Get Ready For Some Alex Magee

This just came across my twitter stream

Jeff Faine, Jeremy Trueblood, Earnest Graham & Ryan Sims are all going to miss this weekend's game in Atlanta due to injury.

That's from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' twitter feed. It's kind of ironic because I was just talking about why the loss of Brian Price to IR was so big the other day and now that Sims is going to be out people will get to see what I mean. That's not a knock on Alex Magee though. Actually I don't know much about him and I couldn't say how he will fit in with our defense until he gets some snaps. But I would say its pretty damn scary when you think about the fact that he and Al Woods now make up the second team defensive tackles even though neither have taken a snap for Tampa and both were recently learning how to play in a 3-4 rather than a 4-3 defense.

And yes, it DEFINITELY matters.

I don't know if both Magee and Woods will be up but even if they are I have a hard time believing that Woods would be able to learn the playbook quick enough to be ready to play meaningful snaps for the Bucs on Sunday. Magee on the other hand has been here for a few weeks so he should at least have some of it down pat. Its not like Sims was necessarily a world beater either but at least he knew where he was supposed to be on every play.

Now the Bucs and all of us fans will have to say a few prayers that Gerald McCoy and Roy Miller, along with Magee, stay healthy for the whole game. If not you are looking at the prospect of some major shenanigans inside against the Falcons.

On an additional note James Lee will get another week to impress the coaches, this time he will probably see a lot of Kroy Bierman and probably some John Abraham as well. I thought aside from a couple plays where he slipped that his blocking was outstanding against Arizona. But he had two false start penalties and the truth is that's what drives everyone crazy about Trueblood. If he can cut that out then I really do believe no matter what the Bucs say publicly that he has a chance to be the permanent starter.

Wait, Was It A Payment Plan???

The sports world is buzzing about the news that Auburn Quarterback Cam Newton, a Heisman front runner, is being investigated by the NCAA for receiving improper benefits in exchange for going to Auburn. The short version of the story is someone purporting to represent Newton, a shady character by the name of Kenny Rogers, spoke with a representative of Mississippi State about paying $180,000 if they wanted him to come there. And Mississippi State evidently not only said no, but also forwarded the information to the SEC (go figure) which then of course looked at Auburn because that's where he ended up.

Now there are many layers to this story and I'll be honest, I have no idea of Newton or his family did this. I would say that if offered $200,000 many many families would have a hard time saying no. On the other hand I think its patently ridiculous how many so called "journalists" have rushed to judgement with Cam Newton. There has been no ruling from the NCAA but you see some of these folks saying Newton should no longer be in contention for the Heisman and Auburn shouldn't be ranked as high.

I could have sworn I was in America where people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.

But hey, I guess some folks are going to try to make a name for themselves by throwing Newton under the bus. If only for those few assholes I sincerely hope Newton is cleared just so they can have the maximum amount of egg on their sanctimonious faces.

But again I'm not going to argue innocence or guilt in this post. Instead there was something in the story that bothered me and seemed to prejudice people into giving more weight to the allegations. That is that they pointed out some trouble Cam Newton's father was having keeping the church he pastors from being demolished.

Cecil Newton said the family received a letter from the NCAA "about a month ago" asking for financial statements. He said he submitted bank statements and records for the church where he is pastor, Holy Zion Center of Deliverance in Newnan, Ga., along with other records.

The church has been in the news in Coweta County, Ga., often in the past year. According to stories in The Times-Herald newspaper, Cecil Newton's church was in danger of being demolished by order of the Newnan City Council in 2009 for failing to meet the city's building code. One story said Cecil Newton told the council last September the building would be brought to code "inside of six months." After numerous delays, extensions and compromises from the council, renovation work began last spring and The Times-Herald reported last week that the church is in compliance with Newnan's building requirements.

Now if you read that part of the ESPN story you might come away saying "Aha!" because the clear implication is that the Newton's MUST have taken the money to fix and save the church. That would make sense to me if we were talking about some kind of megachurch, but this was really an old parts supply story that was being converted into a church. And I mean with $200,000 and the current real estate market, couldn't Cecil Martin just buy a brand new church outright rather than throwing good money after bad in an older building that was falling apart?

It was those kinds of questions that made me decide to google the church and see what I could find since the ESPN story pointed out that it had been in the news quite a bit over the last year. And while googling I found this article.

The Newnan City Council said Tuesday it is finished granting extensions for a local church to bring its building up to code unless the owner can offer an acceptable, compelling reason why not to proceed with demolition.

