The Difference

I have to keep saying this, this blog was meant to be pretty much a hobby of mine. I had no reason to believe anybody would care about what I had to say about sports in general and the Bucs in particular. So the interest that I have drawn truly humbles me.

Having said that, there are some fans who think that I have some kind of ulterior motives. I have a feeling that they aren't feeling what I say on this blog because for the most part I give substantive critiques instead of broad (and usually wrong) generalizations. See when you speak in specifics a lot of the times the media narratives they normally hear don't fit. So all of a sudden I am covering for the defensive line or I am just trying to get some notoriety when the truth is like I said before this was all a hobby for me.

But here is the thing, I haven't actually been factually wrong about anything all year. I know this because I actually watch and rewatch all the Bucs games before I decide to offer my assessment. I highly doubt any of the chattering classes around here do that listening and reading some of what they have to say. If they do then either they don't really know football or they are intentionally misleading their fans in order to further some other agenda.

However this blog is about what God loves, the truth. Doesn't matter really to me if people believe me or not, like I told a commenter yesterday all I can do is argue with facts. After I do that I can't make anyone accept those facts but at least I will have exposed them to them.

Now here is the narrative you will hear all week about the Bucs. That they are in disarray after essentially firing Jim Bates. That they never gave Bates the players he needed for his defensive scheme. That we really don't have any play makers on defense. And that this change won't really make much of a difference.

So here is what I think about those memes. First of all, yes firing both the offensive and defensive coordinators in the same season is a bad sign. I can't defend it and I don't know that anyone should. But I will say this, something had to give. And honestly, although I would never call for Bates to be fired I would almost bet that the only reason he lasted this long was because the Bucs didn't want to fire him after firing their OC Jeff Jadgozinski right before the season started. Whether this means the team is in disarray will be seen in the final games.

As for not providing Bates the players he needed, yeah I have said for the past few weeks that what we brought in here in the draft this year versus what Bates said he needed for his defense did not line up. Neither did trying to switch Jermaine Phillips from safety to outside linebacker. But here is my thing on that, as a coordinator you have to be able to adjust your scheme to the players you have, especially in the pros. Every year people lose big time players on offense and defense. So lets imagine for a second that the Bucs brought in two big tackles and two big linebackers to fit Bates scheme. What happens if those guys get hurt during the middle of the season? The NFL is set up where you are only going to have so many big time guys because of the salary cap. If your coordinator on offense or defense can't adjust their scheme to their talent level then you will always be one or two injuries away from disaster.

As for talent level I will say again that we have enough talent to win. Not all of the guys on our defense are guys I personally think would be starters in the NFL but that doesn't mean we can't win with them. Lets take a trip down memory lane. In the year the Bucs won the Superbowl one of their starters and best players on defense, Booger McFarland, got hurt. We had to go down the stretch run through the playoffs and into the Superbowl with a guy most people never heard of, Chartric "Chuck" Darby, as our starting nose tackle. Here was a guy who wasn't drafted and had played in the World League before signing with the Bucs. And yet he still played well and we did go on that run and we did win the Superbowl.

It ain't always about the big name guys. Its about how they fit in your scheme.

As for whether this will make a change on defense, absolutely it will. The one thing that I am worried about the calls Coach Morris will make at crucial times. I haven't seen him in that situation so I am not sure how that will go. But I am telling you right here and now that our defense will show a marked improvement on Sunday against the Falcons if they truly go back to our old scheme with the weak tackle lined up over the center and at times running an under defense with Quincy Black on the line over the tight end. If you see those things happening on Sunday you will see our stats improve. Basically the thing about it is there were small adjustments Bates had every opportunity to make all year but never made them.

I know most sports pundits around here won't take the time out to actually attempt to explain what the specific problems on our defense were, but I don't work that way. I am not just going to say this group or that group is the problem or this player or that player is the problem...unless they ARE the problem. I will give you one prime example in closing.

Today on the radio I heard some very popular sports guys say, loudly, that the Bucs didn't have any hurries against the Saints. Now I like both of the guys who said this but that doesn't mean they know what they are talking about. The Bucs actually had 6 hurries. First let me make sure you know what a hurry is. A hurry is when someone hits or gets close to hitting a quarterback which either makes him throw the ball away or affects the throw and ends up in an incomplete pass. The truth is we could have had a couple of other hurries but for the fact that Brees still found a way to complete the pass even with someone bearing down on them.

As for the hurries we did have, Greg (Stylez) White had 3, one of them on a great spin move when he hit Brees right in the kisser. Jimmy Wilkerson had 2, one of them on a 3rd and 5 in the first half when he was rushing the guard and made a really nice rip move. And Roy Miller had 1 where he beat a double team on an early down and got right in Brees' face.

Now would I have liked to have had more hurries? Hell yes. I would have also liked to have some sacks too. But still you have to admit that 6 is a lot more than 0. And for someone who wants to argue with me that we didn't have any hurries they are going to have facts.

*Kanye Shrug*

Anyway, I advise all Bucs fan to at least stay on board or get back on board for this weekend and check the defense out against Atlanta. I am not saying we will win, and I am not saying we will be perfect. But what I AM saying is that you should see a noticeable improvement.

It is what it is.

Tune Out The Tony Romo Haters

Lets imagine for a moment an alternate universe. In this universe the Dallas Cowboys defense stops the New York Giants offense on either 3rd and 6 or 3rd and 4 on the final drive of the game to preserve a 31-30 point win over the New York Giants. What do you think the headlines would be today?

