Aqib Talib Is Good; Not Yet Great

October 17th, 2010

aqib talibA lot of Bucs followers and watchers — Joe included — thought this would be the year for Aqib Talib. With an uneventful offseason and coming off a 2009 campaign where he was one of the better cornerbacks in the league, many fully expected Talib to establish himself as an elite cornerback.

He’s not there… yet.

Talib is good, don’t get Joe wrong. He is not yet a star.

We all remember how he bobbled a near-interception in the zone against Pittsburgh that turned into an early Mike Wallace touchdown for the Steelers. Later, Talib had an would-be interception go through his hands on a critical third down play against Pittsburgh on what turned into a Steelers scoring drive.

That nasty near-interception bug bit Talib again today. And it was ugly.

Drew Brees connected with Lance Moore on a 41-yard touchdown that Talib had position on and went for the interception. But his pink-gloved hands were empty and the Saints had six points.

In the aforementioned plays, Talib was not out of position, please do not misunderstand. Talib, instead, went for the big plays and swung and missed each time.

Elite players make big plays. Talib’s not.

Not yet.  

10 Responses to “Aqib Talib Is Good; Not Yet Great”

  1. goodfellajay Says:

    well we all have bad days,,,god knows you do ..joe…but he will get em next time

  2. Patrick Says:

    Our secondary is a huge strength of this team. Our D line is not right now.

  3. Fish Says:

    I agree with the Pittsburgh plays, but the play today looked like he got burned deep.

    I think he’s going to be great, too, but it seems like he does that every once in a while.

  4. Aldo Says:

    how can blame on talib when that D front suck that bad?? i mean, yes talib is not an elite but not even as bad as so many guys think, the deal is with that pathetic Dfront and noodlearms barret ruud, DEs are just awful,the only good one is stylez and hes more a back up DE, not even a starter..and i will say this every time i can, the DLine coach sucks!!!! can we hire a real DLine coach??? i mean seriously, that guy sucks!!!

  5. FIRE GREG OLSON! Says:

    He gets nervous in the corners of the field. He was right there (or just behind) to make the play today on the first TD.

  6. goodfellajay Says:

    Welcome to Tampa” where we win a few… But when we lose, we don’t just lose- it’s an artful *censored* whippin’. Not even close, boys. How did we win 3 games with a run defense like THAT?!? And to lose to the saints of all teams makes it so much worse. America’s “new” Team. A team full of thugs, cheap-shot artists, hot dogs, white trash, and a coach that’s a douche bag. Show some heart, D-Line. Put some hurt on the lambs next week and help us forget today

  7. RichinNC Says:

    Talib seems weak or just not interested this year. He tried to knock a guy out of bounds and just bounced off (tackling would be nice). Then he just about ran backwards when blocked on run play instead of fighting off the block.

    I am not impressed with his play or effort this year. He is better than he is playing right now.

    Perhaps his anger management counseling worked to well.

  8. Paul Says:

    I’ve seen Talib halfass a lot of plays since he’s been a Buc.

  9. chargedcbh Says:

    Your right Talib is not there yet, neither is this team. But this team is on it’s way! Don’t forget we were 3-13 last year, this team is making HUGE strides and I love watching them. The D-line is horrible, I rather get burned on a blitz than only rushing 3 or 4 and getting burned anyway. I see the future and I love it…….

  10. TJ Says:

    as many plays as he intercepts he gives will be how many TD s he give up. They even said during the game he looks like he lacks focus