Joe Talks All Things Bucs-Ravens
Friday, August 9th, 2013Joe’s partners at WDAE-AM 620 invited Joe on the Ron and Ian show this morning to offer up rapid-fire takes on all kinds of stuff out of last night’s Ravens-Bucs game. Full audio below.
Joe’s partners at WDAE-AM 620 invited Joe on the Ron and Ian show this morning to offer up rapid-fire takes on all kinds of stuff out of last night’s Ravens-Bucs game. Full audio below.
The Bucs snatched up wide receiver Kevin Ogletree in free agency to be their No. 3 receiver, or at least give Tiquan Underwood a lot of competition. To date, Ogletree has landed the job while Underwood has been hurt and largely invisible.
Again last night, Ogletree looked the part against the Ravens. He broke free when Josh Freeman left the pocket during the Bucs’ second drive with the first-team offense. It was a 3rd-and-7 play, and Ogletree caught Freeman’s pass for 22 yards.
“Kevin made some plays,” Schiano said. “You know, Kev’s trying to learn offense. He’s trying to, you know, become part of this football team, find his spot, his niche on the team. And I think it’s happening. You know that’s what the preseason, OTAs, training camp is all about, the chemistry of your team coming together. And I see Kevin fitting in well with our guys.”
Ogletree said he hopes Bucs fans saw a player who loves football.
“I wanted to play the whole game. That’s what I was ready for; that’s what I was geared up for,” Ogletree told Joe. “Hopefully, [fans] see that I love the game. I’m trying to prove to everyone that I’m dependable, just trying to gain trust of my teammates and my coaches and, you know, my peers that I can make the plays when we need them. We got a lot of guys that can make plays around here, just to be consistent and to gain that trust is big.”
Ogletree led the Bucs with five catches for 65 yards. He’s also the hands-down leader for the No. 3 receiver job.
Joe’s not sure anyone has a chance to unseat Ogletree, unless, perhaps, he goes all Owusu in one of the next two preseason games.
Yeah, it was tough to watch that game last night (you can watch it tonight on WFLA-TV, Channel 8 at 7:30 p.m.) and look at the final score and not come away with flu-like symptoms.
But really, the Bucs’ first teams did pretty well against the Super Bowl champs. Don’t try to tell Bucs safety Dashon Goldson the Bucs were not getting the job done early.
“We have talked about communication being vital out here, especially in the secondary and on the defense,” Goldson said. “We’re doing a good job of lining up and playing a sound defense and swarming to the ball.”
Preseason, especially the first game of preseason, is more about what you did or didn’t do, Goldson noted, than who your opponent was.
“The significance I feel is that you get to go out there and put everything you learned during the offseason and during training camp into practice against another team,” Goldson said. “In training camp you go against each other so much, it’s good to go against another team and another mindset of football players. It’s a chance to showcase what you’ve gained so far. But we’re still in training camp, so there’s still a lot of work to do.”
There is still a lot to do. The team the Bucs put on the field last night won’t be near the same team the Bucs have when the final 53-man roster is set in a month. Then there’s the three Pro Bowlers who never suited up last night: Davin Joseph, Carl Nicks and Darrelle Revis (who nonetheless was wearing a sharp suit in the Bucs locker room after the game).
No, the Bucs aren’t bent out of shape over what happened last night, and neither is Joe.
Joe’s good friends at WDAE-AM 620 have all sorts of Bucs audio from last night’s loss to the Crows to open the postseason. Some of the players interviewed were:
Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, backup quarterback Mike Glennon, cornerback Danny Gorrer, running back Brian Leonard, wide receiver Kevin Ogletree, linebacker Jonathan Casillas, safety Dashon Goldson, offensive lineman Jeremy Zuttah and linebacker Dekoda Watson.
Audio courtesy of the Buccaneers Radio Network and WDAE-AM 620.
The leader of the New Schiano Order was composed and relaxed following the Bucs’ beating at the hands of the Baltimore Crows last night. However, Schiano was displeased by turnovers and lousy ball security, saying that sloppiness is always a violation of the New Schiano Order. “Programatically” poor, Schiano called it.
Schiano explains in this audio, courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Radio Network via 620 WDAE. The head coach also dives into what he liked about Josh Freeman, Mike Glennon, Kevin Ogletree, Johnthan Banks, and more.
There were not many good things to take away from this ugly Bucs loss to the Super Bowl champion Crows Thursday night, but one good thing was the play of Bucs cornerback Danny Gorrer.
A mere hours after Nine Lives Myron Lewis was (finally) dropped off at Tampa International Airport with a one-way ticket in his clutches, Gorrer showed why Lewis had (finally) run out of lives with the Bucs.
