Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

In the week following the Bucs’ devastating home loss to the Detroit Lions and leading up to their explosive win last Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, stories in the Tribune and Times (including the front page) surrounding the Buccaneers were more about the lack of attendance at Raymond James Stadium and a season-long blackout on local television than the team’s playoff scenarios.

Blaming the economy is the most popular answer to the problem, but I believe it is more complex than that and includes marketing, public relations, perceived value and a changing marketplace. It is the same problem that most businesses have to deal with to sell their products over time.

I grew up in Los Angeles with the Rams and later the Raiders as well. The nation’s No. 2 television market has been without a pro football franchise since the early 1990s.

Fans showed up late and left early and didn’t show up at all if the teams weren’t really, really good. The NFL has wanted to reclaim that massive market for years. (I really thought the Glazers were going to take the Buccaneers to L.A. before the stadium here in Tampa was agreed on.) And there are a few businessmen that have been trying to build a new stadium and bring football back to L.A. for many years, but there just isn’t a clamoring by fans to make it happen.

In Los Angeles there are plenty of other entertainment distractions and fans found they could live without pro football and, as it turns out, there is plenty of NFL football on regular television, as we have been forced to discover here as well. And if your football appetite isn’t quenched with that, you can buy the “NFL Ticket” if you really want more.

We in blacked-out markets can buy NFL rewind and watch the games in their entirety only a few hours after the real deal. So in a multi-entertainment spot like the Tampa Bay area, there is a limit to what the market will bear, especially with great options like USF football, the Rays and the Lightning vying for the same family entertainment dollar, not to mention Disney and Busch Gardens.

The Lakers win championships as often as any pro team, and fans still won’t fill their arena if they aren’t vying for the top spot each year. The “bandwagon” fan isn’t unique to Tampa, Florida. Every city is basically the same in that regard — everybody loves a winner –although some smaller towns with limited entertainment options (Green Bay comes to mind) may still sell out their stadium regardless of how the team is doing on the field. 

NFL Might Have To Enhance Fan Experience

Why haven’t the Bucs filled up the stadium once all year while enjoying a winning season from the start? The economy is important, but the “Redbox effect” is redefining the market (Redbox is the little DVD vending machine sitting at your local Walmart or 7-Eleven). Blockbuster already was struggling to fight off competition from mail-away movie companies like Netflix when Redbox started renting movies for a buck!  A buck?

The perceived value had been defined by Blockbuster for a long time at nearly $5 for a multiday rental and they had driven almost every “mom and pop” rental store out of the market. Who would ever spend $5 for a movie rental ever again?  Not many,as Blockbuster quickly found out.

The home video market had been redefined and Blockbuster has now followed the Redbox business model.  With the growth of the Internet and cable/satellite TV, the NFL has been morphing its market over time, just as “Hollywood” did when VHS home videos came out and as the music industry has with iTunes.

Going to the “Drive-In movies” was a way of life for me and millions of other Americans in the 1970s but has almost disappeared as part of Americana. As VHS movies started coming out in the late 1970’s, “Hollywood” started worrying that the end of the walk-in movie was close at hand as well. Why would people pay the big bucks for tickets, popcorn and cokes that go along with the movie theatre experience, when they could buy or rent the movie and enjoy themselves at home? 

The movie industry has had to reinvent itself over the last 30 years (remember double features?) as technology of television and surround sound has made the “home theater” experience better than going out. Movie makers have relied on star power to open movies and salaries for top stars skyrocketed up to $25 million per movie for some, much like the salaries for top performing professional athletes (Michael Jordan $30+ Million). 

People will always want somewhere to go to get out of the house, go on dates, etc., but they can’t or won’t pay the steep ticket price to go for average movies. You can trust Redbox with a $1 for average movies. To get me to the theater, the lure must be pretty good. The current trend is 3-D.  You can watch it in 2-D for one price and 3-D for a few bucks more.

The Buccaneers and other mid-market teams are at a similar crossroads now and I believe the NFL as a whole will deal with this moving forward. The Cowboys, Giants and Jets probably won’t feel it as much,  but even Jerry Jones will have to come up with interesting ways to fill all those seats and luxury boxes in his sparkly new house if his team continues to disappoint.

Discouraging Families, Corporations

There will always be fans for football and the biggest markets and top performing teams will continue to sell tickets, but with better and better televisions the live product is going to have to be bigger and better than it has been in the past to get me and others off the couch (perfect weather, nobody standing up in front) and pony up $500+ for a three-hour entertainment experience for the family.

I have been to plenty of football games in my life and don’t care that much about being there in person anymore. My motivation for going out in the elements is simple and singular, to make my kids happy. 

My kids asked me if we could go to the Falcons game a couple weeks back, so I called for tickets. When I was told that the cheapest ticket started at $75 for the upper level and $105 for the lower, unfortunately I had to tell my boys that we wouldn’t be going to see the Bucs. I don’t know how many of those $25 kid’s tickets ($35 adults) that have been promoted all year are available or where they are in the stadium, but it makes me think of the airlines that advertise $49 plane tickets. 

I know some people and/or companies spend $300 for a single “Club” ticket and God bless them. But like many in Tampa Bay, I have to make choices about my family’s entertainment expenses. For me, a $500 investment for tickets in the corner of the stadium isn’t going to happen. With my playing history and broadcasting responsibilities, I have gotten into games for free for a long time, so I may not be a typical customer, but at that price, the game itself isn’t going to get my family to the stadium. I simply need more value for my money and it seems many others do as well.