"I am done dealing with 115 Temple Ave.," said Mayor Keith Brady.

Holy Zion Center of Deliverance was on the agenda for council to discuss the status of the property and consider granting another extension for work. There have been at least three extensions already granted since the condemnation process was initiated in June 2008. When no one from the church was present at Tuesday's meeting to explain why renovations aren't progressing, Brady asked the city to issue a stop work order.

Brady said he didn't want the owners to invest any more money in the property before council has a chance to discuss how to proceed. The city will also send the property owners notification to appear before council at its next meeting -- particularly if they don't want the property torn down.

That is a story from May.....of THIS YEAR.

Sooooooo lets think through this.

Supposedly Cam Newton was shopped for $180-$200 grand last December. And because he signed with Auburn the thought is they paid the $180-$200 grand to get him. And because his father's church was in need of renovation that's why they wanted the money in the first place.

But at least five months after Newton committed to Auburn his father's church is still about to be demolished?

Did they agree to a lay away plan for the pay off or something?

Or is it more likely that whether they took the money or not, the church wasn't the reason?

I'm gonna go with the latter.

Unfortunately it seems quite a few people are basing their belief that the Newtons are guilty on the information about the church. I guess its kind of like an old Perry Mason episode where the impending church demolition gives them motive. But although they did eventually get the church up to code, its obvious that the problems didn't go away when Newton signed with Auburn.

So to reiterate, I am not arguing that Cam Newton or his father Cecil are innocent. What I'm arguing is that the problems with the church and the fact that its now up to code don't really prove anything either. Actually if there's anything it does prove its that if there was any money that exchanged hands it obviously wasn't used on the church for at least five months. As a matter of fact the church was just about to be put up for demolition AGAIN because the renovations still hadn't taken place. Maybe its just me but I don't think Cecil Newman would have been playing chicken with the city of Newnan if he was walking around with hundreds of thousands of dollars in his back pocket.

One last thing on this. Here is another nugget in that last article.

Bishop Cecil Newton, pastor of the Temple Avenue church, and Melvin Cooper, the general contractor for the project, came before the city and reassured council the church had the money in hand to proceed with the work.

That's a reference to something that happened in September....of 2009.

I can't say whether Cecil Newman was lying over a year ago when he claimed he already had the money for the renovations, but I would assume it took more than a "scouts honor" for the city council to believe him. So if he did in fact have the money in hand for the renovations last year then no matter how many delays they went through or how close the city got to demolishing the church, it would prove that the story of whether Newton got money for going to Auburn or not had nothing to do with that church.

At least for me it does.

Your Week Eight Leader

TanBucsFan gets on the board with a win in week 8. TopDog is still running away with the crown though. And in the meantime I have fallen to the back of the pack. That changes NOWWWWWWWWWWWW.

LOL

Be sure to get your picks in for this week!

Dear Anonymous

Ok, I tried to ask nicely but evidently some people can't read and or don't care. So although I welcome comments on every single post, from now on I am deleting any post from "Anonymous".

As I have pointed out before you can leave any nickname you like and still be anonymous by clicking the "comment as" button below each comment box but it gets too confusing when there are 2 or 3 comments from "Anonymous" in a thread. So to reiterate going forward I don't care if its the greatest comment in the history of blogs, if there isn't a "name" of some kind attached to it then it's getting deleted.

It is what it is.

Thanks, Management.

Brian Price To IR

TAMPA - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hoped rookie defensive tackle Brian Price would give their line enough depth to help stop opposing running backs and rush quarterbacks for years to come.

Apparently, they will have to wait for that to happen.

The Bucs announced they have placed Price, their second-round pick (35th overall) in the 2010 draft, on injured reserve tody due to a pelvic injury. Price missed Tampa Bay's past two games.

Price has been fighting injuries since the Bucs drafted him after selecting fellow defensive tackle Gerald McCoy with the third overall pick in the first round.

TBO

It seems like the Bucs aren't, or at least haven't to this point, giving the full story about the extent of Price's injury. At first it was something that was supposed to be week to week, now all of a sudden its season ending. Did he have surgery or something?

Either way I consider this a huge blow both for the team and for Price personally. Right now the only consistently decent interior pass rusher we have is Gerald McCoy. If he isn't getting pressure from inside nobody is. In Price the Bucs had a guy who could push the pocket back on pass rush and at times even beat a double team. And I'll be honest in saying that he may have shown more flash pass rushing inside than McCoy has to this point.

