hayes never got over the top, that help never came and Stewart was out of the gate.

I hope you like this chalk talk segment, if people give me positive feedback I will try to do more of this in these final few games.

Update: I found this link to the highlights (or in this case lowlights) of the game. The running play in question is the third one in the series.

Bull Rush

My latest offering us up over at joebucsfan. As usual I appreciate all the support and I welcome all comments and questions.

Live Blogging The Bucs Vs Panthers #2 Week 13

How Fake Sports Stories Take Hold

A couple of weeks ago there was a little mini controversy brewing in Carolina. You see Jon Beason went on a radio show and was asked about the lack of production from the normally dominant Julius Peppers. Here is what he said.

Beason said he watched the closing minutes of Minnesota's win over Green Bay Monday night, during which Vikings' defensive end Jared Allen had 4 1/2 sacks. It was the type of performance Panthers fans, and apparently teammates, want from Peppers.

Beason said he received a phone call late in the game from someone discussing Peppers, to which Beason said he responded "I'm going to have a conversation with that guy."

"The pressure is what you want to see, the intensity," Beason of Peppers.

Beason said his conversation "would be brief and to the point."

Beason said he wouldn't be looking to criticize, but rather to say, "I need you to be there with me. I need everything youv'e got. That's it in a nutshell."

Well guess what? After Beason made those comments Peppers has been on a tear! In the next two games (admittedly against lesser opponents) he had 12 tackles 4 sacks, 5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a tackle for a safety.

I know what you are thinking, Jon Beason needs to be a motivational speaker. Right? Right? I mean I even saw a few talking heads saying how effective his little talk to Peppers must have been. Or at the least just SAYING on the radio that he was going to call Peppers out must have been a huge motivator. I am willing to bet that if Peppers goes on to have another Pro Bowl season more than a few sports pundits will give at least some credit to Beason for "lighting a fire".

There is just one problem though. That isn't really what happened.

What ACTUALLY happened was that the Panthers put Peppers back over on the left hand side where he had previously been dominant since his rookie year. Last year they moved Peppers to right end to make up for the loss of long time starter Mike Rucker and by all means he had a really good year. Double digit sacks again and yet another trip to the Pro Bowl. But from my perspective he never truly looked comfortable over there this year. I don't know if he was seeing too much or what but he looked slower and not nearly explosive as if he was trying real hard to be perfect. But now that he is back on the left side the guy is absolutely wrecking shop. On one of the sacks this past Sunday against the Bucs he got double teamed by the tackle and the guard but he still ran threw them like they were swiss cheese.

Remarkably as of this evening I haven't heard one single sports pundit talk about him moving back to what I think is his more natural side as the reason for Peppers resurgence. But like I said the media generally won't let facts like that get in their way. They won't care that after the Redskins game Beason admitted he never spoke to Peppers about his intensity before the game. They won't care that Beason apologized for calling Peppers out on the radio. Its a much more exciting story if it seems like Beason went in and cracked the whip and all of a sudden Peppers just woke up.

So just pay attention for the rest of the year how sports pundits talk about Peppers play. Trust me on this, the guy is going to continue to dominate for the rest of the year lining up at left end. And the Panthers will probably be in contention for the playoffs before its all said and done.

Bucs Films Review: Carolina Panthers Week 6

Time to check out The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the Panthers game. Back up because I am spitting HOT FIYA today!

The Good.

Cadillac Williams: I thought the guy did a great job of running the ball and several times making something out of nothing. The cut back run for a touchdown was an absolute thing of beauty and he also did a great job of blitz pickup throughout the game. The question I have is why, after Offensive Coordinator Greg Olsen said just the other day that he wanted to make Caddy into more of a featured back did he only get 16 carries? We have a young quarterback, facing a tough defense at home and our workhorse only gets 16 carries? Now he made the most of them with 77 yards rushing but you have to wonder what he could have done with more opportunities. And for that matter the effect it would have had on opening up the passing game down field as well.

Tashard Jackson: In his second game back after serving a 4 game suspension to start the season Jackson was back to his playmaking ways. He started it off with a huge hit on Panthers wide receiver Musin Muhammaed, followed that up with a caused fumble deep in our own territory after our offense had turned the ball over, and capped it off with a pick six to tie the game in the second half. He made a lot of other plays in the run game and also showed the kind of pass coverage that we have come to expect from him at this point. If Tashard can keep playing like that we should always have a fighting chance on defense.

Sammie Stroughter: This guy showed up big time in a game where we needed to make something happen. His kickoff return was HUGE in the second half at a moment when I am sure a lot of people were about to write the game off because we had just gone down two touchdowns. He also had several big catches and he and Josh Johnson seem to have developed some good chemistry. In my honest opinion the kid has earned more playing time by virtue of making the most of the opportunities he has been given.