The Tampa Bay Storm bring their players back on the field after the games to sign autographs. The Rays and Lightning have made post-game concerts a value-added program to increase attendance.  USF has lower ticket prices and a good atmosphere for “JoeFootballFan” to get his “live” football fix.  I don’t know if a Rick Springfield or REO Speedwagon concert will get me there either, but it might (actually neither of those artists would do it, but adding more value outside of the game is the concept).

Over 50,000 people decided to take the financial plunge for the divisional match-up of potential playoff teams, but only about 40,000 were interested enough in each of the final two home games. The local economy isn’t going to change dramatically soon, so there probably isn’t going to be a great clamoring in 2011 for new season ticket holders or luxury box owners even with the surprisingly good season the team has put together. 

Tampa is like the little town that could. We are not a big market, but we try to play with the big boys, and even though we have endured much ridicule over the years with all of our sports teams at different times, we have faired pretty well.

Baseball is a different animal without a salary cap. The Rays are outspent 3-to-1 every year (at least) by the Yankees and Red Sox and need ticket revenue to survive. Every team in the NFL shares in their television revenue, guaranteeing each club a certain amount. In 2010 the NFL didn’t have a salary cap or basement, meaning teams could spend as much or as little as they wanted. The Cowboys spent more than anyone and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spent less.

According to a Sporting News article from November 22, the Bucs spent $30 million less than what the salary cap minimum would have been. Meaning they would have been forced to spend about $110 million if there was a cap. I’m sure they have plenty of answers to explain why they are spending so little in comparison to other teams, but news earlier this year that the Bucs invested the least amount of money in their team (in the entire NFL) over the last five years doesn’t make individual fans or corporations get too excited to invest either.

The blackouts are also a problem for the Bucs because guys like Jon Kitna, David Garrard, Chad Henne, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Mark Sanchez have spent as much or more time on our TV screen this season than the Bucs’ budding superstar QB Josh Freeman, and that doesn’t help sell more merchandise and other things that increase the overall perceived value of the franchise when those rankings come out each year.

With time off from work and school, my family was looking for something to do and my kids like hockey too. We watch portions of almost every Rays game and Lightning game throughout their respective seasons because they are on TV and their players become household names. I know the Lightning have 41 games to sell and the Rays have 81, but as I said, it is just a three-hour entertainment expense for me, so there is a small difference between a pro hockey game or pro football game — my family is getting the same value.

The difference is my wallet is much heavier when I go home from a hockey game.

So, this New Year’s Day, my family watched the Gators play at Raymond James Stadium all afternoon, and for $120 my family of four will be enjoying the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Rangers all night. And for that $120 we also got the added value of four hot dogs, four beers (sodas) and four hockey pucks to take home. My family will be happy, I have $380 left in my back pocket and I’m home in plenty of time to catch the Bucs and Saints in Hi-Def.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

Every road win in the NFL is difficult. A road win in bad weather is even more so. The Bucs survived in D.C. against a struggling Redskins team and notched another fourth-quarter comeback win and got their eighth overall. Simply surviving to win against a subpar team like Washington was just fine by me, especially with their recent close battles against good teams like the Ravens and Falcons.

Those two losses showed that they are competing at a higher level than in those bad losses earlier in the season. They also won Sunday while losing a couple more of their major contributors, this time it was Quincy Black and Gerald McCoy. 

Underutilized Weapon

I was happy to see the Sunday newspaper article that explained Raheem understands there is an entertainment aspect to the game and their offense, as they have implemented a few unique-looking plays over the weeks.

Greg Olson has rightly been given credit for coming up with some effective plays, but the people of Tampa Bay are scratching their heads over his short yardage play-calling (people that admit they know nothing about calling plays are stopping me on the street to ask what he is doing).

This week they went deep on their first third down of the game. Going into shotgun on 3rd-and-1 was curious enough in the bad weather (even though Freeman had a chance to throw a TD to Kellen Winslow after buying some extra time in the backfield and would have with a little better throw) and seems to make a statement that they don’t have much confidence in any of their running backs or offensive line in short yardage situations, as they went to shotgun again on their very next 3rd-and-1 situation.

The Bucs offense could become very entertaining and effective if they would implement Josh Johnson into the backfield as a receiver in motion behind the formation. 

Even though he won a Super Bowl here in Tampa while quarterbacking the Baltimore Ravens, I was never a big fan of Trent Dilfer under center. But, as an analyst, I think he is really good, perhaps the best on the network. Recently he was talking about Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles offense and how impressive it is by stretching defenses to defend absolutely every inch of the field. This, of course, is because of Vick’s dynamism and diversity.

I know I have beaten this drum before, but because I know who reads this column, I am going to keep beating it so that the Buccaneers offense will be included in Dilfer’s conversation of dynamic offenses around the NFL, because the potential is there! Josh Johnson must do more than run a decoy route once a game.  He needs touches.

Not by pulling Freeman out of the game, but by moving Johnson across the formation behind Freeman and taking a pitch at full speed, thus pulling linebackers out of position and creating bigger holes for Freeman to throw into and for Johnson’s passes or runs as well. It will also help the running game, even though Blount has helped it immensely.

Redskins Executed

I know Barrett Ruud is the current poster-boy for what is wrong with the defense, but I must come to his defense a bit. Against the Redskins, the Bucs defense was being gashed because of their alignment and the other team’s execution, not because Ruud wasn’t filling the holes well enough. On early downs, the Bucs were regularly lining up a cocked noseguard on the center and an end outside of the tackle, virtually giving away both the “A” and “B” gap, which Ruud cannot defend by himself. This is allowing a guard to get onto the linebackers down the field. 

