Rams Poor On The Road
October 20th, 2010
Ahhh, it wasn’t that long ago when the Bucs’ defense routinely feasted on young quarterbacks, especially at home.
Joe remembers when Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan visited Tampa in his rookie season and the Bucs made him look like a lost sheep.
So maybe the Bucs are being served up a shot at the good ol’ days on Sunday against the Rams.
Just like the Bucs, the NFL schedule makers blessed the Rams with four of their first six games at home. The Rams are 3-3 and haven’t won a road game.
Their road struggles are a big deal in St. Louis, per today’s Post-Dispatch.
The challenge for the Rams is to transfer what they’re doing at home to the road, where they’ve lost 16-14 at Oakland in Week 2 and 44-6 at Detroit in Week 5.
“We’ve got to find a way to do that because we do seem to be much more comfortable playing here than on the road,” quarterback Sam Bradford said. “I think that’s one of the steps from being an average team to being a good team — being able to play well on the road. So if we do want to become a good team, then we’re going to have to learn to play well on the road.”
For a young team with a rookie quarterback, a certain amount of ups and downs are inevitable. Spagnuolo would like to smooth out some of those bumps on the road, where momentum changes in games can get the home crowd into it and make the environment even more difficult.
In Oakland, the Rams were up 7-3 and had some semblance of control in the game. But when fan favorite Bruce Gradkowski replaced Jason Campbell at quarterback to start the second half, the crowd got into it. When Gradkowski experienced early success they really got into it, and things snowballed from there.
If the aftershocks of a Bruce Gradkowski sighting rattled the Rams, then surely Josh Freeman and 40,000+ screaming Bucs fans should send have them seeking the nearest bottle of Valium.
The Bucs should and need to win on Sunday. The Rams are vulnerable, young and very beatable, and the Bucs are at home.
If the Bucs can’t take out the Rams in Week 7, then how many games can fans really expect them to win this season?
October 20th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Both our losses are at home. Don’t know if there is any home field advantage to our team in Tampa. I was hearing those WHO-DAT? chants all the time during the game last Sunday. And we already know how embarrassing it was when we played the Steelers. May be, just MAY BE there aren’t many bandwagoner Rams fans in Tampa.
October 20th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I think the Tampa vs St Louis game is going to be a deal breaker, IF we lose. I know myself, and plenty of other Tampa fans are sick of getting our clocks cleaned at the CITS.
It would be different if Tampa was at least competitive with the last 2 teams to blow us out, but we are not. In MY mind, if Tampa loses Sunday to the Rams, the Glazers must question if we are rebuilding in the right direction.
October 20th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I believe the Bucs will win this game, but I also think the title of this article could just as easily be:
Rams Poor On The Road; Bucs Poor At Home
October 20th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Joe we need more articles like this. Meaning articles featuring out opponents each week, especially since tues-sat is stale as week old donuts.
There is only so much Buc news each week, but im sure im not the only one that would like to know whats going on with our opponents each week. (whos injured, whats their weakness, trends, etc
JUST A SUGGESTION, HOPEFULLY OTHERS AGREE
October 20th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
I disagree. I know many Bucs fans are impatient, but I doubt the Glazers are. A loss (not going to happen against the Rams) would not be as bad as you think.
Rebuilding teams typically take 2-3 years minimum to do so. When Dungy took over, it was with a team that already had certain players, thanks to Sam.
It still took time. I think Sapp had what? Three sacks his first year? I forget how many games they won, but it wasn’t many. The Glazers were patient with the team, and it paid off.
Games were blacked out then as well. The only difference is that the Bucs had 22 losing season behind them, so the fans were already use to losing.
But we still have hope for a future…even in this season. Sooner or later, the fair weather fans will start returning. Then soon after that, the bandwagon fans will. And then games ill start selling out again.
And those two teams that blew us out…are the two most like teams to face each other in the Superbowl at the end of the year. Those teams are ready to be there. The Bucs are not. So of course more developed teams will beat the stuffing out of us.