Also if Price is going to be the nosetackle of the future (not sure if that's the case) the best way for him to improve at one of the hardest positions on the defensive line is game reps. Yes practice gets guys better but until you see double teams and center reaches and scoop blocks at game speed week after week, you won't really get a good feel on how to play them. So if Price comes back fully healthy next year he will likely still be playing at a rookie level at nosetackle instead of being ready to take the leap forward most players make going into their second year.

Team wise it puts the Bucs in a tricky position every week of only having three defensive tackles available that know the playbook. So far they have gotten away with it because nobody has gotten hurt during the game and they haven't played a lot of snaps of goal line. But this past Sunday everyone had to be holding their breath when Ryan Sims went down momentarily because if he had been out an extended period of time then either McCoy and Roy Miller would have played the rest of the game with no breaks or a defensive end would have had to play some inside. That's not so bad on 3rd and long but potentially disasterous on 1st and 10. Especially if it's a team that runs the ball well.

The Bucs did trade for second year defensive end/defensive tackle Alex Magee a few weeks ago and just today signed rookie defensive tackle Al Woods out of LSU off of the Pittsburgh Steelers' practice squad, but I wouldn't expect either guy to be ready to play meaningful snaps for us for at least a few weeks if at all this year. And even then I doubt seriously they will be able to make the kind of impact Price had the potential to make when healthy and did make even while hurt.

Right now there's a lot of duct tape and rubberbands holding the team together with all the injuries and of course the suspension of Tanard Jackson. How well they play and how many games they win the rest of the season will likely be determined both by how many guys they can keep off the injury report.

Did Gerald McCoy Get Manhandled?

Soooooooo

This afternoon I was on with J.P. Peterson here locally on 1010 AM to talk about the Bucs. As we were discussing different situations and different players of course Gerald McCoy came up. I gave my opinion about how McCoy has been playing but then J.P. brought up the fact that McCoy didn't have a lot of reps on bench press at the combine (again) and said it looked like he was getting manhandled. I struggled to hold in a chuckle while I explained that McCoy hasn't been getting manhandled but that he does need to work on his technique and that if anyone has been getting pushed around it has been the starting nosetackle, Roy Miller.

Well J.P. brought up a play where he said McCoy got pancaked. It was the touchdown run by Larod Stephens-Howling in the second half of the Arizona game. I didn't have my notes in front of me and obviously I didn't have the game cued up so I wasn't sure about the particular play but I was sure that McCoy wasn't getting pushed around against the Cardinals. So we went back and forth about it and after the interview was over I decided to watch the play again on my DVR and go back over my notes. Before I could even watch it again or check my notes though, I got a message from a fan who basically repeated what J.P. had said word for word (with the added caveat that he thought it was McCoy's worst game and that he "gave up" in the second half")

Now I was really curious to see this play. So I pulled it up on the DVR and broke out my notes and...

Sure enough McCoy got pancaked.

And in my notes I even made a note that he got pancaked.

So was I wrong and J.P. and this other fan right?

Uhh, no.

Here is the thing about that particular play. Arizona was facing a 3rd and 1 from the Bucs 36 yard line and they lined up in shotgun with Stephens-Howling in the backfield. Its important to note here that LSH only had 9 carries total for the season going into our game. I'm not sure but it appears that the Bucs took all of that into account and instead of lining up defending the run, the defensive line was in pass rush mode.

Both McCoy and Miller lined up in three techniques with both A gaps open and the ends were in wide 5 techniques outside of the offensive tackles, getting up field on the snap of the ball. Now I personally didn't and don't believe that was a sound approach with a little over a minute to go in the 3rd quarter, but never the less it IS what the Bucs did.

So McCoy comes off the ball about to make a pass rush move and instead he gets double teamed by the guard and the tackle. And yes he gets crushed right onto his back. But it is what it is, the guy didn't know what hit him basically.

In the end it wouldn't have mattered because as I said both A gaps were open and had he stayed up LSH would have still had a hole big enough to drive a truck through to get the first down.

But more importantly than that, this one play was not close to being indicative of how McCoy played the rest of the game. And since everyone seems to have recorded the game and are now knowledgeable about defensive line play, let me give you a few other plays to take a look at so you can watch it for yourself and decide whether or not McCoy's low bench press numbers mean anything at this point.

11:03 in the 1st quarter: McCoy makes an inside move swatting the offensive guard to the side and ends up beating both the guard and the center to get a hit on the quarterback.

10:59 in the 2nd quarter: McCoy stands the guard up and pushes him back basically with one hand and uses his free hand to make the tackle. (By the way, that's six time All Pro and 9 time Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca just FYI)

5:30 and 4:52 in the 2nd quarter: On consecutive plays McCoy splits a double team and makes a tackle.

