The Good The Bad And The Ugly

How bout dem Bucs?! Ladies and Gentlemen after one game we are tied for the division lead. Gotta love it!!!

The Good

- Cadillac Williams: 22 carries for 75 yards with several big runs called back for penalty. Add in 23 yards on 2 catches and you have a nice start to the season. It was great seeing Caddy get 2 or more extra yards after first contact on just about every carry in that game. Hopefully next game when he breaks off a couple the refs will keep their laundry in their pockets

- Michael Spurlock: Spurlock ended up with just two catches but when one of them is the game winning 33 yard touchdown catch, you gotta give it up for the guy. Here is a player who probably wondered if he had played his last down in the NFL just a year ago. Its a testament to his heart and perserverence that he is back in Tampa and still making plays.

- Mike Williams: 5 catches for 30 yards and one amazing touchdown is a damn good start to a career. If he stays healthy Mike Williams has all the makings of a star. Imagine how his stats will improve when Josh Freeman's thumb gets better.

- D Line: Just check out my Bull Rush post

- Ronde Barber: People keep counting Ronde out and my old teammate just keeps proving them wrong. What a momentum changer his interception and run back was right before halftime. But we wouldn't expect any less from the wiley playmaker at this point in his career.

- E. J. Biggers: I was supremely impressed with Biggers yesterday and even moreso when I watched the game for a second time. This kid has a lot of presence on a football field. He didn't panic all day and he had a bunch of good open field tackles. Although he helped to give up a touchdown by not turning the ball back on a run in the first half, he made up for it with an outstanding interception in the second half with the game still in the balance. He also had a couple of really good pass break ups to go along with everything else. I know Myron Lewis was the third round pick this year but I don't think Biggers will be giving up that starting nickel spot any time soon.

- Quincy Black: The guy just fills up your stat sheet. Led the team in tackles. Had a huge play recovering a fumble. Had some decent pass rushes out of our 3-3-5 alignment and was really physical all day. Maybe the most underrated part of his game is pass coverage where he was all over the tight ends and slot receievers all day long.

- Connor Barth: I know it was only one field goal but I still remember the debacle our kicking game was to start off the year last year. Besides that the field goal represented the margin of victory. It is such a good feeling knowing that we have a kicker that is very accurate and very consistent.

- Kickoff and Punt Teams: Holding Joshua Cribs without a big return for a whole game is an impressive feat indeed!

The Bad

- Pass Blocking: My goodness, our offensive line and backs made the Browns look like the Steel Curtain several times yesterday. It got to the point where almost every time they blitzed they got pressure on Freeman. And its not like Free is a sitting duck or anything nor were they running anything all that exotic. The Bucs are going to have to fix this and fast if they expect Freeman to last the whole season

- Kellen Winslow's run blocking: Still pathetic. Look it, I don't expect K2 to be the second coming of Eric Green, but jeebus if he's going to be in when we run the ball something is going to have to give!

- First Half Tackling: Several times guys didn't wrap up and the Browns got big plays off of it. One play in particular Sean Jones looked turrible just running into the tight end who ended up gaining an extra 20 yards or so. We got better in the second half but that is not winning football. Not ever!

- Deep Balls: Its scary that we are still having problems with deep balls even with the change in defensive scheme. I'm not blaming him because honestly its not always his fault, but its not good that Elbert Mack seems to always be involved when somebody gets behind our secondary either. Tanard Jackson is probably still kicking himself over the poor angle he took on the Brown's first touchdown of the game. That not only should have been a pick, it should have also gone for big return yardage. We have an angle problem in the secondary that needs to get squared away quickly

The Ugly

- Turnovers: In my mind we had 3 turnovers in the Browns territory yesterday. We had the interception, Earnest Graham's fumble and the turnover on downs at the end. We can't keep giving our opponent opportunities. Instead of handily winning the turnover battle it ended up being a push. Which is why Bucs fans still had to hold their breath at the end of the game. The interception is probably due to Freeman's thumb but the fumble was inexcusable. And Freeman had two guys wide, and I mean wide open to throw it to on the fourth and 1 at the end of the game. If the coaches call that play evidently they have confidence that Freeman can throw those completions if the outside linebacker doesn't bite on the run fake (which he didn't). Therefore Freeman is going to need to find that same level of confidence in himself. Those were passes little league quarterbacks could complete but he ate it in what looked like a lack of self confidence. Maybe he was worried about the thumb or something, I don't know. I do know that a play like that can come back to bite you in the ass. Fortunately for the Bucs it didn't yesterday.

