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Bucs RB Doug Martin will miss tonight’s game, says NFL.com.
One comes as a bit of a surprise. The other does not.
If one is to believe the words typed from the fingers of NFL insider Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Bucs will be down two of their brightest stars tonight when Tampa Bay faces the Dixie Chicks in Billy Sherman’s favorite southern city. [read more]
Former Josh McCown teammate Shaun King, one of three quarterbacks to lead Tampa Bay to the NFC Championship game, says it’s time to let McCown loose. [read more]
It’s always a good thing when the Barry White of local sports radio, Ronnie Lane of WDAE-AM 620, sits down with Joe to talk Bucs football. Ronnie’s pipes are so smooth, it almost embarrasses Joe to talk to him on a podcast.
But the Bucs are why Joe and Ronnie join forces weekly. In this week’s episode, the duo discuss the myriad of injuries, Josh McCown’s Pop Warner-like mistakes and, of course, tonight’s game with the Dixie Chicks.
Click on the red arrow below. Audio courtesy of Joe’s friend at WDAE-AM 620. Enjoy. [read more]
We were sold a bill of goods, some may say. The Bucs had the “Dunkaneers” and a college football offensive wizard. This was going to be a new day in Tampa Bay.
Yet, by the looks of the past two weeks, there really isn’t much difference between the early weeks of the Lovie Smith Administration and the Greg Schiano Era, sans the defensive front stunts. Same suspect defense. Same stagnant offense. Same losing record. Boring. [read more]
The NFL is laughing at the Falcons’ pass rush
Former Falcons offensive lineman and Florida State legend Jamie Dukes was screaming his lungs out this morning on WDAE-AM 620 about tonight’s Bucs-Falcons game in Atlanta.
Dukes, who also is an NFL Network analyst and a radio guy in Atlanta, was appalled at the suggestion the Bucs might not have a shot to win. [read more]
Many Bucs fans jumped with glee when the Bucs drafted wide receiver Mike Evans with the seventh overall pick. All of a sudden, Bucs fans had visions of big-play bombs dancing in their heads.
Well, Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune has a rude awakening for these same fans. It seems when the Bucs try to go downfield, bad things happen. But good things are happening when the Bucs throw short, Cummings types. [read more]
A CBS suit weighs in
In the immortal words of Bill Parcells, right now the Bucs stink. They are 0-2. They are what their record says they are. Winless.
Even when the Bucs were beating up the NFL with the likes of Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks and John Lynch and Simeon Rice and Ronde Barber and Mike Alstott and Keyshawn Johnson, the Bucs were not among the most popular of NFL teams. [read more]
It is gameday but Joe still can’t get it out of his head that the Bucs went complete scared turtle in the red zone and late in the first half with the ball against St. Louis.
When you let teams hang around, you open the door to get beat and that is exactly what the Bucs did Sunday. Somehow, they got the impression the end zone was infected with the Ebola virus.
A former Buccaneer weighs in on a key in Atlanta
Calling the defensive genius of Leslie Frazier and Lovie Smith!
No pressure on Matt Ryan tomorrow night will spell doom for Tampa Bay. So find ways to take smart chances and dial up pressure, even with a rash of injuries. [read more]
“Get these guys to loosen up, Lovie.”
Mr. Derrick Brooks, Double-Nickel, No. 55, Hall of Famer, Buccaneers Ring of Honor member, didn’t love what he saw Sunday from his beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brooks knows how a winning football team carries itself. [read more]
The new Bucs bellcow?
It is just weird to Joe what is happening to Doug Martin and Joe cannot put his finger on it. The man Bucs fans affectionately refer to as “Muscle Hamster” exploded onto the scene his rookie year in 2012 and made the Pro Bowl.
He hasn’t been the same since.
Last year, he never got on track for reasons not exactly known. Martin was lost for the season injuring his left shoulder on a pass play. Martin returned healthy, but in the season opener, he looked far more like the Martin of 2013. To be fair, Martin also injured his knee in the second half. [read more]
The offensive line has really solidified with the addition of guard Logan Mankins.
It is one of the oldest axioms of football: The game is won in the trenches. It was true 50 years ago and true Sunday.
With the exception of Gerald McCoy, the Tampa Bay defensive line is getting owned on passing downs. In Lovie’s defense, the foundation is quarterback pressure up front. No pressure, and it crumbles. This is why slugs like journeyman Derek Anderson and neverbeen Austin Davis were free to carve up the Bucs. [read more]
Senior NFL writer for CBSSports.com, prickly Pete Prisco, is a man with access and contacts, and he just shared not only his thoughts about the Bucs’ quarterback situation but his confrontation with Lovie Smith this summer. [read more]
Much needed help last week from Bucs DE Will Gholston.
Two things that irk Bucs coach Lovie Smith these days: virtually no pass rush and no takeaways. He discusses one of the two subjects with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club just about daily; often both.
Takeaways can be waved off as luck. A ballcarrier has to be careless with the football. A quarterback has to throw a bad pass. A receiver had to run a rotten route. Rushing the quarterback, though, is a matter of skill and ability. [read more]
Ex-players sense pressure on Lovie
“Take some chances,” Lovie Smith.
Boomer Esiason and the CBS crew, which now carries Thursday Night Football, was busy talking about tomorrow night’s big Bucs-Falcons game in Atlanta. [read more]
The Tampa Bay Times rumor of Brian Urlacher to the Bucs was misguided
Joe read yesterday’s wacky afternoon report by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times that implied retired Brian Urlacher is on the Buccaneers’ radar.
Stroud claimed fans should keep an eye on Urlacher maybe landing in Tampa, especially if Mason Foster can’t get healthy and/or Dane Fletcher doesn’t impress. But it seems Stroud wasn’t listening to Urlacher on Chicago Sports Radio yesterday morning. [read more]
When the Lovie Smith regime took over One Buc Palace, it made no secret of its love for all things geekery, that is, analytics.
You know, like if the sun in shining at just the right 48-degree angle, Doug Martin has five carries for 18 yards, but when the sun is directly overhead, his yards-per-carry plummets to 1.8 yards a touch. [read more]
There should be plenty of time to target Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans deep tomorrow night
The sackless Atlanta defensive line is so miserable, Josh McCown absolutely has to be successful on Thursday night, when he won’t be under pressure.
That’s the word from NFL Network analyst and former Texans and Redskins general manager Charley Casserly. [read more]
“Keep grinding, my son.”
Former NFL head coach and quarterbacks coach Steve Mariucci, a former college quarterback himself, offered no defense for Josh McCown’s boneheaded plays yesterday.
In fact, Mariucci was confident Lovie Smith is thinking about making a QB change. [read more]
Thursday may be too early.
When Bucs fans learned that arguably the biggest piece of the Bucs defense, tackle Gerald McCoy, left the game with a broken hand Sunday, it made a gloomy day all that much darker.
If the Bucs struggled containing a journeyman backup and neverbeen slug third-teamer quarterback with GMC, just what kind of a nightmare would it be without him? [read more]