The television announcers called it “zone” blocking, but there was a lot more going on there than just zone blocking, as the Redskins pulled, trapped, kicked out different defenders to open huge running lanes for Torain. If the Bucs continue to line up like they did Sunday, there will be a few more running backs with big days on the ground, even if the Bucs were able to get Ray Lewis to step into the middle linebacker spot.

Still Competing Off The Field

Eight wins with three to play is really a fabulous situation for this team.

Unfortunately the stadium will not be filled again this Sunday as a win will guarantee them a winning season and triple last season’s win total, but the Tampa Bay market has legitimate, multi-factor reasons for spending its time watching other NFL teams on home TV screens.

Fortunately, the Bucs recognize the need to increase the entertainment value of their ticket. Because they are competing for entertainment dollars, and in this market’s economy, those dollars are scarce or nonexistent for many and must be used wisely.

Ex-Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

The Bucs’ “Race to 10” is 70 percent fulfilled with 37 percent of the season remaining (six games to get three wins) for Raheem Morris’ mantra to come to pass.

The season began with discussions on this website and other media outlets about the number of wins and/or the perceived improvement that would allow Morris to keep his job following 2010. By all accounts, 10 wins was beyond reach and quietly laughable, sans one young coach and his remarkably young football team. With seven wins and six games to go, as well as a schedule that still has three teams with .500 records or less, “The Race to 10” makes Morris more sage than propagandist. 

Through 10 games, the Bucs have won every game they should have won or could have been expected to win. No games have fallen through their hands and they almost pulled off a divisional road win at Atlanta. In that game, the goal for the pundits was to see this team simply “compete” against a decent team, something it didn’t do against Pittsburgh or New Orleans. It definitely did that and a little bit more.

Slim Chance, Major Test In Baltimore

Following Sunday’s impressive shutout of the Niners on a long west coast road trip, they now go back on the road and up against a team with an equally strong record and one of the best defensive teams in the entire league. 

To get to their team goal, the final six must also have no mistakes or they must win an unexpected game along the way. There is no expectation (from me) for them to win in Baltimore, other than to see if they have grown to competing with playoff caliber teams, and especially against a team that can put major pressure on, and confusion into, every quarterback in the NFL.

As Josh Freeman continues to be lauded and applauded for his heroic efforts thus far, the elemental question that still remains is his ability to handle a defense like the Ravens. All third down situations will be the critical aspect of the game to watch this weekend. How he and the offensive line handle those difficult adjustments will be key to their handling the rest of the games on the schedule and potential not only for racing for 10 wins, but for actually competing in a playoff scenario.

What?  That concept seemed absurd a couple of months ago, but that is where this team has come in just a couple months.

“Expecting 11″

Even with 10 wins though, making the playoffs will still be extremely difficult. They could accomplish their season goal and end up third in the NFC South and behind other Wild Card hopefuls like the Bears (7-3), Packers (7-3), Eagles (7-3) or even the Giants (6-4) to miss the playoffs. To succeed so far beyond expectations and then fail to make the playoffs, would truly be a shame.

For this scenario to not become reality, “Expecting Eleven” needs to become the new team catchphrase, because 10 may not be enough to get into the dance, even though dancing in January wasn’t on the card in September.

Expectations have increased for everyone with the maturity of their MVP-caliber QB and other pleasant surprises (Mike Williams, LaGarrette Blount). To reach 11 will require four consecutive wins down the stretch. Do not expect a win at Baltimore Sunday, but if they do, God bless them and watch out, because that will simply prove they are on a crusade from above.

But, when they do come home 7-4, they will play host to the Atlanta Falcons the following week and this is the game they really need for those playoffs to materialize.  There will still be scenarios that keep their hopes alive (beating the Saints in the New Orleans finale), but they will be greatly diminished.  Three more wins must be reeled off against the .500 Redskins, the lowly Lions and the mediocre Seahawks so that the regular season finale is not a “must-win” to get in. This scenario makes them 11-5 and secures a well-deserved playoff spot.

Any mistake along the way will most likely make them miss the playoffs and leave us applauding their ability to overcome the low expectations from the outside (of One Buc Place) world and give us much fodder for the offseason of much greater expectations in 2011.

Through the first 10 games they have taken care of business perfectly, winning all the winnable games.  Beating Washington, Detroit and Seattle are the remaining games that satisfy their coach’s hope of the improbable.

With the success thus far, renaming and refocusing their goal to “Expecting 11” secures the playoff game that would put the cherry on top of this quite unexpected season that has the QB and coach in the “Player Of The Year” and “Coach Of The Year” conversations as well as a couple of rookies that should be up for postseason honors.  I guess Morris’ “Race To 10” has also secured his place for 2011.

Ex-Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

Last week I wrote about the importance of performance in all three facets — offense, defense, specials teams — for the early season success of this Buccaneers team. There was no better example of this concept than this past Sunday against the division leading Atlanta Falcons.

Without the outstanding performance of the kickoff return team, they would not have been very competitive in the Georgia Dome.

After falling just inches short of winning on the road against a quality opponent, the youngest players on the team were mentioned as “the problem.” Well, the youth of this team can’t be blamed for the lack of success when it is just that youth that is responsible for their unexpected success.

There is a problem, however, with some of their veterans. Second year quarterback Josh Freeman threw an interception when he was hit while throwing by an unblocked defensive end. This was a simple “brainfart” (brainfart: (noun) a mental mistake made on a routine play) by veteran offensive tackle Donald Penn.

On that particular play, the Falcons had four down defensive linemen and a middle linebacker over center, while the Bucs had an empty backfield. There was no way to be confused in this set, but inexplicably Penn turned right to the inside and blocked nobody, because everybody was being blocked already. This left Josh Freeman, the second year QB, without a clue that his veteran left tackle just left him vulnerable to a potentially season-ending blindside hit and the team vulnerable to both losing their star quarterback and also to the resulting turnover. Pass protection assignments and proper reactions by QB and receivers is one area that needs continued attention for this offense.