Gorrer had two passes defended, a tackle and an interception, showing that, yes, the Bucs do have some decent depth in the secondary.
Gorrer also was hurt slightly in the game, but it didn’t appear major. Joe spoke with Gorrer after the game and he was evasive and vague about his injury, not even going NHL on Joe with the troublesome “upper- and/or lower-body-injury” tag.
“It’s nothing too serious,” Gorrer said of whatever ailed him. “I will definetly be ready, hopefully, for New England. It’s preseason. We all want to be ready for Week One.”
As for his interception when Crows quarterback Joe Flacco tried to thread a needle between Leonard Johnson and Gorrer, it gave Gorrer a leg up in his wager with Johnson.
“We have a bet on who has the most picks and I am one up on him now,” Gorrer said. “I am looking forward to eating good off of him.”
The Bucs have a lot riding on Da’Quan Bowers this season. Defensive end depth isn’t the Bucs’ strength, and Greg Schiano has clearly stated he needs Bowers to become an every-down, relentless beast.
And to drive Bowers to new heights, Schiano has seemingly lost all concern about Bowers getting injured. In last night’s preseason beating at the hands of the Ravens, Bowers played the entire first half, a chunk of it through a driving rain storm, and Bowers played a new position for a while, replacing Gerald McCoy at the 3-technique tackle.
“This is my first transition to the inside. I haven’t quite got the grasp of yet. I’ve definitely have to get some 1-on-1 work with Gerald at it. We’ll see how it goes,” Bowers told Joe. “I didn’t know [how much I’d play tonight.] But you know it’s a work day. So I came ready to work, whether I was going to play 10 snaps or play 40 snaps. I just came in with the mindset to work and get better.
“I needed it. I was definitely happy that I got the extra work. I wasn’t happy with the performance overall.”
Bowers recorded one tackle and one assist. And Joe’s going to say he also had a reception — a message from Schiano that he needs to grind through and transition into a tough guy who can play every snap.
When the Bucs had their first teamers on the field Thursday night, sans Davin Joseph, sans Carl Nicks, sans Darrelle Revis, the Bucs didn’t fare so badly against the Super Bowl champs, the Crows of Baltimore.
But when the Bucs put their reserves in, well, yikes. It was simply ugly. There were a few exceptions, however. One was the play of reserve strongside linebacker Jonathan Casillas. A free agent by way of New Orleans,Casillas was a one-man gang during one series.
On first down, late in the second quarter with the Crows having the ball at the Bucs-26, Casillas stopped Crows running back Damien Berry for no-gain. On second down, Casillas stopped Berry again, this time for a one-yard gain. On third down, Crows quarterback Tyrod Taylor tried to hit Berry to the left side and Casillas broke up the pass with a physical hit.
In short, Casillas stopped the Crows’ drive by himself.
“I was out there just doing my job,” Casillas said. “I was just in the right spot in the right time and when my number is called, I try to make the play.
“I feel great here man, good group of linebackers, good atmosphere, great group of guys around me. I am happy to be here but the score didn’t indicate that. We will learn. We will watch the film and correct the mistakes.
“When I watch the film I know there will be mistakes but it is preseason.”
If there is one thing Joe can say, he agrees with Casillas. Preseason is a time for learning. If you get your hat handed to you the way the Super Bowl champs did to the Bucs tonight, no harm, no foul. You learn from your mistakes and go on.
The Bucs are still undefeated in the 2013 regular season. If Casillas can play in the regular season like he did tonight, then the Bucs will certainly have depth at strongside linebacker.
The Bucs’ leading tackler tonight was Johnthan Banks. But it wasn’t just about Banks’ five tackles. He was physical and a sure tackler.
The New Schiano Order teaches tackling daily. Last year, Gerald McCoy talked about how the regime taught him how to tackle. Mason Foster recently told Joe about how much he’s learned about tackling from Greg Schiano. And tonight after the Bucs’ loss to the Crows in Tampa, Banks told Joe about how the New Schiano Order is transforming him.
“They changed my whole style of tackling,” Banks said. “Everything is about the ball. Bite the ball. Bite the ball. So, I mean, it worked tonight. I’ll continue to do what they say. Whatever they ask me to do, I’m going to do. Bite the ball and be physical through the tackle. Don’t let the tackle come to you; you go to the tackle.
Banks said he was nervous entering his first pro game, but Banks qualified that by saying he’s nervous before every game. NFL action. was a bit of an eye-opener.
“It was fast. I can say that,” Banks said. “It was fun to get just back competing against somebody else. I’m tired of hitting Mike [Williams] and Vincent [Jackson] every day.”
Did Bucs fans see your best tonight, Johnthan?
