First Thoughts

Helluva win on the road against the Bengals. We werent' perfect but we made the plays when it counted. All three guys who screwed up redeemed themselves, Sabby, Mike Williams, and Spurlock. Freeman took a bunch of punishment but came up huge in the clutch. The D continues to struggle getting pass rush without a blitz which we are going to have to fix. We seemed a little under prepared for the no huddle also. I don't know how long Sean Jones will be out but we missed him a lot today against the run. We also should have gone with some running back screens and max protection some against the blitzes from the Bengals.

But you know what? None of that really matters right now. At 3-1 this team is for real and people HAVE to take notice. I don't give a damn about what went wrong, I'm going to enjoy this WIN!!!

Ira Kaufman Has Got Some Splainin To Do

Earlier this week Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris in response to a question asserted that there would be no changes to the starting defensive line. Today Ira Kaufman has a column about the need for a Bucs pass rush against the Bengals with an assertion that Brian Price will be getting his first start this weekend. I'll let the good people over at Bucstats handle this one.

What To Watch

Coming off the bye week there are several situations I will be watching as the Buccaneers go to Cincinnati trying to get their third win of the season.

Who will be active? There are several players who have a chance to be active this week who have either not been active at all so far or have only been active for one game. That list includes Erik Lorig who was recently converted to a tight end/fullback hybrid and Michael Bennett who could provide a needed spark to our pass rush off the bench. If you have read this blog much since the regular season started you know that I have been calling for Bennett to be active every week but its still not a given that he will see action Sunday. If he's up I expect that we will finally see someone rushing at left end with the get off and speed to be able to turn the corner on a consistent basis.

Lorig could be a major asset in our running game since two of the three tight ends we have been playing with are sub par blockers.  If he is up and he can start knocking defensive ends off the ball as an inline blocker it will help open up holes in our so far underwhelming running game.  And if he is any good at it he could find a home there for a long long time.

We also may see larger roles by LeGarrette Blout and Arrelious Benn and Kareem Huggins should probably also get back into the mix. Of course for every guy that is activated someone has to be deactivated so it will bear watching who if anybody loses their playing time this week in favor of one of these guys.

Will Brian Price replace Kyle Moore on third downs? This is a move that probably should have and would have already happened had Price not had the nagging hamstring injury. One thing is for sure and that is we will have to get pressure on Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer this week to be successful on defense. Price gives us a much better opportunity to do so on third downs.

How will the offensive line hold up? After a dismal outing against the Steelers the offensive line will look to rebound against a team that hasn't sacked the quarterback this year but find ways to get a lot of pressure with their blitz packages. How well we run the ball may define whether we win or lose this game.

Is Cody Grimm up for the challenge? Grimm was victimized on an early deep ball against the Steelers and you have to believe that the Bengals will look to target him in the passing game. Even if we play a lot of Tampa 2 Grimm may still have his hands full trying to defend deep balls to two of the best receivers in the game in TO and Chad Ochocinco.

Even though the Bengals have underachieved so far this season a win in Cincinnati could go a long way in legitimizing the Buccaneers' early season success. On the other hand a loss would likely give weight to the perception that the first two games were just a mirage. Perception doesn't win or lose any games but it goes a long way with ticket sales and I think everyone in the Buccaneer organization recognizes that. So I expect nothing less than their best effort on Sunday and then the chips will fall how they may.

Your Week Four Leader

Ok it appears that we have a ringer in the league with Top Dog. This guy is smashing everyone one right now and its starting to have the distinct feel of a blowout. In better news I have now moved all the way up to 3rd place even on a week where I didn't think I did particularly well. I'll tell you this much, I'm not going down without a fight though. So Top Dog you're on notice buddy. I'm coming for ya!!!

Everyone please don't forget to get your picks in today or at least by Sunday. I'm noticing a few people who haven't done their picks for more than one week. If you no longer want to be a part of the league just hit me in the comments or on email or on the message board and I'll remove your team from the league.

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/

Brian Price To Get More Playing Time

Today someone asked Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris during his press conference about Brian Price and if he might be seeing some more playing time this week. His answer was encouraging.

Reporter: Price looked like he flashed against Pittsburgh. Do you envision getting him more snaps over Sims and Roy Miller?

Coach Morris: Yeah I really do. I don't know about over Roy. You know Roy is the starting nosetackle and Price has a role. And Price is kind of that third down rusher. And Price goes in there and spells Roy when you're talking about first and second down because he creates a different kind of element of speed and creates a different kind of mismatch for that center. So if those two guys can get their snaps somewhat more, somewhat equal. Or however the game dictates and however the game plays out, that's where I want to go with Price. But he is one of those young ascending dynamic players that really got his feet wet at the beginning of the season. You know, fought through the injury all off season. You know, starting to get healthy and starting to get back to where he can play numerous amounts of plays. And you know, getting used to this Tampa heat. And all those things are starting to happen. So he's another one of those young exciting players that we like to talk about.

So far this season Price has seen work as both the backup nosetackle in base defense and on third downs when we went to a three man line. But because Roy Miller only plays on first and second down most of the time Price hasn't been needed to spell him that much on base defense. Also we haven't really gone with enough three man line on third and long for him to be able to make a big impact on the games.

The truth is I can't see how either of those situations will change any time soon. So from where I am sitting if the Bucs plan on giving Price more reps it will probably have to come on third downs with a four man line where Kyle Moore has been playing so far. I can't say I'm 100% sure about that but it would absolutely be the right move. No matter what you think of Kyle Moore as our starting left end, you just can not make a serious case that he is a better inside pass rusher than Price. And that means every time we go a four man rush on third and long and Price isn't in there we really aren't giving ourselves the best chance to win.

Now maybe I'm seeing too much into Coach Morris' comments because I WANT that to be what he means. That is a definite possibility. But its only because it makes all the sense in the world to give him more reps doing what he does best, pass rushing.

We will find out Sunday if that is in fact the plan and you can bet that I will be paying close attention...

Your Week Three Leader

Ok maybe I didn't make this clear but trash talking IS allowed in this fantasy football pick em league.  Preferrably in the comments of these posts each week so we can all join in.  Its been wayyyy too quiet for my liking.  I'll tell you this much, after a terrible week one for me I am now officially kicking asses with steel toe boots on and taking names!  I wasn't number 1 this week but I finished just behind our week 3 champ ....uhmmm ...the uhmm....Butt Water Drinkers?

Yeah.....that name....LMAOOOO

Anyway yall had better get on your hustle because the I'm trying to run away with this thing by the middle of the season.

Alternately, what happened to Top Dog this week?

Remember to make your picks and good luck this weekend!!!