MAWSE!!!

Adam Schefter reports via twitter:

Trade is done: Randy Moss to Minnesota for a third-round pick. Details on ESPN's Sportscenter at 9 a.m.

If you know me personally or have been following this blog for a long time you know that I have always been a big time fan of Randy Moss. Hell as a player I got to see first hand what he could do to a defense and how he made you prepare to play against him. Trust me, that wasn't fun at all.

But ever since his first game in Minnesota defenses have tried to find ways to shut him down and yet he still finds ways to put up numbers. Simply put he is the most physically gifted and impressive wide receiver that I have ever seen. I know because of his attitude that he isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I don't think you can name a person who can or has done the things he has on the football field. And I know the fact that he doesn't block all the time irritates folks but look at it this way, when Moss is on the field most teams are loath to play with 8 men in the box for fear he will..well.. Moss them. So in a round about sort of way he's blocking one guy just by being on the field.

Seriously.

But like all wide receivers Moss needs a quarterback. And not just any kind of quarterback either. He needs a guy with a strong arm AND who has some gunslinger in them. Think back to his best days in Minnesota and his first year in New England (we're going to skip that whole Raiders debacle). He had Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, a young Daunte Culpepper, and a Tom Brady who wanted to put up big numbers. Those guys would see Moss running into double coverage and still throw it up to him because they knew he would still go and make a play on the ball. Its only when Moss has quarterbacks who get nervous about getting picked off that his numbers drop off a little. That's what eventually happened with Culpepper and its also what happened with Brady since that magical 2007 season.

Now Moss gets to go to a Vikings team with Brett Favre that is starving for a play maker in the passing game. And one thing about Favre, he's not only a gunslinger but he will also feed certain guys the ball. If he stays healthy I would bet you there won't be another game this season where he catches fewer than three balls and that's probably a conservative estimate. Favre is going to find him, especially on deep balls.

Then you have to remember that Sidney Rice will be back in a few weeks. If he is truly healthy then that tandem of he and Moss is going to be hell on defenses. And that's before you get to the tight end Visante Shiancoe, the slot guy in Percy Harvin and of course that monster in the backfield, Adrian Peterson. Hell think about this for a few minutes, if Rice does comeback playing like he did last year will there have ever been an offense that was more talented at the skill positions?

If you can think of one please leave it in the comments. But make sure its not an answer that will make me clown you.

There are still some variables at play here. How long will it take Moss to learn the playbook and get a rapport with Favre? Can Favre stay healthy? What about the secondary on defense? But let me tell you, if I was a betting man Id bet big that the Vikings will represent the NFC in the Superbowl this year.

Oh and by the way, the Vikings play the Jets this weekend. What do you want to bet that Revis Island is still closed for repairs? LOL

And one more thing...

o/

Bucs Films Review: New England Patriots Week 7

Yet another edition of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly...

The Good

Defensive Line: You can read my critique here.

Interceptions: We had two big time interceptions by the secondary this week, one from Tanard Jackson and one from Aqib Talib. The offense wasn't able to capitalize this time but hopefully if we can keep creating turnovers we will eventually be able to turn them into points.

Sammie Stroughter: This kid just keeps making plays in the passing game as well as special teams returns.

The Bad

Josh Johnson/Play calling: Johnson had another poor day but not all of it was his fault. On his first interception which was returned for a touchdown by Brandon Merriweather the receiver, Stroughter, ran a stop route but when Johnson threw the ball inexplicably Stroughter started drifting to the outside. The ball was actually accurately thrown to the spot where Stroughter was supposed to be but when he vacated that area Merriweather swooped in and picked it off. Other throws of his were just off though, and although he did once again show some flashes, like in the touchdown throw at the end of the first half to Antonio Bryant, for most of the day he was just too inconsistent.