“Nowhere close to the best of me. I’m just shaking the cobwebs out,” he said.
Now when Joe learned earlier this year that Bucs coach Greg Schiano hired Dave Wannstedt as his special teams coach, it surely raised an eyebrow.
Wannstedt, since 1986, has been a defensive coordinator or a head coach on the NFL and college levels. Joe thought it was strange Schiano hired a guy who hasn’t coached special teams since perhaps he was a grad assistant at Pitt in the late 1970s.
Joe even thought that Wannstedt was going to be given some additional responsibilities, which Schiano denied to Joe at the NFL Combine last winter.
Thursday night in his debut as a special teams coach, the Bucs’ special teams were anything but special. Dropped returns, fumbles, blown coverages, you name it. Kicker Derek Dimke saved a would-be kickoff return for a touchdown by the Crows when he he had a one-handed tackle on Bobby Rainey, which was flagged for a horsecollar. Hey, any penalty beats giving up six points.
Granted, this was the first game, a preseason game. Many players on special teams will be teaching history come September. Some players were playing special teams maybe for the first time since high school.
While the players were likely new and rusty to their responsibilities, perhaps so too was their assistant coach, Wannstedt.
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Josh Freeman is sacked on the Bucs’ first series on offense Thursday against the Crows to open the 2013 preseason.
Like it or not, good or bad, Bucs franchise quarterback Josh Freeman is the story of offseason, preseason and he will be during the regular season.
Many of Freeman’s harshest critics, led by the notorious Mike Glennon Mob, rail about Freeman’s inconsistencies. Many of Freeman’s biggest supporters point to his measurables and his fantasy football numbers last year.
Well, tonight in his only two series against the Baltimore Crows, Freeman gave both groups ammunition.
In Freeman’s first series, an awful throw from shotgun to Kevin Ogletree fell short. On the next play, Freeman was sacked by Chris Canty.
In his second and final series of the evening, Freeman was extremely sharp. Spreading the ball to four different receivers on four straight attempts, his prettiest throw was a deep pass down the left sideline to Vincent Jackson. Freeman put the ball exactly where Jackson had a chance to make a play and Crows cornerback Jimmy Smith, who had good coverage on the play, had no prayer of getting to the ball.
Even though the zebras determined Jackson had bobbled the ball and didn’t have control, it was a beautiful pass from Freeman.
So what did Bucs fans learn of Freeman in his first preseason game of 2013? That he’s still Josh Freeman, a Six Flags-type of quarterback.
Asked this week on WDAE-AM 620 to name a guy shining in training camp, Greg Schiano named wide receiver Chris Owusu.
Owusu, who rarely played last season, had been a clear standout to all who watched practice, including Joe.
But things change fast in the NFL.
Tonight against the Ravens, Owusu fumbled a punt deep in Bucs territory. The Ravens recovered. Greg Schiano gave Owusu a pep talk and then later Owusu lined up as a kick returner. He proceeded to juggle that kickoff.
Later, Owusu dropped an easy first-down pass from Mike Glennon. There was no defender in the mix.
Ask Schiano what his No. 1 priority is, and the head coach will say “ball security.”
Owusu has now thrown a whole lot of doubt into the organization’s decision-makers. It’s not like he’s got a big resume to fall back on. He’s got one career catch.
Owusu also failed to catch a ball that hit him in the chest, though pass interference was called on the play. And he later couldn’t shake coverage from Ravens third-string cornerback Asa Jackson. Owusu finished the night with two catches for 48 yards, including a 41-yard bomb from Glennon at the final whistle of the first half.
And if things weren’t bad enough for Owusu, he left the game with an ankle injury.
Preseason games are about individuals, not team play.
That written, the Bucs were sloppy as a unit tonight in the opener against the Ravens. Special teams were very ugly. The first-team offense had its out-of-sync moments, and there was no pass rush to speak of from the defensive line.
In the backfield, Brian Leonard looked very stout and versatile at No. 2 running back. Peyton Hillis looked like a wrecking ball before he left with a knee injury, albeit in the second half against future bouncers, grave diggers and grad students. Mike James’ pass blocking was off, but the kid runs strong and falls forward.
Given the drops by Chris Owusu and Tiquan Underwood, Joe thinks it’s fair to say that Kevin Ogletree cemented his current role as No. 3 receiver. He finished with five catches for 65 yards.
There were no franchise QB stats on the display for the hometown faithful who braved the rain. Josh Freeman was 4-for-7 for 34 yards. His two drives netted a field goal. Mike Glennon was up and down, finishing 11-for-23 for 169 yards and one interception.
Stick with Joe through the night and into the wee hours for so much more on this game.