Look at it this way…
When we face these teams again, we’ll have something to compare the games to in order to decide how well the team is coming along. Even if we lose again the the Saints, if we keep things close…that’s improvement.
(not that I think we will lose the next time we play them)
October 20th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
The Rams look good. Thier defense hasn’t allowed any points in the first quarter, Steven Jackson is runnign wild, and they have Bradford throwing quick high percentage throws which he is very good at. I think this game will be alot harder than most think.
October 20th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Also, please quit crying about us getting blown out at home if you’re not attending the games. You have nothing to complain about. When the visiting team has more fans in the stadium than we do and they are louder…it kinda ruins the whole home field advantage thing.
October 20th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
It’s pretty simple. Our two loses so far have been to superbowl contenders, but we’ve been able to beat teams who you could classify as winnable games. I think that’s about all you can ask of a team in year 2 of rebuilding mode.
Looking at schedule you could say Carolina, Seattle, San fran and Detroit are games we can win and you could argue we might steal one from Arizona and/or washington. A pessimist would have to pencil us for 3 of those and an optimist maybe 5 so we could go 7-9 or 8-8. That’s a pretty nice progress from last year i’d say, considering our qb hasnt started 16 games yet and we have rookies/2nd year players galore in our lineup right now.
Personally I would actually be pretty impressed if we could pull that off especially after some projected us to be 2-14 or 5-11 at best this year. I’d say 6 wins at the end of this season is par for the course. Let’s see if this team can put some birdies together, but if they fall short of that mark, then i would be left unimpressed.
October 20th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Pete Dutcher, How about just “The Poor Bowl”!
October 20th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
40,000+ BUCS fans?
Hitting the Caybrew pretty early Joe?
October 20th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
The Bucs are going to get trounced by the Rams running game. They couldn’t stop a 3rd string running back from a AA school that ran for over 150 yards. What do you think a BEAST like Steven Jackson is going to do to our D-line?! Our defense is a joke!! Our linebackers are soft and have NO DOG in them at all! Our d-line is pathetic and doesn’t have a clue as how to get to the quarterback. Maybe they can pick up some pointers from the Rams d-line on Sunday. I mean their no name defense racked up 7 sacks against the Chargers, and I don’t want to hear how bad the Chargers are this year because before the game everyone had the Chargers beating the Rams. It’s amazing to me how some of you out there look at this team through Red and Pewter glasses ONLY. Also, a lot of you out there have the Lions game already chalked up as a win. That’s a mistake. The Lions have been playing better as of late, even with a back up quarterback, and when we play them they will have Matt Stafford back. They have a defensive stud that has shown so far that he’s the real deal. As a whole their defense has 16 sacks as oppose to our clowns playing d-line who only have 4 sacks!!! That is atrocious!! Suh has 21 tackles and 4.5 sacks. So far and McCoy and Price have a combined 11 tackles and 1 pitiful sack. I’m sorry but as a long time Buc fan, I find that to be completely unacceptable. I still say this team will be 5-11 or 6-10 when it’s all said and done and to me that is not an improvement.
October 20th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
It all starts with coaching. I can’t stand the Bucs coaching staff. In my opinion they are as clueless as the players on the field. Why in the hell are they putting McCoy at different positions on the d-line as a rookie?? Let the man learn how to play his position first before you start to move him around the line. This is the NFL not college, he needs to master his DT position first. Then and only then you can start experimenting with him at other spots. Part of the problem is that they have a sub par defensive coordinator ( with very little exp. at that I might add ) as their head coach. Not to mention that our defensive line coach is a JOKE! I long for the days of Rod Marinelli as our d-line coach.
October 20th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I believe that this will definitely be a hard fought game that may go down to the wire. Because it will be a home game for the Bucs I believe that they will win.
It would probably be a different story if it was in St. Louis.
October 20th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
pewterpirate99,
I second that! All of that!