Greg (Stylez) White: In his first game starting at right end since Gaines Adams was traded last week White had a pretty good day. He had his first sack of the year and he also was close on another play where he literally crawled all the way to Jake Delhomme. But the best part of his game, in my opinion, was how he played against the tight ends in the run game. It is a lost art of defensive line play nowadays of escaping off a block to make a play. So often guys just try to stick their arms out and hope that somehow some way they will make the tackle. But White put on a clinic technique wise, getting full extension, ripping into his gap and then putting his face in somebody's chest. It was definitely encouraging to see.

Barrett Ruud: Ruud was all over the field making plays on Sunday. He had a gang of tackles several passes broken up and a big interception in the first half. He also was very physical on the Panthers' fullback, blowing him up several time on isolation blocks. I would love to see him come down hill more versus the run but I will talk about that more in a minute.

The Bad

Ryan Sims: As I stated in my post on joebucsfan.com Sims didn't have a good game. He didn't hold up really well against double teams and he didn't get much push in one on one pass rush situations. I feel kind of bad lumping him in this group because he still gave one hell of an effort on every single play which ain't easy for a big guy. But it is what it is, he can do better, he knows he can do better, and he needs to do better for us to have a chance to win.

Josh Johnson: Josh showed some flashes of greatness during the game but he wasn't close to being consistent enough. The miss to Stroughter deep in the Red Zone was huge because we could have put the Panthers down two touchdowns early and tried to make them one dimensional trying to keep up. Johnson also put his offensive line in difficult situations at times because he held on to the ball too long. I know he didn't do it on purpose but we also can't have the fumbles that take us out of field position and threaten to give the game away. What I was most disappointed in however was Johnson's decision making in the second half. On the interception that he threw he had two other guys wide open without a lot of coverage around them. He also pushed the ball downfield several times for incompletions when he had underneath routes running free. And although Julius Peppers was a force on several plays, on the majority of the passing plays the offensive line and backs held up, even versus the blitz, and gave Johnson enough time to find the right guy. It appears that he will have just one more chance to make his bid to continue starting and I hope he makes the most of it.

Sabby Piscetelli: Sabby is simply going to have to grow up fast or else we need to see what Will Allen can do. Its one thing if you are a safety who is strong in coverage and average against the run or you are a safety who is strong against the run and average against the pass but what you can't be is average in both. Right now I don't think any running back or receiver fears Piscetelli and that is a bad thing. We can't afford to have him missing as many tackles as he is missing when he has one one one opportunities. At the least I am going to need Sabby to know where the hell his help is. Missing DeAngelo Williams is one thing, missing Williams and letting him bounce outside when you are the contain element of the defense is quite another. For all of Allen's deficiencies in pass coverage the guy will stroke you in the run game. If Sabby doesn't get any better at some point they need to pull that plug.

Jeremy Trueblood: Trueblood gave up two sacks to Julius Peppers but he should have had some help both times. Unfortunately for him nobody cares about whether the guard kicked out or not. What they DO care about is seeing Josh Johnson getting slammed hard to the turf several times. Admittedly Peppers is a BEAST but Trueblood should be able to hold his on with him at this point. One good thing I will say is that at least he didn't get another bs illegal procedure (jumping off sides) penalties that he has been plagued with of late.

The Ugly

Dick Stockton and Charles Davis: I swear that the crew calling the game on Sunday was one of the worst I have ever seen or heard. When they weren't getting basic facts like the correct names of the teams and players wrong, these guys were showing replays of big plays without taking note of the penalties occurring. On DeAngelo Williams' first rushing touchdown Aqib Talib is OBVIOUSLY held by Steve Smith. I mean you see the jersey pull and everything and it was right in front of the referee, but even though they showed the replay several times neither Stockton nor Davis even raise the possibility that it might be holding. Later on when Johnathan Stewart scored on a play right up the middle, the Panthers' center all but tackled Barrett Ruud to the ground from behind and again nothing but silence from that duo. I really thought at some point the camera would cut to them and we would catch them getting stone cold drunk like the announcer in the movie "Major League". Come to find out evidently they were actually sober although I would need to see a breathalyzer to be really sure.

Jerramy Stevens: I am going to keep this straight and to the point. If Stevens doesn't want to block then they need to keep his ass off the field, period. It doesn't make any damn sense for him to be that damn big and keep getting his tail handed to him when he tries to block defensive ends. I like his athleticism, I think he can help us in the passing game, but right now he is a frikkin liability unless he is out on a route. Even though John Gilmore had that crucial penalty on 4th down, he needs to be in the game more. Watching his effort blocking and watching Stevens effort is like seeing night and day. We are 0-6 now and we don't need any weak links so either Stevens starts manning up or its time to sit him down.