4:29 in the 3rd quarter: McCoy pushes the guard two yards back in the backfield and makes the running back cut back laterally.

2:15 in the 4th quarter: McCoy again swats the guard by and beats both the guard and the center to get a good rush on the play where Derek Anderson throws the interception to Aqib Talib that all but sealed the deal.

Now understand that these weren't the only plays where he did something good. These were just plays where he showed some strength and physicality. The truth is the Bucs ran at least 10 Pirate stunts so its not like McCoy was stationary all the time taking on double teams, and considering the fact that the Cardinals only ran the ball 21 times its not like he had a lot of opportunities to show his mettle against the run. But aside from that one play where he got caught slipping, McCoy played the run very well on Sunday. Any suggestion to the contrary simply isn't based in fact and just as I extended an invitation to J.P. if there is anybody who believes that McCoy has been getting pushed around based on that one play if you like we can sit back and watch the recording or the replay of the game together and I will point out just how wrong you are.

In the end I am sure that this particular line of thinking won't go away any time soon. For some people McCoy's bench press numbers define who he is and will be as a player. As wrong headed as that is, I know that I won't be able to convince everyone that's hell bent on believing that, that it isn't true. But all I can do is inform people of the truth.  The reason behind the name of this blog is I feel compelled to share the information that I have with fans who may not know any better, particularly when they are hearing a lot of the wrong information from the media.  Its my intention to "pass on the game" that I have picked up over the years both playing and briefly coaching the game in hopes that not only will the people who read this blog be more knowledgeable, but that they will in turn be better able to teach the people they know about football as well.

So whether people ever drop this bullshit talking point about McCoy's bench press numbers or not, I feel good just knowing that at least the truth is out there if they ever want to find it.

It is what it is.

(P.S. Its generally accepted that Cardinals Pro Bowl defensive end Darnell Dockett is one of the stronger guys in the NFL. Just for shits and giggles watch the game again and focus on how many times James Lee put him on his back. I counted 3 times but I might have missed a few)

Bull Rush

Not going to say a lot today but being 5-2, especially after a week where the media made fun of Coach Morris for saying we were the best team in the NFC record wise, is pretty damn sweet.

By the way, who's laughing now?

I thought the defensive line played pretty well even the defense gave up 28 points. Over Stick was again a part of the game plan and I believe they called it five times to some pretty good results. One thing the defensive line still needs to work on is backing off the ball and gaining ground on their steps when they run the Pirate stunt. Its a good stunt but they aren't getting near as much out of it as they should.

Also Arizona killed the defense with reverses. I would expect to see more of them in the coming weeks. I thought they played the bootlegs a lot better than they did against the Rams though.

Even though they only came home with one sack I still thought the pass rush improved. The biggest thing now is that the guys have to get better on being on the details both individually and as a group in order to get that sack number higher. That means guys using their hands better and more efficiently, running the a tight hoop when they beat their guy and as a unit keeping the quarterback contained in the pocket. They probably would have come home with at least two or three more sacks had that been the case.

On to the individual breakdowns.

Kyle Moore: I keep waiting for Moore to have a breakout game but he still seems to be feeling his way through. He had 2 assists yesterday, was good on a bootleg getting in the quarterback and had a nice pass rush against the tight end. But he needs to get more explosive. First and foremost he could start with working on his get off. Its harder to get off the ball when a tight end is in front of you but when he has the open side he should be flying at the snap of the ball. Also he should really work on dominating the tightends when they are to his side. He comes off and uses his hands well but you don't see him really push the guy back and change the line of scrimmage on a regular basis.

He also needs to develop one signature pass rush move. I don't care what it is but he needs to find one move and work on it every day until he can do it in his sleep. When he is at left end he just doesn't seem to have much of a plan most of the time. Whether its a bull rush or a rip or whatever, he needs to be able to have a move that gives offensive tackles trouble on early downs.

He would also benefit from backing up off the ball when he is running a Pirate stunt so that he has enough room to take a good step inside and then get up the field. Right now Moore as well as several other defensive linemen, continue to go too lateral on the stunt and end up getting washed instead of penetrating in the gap. That allows running backs to continue running down hill instead of making them change their track which is a big part of why you run the stunt in the first place.

Moore also had the offsides penalty on 3rd down which I think was a matter of him lining up wrong. And he continues to be mostly a non factor rushing inside on 3rd and long. But with Brian Price out there really aren't a lot of other options at the moment.