On the other hand I don't believe that the play calling helped him all that much. I am starting to be reminded of some years ago when Bruce Gradkowski was a rookie here who was pressed into action due to injuries at the quarterback position. At the time even though we had Cadillac Williams in the backfield, for whatever reason Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Jon Gruden still continued to have a pass happy game plan. That in large part contributed to a miserable season and I am seeing the same mistake happening again now. I don't care if teams are crowding the line and I don't care if we are down a touchdown or two in the first half. Right now we need to over commit to the run and take some of the pressure off our young quarterback(s). Making teams play the run shortens the game and helps to cut down on turnovers for the most part and it helps get the offense into a rhythm. Lining up in shotgun on first down is not what we should be doing in my humble opinion.

Jeremy Zuttah: Zuttah had a stinker of a game this week. He was bad on backside cut blocks and he had several busts in pass protections. Even when he knew which guy he was supposed to block, several times he still got his ass handed to him. Hopefully this was just an aberration but Zuttah is going to have to pick it up if we are going to have success.

Giving up big plays on defense: We kind of regressed on defense this week and gave up several long touchdown plays. I understand that the Patriots have some really good weapons on offense but we hurt ourselves several times. There were missed tackles that led to long runs after the catch and there were also calls that put us in bad positions. I have no clue why we would be in man to man defense with one guy blitzing Brady on 1st down and 20 after a penalty on the Patriots. I can tell you however that the resulting bomb to Ben Watson over linebacker Geno Hayes was entirely predictable considering the the fact that Hayes was lined up basically in bump and run with only one deep safety in the middle.

The Ugly

Jerramy Stevens: Jerramy Stevens should be ashamed of some of the blocks he had in that game. Hell I am embarrased for him. And its a mystery to me how the coaches can see this guy whiff on blocks and get his ass handed to him week after week and yet he is still in the starting line up basically. Its not like he is catching a lot of passes to justify the playing time either. But for my money I would MUCH rather see John Gilmore out there in his place. Gilmore might not make every block but at least you can see that he is trying his ass off. Hell even Kellen Winslow Jr. who has never been accused of being a great blocker, actually tries to get in front of his guy and keep them from making the play. With Stevens its almost like he doesn't really give a damn one way or the other. I know one thing, if I was Josh Johnson, Caddy, or Derrick Ward I would be asking the coaches why they keep trying to get me killed by having that guy in the game. And here is the worst part, I have seen Stevens block a helluva lot better since he has been here playing for the Bucs. So it ain't a matter of whether he CAN do it or not, but moreso whether he WILL do this or not.

Loafs: If there is one thing that pisses me off watching a game it is guys showing a lack of effort. You don't have to be supremely talented to bust your ass, you just have to want it more than the next guy. Well in the first half when Patriots wide reciever Aiken caught a crossing route and took it to the house both Talib and Hayes straight up loafed after he broke away from Barrett Ruud. And what makes it so bad is the fact that Elbert Mack came from a long way behind both guys to pass them up and haul ass all the way to the endzone. That is what you call finishing the play. Who knows, what if the guy fumbled right before he got into the endzone? We are having a hard enough time winning games, we can't start having guys deciding that they are just going to give up on plays that are still live.

Short yardage/Goalline defense: I will issue the challenge again. I defy anyone be it player, coach, or fan, to show me how our defense can be successful with the alignment we are put in on short yardage and goalline plays. From where I am sitting and after watching the game 3 times, I am convinced that even if every guy does his job it would be close to impossible to stop a team from gaining a yard a two against that alignment.

If you can prove differently just drop me a line and if you can in fact show me how we can be successful with that defense then I will take it all back and never criticize it again. Until that happens I am labeling it straight garbage!

Bull Rush

The third installment of "Bull Rush" is up at joebucsfan.com . This week's title is "Signs Of Progress".

Live Blogging The Bucs Vs Patriots Week 7

Take The Skirts Off The Quarterbacks!

This needed to be said and there was nobody more equipped to say it than Ray Lewis.

Two Thoughts On the Patriots/Jets Game

First let me talk about the Patriots' defense. A lot of people are rightly concerned about their defense after seeing the Buffalo Bills run up and down the field on them Monday night. I have to say I share their concern. Now unfortunately some kind of way my DVR went crazy on me so I don't have the advantage of having seen the game twice, but watching it live there were some obvious problems with what the Pats were trying to do. The biggest problem I see is that they are trying to have their defensive line play in their 4-3 just like they did in their 3-4, the interior linemen at least. That means both defensive tackles are two gapping instead of playing a one gap defense.