The final play of the first quarter was the first of quarterback Mike Glennon’s career. Glennon scrambled under pressure and fired a strike to Tom Crabtree, who scampered 61 yards.
It was all smiles on the Bucs sidelines among the Bucs’ quarterbacks. Glennon and Josh Freeman fist-bumped.
Glennon came back after the second-quarter whistle and hit Chris Owusu on an intermediate route.
But it got tougher quickly, rookie running back Mike James got blown up in pass blocking and Glennon’s arm was hit. The refs ruled it a fumble but it was overturned — incomplete pass. Soon after, Glennon very slightly underthrew Owusu at the seven yard line.
Field goal, Buccaneers, a 77-yard scoring drive in eight plays.
The rookie looked calm and cool. He looked like an NFL quarterback. Joe will give him that.
OK, so there’s actually an inactive list for the Bucs in tonight’s game and Michael Smith’s name is no where to be found on said list. Ah, the preseason.
No Darrelle Revis, no Davin Joseph, no Carl Nicks, among others.
For Bucs fans who may be (ahem) watching the game through illegal means or listening to the game on WDAE-AM 620, feel free to discuss the game here.
As always you are welcome to e-mail links of illegally streamed video of the game amongst yourselves. But you may not post the links or Joe will have to bounce you for good.
Enjoy the game.
He was hurt, horrible and blessed with three years of NFL paychecks. But Myron Lewis will no longer torture Bucs fans.
Nine Lives Myron was waived this afternoon. Finally! Joe was starting to wonder what sort of lurid photos of Bucs hierarchy Lewis had in his possession.
Lewis managed to survive three seasons. Amazing, considering he did nothing but play well in the SEC, which made him a Bucs’ third-round pick in the 2010 draft, the deepest draft of the modern era.
Gerald McCoy is a Pro Bowler and a franchise cornerstone from Lewis’ draft class, but now Lewis joins second-round picks Brian Price and Arrelious Benn, and sixth-rounder Brent Bowden, as former Bucs from that draft. Mike Williams (fourth round), Cody Grimm, Dekoda Watson and Erik Lorig (seventh-rounders) also remain.
Crows at Bucs
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.
TV: Blacked out locally. Game will be broadcast via tape-delay on WFLA-TV Channel 8 at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Saturday at 10 a.m. on NFL Network.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM 103.5, and WDAE-AM 620); SiriusXM Channel 136.
Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, not too bad at all. After expected afternoon thunderstorms, game-time temperatures should be pleasant, about 84 under partly cloudy skies. The temperature will drop every so gradually to 82 by game’s end with thunderstorms expected near the end of the game.
Odds: Per FootballLocks.com, Bucs -3.
Outlook: Hope you enjoy hungry players battling to make a roster spot. Greg Schiano all but stated that starters expected to start Week 1 at the Jets will play sparingly, if at all. Don’t expect to see Darrelle Revis or Carl Nicks and maybe not Davin Joseph.
Expect to see a lot of Mike Glennon, Chris Owusu, Johnthan Banks, Mike James and Rashaan Melvin. The Bucs don’t want to risk an injury to a starter, understandably. But players they believe are fighting for a starting job or have a prayer of making the roster are expected to log quite a bit of time.
Among the players Joe’s keeping an eye out for are Steven Means, Gabe Carimi, William Gholston, Derek Hagan and Jonthan Casillas and whoever the Bucs trot out at punt and kick returner. That’s the fun part of this game, not so much the starters.
Meteorologist Bobby Deskins, of Joe’s good friends at WTSP-TV, Channel 10, has an exclusive, updated weather forecast for tailgaters and fans planning to attend tonight’s Crows-Ravens game in this WTSP-TV video.
The great Xs-and-Os video linked here from NFL Network shows Gerald McCoy having a detailed conversation with former longtime Giants center Shaun O’Hara.
McCoy touches on recurring themes: he didn’t have any veteran to guide him during his rookie season, he’s a hand-on leader, and Greg Schiano’s training camp 2013 is a lot easier than last year’s edition.
McCoy also gets down on the field to show O’Hara how he coaches the “young noseguards.”
Joe actually was present when this video was shot at One Buc Palace, and what was most interesting is how after the camera was turned off, O’Hara and McCoy got into a deep technique conversation and moved back onto the field. O’Hara and McCoy got down in their stances again and worked on moves. Keep in mind this was all after McCoy went through a full practice, signed autographs, and did the video shoot, in the broiling sun.
Then, when McCoy was finished with O’Hara, a teenage fan was harassing him about signing a jersey. The kid reminded McCoy that he had promised the autograph yesterday. McCoy responded by saying, “I came back out there and was looking all over for you.” McCoy was being honest.
The man is one dedicated Buccaneer Man.