It wasn't a bad day for him but as the starting left end its time for him to become more of a factor for the defense.

Gerald McCoy: McCoy had a pretty good game with 3 tackles and an assist to go along with 2 pressures, a hit on the quarterback, and at least 2 other good rushes and 2 other good moves. But he is one of the main guys I am referring to when it comes to being on the details of his pass rush. He ends up giving up his chest to the guards all too often because he is trying to reach for their shoulder pads instead of knocking their hands down, especially on inside moves. I know why he is doing it though, because it works all the time on the college level. But on this level if you keep reaching for shoulders guards will punch the life out of you in your chest more times than not.

If he just tightens up his aiming point to the wrist or the elbow he will find a lot more success when he comes inside. The main thing you want to do as a pass rusher on the pro level is keep the offensive lineman's hands off you so they can't grab anything.

Also he needs to really work on running the hoops drill and finishing his pass rushes low and fast. Several times during the game he made a really good move but he was too high to really turn on the jets and get to the quarterback before he got the ball off. He should really work on dipping his inside shoulder, leaning towards the quarterback and mashing the gas.

Roy Miller: I thought Miller had a better game this week but he still had some plays where he gave too much ground. I had him down for 1 tackle and 3 assists. He had some really good penetrations on a couple of plays and he held the point on double teams a lot better for the majority of his snaps. The holding call against him was bullshit in my opinion. But he really could have helped himself by getting low when he felt the pressure until one guy came off.

He also had two more plays where there was a Pirate and he didn't loop around for containment. Thankfully the quarterback didn't try to scramble either time but its really too late in the season for him to be making those kinds of mistakes.

Stylez G. White: Stylez had a really good game again yesterday. I had him with a sack, caused fumble, another hit on the quarterback, 1 tackle for loss, 2 other tackles, 2 pressures, and 3 other good rushes. One of the tackles he made was a situation where we ran a zone blitz and he dropped to the flat and had to bring down the running back in a one on one match up. Had he had some help from the other side containing the quarterback he probably would have had at least 1 more sack also.

Now that the Bucs are running Over Stick and White is making occasional inside moves on pass rush you can see offensive tackles not being as comfortable in their pass sets. It really paid off at the end of the game where the Bucs were protecting a lead of just three points and he was able to sack the quarterback, cause a fumble and keep the clock running down.

I do have a complaint though and that is the terrible EX and TEX games he ran with Moore at the end of the game. Both were wasted reps ad if they are going to run them that bad they might as well just go straight rush.

But all in all I thought he played the kind of game Bucs fans have been looking for him to have all season. And if he can continue playing that way for the rest of the season and even improve on it, opposing teams and the rest of the league will have to start taking notice.

Tim Crowder: I only had Crowder with 1 assisted tackle but I still thought he played ok. He did however let the quarterback break contain when he was rushing from left end on a play where White would have probably gotten a sack. In fairness he got chipped by the back but as a left end you always have to be guarding against a right handed quarterback trying to escape to your side.

Its hasn't been a problem for Crowder up until now so I expect for him to get it cleaned up by next week.

Michael Bennett: I swear, you watch Bennett play and at times its apparent he has all the tools to be a dominant left end. But he continues to mess up on little details like reading his keys. Arizona ran a shuffle pass and Bennett's key blocked down inside. When that happens you are supposed to get your head inside and look for a pulling guard or a kickout block from the fullback or backside tight end. Had he done that he would have seen the shuffle pass coming and likely knocked it out for no gain.

Instead his eyes went upfield at the quarterback as the play is designed to do and when he went for him the shuffle pass went to the running back up inside of him. Its a testament to his athletic ability that he was able to turn around and make what was essentially a solo tackle on the running back down the field. But it never should have come to that.

I had him with 2 tackles and 1 assist. He had a couple of really good plays where he jacked up the tight end, pushed them back and ripped off inside to make a play. He also had a pretty good level rush on one play. But he also lost containment on one pass rush which again gave away a potential sack.

If Bennett can ever put it all together I think the sky is the limit for him. he is big, physical, and he has a knack for pass rushing. But until he starts reading his keys and being on the details he is never going to live up to his potential.

Ryan Sims: I didn't have Sims down for any stats but I thought he played well for the most part. He gave everyone a scare when he went down holding his knee, especially because we only had three defensive tackle active for the game. But thankfully he was able to shake it off and play the rest of the game.

That's it for now. I'll try to get my TGTBATU post up later today. Until then as always just leave remarks or questions in the comments section.