On the right side of the line, Jeremy Trueblood missed his second straight game and the Buccaneers enjoyed their second straight game without a personal foul or illegal block in the back or illegal procedure call by their big, veteran right offensive tackle. Trueblood’s replacement James Lee was serviceable, but is probably not the long-term answer to securing the right side, as his lack of strength is reminiscent of Kenyatta Walker.

Now to the key play of the game which could have won the game and left the Bucs tied for the best overall record in the entire NFL and alone atop the NFC South.

The offensive line had been struggling regularly throughout the game as the Falcons’ defensive linemen were getting through the gaps before the offensive line could get there. The noise factor with the loud crowd should have been the deciding factor for the quarterback sneak, a play that Josh Freeman is currently sitting at 100% success rate.

And since Raheem Morris likes Rays’ Manager Joe Maddon’s style, which depends heavily on percentages, it would seem Freeman’s perfect past would have led to giving the “savior” the opportunity to save yet another game.

This is not “Monday Morning Quarterbacking”, Dave Moore, former player and radio analyst, was saying this before the play was called. I agree with him whether the Blount play worked or not. The defense is used to reacting to the ball movement and with the crowd noise they are far less likely to jump offsides with the quarterback’s snap count drowned out by the crowd.  So, getting the QB, and in this case a QB bigger than the big RB, to move forward immediately is the best call. 

Dropping games, especially road games, that are within your grasp are hard to swallow, but fortunately the Bucs are only a game out of first place at the halfway point and will get another shot at the Falcons at home.  If you asked Raheem Morris or his coaches or players in August if they would take 5-3 and one game out for their first half of the season, I doubt any would have a problem with that call.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

T.E.A.M — Together Everyone Achieves More — is an old acronym that has been used by teams and printed on t-shirts to keep the philosophy top of mind. 

I don’t think the Bucs have had any printed up this year, but this team epitomizes the concept.

The offense hasn’t been good enough on a regular basis to win the five games that they have notched thus far. The defense hasn’t either, and they’ve needed Josh Freeman’s late game heroics to pull out most of their wins. Special Teams encompasses both offensive and defensive contributors and has been pretty good generally (not counting Sammy Stroughter’s muffed punt this week). Parity between the offense and defense is a good thing because when one facet of the team is much better than another it can cause little dissensions in the locker room. Knowing they need each other is a positive thing for this team.

Now to the reality of the big picture: The Bucs are 5-2 and won again on the road. They are one game from the midway point of the season and are tied atop their division. Their current record is ahead of most anyone’s prediction, although when the schedule came out in the spring, the case could be made that eight wins was not out of the question with non-division games against Cleveland, St. Louis, Arizona (without Kurt Warner), Seattle, San Fransisco, Cincinnati, Detroit and Washington, none of which was expected to be fantastic.

One or two division wins against the Matt Moore led Panthers or the Falcons could be expected as well, so they are taking care of business with a favorable schedule and that is what has to happen in the NFL. Even Pittsburgh, with Ben Roethlisberger suspended, should have been a competitive home game with Charlie Batch throwing for the Steelers.

On Sunday, network broadcaster and former offensive guru/Super Bowl winning Head Coach Brian Billick called the Bucs defense “a very basic defensive package.”  A package that neither the Steelers nor the Saints had little trouble with and even the Cardinals put up what should have been enough points to win if Max Hall didn’t throw two first half TD’s to Bucs defenders.

The Cardinals started the little undrafted QB that Ron Jaworski said — among other less than stellar comments — didn’t have the skill set to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. He was starting his third game and in his team’s 25 drives with him at quarterback had not registered a rushing or passing touchdown.

In fact, he had never thrown a TD pass before he got that on their second offensive drive to Larry Fitzgerald for the first points of the game Sunday.  The Bucs first touchdown came on a safety blitz that the little QB didn’t see and Sean Jones knocked him around enough to give Geno Hayes a “pick six.”  Max Hall would get pulled in the second quarter for a QB (Derek Anderson) that played so poorly they pulled him a few games ago for the little undrafted QB. 

The Bucs “very basic defensive package” was able to get four interceptions on the day and put two of them back in the end-zone for 14 of the team’s 38 points.  These two Cardinal QB’s were able to put up 28 points against this defense (and failed to score from inside the 5 before the half).

Following the defensive stop, the Bucs offense delivered a very impressive drive to kill the first half clock with a field goal. While they added three points, a big mistake was made that I hope will never happen again.

The ball was on the 3 yard line and Freeman backed up into a shotgun formation. He caught the snap and took a quick 3-step drop and then threw a “fade” route to Maurice Stovall. 

Some were surprised that they would throw it to Stovall since he hasn’t had much noticeable action this season. But the problem with the play is that it will never work no matter who the receiver is. The timing of a fade with only 13 total yards to the back of the endzone can’t work from the shotgun and especially with any time taken to drop back. The ball must be taken from under center and be put up in the air immediately. Stovall or any other receiver (even Mike Williams) will run out of room and any “run of the mill” defender should be able to knock it away with that much time to see the ball coming his way.

I’m surprised that the goal line fades from the shotgun formation weren’t nixed in practice.  If they keep that in the gameplan going forward, don’t expect success.