Well consider this. On the previous drive the Cowboys got the ball with seven minutes and change left on their own 30 yard line down 6 points. And they proceeded to go 70 yards down the field and score a touchdown.

Now to be sure the bulk of the yardage was eaten up by the running backs, specifically Marion Barber. And the culmination of the drive was a Felix Jones run in to the endzone, not a pass from Tony Romo. However Romo did hit Witten on a crucial 3rd and 8 for the first down plus about 4 yards.

So I ask again, what would the headlines be had he defense held on to the one point lead?

I imagine what the headlines WOULDN'T say is what they are saying today. Namely that Romo is basically a loser who "can't win the big one". Now I have problems with Tony Romo of my own, and by no means did he play a great game, but to use this loss as some kind of litmus test on his ability to win or lose is ridiculous if you ask me.

Here is what you will hear all day long. That Romo has to protect the ball and that he can't turn it over 3 times. Now being a defensive minded guy I largely agree with that sentiment. I think which ever team wins the turn over ratio generally will win the game. And for that reason a major emphasis has to be placed on not carelessly turning it over.

But here is the truth, while Tony Romo threw three interceptions last night, he really only made one bad decision. The ball he threw up for Sam Hurd in the fourth quarter that was picked off by the Giants' safety Kenny Phillips was definitely a poor decision. Even if he didn't see the safety (which I don't believe for a second) the underneath defender already had him played relatively well. Not only that but there appeared to be receivers running underneath routes who were open and available. What made it even worse is that at the time the Cowboys were nursing a 4 point lead. It wasn't the kind of play that we "needed" at the time. And of course the fact that the Giants ended up driving it all the way down to score a touchdown just pours salt in the wound.

As for the other two picks, Romo made the right read both times but ended up making physical errors. On the pick six in the first half he threw to Roy Williams on an in route but the ball sailed on him and went right into the hands of Giants cornerback, Bruce Johnson. But it still was the correct place to go with the ball because Williams was open. On the fourth quarter pick, I mean seriously that was just a freak incident. You could watch football for years and years and never see a play like that happen. Again in that situation he went to the right guy, Jason Witten, who had the favorable match up but he threw the ball just behind him and he couldn't hang on to it. The ball hits his foot and goes right up into Kenny Phillips' hands who was trailing him on the play. It was such a freak play that even the refs initially got it wrong and had to go to a replay.

But the reality is, if anything, these two plays illustrate the fact that Tony Romo IS a winner. You want to know what happened after he threw the pick six right before the end of the first half? He didn't sulk, he didn't go in the tank. Instead he lead the team all the way down with 40 seconds left from his own 35 to the Giants 45 for a field goal. What did he do after the freak interception off of Witten's foot? He led the touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that I alluded to earlier.

Does that sound like a loser to you? Does that sound like a guy who "can't win a big game"?

Now in full disclosure I have been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys practically my whole life. But this has nothing to do with being a homer for the team. You want to hear me criticize them? Ask me about the sorry exhibition of tackling from our secondary last night. Ask me about Felix Jones fumbling a kickoff return when Miles Austin should be the return man anyway. Ask me about the fact that we only had one guy last night getting consistent pressure on the quarterback. Ask me about the blitzes that we kept calling that had no shot of getting pressure on the quarterback. Ask me about why our corners kept allowing the Giants receivers inside versus the blitz. And last but not least, ask me about Bobby Carpenter because I have a lot to say about that weak link.

But when it comes to football I watch from a different lens from most. I go by the available evidence to form my opinions, not some hack talking non stop on the Tee Vee. And having played and coached the game I see things that the average fan doesn't. That's why I decided to watch the game again this morning, so that I wouldn't get caught up in emotion in my analysis and instead I would rely on what the tape showed me. What you are reading in this post is about reality versus the perception you will hear all day on places like ESPN.

Fact: The Cowboys scored 31 points last night against a very good New York Giant defense.

Fact: Of those 31 points Romo accounted directly for 14 of them with a passing and a rushing touchdown.

Fact: He gave the Cowboys the lead in the third quarter and again in the fourth quarter.

Again he did not have a great game, but he for damn sure wasn't Jake Delhomme either. The pundits today who are throwing him under the bus are just repeating what is generated in Cowboys hating echo chamber.

In fact watching the game again this morning I find more problems with the Cowboys defense than their offense. Turnovers aside they still allowed Eli Manning to throw for over 300 yards and the Giants had two receivers with 10 catches and over 130 yards a piece. For the second week in a row the Cowboys also didn't get any sacks. I am beginning to believe that the loss of Greg Ellis, who just so happened to have two sacks yesterday for the Raiders, was bigger than most people imagined.

All in all though I don't see a reason to panic at all. Aside from Marion Barber's injury just about everything else is correctable. And just to reiterate, the Giants aren't exactly the Lions anyway. And even with all of the mistakes we made last night on both offense and defense there was still a lot to like. The offensive line didn't give up a sack and our backs racked up 251 yards on the ground. Our defense held the much feared Giants running game to less than 100 net yards on the ground. And as many yards as our defense gave up to Manning in the air, we held them to four field goals instead of giving up touchdowns when they got close to the red area.

So while there are valid things to complain about with last night's game, saying Tony Romo is a loser isn't one of them, and the sky is definitely not falling.

See you next week for the Carolina Panthers game.