It “Appears” Trueblood Locked Up Starting Job
August 22nd, 2011
There was a rule of thought among many Bucs followers that Jeremy Trueblood was either gone from Tampa Bay since his contract was up, or at best would return as a reserve.
It could be argued that James Lee, who replaced an injured Trueblood late in the season, played better than Trueblood and that the offensive line as a whole played better late in the year.
But anyone wanting to shovel dirt on Trueblood’s grave better walk back to the tool shed. eye-RAH! Kaufman brings word via the TBO Bucs Twitter feed that it “appears” Trueblood has won his starting job back.
Jeremy Trueblood appears to have regained his starting RT job for the Bucs, beating out James Lee. The OL needs to rebound vs. Miami.
There are two major areas of concern for Joe with this season’s Bucs. The first, and perhaps most important, is the offensive line. The second area of concern is the rush defense.
If Josh Freeman has a filthy jersey by halftime like he had against the Patriots, if LeGarrette Blount has no holes to run through, this will be a very long season. The Bucs simply don’t have a stout enough defense to lock down opponents if the offense is stuttering.
August 22nd, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Any time I hear someone say, “If such & such happens in the preseason it’s gonna be a long season”, I have to just roll my eyes. Making such broad, dramatic statements based on preseason performance is always a recipe for prediction disaster. Let’s steer away from the hyperbole, shall we?
We won’t know anything about our offensive line’s true abilities, or any other unit’s for that matter, until we’ve played a few regular season games. That’s when we’ll know. Not before.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:26 pm
I don’t trust Trueblood and he’s been inconsistent at best. McKennie is still out there and he would be a great RT. None of our Olineman are explosive. Hopefully we can call plays that masks their many weaknesses.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Architek:
If he is still on the open market Joe’s not sure how you can consider him “great.”
That would be like saying “Stylez White is still out there. He would be great at right defensive end.”
Generally, guys who would be “great” aren’t looking for work halfway through through the preseason.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Joe would be great at RT being that he’s a pro bowl caliber lineman. He definitely is an upgrade over our right tackles
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Trueblood has actually looked very, very good. He and Faine held up best against the Pats and you could make a case that Trueblood was our best o-lineman by a significant margin that night. He’s the least of our worried. Now the depth behind him…that’s another story altogether.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:48 pm
“worries”
August 22nd, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Totally agree FLBoy I thought Joseph and True played pretty well actually. Larsen and Penn on the other hand looked bad. I’m not one to hold to much judgement from a preseason game though and trust enough in this staff that they won’t let Free get killed.
August 22nd, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Now that he is starting, maybe he can start blocking for a change, eh?
August 22nd, 2011 at 8:01 pm
big mac take a good look at penn blocking against the pats he was turned around and being pushed toward freeman…
August 22nd, 2011 at 8:50 pm
No off season training program…I think it might take a few games to get back in the swing of things.
I was concerned with what I saw…but I’m trying to be a glass half full guy right now.
Plus, it WAS the Pats. If they had handled them well, we would have a great reason to be excited…but they are one of the three elite teams. Hopefully we can do better against the other teams.
As to the Run defense, give it time, Joe. Rookies and 2nd year players there. They will get it together by mid-season.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:16 am
We are a very young team. We NEEDED OTAs and work with coaches. We have to start slowly now, to get everyone on the same page. The Pats are a vet team. They walk in, and pick up where they left off. BIG difference