October 20th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
we got blown out by two of the best teams in the league…I think that’s pretty understandable
October 20th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Agreed……we get blown out by the lambs then I will be really worried. Until then I will sip my kool-aid and wear my pewter shades 😛
October 20th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Pewterpirate99- what part of 3-3-5 defense didn’t ya get. It’s really a 3-2-6 defense. That defense isn’t gonna stop the run. It isn’t gonna produce sacks. It will stop the pass, and get turnovers. It’s raheem playing to our strength!
October 20th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
The Lion’s also blew out the Rams. This game could go either way, but I feel the Bucs will bounce back, and try to prove something this week. It is a bummer that Price is out though.
October 20th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Eric will be there . . cheering for Gradkowski . . . err . .. Freeman
October 20th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Say what you will about Ole Gradkowski, but when he’s in at QB that Oakland team plays much better and more agressively.
October 20th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Hey Capt Tina why don’t you play the lottery pick 3:
3-2-6 or 3-3-5?
Dunce!
October 20th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Give Gradkowski some Kielbasa, and all things are possible.
Seriously Pete, I hope you are right about Tampa.
I will be at Tampa Stadium Sunday, cheering for the Bucs.
October 20th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Good one Jimbuc!
October 20th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Derf, thank you for posting. It let’s me really see into how some peoples though process works. It reassures me that, yes, I am correctly positioned as the supervisor of a very large number of people. When I see you post,and realize how poorly you process and retain information, I am forced to accept the fact that , sadly, some people are just idiots. Reading your post makes me feel sad for the truely intelligent people. It’s a terrible burden to provide leadership and guidance to individuals like yourself. Because, let’s face it, without supervision, you’d stare up into the rain , until you filled up and drowned. Don’t worry, the Bucs will win this weekend. Then you and your “perspective” can go back under your rock, with the rest of the town fools.
October 20th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
It’s hard to predict this one. The Rams got destroyed by the Lions, but then looked great the next week and beat the Chargers. They are a solid 3-3 team. I think it’s going to be a tough game. Hope we rebound and pull this one out.
October 20th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Tugboat Timmie says;
“Pewterpirate99- what part of 3-3-5 defense didn’t ya get. It’s really a 3-2-6 defense. That defense isn’t gonna stop the run. It isn’t gonna produce sacks. It will stop the pass, and get turnovers. It’s raheem playing to our strength!”
Well Timmie, and which one of those numerous Touchdown passes did that 3-3-5 or 3-2-6 stop? Seems to me that Raheem the Dreams defense is a Nightmare for Buc fans and a Wet Dream for the opponents. I’m glad that you can see into peoples though processes. That statement works about as good as our secondary does for our amateur DC/HC.
October 20th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Rah supervises a large group of people and he sucks!
October 20th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
I was trying to picture that large group of people that Tugboat Timmie “correctly” supervises. I think I’ve narrowed it down to he is an orderly at a retirement center. That job would be correct, and he can tell the old folks what to do, and they would believe that he is anything that he tells them he is. Of course they would forget then next day, but that’s okay!
October 20th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
“Seems to me that Raheem the Dreams defense is a Nightmare for Buc fans and a Wet Dream for the opponents.”
That’s about as accurate to the truth as I see it Tampa2! After the Rams watch the game film of what the Saints done they are all surely more excited to play the Bucs than they are intimidated.
October 21st, 2010 at 5:17 am
That’s because you idiots are so ignorant, you don’t realize that we are 3-2 with a team of rookies. It doesn’t matter. After we win this week , you idiots will be stuck back under your rocks. A few wins after that, and you morons will be gone for good, like cockroaches after a good spraying. It I do appreciate you cowardly posting in the meantime. Realizing how dumb a couple of you are, makes me alot more attentive when I drive, knowing you could be on the road, driving to whatever minimum wage job you might currently be infesting. Scary! But at least I know
October 21st, 2010 at 9:20 am
You’d probably be better off paying attention to people walking down the hallway at you while you are carrying that bedpan Timmie! Even though you are fullof it, I’d hate to see you get that doo all over your uniform! Of course you could use Raheem’s 3-2-6 defense and that person would slip right by you!