As a team the Bucs have a -27 point differential. This is not typical for teams that are 5-2, but is directly attributed to the blowouts from the Steelers and Saints and from the fact that four of their wins have been by a total of 10 points. That final stat is really amazing and something to be excited about. Winning close games more than every great once in a while cannot be considered luck, and the confidence that Josh Freeman, the rest of the team and coaching staff are building through winning close games and coming from behind can’t be underestimated for this season and beyond. 

The Bucs are tied atop the NFC and should be proud of that accomplishment and humble enough to realize it is a razor-thin difference to 2-5.

After losing their 10 point halftime lead to an average Cardinals team and needing another fourth quarter comeback for the win, Raheem Morris should have enough material for his T.E.A.M. to keep the “Us vs. The World” mentality going for a while. 

A win against the Atlanta Falcons (+36 point differential) would go a long way to making believers out of any remaining holdouts and may even put enough butts in those empty seats to get a home game or two on TV before the end of the year.

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst 

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

The Bucs can’t run the ball very well and the head coach says the runners, blockers and playcaller are all a part of the problem.

They really can’t do much to change the runners or blockers at this point and I’m not for changing the playcaller again, so what could be the possibilities for improvement? 

Raheem Morris says they are going to go back into “the lab” to work on improving. I first heard “the lab” used in reference to football experimentation when Jon Gruden was working to improve Josh Johnson’s knowledge and skills, and it was a fun and interesting concept because of Gruden’s reputation for his in-depth playbook and Johnson’s lack of exposure to big-time football. Johnson also had a different and unique skill set that Gruden’s offense hadn’t really seen before, so saying he was going into “the lab” with the mad — offensive coordinator —scientist made sense.

But now, according to the head coach, everything the Bucs do is in “the lab.” This is the kind of rhetoric that seemed far too common last year and hearing much less of it this year was one of the improvements I thought Morris had made in his maturation process. We had been hearing less of this fluff stuff each week and more substantive football material on a regular basis and it was good for the fans and the media covering the Bucs.

Using such undefined terms is just a simple way of generalizing problems with no real plan to deal with any of it.  Players and coaches have always deflected criticism of their play or the team’s play by saying they have to, “Go back and watch the film.”

They are basically the same thing. But by calling it “the lab” just makes fixing the issues less credible because you experiment in the laboratory and you make corrections and call people to account in the film room.

By the way, Morris said that the defense was also exposed as not being able to stop the run and guess what they are going to do about it?  That’s right, they are going back into “the lab.” 

So if you can’t change the runners or the blockers, what are the playcaller’s options for better success? 

The New Orleans Saints could make Cadillac Williams a fantasy football star running back next Sunday if he was running with their offense.  The same goes for the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots.  Why?  Because their three wide receiver packages and quick decision making and accurate passing by their great quarterbacks keep defenses from loading the box with defenders, thus giving any running back on their team more room to find holes to run through and more daylight to run to.

The Bucs are lacking the receiving corps to be as effective as the aforementioned teams, but with Williams, Sloughter, Winslow and Benn, that has high hopes of improving. They also lack a QB that makes decisions as fast or as well as Brees, Brady or Manning, but that is improving as well. So the hopes are high and within sight, but they must play again Sunday against the St. Louis Rams, albeit a lesser team than the Steelers or Saints, but a team that has been able to score at times, has a strong runner in Steven Jackson and a franchise QB only a few starts behind Freeman.

While the Bucs are in “the lab” this week will the play-caller make it easier for the offensive line to open holes by keeping players out of the box with more receivers spread out across the field? Or will he keep things tight and try to block each guy and hope each guy does his job and Caddy creates his own space? 

As Morris says, it only takes one guy not doing his job to mess up the whole thing. I really don’t know what kind of a scientist Greg Olson is at this point, but unless there is some experimenting with different ingredients in the potion, the result will be very predictable, especially when they run into the upper 50 percent of the league.

And since the Bucs’ runners and blockers are relatively set, the play concepts are the only variables that can really be tinkered with in the lab. 

Will this week’s tinkering be that little change necessary to take us to a better product or an explosion?  Stay tuned.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

Let’s give the coordinators of the offense and defense some credit for the Bucs’ winning record.

While it isn’t perfect on either side of the ball by any means, there have been a few standout designs or calls that have given Bucs players opportunities to make plays. And the great news is, the players have stepped up and made the plays to make the difference.

A few weeks back against the Carolina Panthers, in their first division game and on the road, Ronde Barber had his second interception in as many games and got the deserved credit for always being in the right place. But Raheem Morris must get much of the credit for that critical interception because it was the design of the coverage that had Barber had in the right place at the right time.

Carolina came to the line in a three-receiver “bunch” group to the right side. As a quarterback, I’ve never liked the bunch look much, simply because it gives the defense too much power to disguise blitzes and/or coverage. The Bucs dialed up something I hadn’t seen before and, with the outcome of the play, probably something Matt Moore hadn’t seen either.

As the receivers came off the line and scattered in different directions as usual (seam, curl and flat), Tanard Jackson, who started in the regular safety position for a Cover 2 look (deep in the seam), faded all the way outside to the flat area. Aqib Talib faded back from his outside flat space and covered the  curl from behind. Ronde started the play faking a blitz and dropped back as the underneath and inside defender, holding the seam as Jackson went wide. The backside safety also gave Ronde help deep over the top, allowing him to sneak outside to the curl.

Moore was right to think that the curl would be open–and he would have been if Barber stayed with the seam route. But that help from the other safety allowed Barber to jump in front of the curl in what may have been one of the easiest interceptions of his career.