Now I am about to get in the weeds a little here but I will try to be clear about what I am trying to say. In a 3-4 defense part of the reason why the two defensive ends and nose tackle can two gap and get away with it is spacing. In general on early downs they are never more than a gap away from the each other presnap so after the snap even if they get blocked then they are still usually only a gap and a half away from the next guy. This makes it easier for the two middle linebackers to cover their backs. But when you have both defensive tackles trying to two gap in a 4-3 you pretty much start out with them being a gap and a half away from each other. Not only that but they also only have one middle linebacker now to cover for them. The reason the Bills were able to gash them on the run was because their linebackers had no clue which gaps would be open nor where their defensive tackles were going to fit. For that reason at times there were gaps that simply wet unfilled and the Bills running backs took advantage.

The most curious thing about this development to me was that I figured after the Patriots traded Richard Seymour that they would actually go back to playing a base 3-4. This was prior to the game of course and before Jerod Mayo got hurt but my thing is they now have one less top notch defensive lineman but they still are stocked at linebacker, why not go back to what you have been doing so well for years now? Not only that but with the Bills basically advertising all preseason that they would be in no huddle a lot this year it made more sense to me to have more linebackers in the game who would be in the kind of shape that it would take to go against a no huddle offense instead of having more defensive linemen.

Bill Belicheck obviously didn't see it that way as they stuck with their 4-3 for the first game. But I have to wonder if they might revert back now against a division opponent who has a top notch running game after seeing the results from Monday. I mean honestly, in my opinion, they only have two ways of fixing their run defense. Either they coach the defensive tackles to play in one gap even if they play heavy into the guards or go back to the 3-4 defense. I think going back to what gave them 3 Superbowl rings is probably the best way to go but again that's just my personal opinion.


The second thing I want to talk about is the Jets' blitzing defense against the Patriots passing offense. Now although Tom Brady put up big numbers on Monday, I was troubled by something that I noticed. And it wasn't him favoring his knee which Ron Jaworski seems to be obsessed with. No the thing that I noticed was something I also noticed at the tail end of the Patriots' Superbowl run and especially in the Superbowl. Tom Brady has lost some of his nerve.

What do I mean by that? Well if you go back and look at the early part of 2007, the year Brady shattered the NFL record with 50 passing touchdowns, he attacked defenses down the field with a vengence in every single game. Most of the time those throws went to Randy Moss and it did not matter if he was double covered or even in a few cases triple covered, Brady was going to give him a chance to make a play on the ball. The outcome was generally good because if there is one guy I would ever want in the NFL making a play on the ball in the air its Moss. However right before the playoffs started and during the playoffs culminating in the Superbowl loss, Brady seemed to revert back to textbook quarterback play where he started allowing the defense to dictate where he threw the ball.

Because what he is doing now is truly what coaches coach quarterbacks to do, not many commentators are going to end up saying anything about it. But in the process he is turning one of the most dynamic players in the game in Moss into not much more than a possession receiver. If I am a defensive coordinator I now know that if I show even a semblance of double coverage on Moss that Brad is going away from him. And that gives all the advantage in the world to secondary guys for the other team.

The Jets however are an agressive, nasty, blitzing team and that means they will be showing a lot of single high safety. I am sure the will still double Moss on occasion but they will do it with a whole lot of camoflauge. Ironically because of this the Jets may well find themselves on the wrong side of an asskicking. See the Bills had a pretty good scheme against the Patriots on Monday whereby no matter what they were doing they still made it look as if they had Moss doubled. So Brady just threw the ball underneath and didn't really take any shots down the field. But if the Jets have a gameplan similar to what they did against the Texans the are going to give Brady the green light to go up top early and often. And if they do all you are going to hear is "INCOMING!!!"