Extras

- Josh Freeman definitely deserves an honorable mention. The guy fought through what I am sure was excruciating pain and threw two touchdowns to lead his team to victory. I couldn't find myself to say he had a good game though because....well he didn't. Along with the interception and the bad decision on fourth and one at the end, several balls sailed on him. Balls that were thrown to guys who were wide open, sometimes for big plays. I love his heart but there comes a time when playing does more to harm your team than help it. If Freeman's thumb hurts so bad that he's going to be as wild as he was yesterday the Bucs need to consider sitting him another week or two. I know he is the face of the franchise and yes I would agree he usually gives us the best chance to win.

But his backup, Josh Johnson, is no slappy. He showed during the preseason that he possesses the tools to move the team up and down the field. And maybe his healthy thumb gives him an equalizer with Freeman's injured thumb. It will still be Freeman's team, I'm pretty sure everybody knows that. But both for short term concerns (ie winning ball games) as well as long term concerns (How much permanent damage is really being done to Freeman's thumb?) they should at least consider making that move in my opinion.

- Our run defense was a little shaky in the first half but in the second half we tightened up tremendously

- Geno Hayes had a good game but he could have had a great game had he been on some details. I'll keep saying it until I'm blue in the face. This kid can be special if he just learns to do the little things. He already makes the big splash plays, when he learns to make the routine ones on a regular basis he is going to give offenses hell!

- I do not agree with not dressing Michael Bennett. The guy is in my opinion our second best pass rusher at defensive end and he's pretty good against the run as well. We got away with it yesterday but I don't think we will be so lucky dressing only 7 defensive linemen going forward. If Bennett needs to play special teams then dammit coach him up to play special teams but we need to be able to get after opposing quarterbacks on our home field.

- If you aren't excited about yesterday's win...if you are looking for reasons not to be happy about it...if you can't enjoy it for even a few moments...congratulations, you are offically a HATER!

The Weakest Link

I have decided that during the season when I'm able to do so I will throw up a "Weakest Link" post every week revealing whom it is on the upcoming opponent's offensive line that I believe is their....you guessed it, weakest link. Obviously this will only be possible when I get to see the upcoming opponent's game from the previous week and that will not always be the case. But every time that it IS the case I will endeavor to put one of these up.

This week we have the Cleveland Browns coming in to Raymond James Stadium. In anticipation of this game I recorded the Browns' third game of the preseason against the Detroit Lions. Traditionally the third game is where a team's starters put their best foot forward as if it were a dress rehearsal so to speak. For that reason I felt it was the game most appropriate to watch in order to judge the play of the Browns' offensive line.

Now before I go any further I want to throw out the disclaimer that these are generally going to be observations based on only one game. In an optimal situation I would get to view 3 or more games before I came to these conclusions but that ain't likely to happen. Also while I will talk about the "Weakest Link" and how they can be beaten, I will ALSO talk about the rest of the offensive line and what we can expect from them as well.

For the inaugural "Weakest Link" we have....

Browns right tackle Tony Pashos

(cues fire works and game show music)

Pashos is a HUGE guy and you can tell he's as strong as an ox. But he also is slow footed and he's one of those throw back right tackles that relies heavily on his punch. Now because he is so big sometimes guys get fooled into running into him instead of running around him. This should be avoided as all costs because as I previously noted HE IS AS STRONG AS AN OX. But because he tries to stay squared to the line of scrimmage when he pass blocks AND because he is slow with his kick step, AND because he relies heavily on his punch, running around him is the way to go.

There are plenty of moves that will work. A straight dip and rip. A long arm stab to a rip. A guy can also line up a tight to him and make what I like to call a "Cadillac turn" where they come off the line of scrimmage wide to avoid the punch then make a hard right turn. Thing of it is, when he sees a guy lined up tight to him he generally will try to jump them at the line of scrimmage and if he misses he is terrible at recovering. Basically you can leave him standing there at the line of scrimmage.