The “cool” design that allowed Barber to once again be in the right place at the right time needs to be recognized. Most defensive coordinators get famous for designing up blitzes and create big pressure to confuse blocking schemes and cause quarterbacks havoc before they throw the ball. This single coverage shift isn’t like designing the “46” Defense that made Buddy Ryan famous, or the Tampa 2 that Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin put on the map, but there aren’t that many opportunities to see a coverage that confuses the QB so that he throws the ball right into the chest of the defender. 

Ronde gets the stat added to his illustrious career, but give the defensive coordinator the assist on that one. 

On Sunday, Cody Grimm evened the score against the Bengals by taking his first career pick “to the house” because Morris designed up a look that had his safety close to the line of scrimmage at the snap and immediately after the snap had him turn and sprint to the flat, where Carson Palmer thought he would have a safe completion with no underneath coverage.

Normally, a linebacker is out in the curl area and squared up to the quarterback, so he just throws to the outside of the LB, but the Bucs covered it with a safety that was out of position at the snap. By sprinting to the spot and turning around at the right time, it allowed him to steal the pass and score.  Again, this credit has to be shared between player and coordinator.

On the offensive side, there is much to be concerned about with pass protection and blitz recognition by Josh Freeman.

Beating the blitz by throwing it up deep is great when it works, but is a low percentage proposition in general. The Bucs will certainly need to be better prepared to address quick pressure, and Freeman needs to recognize when there is one too many blitzers than there are blockers. They got away with a few balls that spent too much time in the air as Freeman got pressured from different angles.

What I liked was the “Dig” call to Mike Williams that resulted in a wide-open catch (even though the ball floated in the middle of the field) that would have set up a score if Williams didn’t fumble. This was a very good changeup after his success outside. It is great to know the Bucs have a guy that will go up, fight for and win the ball, but this can’t be the plan week in and week out.

This coming week will be very interesting to see how the Saints defense decides to attack the issue and how the Bucs’ week of practice time was used to fix the problem. 

The Saints have to be getting a bit nervous over their average start, while the Bucs can play with confidence over their unexpectedly hot start, but I think New Orleans will bring the pressure again this Sunday and make the Bucs prove that they can make the big plays when they count once again.

Let’s hope both coordinators have another little wrinkle up their sleeves to stop the defending World Champions.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

The Buccaneers ran into a better team on Sunday. They were beaten soundly by a team playing without its best quarterback directing the offense.

If the Bucs and Steelers played 10 more times, no one would be surprised if the Steelers won all 10, even though beating a team twice in a row is quite difficult. Luckily for all of us, they don’t have to see Pittsburgh again, but they will have to see New Orleans and Atlanta twice, as well as the Ravens. Playing other teams that don’t have it quite all together (Rams, Cardinals, Lions, 49ers) give us hope that there are a few more wins to be had this year.

 But, what to do about competing with the better teams in the league? Pound the rock more?

I read and hear that message from some and always think to myself it sounds good, but how many times can you pound yourself into the same wall and leave yourself in long third-down situations before you realize something must change?

I can’t imagine many people making the argument that Cadillac Williams is better than the defenders coming at him. Titans running back Chris Johnson is better than his defenders. Johnson can create space and yards on his own. Cadillac needs help. The Bucs’ offensive line needs help to create gaps in the defensive front seven defenders. That happens through effective play-calling and deceptive play design.

Currently, the Bucs aren’t incorporating much deception into their running game. Thus their personnel isn’t good enough to line up and run downhill effectively enough to give Josh Freeman and his youthful receivers short third-down-or-less situations — or fewer third-downs altogether by actually running for a first down once in a while and giving the play-caller more flexibility on first and second downs for good play-action passing.

What is needed is Josh Johnson to be incorporated into this offense to bring some jazz and pizzazz.

And even if it doesn’t work, at least it will be more entertaining than the status quo. I brought up this subject in the past and obviously haven’t been listened to, but the Bucs messed around with Johnson in some “Wildcat” situations in training camp and were successful against the Bucs’ defense, which I would suppose might give them hope that it could work against others, as well.

Again, I am not advocating taking Josh Freeman out of the game or out of the QB position. The Jets are taking their star QB out and using Brad Smith (former Missouri quarterback with qualities very similar to Johnson) very successfully and the Philadelphia Eagles are reaping the benefits of using Michael Vick’s elusiveness to create massive holes in the defense and a whole heck of a lot of excitement for Eagles’ fans. I am specifically talking about using Johnson in motion from a receiver position.

The Bucs’ running game would immediately improve, if they started bringing Johnson behind the formation quickly and either tossing it to him for a run/pass option, putting linebackers and defensive backs in bad positions of having to choose to tackle the elusive Johnson, thus leaving receivers open for big plays or Johnson open to pick up big gains with his legs.

This threat would also help the offensive line create more creases and cutback lanes for Cadillac Williams, as the defensive line has to help stop more wide running plays and tiring as the game goes on when Williams seems to get better. The defensive line would also have to slow its pass rush to deal with the fast east/west movement of the offense, which would see the quarterback moving the pocket around more often.

For a few years now, the NFL has been evolving into a QB dominant league (Colts, Saints, Cardinals, Patriots) and pounding the rock has diminished as teams have found moving the ball a bit easier by design than by brute force.

I don’t see the Bucs being very successful as a brute force kind of offensive line, even though they do have some “nasty” in them at times.

Giving them a little help with a little misdirection now and then sure can’t hurt their rushing average, but it sure would help a lot of things, including keeping the ball out of the other team’s hands and improving defensive statistics, as well.

Now even a defensive head coach could get down with that. Getting Josh Johnson on the field against the Bengals will help take the ball out of Cincinnatti’s receiving dynamic duo and could give the Bucs their own dynamic duo.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

Beating the Cleveland Browns in the home opener was a good start, but not all that impressive or surprising.

