“He’s Not That Deficient”
September 22nd, 2011
It seems the Bucs have a new quarterback: Mason Foster.
The potential situation that made many Bucs fans tremble before the season could come to fruition Sunday. If Quincy Black stays on the sidelines injured, rookie middle linebacker Foster will get the fancy headset in his hat and will play on every down and become Raheem Morris’ new QB of the defense.
Morris made it clear today at his news conference and said Foster could have handled all the duties from Day 1.
“Mason will call the plays, if Quincy doesn’t go. He’s not that deficient. I just was trying to take something off his plate,” Raheem said. “You know, Mason’s sharp, smart. You know, Mason’s dying to get the green thing in his helmet anyway. He wants all the information.” … He’ll play all situations this week.”
It was inevitiable, and now seems as good a time as any since Black is playing ugly football and is hurt. Though this surely is tough duty for Foster with the high-powered Falcons and Tony Gonzalez in town.
Joe hopes the Bucs aren’t in for a Ruud awakening.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:09 pm
And to add to the story … This wont be the first we have seen of Mason Foster in the Nickel and calling the plays .. He did for the whole second half last week
That didnt turn out so bad
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Joe – Mason Foster has had two excellent games considering he’s a rookie playing after a strike shortened preseason. Can you please cut out the cheesy Ruud puns? He’s gone and we appear to have a budding star at MLB.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:21 pm
Love how people tell what Joe to do on here. Don’t be so Ruud Flip!
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Nothing to fear but fear itself. No looking back now. It’s baptism by fire. Good luck, Mason!
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Good one Joe….. (Ruud Awakening)
I guess there not worried the Falcons know about Mason so early in the week.Seems they would just keep that under wraps till the game Sunday. Billicheat would have.Why give ant info that you don’t have to.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:41 pm
“Ruud awakening’ jeez Joe…you couldn’t resist huh/ hahaha…Que the the rock music scream and peel off your sunglasses, your scheduled on that CSI: what ever city it is lol
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:44 pm
More like a line from Mike Hammer I would think.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:44 pm
At least we won’t be seeing any missed tackles from Black this week.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:50 pm
The kid is gonna be okay, he did it the whole second half last week.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:52 pm
I think we’re in trouble. He’ll get it, but Sunday is going to hurt. I hope our line can hit Mr. Overrated quick and often to make life easier on everyone else.
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Lets be real for a moment … Our Defense is ranked near the bottom of the league already .. As Freeman and Blount go … So goes this team … regardless of the Defense
Strange Reality … but it is the current reality of the Bucs
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Im afraid HoFer Tony G is going to rip him to shreds a few times.
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Seriously; how much worse can he be than Ruud? Gonzalas ran passed Ruud like he was standing still last year. People make it sound like we’re missing a pro bowl coverage guy or something. Whether his stats from last year show it or not; he ran free all day long against the mighty Barrett Ruud.
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:27 pm
Are you saying stats don’t tell the whole story? Hmmm. I’m gonna have to remember that when someone (could be anyone) spouts off about a certain young DT that didn’t get any sacks, or only a couple tackles, or…. good point!
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:37 pm
With Black going down, we may be witnessing the birth of our future LB corp. I’d take Hayes, Foster, and Watson over Ruud and Black anyday. Even after just two games.
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:12 pm
I can see it coming.
If Foster does not have a good game, the fans will turn on him. Happens all the time.
I think it’s too soon for him to know enough to be of a whole lot of use as a starter, but I also think putting him in is the only way he’ll get there.
I would just caution people not to judge him on the next few games…unless of course he really steps up like a Mike Williams did.
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:27 pm
While I am excited to get Foster on the field full time, I am a bit worried about Mr. Gonzalez catching passes in the middle of the field.
On the other hand, it’ll give him great experience.
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:45 pm
@ChrisFWC
I said please.
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:46 pm
Seriously, who do we have that can cover Gonzo? Foster’s a rookie and coverage wasn’t his strength anyway. Hayes is way too small to cover him. Watson is much better at pass rush than coverage, but may be the best option. Grimm and Jones are also not known to be coverage guys, so Safety is a question covering him. And if we devote too much to covering him, we allow Turner to run wild as we’re now putting some of our better run stoppers covering a TE. We may be best off running zone coverages and put an emphasis on Gonzalez in those zones. At least then all defenders will have an eye in the backfield instead of on a man.
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:49 pm
obviously ronde. same as last year
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:54 pm
I’m more excited Dakota Watson is going to get the start!
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Mason appears to be the best and most physical linebacker of the starters overall. Thats sad but true
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Nice, We are going to need our best LBer’s out there. With Black sittin (hopefully) we will start with Hayes, Foster, and Watson. It’s a good thing to. Going against ATL we are gonna need those play makers on the field.
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Flippin Ruud
September 23rd, 2011 at 7:05 am
Yes , because we did such an awesome job of shutting down the falcons offense when Princess Ruud was around…
oh wait , we didn’t. Joe would be better off letting everyone forget the fact that he actually thought Ruud was good, lol.
September 23rd, 2011 at 9:16 am
Everyone is talking about Tony Gonz….and how we cant cover him. Ill state this fact, he is a future HOF TE. You arent considered a FHOF from teams being able to cover you well. So what if Tony is able to catch a few passes or burn us over the middle..he is who he is and Foster is who he is..a rookie. Give him time to get better. But please name a secondary that Tony absolutley cant produce in…and ill call you a liar!
September 23rd, 2011 at 9:17 am
Foster has played well, and looks very good against the Run. Honestly, he may be an improvement there already.
But that wasn’t Ruud’s Strenght. Our problem will be covering Tony Gonzales and Michael Turner in pass coverage. That will be a huge part of the story Sunday. Also how quickly Foster can reset the Defense after an audible. Ryan will definately try to catch us in mid shift, as has happen alot this year already. Ryan will burn us if he can manipulate Foster- and he’ll try!!
My biggest concern is our secondary. Talib has played badly this year. And while he is not as good as some of the “thug lovers” want to believe, he is much better than he has played so far. If he doesn’t play better, we will have Gonzales and Roddy White running around loose- and that sounds like a bad idea!
September 24th, 2011 at 10:17 am
Joe hopes the Bucs aren’t in for a Ruud awakening.—-I see what you did there Joe.