Are Sabby’s Days Numbered?
September 24th, 2010
Interesting piece of information from Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune concerning yesterday’s news that rookie seventh-round pick Cody Grimm will replace suspended Tanard Jackson in the Bucs starting lineup.
Many observers thought it would be Sabby who would get the nod. But no! Bucs coach Raheem Morris thought more of Grimm.
Morris bypassed veteran safety Sabby Piscitelli, who lost the strong safety job to Sean Jones in training camp.
”We definitely thought about Sabby,” Morris said.
Piscitelli ought to start thinking about his future, because Morris’ decision so much as tells him that he doesn’t trust Piscitelli, who missed a league-leading 19 tackles last season, as the team’s last line of defense.
Interesting. So is this a sign by Morris that Sabby should start looking for another team to play for, or perhaps this is intended to be a wake up call for Sabby?
Look, Joe will be the first one to admit that Sabby calling out Morris, when Sean Jones was named a starter, for rigging the competition between the two safeties did Sabby no favors.
But did the public tongue-lashing of his coach burn a bridge that cannot be repaired?
September 24th, 2010 at 7:39 am
He sucks. Plain and simple.
There isn’t one single play made by Sabby that is convincing enough he should even remain in the NFL. Not ONE!
He’s a special teams body and that’s it!
September 24th, 2010 at 7:45 am
He’s got all the physical talent needed at the position but his instincts, his decision making, BLOW!
Sabby…Get over it….In the words of the guy from Happy Gilmore, “you Suck, ya jack@$$!”.
September 24th, 2010 at 8:21 am
No. We now have four safeties, but two have little to no experience. Sabby may have been horrible, but he is still our best insurance should Sean Jones get injured or just play horrible. He hasn’t exactly been looking great these first two games.
Also, untill Grimm or Lynch show that they handle the starting FS position, Sabby is insurance for them also. It would make no sense to cut Sabby with so much uncertainty at the safety position.
September 24th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Jdouble…I agree, but I think Jones had played well, not great but not bad either. Better than Sabby anyway.
September 24th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Sabby is pretty good on specal teams.So he is still contributing until they straighten out the position.
September 24th, 2010 at 8:56 am
It’s not a message. It’s not a ‘wake-up call’.
It’s called picking the best person for the job. And the facts are: 1) Sabby has been learning the SS position for the past three years and 2) Has already showed us what his flaws are. Those two things contributed to it being an easier decision than most thought it would be.
Morris simply picked the guy he had the most faith in.
Sabby won’t be cut, he’s still our backup SS. We NEED him to be our backup SS. But that’s all he’ll ever be on this team.
September 24th, 2010 at 9:34 am
You guys gotta admit it takes some balls for Rah to make this call. I know everyone always pays lip service to playing the best starters but he is setting himself up for alot of criticism if Grimm doesnt play well.
I can hear the whining from Zero and RahDom now: “how could he that stupid to start a rookie 7th rounder over a guy with 1 yr starting experience! Rah sucks, etc.”
But on the other hand, if Grimm plays well… you have to give it up to Rah. Imagine how different things are now in the players minds. They know for sure with this coach, you will play if your the best. That has got to make them feel good.
September 24th, 2010 at 9:34 am
oh BTW… i agree, cant cut Sabby yet we might need him.
September 24th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Fans and media, and even some coaches get so caught up in “superstars” and freak athletes. Like this is Madden and Cody Grimm has a 60 next to his name because he was drafted in the 7th round. The truth is, if you build a team of smart, dependable, tough guys that work together and execute perfectly on Sundays…you don’t need any big name super stars. It’s a game. And while you have your occaissional freaks like Randy Moss or Peyton Manning, the other 95% of the league is very very close when it comes to speed, strength, ect.
Grimm is the anti Sabby. He doesn’t have the body of a GQ model, or the amazing combine numbers. He is just a smart dependable football player with alot of heart and solid fundamentals.
September 24th, 2010 at 9:58 am
I think the point here is that Sabby had his chance and he blew it.