Going into the 2010 season, most of us chalked up a “W” in week 1, with the dangerous Josh Cribbs and Jake Delhomme’s history against the Bucs as the Browns’ only hope of success.  Another come from behind win on Josh Freeman’s short resume was also a great positive coming out of the first week.

Far less of us could honestly haveed expect this very young team to go on the road and beat the Carolina Panthers in Week 2. Matt Moore isn’t Drew Brees and no one thinks he ever will be, especially with Jimmy Clausen waiting for his first misstep.

Moore was a question mark all week after getting dinged last Sunday. He didn’t play like he was in a fog, but the fast Buccaneers defense made things difficult all day as they dominated the Panthers. Clausen came on in relief, and we can expect to see him as their starter next week and when they come to Raymond James Stadium in the middle of November.

Raheem Morris has done some unorthodox things in his first year and a half at the helm of the ship and with last year’s jumbled mess, it left us with plenty of room for second guessing.

The most recent opportunity to question his decisions was taking the team to Tropicana Field on a Thursday, the team’s last hard work day of the week. With the week 1 win, they went right back to the baseball field for their Thursday practice and will go back each and every week until their winning streak is snapped. Don’t be surprised if a Thursday Rays game gets postponed so that the Bucs can get into the Trop and get their  “Maddon Mojo” for the week (OK, there won’t be any Rays postponements.). 

Following yesterday’s win, Josh Freeman was asked about his head coach and said the team was beginning to take on his personality and philosophies. In a league of copycats, walking to the beat of your own drum is a brave and risky thing to do. I read a story about Cleveland Browns’ Head Coach Eric Mangini, who was still using Bill Belichick’s practice schedule years after coaching under him. Our young coach is forging his own identity and path. And if he has his big, young franchise quarterback on board, they both might be quickly going in the right direction to get the stadium regularly filled up again, regardless of the economy.

Morris received a lot of good-natured ribbing following last year’s draft for repeatedly saying how large his new quarterback was. The value of that size was fully on display in yesterday’s huge division road win.

The comparisons to Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger are accurate and well-deserved.  Roethlisberger’s ability to shed would-be sackers and extend plays, allowing receivers to get open for big plays, has helped the Steelers to two extra Super Bowl rings.

No one expects the Bucs to reach that status this year, and it would have been fun to see the two go head-to-head this coming weekend, but I’ll settle for another win regardless of who is calling signals for the other team.

It will take a win against an opponent like a fully stocked Pittsburgh team (who will start Charlie Batch or the newly re-signed Byron Leftwich) to really get everyone on board with the Morris/Mark Dominik regime, but starting 2-0 has people already choking on their preseason win total predictions.

Freeman was simply fabulous against the Panthers, carrying the team on his broad shoulders through most of the game, expertly avoiding the rush, steaming his girth for the first down and softly setting himself down past the first-down markers like a wily veteran.

I was pleased with the play-calling as a whole, but would still like the Bucs to find some more running lanes. Their third-down conversion rate was great, but they can’t expect it to be that good week in and week out. To generate more than 20 points a week without a Ronde Barber interception set-ups will probably take a little more diversity in their run-blocking schemes and/or deception with their receiver motions.

I don’t think Cadillac Williams will break much of anything with the straight up run blocking that we have seen so far, leaving Freeman in too many long distance third down situations to have consistent success against the better teams.

With the Rays battling to lead all of Major League Baseball with their young team and their unique manager, we may never see the Bucs in matching plaid sport coats, but a few more wins for Raheem Morris and a lot of teams will be looking to emulate his “RahStyle.”

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

The Bucs struggled again in preseason Game 3 to make their offense look like an improved version from 2009. And Josh Freeman watched from the stands, probably because Coach Morris was too afraid he might start warming up on the sidelines and hurt his already injured thumb.

Last week’s quotes from Morris about keeping Freeman off the practice field because the overly-excited QB might start throwing the ball on a side field against doctor’s and coach’s orders, hit me as probably the silliest thing I have ever heard.

Most readers took the comments as just sarcasm by Morris (which they should have been), so I didn’t react to it. But as John Lynch related the same story from Josh Freeman’s lips during Saturday night’s game, I’m just flabbergasted that the story was true.

Players are preached to, from high school on up to the pros, that every play matters and if you aren’t in the game or practice, you should know what the play is and go through the mental repetitions for maximum improvement. Why Freeman wouldn’t be in Greg Olson’s pocket on every rep working through the live-action is beyond me, and to not have your “franchise” on the practice field because he has a fingertip boo-boo is too much.

To think Freeman, who spent the entire offseason working out at One Buc at his own will, is such a free spirit that he doesn’t have the personal discipline to not throw before he is cleared and that the coach thinks it necessary to keep him inside the building doing other things to “protect him from himself” just doesn’t make any sense at all.

It makes me think of one of the great movie scenes of all time in A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. Nicholson, as “Colonel Jessup,” is being deposed by Cruise on the witness stand. Cruise is trying to understand the Marine Corps code of conduct. Colonel Jessup explains that his men always follow his orders and they never take matters into their own hands, “They follow orders or people die,” he says.

To think that the Corps of Bucs Morris is leading is so loose and not concerned with repercussions that the star QB could get coerced by the star receiver Kellen Winslow to go throw passes on the field next to the team practice and put the team’s success in jeopardy is just too funny. 

If discipline is that big a problem, just wrap his whole hand and arm in a cast so that he can’t hold a ball at all and get his head in on as many mental reps as possible. What is keeping Freeman from trying out his mending thumb when he leaves the practice facility anyway?