A quicker defensive end could also try a quick hands inside move on Pashos but it's dangerous. If the miss knocking his hands down on the punch they will likely wind up on the ground. If it were me I would just keep running around him until he started bailing out of his stance off the snap. Once he starts turning during his kick steps back instead of trying to keep his shoulders squared to the line of scrimmage that's when he will get out of balance and you can get him upfield and swat him by as you come back inside.

What I wouldn't do however is try to bull rush him. Why? Because as I said before HE'S STRONG AS... I think you get the picture.

But here's the rub, who on our team can actually speed rush at left end? As far as I can tell only Michael Bennett. Or rather he's the only guy I've seen do it consistently this preseason. Kyle Moore and Tim Crowder could feast on this guy in the passing game but they are going to have to burn the corner. Running into the guy is playing right into his hands this week. So it will be interesting to see if they can capitalize on Pashos' poor technique.

As for the rest of the offensive line, Joe Thomas at left tackle is the real deal but he is beatable. He is very quick out of his stance and he gets set up so quick that unless the defensive end he is facing is equally quick with their get off on the ball he usually ends up just waiting for them to come to him. But when they are quick off the ball he tends to turn his shoulders. But most of the time he is just inviting he pass rusher to go inside so he can then grab them and hem them up. To me the way to attack him is to get off and bull rush him back then quickly rip off to the outside. Also because he likes riding guys by on a speed rush I would consider spins a LOT this week but only later on into a rush. Spinning early on this guy might get you embarrassed.

The left guard, Eric Steinbach seems to set back a little softer than the right guard, Floyd Womack. What that means for the defensive tackles (and others) rushing them in a practical sense is that its probably going to be a little easier to bull rush Steinback but its also going to be harder to make a finesse move. With Womack they will have to be ready to make a move right off the snap most of the time and he shoots his hands wide so its going to be hard to knock them down. The center, Alex Mack, shows a true slide to one side or the other on pass protection but he's nothing special.

Soooo as I'm writing this post I noticed that the Cleveland Browns released their depth chart and it turns out Tony Pasho's isn't starting!


FAIL

Oh well, I'm not unwriting all this good information. I have no idea of how the actual starter, John St. Clair, will look but obviously the Browns saw the same things about Pashos that I saw. LOL Oh well, hopefully next week I will have better luck.

I will say this though, one thing that still holds true is that Thomas and Steinbach do not handle pass rush games well. Primarily I would look at running TEXs on them because of how each guy sets but EXs will work also. If we are having problems getting pressure with individual rushers I would definitely consider going to the pass rush games on that side early and often.

And with that, I'm out :)

Wide Receiver News

The first news of the morning is that former Texas Tech wideout Michael Crabtree, who had supposedly threatened to sit out the season, signed with the San Francisco 49ers. I actually had the under on this one anyway. I figured the combination of the 49ers having a good start to the season along with not having any money coming in nor having a training table to eat at for free would make Crabtree blink and evidently it did since he got the same deal he pretty much could have gotten a couple of months ago.

The other news is that the Cleveland Browns have shipped off wideout Braylon Edwards to the New York Jets for two players and some picks. Now as much as Braylon probably deserved to get shit canned for his repeated violations of team and league policy including his recent fight with a Lebron James associate, let there be no mistake this move GREATLY improves the Jets' chances of not only making the playoffs but getting close to a championship this year. I know people will focus on his drops but one thing is for sure, when this guy is on there isn't a corner in the league who can check him. Besides that, he can work on his hands in NY but you can't coach his size and speed. He will give Mark Sanchez another big athletic target in the redzone also. I wouldn't expect a Randy Moss level rejuvenation of his career (seriously who else could pull that off anyway?) but barring injury I can just about guarantee that Edwards will help a pretty good Jets team approach greatness this year.

One last thing to remember is that as Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator, Jets head coach Rex Ryan had to face Braylon Edwards twice a year. Don't think for one second that this didn't play a role in the trade.

If I am wrong, please make sure to call me out on it later.

Stallworth Suspended For The Season

Im not really sure about any "stain" that Roger Goddell is talking about here in his letter informing Cleveland Browns reciever, Donte Stallworth, of his season long suspension but I think its a fair outcome. Someone lost their life and Stallworth had been drinking, there had to be some kind of punishment with that no matter what the courts said.