He had an entire season when he was injured. He could have spent that time studying the defense and watching film on other teams and learning. He didn’t do it.
He had a whole off season knowing he was going to be the starter to do the same thing. He didn’t do it.
He had all of last year to learn and adapt and take control of the starting job. He didn’t do it.
He had this past offseason to learn and watch film and correct his mistakes from last year and once again he didn’t do it.
The fact is he has been given plenty of chances to show he deserves to be the starter and he has failed everytime.
If Sabby wants back into the starting line up he needs to earn it. He’s been handed the job before and he didn’t take advantage. He doesn’t need to be just handed the job again.
September 24th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Grimm was #2 on the depth chart so the decision makes sense – I’m just glad they had the fortitude to stick with the depth chart and not be worried about the fact Grimm is a rookie. He outplayed Sobby during preseason, which is why he’s getting his shot now.
September 24th, 2010 at 10:58 am
If you are very talented, you cannot burn down bridges to the point that they cannot be repaired. What does that tell us about Sabby?
September 24th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Sabby should be jettisoned immediately!! And sign a safety who wasn’t drafted by Gruden!! Then start checking into the remaining gruden picks, and make sure they aren’t about to go mental on us!!! Lol
September 24th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I’ll say it again:
Sabby is on the team because the Bucs knew something was coming down for TJax.
There is no other reason for them to keep 5 safeties. Now they have 4.
I also think that if Grimm does not pan out do not be surprised to see Ronde Barber crossing over to Safety. It would probably prolong his career a couple years (2-3 left maybe if he does that). Biggers and talib would be the CBs with Lewis and Mack as backups and one of them as Nickel. Or Barber playing Nickel and Grimm going in as the 5th DB back at safety in that situation.
Either way, they will be taking another Safety in the draft next year just not as high s some people think.
DE and LG are still the most pressing needs, followed by RB and Safety. RB all depends on how the running game progreses and how Blount and Huggins end up doing throughout the season if given the opportunity.
September 24th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
CaptTim, Don’t do that! Then we wouldn’t have Black, Hayes, Talib, Ruud, Hayward, Graham, Davin, Trueblood, Penn, Zuttah, White, Johnson, or Caddy.
September 24th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Joe:
Just a weird thought but what is Jermaine Phillips doing these days? The LB experiment was dumb and he’s injury prone but knows the defense and was good when healthy.
September 24th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
@Vorblaw
You cant just walk in and start in the NFL when you havent played in a year. And Jermaine isnt exactly Darrelle Revis and even he is feeling the effects of missed time.
September 24th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Joe
Sabby will be looking for another job along with Ruud. Both are defensive liabilities 90% of the time. Both are the “king” of taking bad angles to the point of the play. Most of the missed assignments from the Carolina game were from Ruud’s side. The db’s and safety were blowing by him to tackle the running backs in the back field of Carolina. The experiment is over. The Bucs need to look for another linebacker in next years draft.
Thats why they have not resigned Ruud.
September 24th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
@Ash, I totally agree with you and it’s probably not going to happen (Jermaine Phillips). But I think it might at least be worth an exploratory phone call and workout (unless Grimm plays out of his mind on Sunday). When healthy (which almost never happens) he’s a pretty good safety, definitely a hard hitter.
September 24th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I’m still on the other side but with the bye week coming up, maybe.
Still think its a pipe dream.
September 24th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
The problem with Phlip is he hits so hard he breaks his own bones. Let’s see what Grimm has before we start calling dudes from their coach.
September 24th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
I agree with the comment the Raheem has balls. No question about it. He is also very decisive.
September 24th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Is it possible to just go ahead and put 2 casts on Jermaine Phillip’s arms before he breaks them, sort of as a preventive measure for the inevitable?
September 24th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
I don’t think Rudd is a great linebacker by any means but I think he has played well so far this year. He’s not the physical Ray Lewis type but he’s done his job and made some splash plays. He seems to be valuable to this defense because of his smarts and leadership…I just don’t think he’s been anywhere near as bad as some people are making him out to be. Average to slightly above average linebacker to me.