Now I know most commentators will focus on the way the blitzes will affect Brady and the offensive line but generally the teams that actually bother Brady are those who can rush with just a four man line. When teams bring blitzes he can usually identify which receiver will have a one on one match up or if he will be able to push it down field. So all I am saying is pay attention to the times the Jets blitz this week and how much Brady makes the play with a big play downfield to Moss. As an alternative he may go downtown to Joey Galloway too who will definitely end up with the better match up of cornerbacks usually when teams blitz and he still has the wheels to get open on the deep balls.

The Filthy Rich Get Even Filthy Richer

You might remember that a few days ago I picked the New England Patriots as my favorite to win it all this year. Well after they traded for elite pass rusher, the Oakland Raiders' Derrick Burgess, I have a feeling more people will jump on that bandwagon.

From Pro Football Talk

After an offseason worth of rumors indicating a deal might happen, the Patriots acquired Derrick Burgess from the Raiders Thursday. (In a sign of the times, they announced it via their Twitter feed.)New England will give up "undisclosed draft considerations" in the move.

Oakland was believed to be looking for two mid-round picks in the deal, but it's unclear if they got them.Burgess is expected to convert to outside linebacker in New England, where the team is in need of a pass rusher.

Make no mistake about it, Burgess had a bad year last year but the guy can rush the passer like nobody's business and he should definitely make an impact for that defense, barring injury.

Random NFL Observations

My preseason pick to win it all is the New England Patriots. I personally feel like they had the best off season of any team. They picked up Fred Taylor, Joey Galloway, and Shawn Springs in free agency. Another guy they picked up, Tight End Chris Baker, will also open some eyes I believe. I also think losing Mike Vrabel to the Chiefs will also work out in their favor as it allows Adalius Thomas to be more of the pass rusher that he was back in Baltimore.

For some odd reason though, I don't hear a lot of people pushing the Patriots as potential champions and I really can't understand why. I guess there is the chance that Tom Brady doesn't come back to form but if he does you are talking about an offense that is probably better than the one that set all the records two years ago. With Taylor, Sammy Morris, Laurence Maroney, and Kevin Faulk on the roster, they have a stable of backs that could measure up to almost any other team in the league.

Adding a bonafide wide receiver who still is one of the fastest in the league in Galloway to the tandem of Randy Moss and Wes Welker should almost be illegal. Whether they are saying it or not there are D Coordinators scratching their head right now trying to figure out how they are going to double Moss without allowing Galloway to burn them deep every single time.

On defense the corners are upgraded from a year ago with Springs and another free agent pick up in Leigh Bodden. And with another year under his belt you can expect fellow Tennessee alumni, Jerod Mayo, to be even more of a beast in the middle this year. Look for Richard Seymour to step his game up too back to an All Pro level now that he has had over a year for his knee to heal.

Lets keep in mind that last year even with losing Brady this team won 11 games and barely missed the playoffs. If they get 11 wins in an injury riddled off year, how many do you think they will get if they are firing on all cylinders?

Im just sayin.

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On another topic let me just say that people need to take a deep breath or two over Mike Vick's reinstatement. He will probably be signed by some team before the season begins but its his HIGHLY unlikely that he plays at all this year. For one he will probably push to stay at quarterback and getting into camp late if at all and trying to learn a playbook is going ot be a very difficult thing to accomplish.

For two he has been locked up and away from the game for basically two years now. Although I was a Vick fan back then, it is still true that his accuracy was a problem back when he was practicing everyday. The kind of rust he has accumulated over these past couple of years will be hard to knock off in one season.

And third and maybe most important is that Vick will probably be signed by a team that is established. I don't think a team that is searching for itself will take a chance on him. Its much more likely that a team like the Steelers or the Colts who have the luxury of having a player on their roster who isn't likely to play, will sign him in the hopes that he learns the playbook this year and is ready to compete for a job next season. It just doesn't make sense to bring him in to a team where he is expected to be the man after all he has been through.

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On the Tampa Bay Buccaneers let me say that it will be ironic to say the least if Raheem Morris indeed takes the team back to the basics of running the ball and playing tough hard nosed defense and the team has success and the fans end up jumping all over his bandwagon. Its ironic because they ran Tony Dungy out of town for taking the team in that direction 8 years ago after he led the team to 5 none losing seasons in 6 years. Go figure.