Brian Hoyer and the Browns’ offense have been stifled since center Alex Mack went down with an injury two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago in a loss to the Jags, Cleveland’s much improved offensive line finally sprung a bad, bad leak. Alex Mack, a stud center, was lost to injury the prior week and it showed.
The Jaguars mauled the Browns up front, all but wiping out the Browns run game. The reason, of course, was no Mack. [read more]
Luke Stocker is a survivor. The Bucs’ 2011 fourth-round pick has battled through loads of injuries and three head coaches to emerge looking like a versatile NFL tight end.
At One Buc Palace, he was lauded today for his newest role. [read more]
Bucs fans might want to chill their enthusiasm for the Sunday return of rookie running back Charles Sims.
Sims officially started practicing last week and he’s expected to return the Bucs’ 53-man roster in a matter of hours off the injured reserve/designated for return list. But the latest update from Sims isn’t all sunshine. [read more]
A former Bears personnel man suggests Lovie Smith has issues coaching safeties
Joe still is of the mind that the Bucs defense played well Sunday. No, that game-tying, Vikings drive ending the fourth quarter stunk, but when you hold a team to 13 points in regulation, you should win.
The defense was solid despite the terrible play of former safety Mark Barron, who played so badly Bucs coach and overlord of football operations Lovie Smith gave general manager Jason Licht the green light to shop him. [read more]
Anthony Collins will do something he’s never done before on Sunday
Bucs fans have high standards at left tackle.
They got used to a monstrous ironman at the position, a big man who didn’t miss a start from 2007 through 2013, a guy who was once voted by his peers as a “Top-100” player in the NFL, a guy who is having a strong bounce-back season in Oakland. [read more]
Go ahead. Raise your hand if you thought this Bucs this season would be at rock bottom through seven games? Worse than with Raheem Morris. Worse than with Greg Schiano, maybe worse than Richard Williamson?
Joe sure didn’t, and Joe doubts anybody saw this coming. [read more]
Yeah, it is too easy to pile on former Bucs safety Mark Barron. Now it’s Jeff Fisher’s problem to teach him how to cover NFL receivers.
Barron, for reasons unknown, regressed each year he was in the NFL. Joe swears Barron wasn’t this bad as a rookie. Even as a rookie, Barron was damned good on rush defense and tackling and on an occasional blitz. [read more]
Once a upon a time, the Bucs hired a new general manager who had a disappointing No. 4 overall draft pick from two years earlier on his hands.
After letting the new coaching staff get a good sniff of the guy, that GM shipped the disappointing player to the Bears and Lovie Smith for a second-round draft pick. [read more]
Joe knows he’s going to get slapped around for this, but what the hell. Here goes:
The Bucs defense played solid ball Sunday. Yes, the Vikings’ final, tying drive in the fourth quarter was a kick in the nuts. Still, Joe was impressed with what the defense did as a whole. [read more]
Pre-loss film of Minnesota revealed clear opportunity for the Bucs offense against the Vikings. And the Bucs attacked the Vikings’ weaknesses but failed miserably.
Xs and Os guru Dave Moore, the former Bucs and Bills tight end, dove into the failures in detail. [read more]
With Tampa Bay having the worst record in the NFC, and the NFL’s 32nd-ranked defense (yards allowed and points allowed) Joe’s already devoting attention to the NFL Draft.
And that brings Joe to the man who now seems to be the coveted quarterback prize as the Bucs try to build a Super Bowl contender. [read more]
The Bucs are so miserable on their offensive line right now that an immobile quarterback like Mike Glennon is the not wise choice at QB, says one prominent former Buccaneer. [read more]
WDAE-AM 620 personality Tom Krasniqi (“TKras”) wondered what weapon was used by Anthony Collins while thieving Team Glazer of his salary.
Joe guesses he might be one of these guys who likes to slash his wrists. Why else would he watch a replay of that abomination of a football game between the Vikings and Bucs again?
But there Joe was, like a moth to a porch light, watching the replay on NFL Network. [read more]