Defensive Scheme: I have tried to kind of talk around this all season so far but I am done with that. Our defensive scheme sucks, there I said it. Its hard for me to even know where to start but here goes. First of all as I have said numerous times, trying to two gap with your defensive tackles requires that you have two guys who are 6 ft 5 or better and 330 lbs or better. And even then its still not a given that it will work. But we do not have the frikkin personnel to pull this kind of scheme off. Neither Ryan Sims nor Chris Hovan are gonna grow several inches or gain 10 or 20 pounds or so as this season goes on so at least for the rest of this year its going to be a problem. What is so messed up is both Sims and Hovan and for that matter even Roy Miller, are all quality NFL defensive tackles. But they are being put in a position to fail damn near every single play. They can't use their quickness and they aren't being allowed to play in a gap which would actually help them hold up better against double teams. Having them so tight in their alignments also hurts them when they have line stunts because the offensive linemen don't have to step as far to block them initially which means they don't have far to go to recover on the movement. I now a lot of people won't understand what I just said, but those that do will feel me. Hell a few times during the game, whether by hook or by crook, Sims actually lined up closer to a more traditional alignment on the center and stepped into him on the snap and whaddya know he was able to control the guy and make the play both times. Just imagine if he was able to actually tilt in and put his inside hand down and really get off in his A gap. I bet he has day dreams about it.

This situation, of course, has an effect on the play our linebackers also because when one of our defensive tackle is pushed three or four yards off the ball because of a double team then that means our backers have a harder time seeing the action in the backfield and also recognizing their gap responsibility. It is frustrating as hell to watch time and again when our linebackers have to go lateral instead of down hill because they have to get around their own guys first. But explain to me how Sims or Hovan or Miller are supposed to hold their ground at the line when they are lined up damn near head up on the guy in front of them and there is another guy coming down hard on their backs. It would damn near defy physics for guys their size to not get moved down field.

Another effect of the two gapping with the inside guys and the defensive end on the weak side is that there is practically no penetration in offensive line and running plays are allowed to bounce outside. It happened several times on Sunday and its going to keep happening every week. In this instance we are getting the worst of both worlds. See in a real 4-3 your ends and your strong side defensive tackle would be getting upfield in the gap and making most running plays cut back. In a true 3-4 you would have stand up outside backers who could get up field and turn most running plays back. Instead we end up with a neither nor proposition and we see good backs like Williams exploit that.

We also are running blitzes that are poorly designed and haven't been successful so far this year. What is worse is the guy you would think we would usually want blitzing, Quincy Black, hardly ever even gets his number called. Instead its usually Ruud and Geno Hayes trying to find their way through the A gaps or both of them trying blitz strong. Not only that but evidently the only person who gets to blitz off the edge is Ronde Barber. Now I like Ronde and he is a helluva blitz guy but its a problem when we are in our base defense and we never show a blitz with the defensive end coming inside and Quincy Black rushing from the outside. In general what makes most blitzes work is confusing the offensive line as to who they have but the way we send our blitzes we might as well raise our hands and let them know where we are coming from.

Also pertaining specifically to the fourth quarter on Sunday we don't even have a solid plan for stopping the run when we have to get the ball back for the offense. We show 8 men in the box and yet the linebackers evidently aren't being coached to spill the play to the free hitter. That means we have Piscetelli or Jackson just sitting their waiting to blow somebody up and instead they are being wasted because nobody is turning the ball back to them. And in the process we are giving up 3 to 5 yards a pop and that's on a good play.

Oh and then how about the scheme we went to with a 3-4 look inside evidently to try to stop the run? I can't do anything but laugh at it at this point because I spent so much time already yelling and screaming about it watching the game. I will say this much, had the Panthers tried to run a quarterback sneak or two, we would have been ALL over that shit. But being as they didn't yet again our guys were set up for failure. I can't even think of a team off hand that plays a 4-3 then goes to that look to try to stop the run other than the Buccaneers. Most teams want to cover both A gaps and both B gaps in that situation but hey I guess everybody else is crazy, and we are the geniuses. Doesn't quite explain that 0-6 record though does it?

I doubt if Coach Morris would ask for or perhaps even wants my advice, but I am going to give it to him anyway. Defensive Coordinator keeps saying over and over that his scheme works, well we haven't seen any signs of that so far. Coach Morris its going to be your job on the line if things don't get any better, its time to step in and get back to Buccaneer football on defense. You don't need to switch Joe Barry to defensive coordinator but I can promise you that he remembers how we played the run her for years and can teach it if you ask him. Both you and he definitely know the Tampa 2 inside and out. And quiet as kept I know that we ran a helluva lot more Cover 3 in different permutations than Cover 2 over the last few years and you can definitely put that back in the game plan too. But what we are doing now can't get much better. Notice I said can't. Either you are going to make a change or somebody else above you is and I would much rather it be the former than the later. So try to take this advice in the spirit its given because I am pulling for your success.

But this is the NFL and we both know what that stands for. It is what it is.

Update: I swear I hadn't seen this until after I finished up this post.

"It wasn't the calls," Morris said after fielding a question about the number of run blitzes the Bucs tried during the game's last critical drive. "We just got physically overpowered there.

"How did it happen? They wore us down. Some of (changing that) is about getting a little bigger. Some of it's about getting more physical. We did play better than we did (the last time we faced Carolina). But not enough."

I am not quite sure how Coach Morris plans on our guys getting bigger during the season but at this point all I can do is shake my head.

Live Blogging The Bucs Vs Panthers Week 6