Ex-Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

The Bucs got lucky Saturday night. Many say it was bad luck, but in the NFL, just as one man’s injury is another man’s opportunity, this “small” injury to Freeman’s thumb gives the Bucs management a great opportunity to practice their disaster management scenario.

In my rookie year with the Los Angeles Rams, the backup quarterback was Mark Herrmann, and he cracked a rib in the second preseason game.

This gave me a great opportunity to get extra playing time. It also gave me an opportunity to throw a game-winning touchdown pass and build some much needed confidence. But even with this confidence, deep down I knew I wasn’t ready to take over the team in the event that Jim Everett went down.

And, even though I didn’t want the team to go find a veteran QB, they were smart to do it to protect the team and franchise. We signed a veteran journeyman by the name of Steve Dils, who had experience in the offense. Herrmann was back by opening week and Dils was released, but the Rams had their disaster plan in place, as I’m sure Dils would have been right back on the team had another injury hit. 

The Buccaneers now face an eerily similar situation. Although their starter is the one with the injury, and that makes it all the more important what team management decides to do in the coming days.

I have supported Josh Johnson as this team’s backup quarterback and continue to do so. Getting Rudy Carpenter some much needed playing time and confidence is also important for this team. But I know the Rams did the right thing by bringing in some veteran experience, and I know the Bucs must insure their billion dollar franchise by getting another veteran quarterback acclimated to their system immediately.

They may cut him at the end of the preseason and may never need him again, but another experienced arm on the roster is a must, even though Freeman and the Bucs got “lucky” with this chance to work their disaster drill before the real thing hits when the games count.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

With no more World Cup futbol/soccer and only baseball highlights to choose from, ESPN recently ran a three-day special on Jon Gruden’s days as the assistant offensive line coach at Carrollwood Day School.

It was much needed feel-good programming at a time when there isn’t much fooball news – unless it’s bad news.

ESPN went back to the gold mine that they got pre-draft, when their Monday Night Football star brought us four days of QB meetings he had with the top prospects in the draft. I anticipated that show greatly, as coaching the quarterback position is my passion as well, but nowhere near the same planet of passion as Gruden. Nobody can match that.  I enjoyed the peek inside the QB meeting room with these soon-to-be millionaires and was entertained, as well, but probably not for the same reasons as most.

Gruden became infamous because of his “Chucky” faces and profane sideline language, and now he is working with 14-18 year old young men.

There are sure to be a lot more “Jiminy Christmases” in his vocabulary now than his other well-known catchphrases on his pro practice fields and game sidelines. The “Jovial Jon” was certainly on display during the camera’s visit to the North Tampa campus and seemed to be on his best behavior, likely since it is the offseason and the game intensity isn’t turned up during these “mic’d up” sessions. 

If you ever wondered why some players might have grown weary of Gruden and turned their ears off over time, just listen to the total number of words that are said and the percentage that actually have something to do with the play or concept. 

Young guys can really be dazzled by the volume of words, but the older you get the more you look for substance over quantity. And all those words just become “blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada”.

After doing the QB segment before the draft, I bet Colt McCoy and his agent weren’t too happy about Gruden talking about him being extremely small or how hard his southern accent that is to understand. Neither of those things is football-related, as he lead Texas the national title game calling plays and he is just as tall as the current Super Bowl MVP.

Players can only handle so much between their ears. Too too much extraneous nonsense starts getting tuned out or taken offensively.

Two things stood out to me in the first installment of Gruden with the high schoolers. The first is just how much fluff is thrown out there (e.g. patting the blocking sled, telling it how well it did stopping two players from pushing it down the field). There is a fine line between coaching and demeaning players.

I have always said I liked John Robinson as a head coach because he could “call you out” for not getting your job done and pat you on the back when you corrected your mistake without ridiculing the player(s). Constant jawing, if it doesn’t help the player improve technique, can really wear players out. Old married guys can relate to this as their wives just keep talking and talking, even though they got the point long beforehand and turned the volume switch off long ago.

The second thing is Gruden’s offense, which the Bucs may be much closer to running these days than they were a year ago at this point.

Remember, in July and August of last year, Jeff Jagodzinski and Raheem Morris had decided to be a hard running and down-field passing play-action team. It wasn’t until September that the offense went into Greg Olson’s hands.

I’m not sure what the offensive verbiage was during last season, but they couldn’t haven changed all the language and lingo back just a couple days before the season.  Olson may now have a split between his Rams days in “The Greatest Show On Turf,” under Mike Martz’s timing offense, and his more recent time with Gruden’s version of the “West Coast Offense.”

Hearing Gruden try to get an offensive lineman to understand the concept of “razor and lazer” line calls was interesting, as you hear how closely the two sound and how they could be misheard with a little crowd noise. I’m sure the Bucs used “Razor” and “Lazer” calls on their way to the Lombardi Trophy, so missing those calls probably hasn’t been a big issue and everyone on the defensive line of the opposing team knows what those calls mean anyway, but rhyming words aren’t a great habit to make in calls at the line or in the huddle.

Not everyone can see the QB’s mouth in the huddle and could miss that first sound of the word. Other common calls are “Roger/Louie, Rip/Liz, Ricky/Lucky”.  Each of these calls tells a player to block left or right based on the first letter in the word.  As you see in the other examples, each word starts with an “L” or “R” for right or left, but ends with a different sound.  It only takes one person to hear “razor” when it was a “lazer” call to have bad things happen.

Anyway, the videos are great entertainment for guys that love the HBO “Hardknocks” series or anything football in July when programming is minimal. And checking in on the most famous high school assistant offensive line coach in the world every once in a while is pretty good stuff, too.