Penn Pushing Perfection

October 15th, 2012

Joe remembers that faction of Bucs fans that wanted to see left tackle Donald Penn kicked to the curb and have the Bucs draft Matt Kalil back in April.

Those fat-haters said Penn had eaten himself out of his bloated contract and was part of the problem.

Joe found that thinking thoroughly ridiculous. And now the slightly slimmer but hardly svelte Penn is back in Pro Bowl form. Just watch the tape from yesterday; Penn played a near perfect game, often up against Chiefs beast Tamba Hali. The Bucs also spent much of yesterday running left behind the twin mountains; Penn and Carl Nicks.

Joe’s a big Penn fan and is glad to see so many haters have been silenced.

Joe’s raising a donut in Penn’s honor.

16 Responses to “Penn Pushing Perfection”

  1. raphael Says:

    Didn’t Tamba Hali have a sack fumble ? or was that from the other side of the line ? Penn has played well, It is early he usually gains another 75 Lbs. he seems well below the 400 lb line.

  2. SteveK Says:

    Go big Donald!

    He is a beast, hope he can stay in “rip your head off” shape.

  3. Sneedy16 Says:

    Big Penn doing his thing.

  4. Jonny 3.3 Says:

    I thought Penn faced a lot more of Justin Houston than Tamba Hali. It should not matter anyways since Justin Houston has been playing like a stud in the pass rush department as well this season.

  5. Mavsmoney Says:

    @raphael – you are correct, it was the other side.

    Love Donald Penn, he deserves more love from the fans imo.

  6. Colorado Buc Says:

    I’m loving the early dividends the 2012 Draft is paying. Barron is a beast, David shows Brooks like speed and is a beast, Martin should be a starter in the league for a long time. Looking like the beginning of something really good for Bucs fans!!!

  7. Meh Says:

    Never understood the Penn hate.

  8. Vic Says:

    Hali beat Dotson like a rented mule on that sack/fumble. We’re lucky Hali moved away from Dotson and to Penn’s side.

  9. Jonny 3.3 Says:

    @Vic: That was the only play where Dotson got owned. Dotson did admirably against the run however and so did Meredith.

    There are certain pass rushers who are going to get a sack or collect few pressures no matter who they are facing. DEs/OLBs like Ware, Hali, Wake, Matthews, Clemons, Allen, Suggs, Cole, Long etc. The good thing about Dotson was, he did not get abused repeatedly during the whole game like Trueblood would had he started.

  10. Orlando bucs fan Says:

    The bucs are starting to develop into a finished product every game, they will progress more and more as the year goes on. I don’t think we make the
    Layoffs this year but next year will be a great year to be a bucs fan. I hope ronde comes back for next year he himself has improved from last ear to his year in his new role.
    On a side note did anyone see the news that Vilma will be playing against the bucs this weekend, this saints deal is a gigantic saga that needs to be put to rest. I hope he is out of shape and sows down there defense, breeze will put up his usual numbers we just need to play our game and freeman needs to step up for every quarter.

  11. Miguel El Magnifico Says:

    I wanted Kalil for RT initially then an eventual switch to LT. The writing on the wall would make Penn lighten up and step it up.

    Nicks is right about the Chaos theory that problems on the right side exacerbate problems on the left.

    In the end, Kalil was not available and Barron turned out to be pretty good.

  12. Mike J Says:

    I have been critical of Penn’s decline in play as he fattens up for winter during the season, but I found this: “Penn, despite struggling to protect his QB in three of the last four games, earned an admirable +7.5 pass blocking grade last year.’ ” https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/10/12/3tfo-chiefs-buccaneers-week-6/

  13. Bobby Says:

    You wanted Kalil for RT when we have Davin Joseph????? OOOOOOOKKKKK..

  14. Mavsmoney Says:

    @Bobby

    Joseph is RG not RT, Trueblood is who he meant would be replaced. Still don’t agree with him though, we had much bigger needs.

  15. Tcaviar Says:

    @mike J you can’t listen to pro football focus their stats are often wrong and opinions highly subjective the’re like the tv show sports science the’re methods for explanations make no sense

  16. Mike J Says:

    Tcaviar, you think?? I am under the impression that some NFL clubs subscribe to their service. RotoWorld refers to it a lot.I try to gather info but stay reasonable skeptical. Anyone else have any opinions?

    Anyway,more Penn: ” Playing to the Rep.

    For some years Donald Penn (+4.5) has been a guy whose ability has garnered more plaudits than his actual production has deserved. He’s clearly a talented player but inconsistency has kept him out of the PFF genuinely elite category. This was a performance far more in keeping with his ability and certainly his best game this year. Going up against two top flight rushers in Tamba Hali and Justin Houston he kept a clean sheet and got significant movement with his run blocking to boot. It’s not often you see a 3-4 defensive end getting driven five full yards off the line of scrimmage but that’s exactly what he does to Ropati Pitoitua with 4:34 left in the first.”