 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Perhaps the football gods do want the Bucs in the playoffs?
Joe just took a peek at the weather forecast in Denver for Sunday’s game against the Broncos, and the kickoff temperature is expected to be about 62 degrees under sunny skies and insignificant wind, with a high of 64 projected for the afternoon.
That’s darn near a miracle forecast for the Bucs.
Of course, those also are great playing conditions for the Broncos’ aerial attack.
It just makes too much sense given Sullivan’s military-officer background, rings and success with the Giants, and now credit for crafting a new offense and reviving a quarterback with the Bucs.
Now does Joe think Sullivan would make a good head coach? Well, that’s not relevant, nor is Joe thinking about it. What’s important is that the Bucs could lose him at the rate Sullivan’s career is progressing.
Tampa Tribune beat writer eye-RAH! Kaufman penned a sharp feature on Sullivan today, including info. on Sullivan’s daunting Army Ranger training and an endorsement from Falcons head coach Mike Smith.
That wouldn’t surprise Falcons coach Mike Smith, who worked with Sullivan in 2003 on Jack Del Rio’s staff in Jacksonville.
“Mike’s one of the most intelligent guys I know, and he’s got an unbelievable work ethic,” Smith said. “He’s got West Point connections, and you can’t say enough about a guy who spent time there. He did a great job with Eli in New York and he’s got a great mind in terms of how to attack people.”
It’ll be interesting to see what the buzz is when head coaches around the NFL start dropping like flies in a few weeks. If Sullivan is interested in being a team commander, his agent should have no problem drumming up interest — real or hyped.
Veteran sports anchor Dave Wirth comes out and fesses up: He doesn’t think the Bucs can stop Peyton Manning. The key, Wirth says, is slowing him down. Wirth explains how the Bucs may be able to do that in this WTSP-TV video.
The way Lavonte David and the Bucs play the run, and play ole defense against the pass, no wonder teams are giving up on the run playing the Bucs.
Like Joe learned in high school, just about anyone can reinforce a premise with a statistic, twisted or otherwise.
Yes, the Bucs are tough against the run. Tops in the NFL in rushing defense in fact. But Jeff Legwold of the Denver Post believes this statistic to be misleading.
He cites (yes, more stats) to show that teams having given up knocking themselves out trying to run on the Bucs, and instead have gone after the Bucs’ glaring weakness: stopping the pass.
The Buccaneers have the No. 1 run defense in the NFL. They have held opponents to less than 100 yards rushing in eight games, and less than 40 yards rushing in three games.
So in response, their opponents have moved on from the run game quickly.
What it leads to is this: Only four teams have faced fewer rushing attempts than the Buccaneers this season.
The four teams Legwold documents that have faced fewer runs are Washington, Houston, Chicago and Seattle.
This makes a great deal of sense: Why keep running into a brick wall when you can throw over the wall and accomplish your goal? This is why Joe would be shocked if the Broncos run the ball 20 times Sunday.
Why would you run when you have Peyton Manning against the likes that make up the Bucs secondary.
This is so cool. You just go to Hooters, meet the ladies, and have typical Hooters fun and food.
Yesterday, word began filtering out about what Bucs players (and coaches) would return to Dec. 9 for a home game against the Eagles to honor the 10th anniversary of the Bucs’ lone Super Bowl championship, and Chucky’s name was the first released.
Well, Buccaneers.com has a full list of attendees (thus far) and nearly every member of that team is showing up, including the good Dexter Jackson, who was the Super Bowl MVP.
Interestingly, a player who was a key cog but never quite fit in and was all but thrown off the team the following season, Meshawn Johnson, is not among those pledging to attend.
Yes, Joe knows Meshawn works for the four-letter on Sunday mornings, but so too does Warren Sapp work Sunday mornings (on the NFL Network) and he is attending.
Here is the list so far of Bucs coming back for the 10-year reunion:
“You think I give a fu*k that half those old timers hate my guts? I’m coming to the damn 10th anniversary party. I can’t want for Joel Glazer to serve me a damn shot of Cuervo at the banquet. Seat me next to Mark Alstott, Keyshawn, Shaun King, Jurevicius, Lynch, I’ll fight all of them. Just don’t ask me to pick Al Singleton out of a lineup. Monte can sit with those guys.”
Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Bucs have confirmed that Chucky will take a break from preparing to stroke every player on Monday Night Football telecasts to attend the 10th-anniversary Super Bowl party festivities in Tampa on Sunday, Dec. 9, when the Bucs host the Eagles.
Back in September, Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik went out on a limb for Dekoda Watson, calling him a “Pro Bowl caliber special teams player” during a radio interview, but then Watson went out and choked and earned a Sabby against the Giants a few days later.
Well, now it seems things have come full cirlce for Watson. The NFL selected him as Special Teams Player of the Month for November, per today’s announcement.
Joe typically finds these monthly and weekly awards are little more than PR stunts or ways to garner more sponsorship. However, the special teams award is at least intriguing, given that it often goes to a relatively unknown player like Watson.
It’s probably appropriate now to add Watson to the long list of potential Bucs Pro Bowlers for the 2012 season. Squads are named after Week 15.
As for Watson’s game, it was disappointing to Joe that Watson wasn’t able to win the backup “SAM” linebacker job from Adam Hayward, and Watson hasn’t materialized as much of a pass rusher in his third season. But he’s still just 24 years old, and as a special teams stud, he’s surely been more than worth the seventh-round pick Dominik used on him back in 2010.
The Bucs can put up a good showing in Denver, says former Bucs quarterback Shaun King, but to do that Sunday the Bucs will need to survive the first quarter and not get overwhelmed early. But as for the Bucs’ playoff prospects, well, King’s confident Bucs management gave up those weeks ago.
One of three QBs to lead the Bucs to the NFC Championship, King said on WDAE-AM 620 today that the Bucs threw in the towel on 2012 at the trading deadline and the inevitable gutting of the current secondary is something they welcomed.
“I go back to this. I said something when we traded Aqib Talib. I said, ‘You know what, we’ve given up on this season,'” King said. “When we made that trade, and I know everybody was happy because we got a fourth-round pick in return, but we made that trade knowing that Eric Wright was going to go on suspension for four games. And we knew, even in a playoff hunt, if we lost Eric Wright, and I don’t think he’s a great player, where we would be at cornerback. I mean, hopefully these [cornerbacks] can try and improve and get a little better, but I kind of think that was our nail in the coffin as far as this year goes making the playoffs.”
Joe only partially agrees with King. Sure, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Greg Schiano knew they’d be better off down the stretch against Matt Ryan (twice), Peyton Manning and Drew Brees with Talib playing cornerback.
However, Talib’s history off the field and on the field (injury) left no reason to count on him for the remainder of this season. And the fourth-round pick was a steal for an unreliable guy who behaves like an idiot. Then, there was that little matter of Talib hardly playing at a Pro Bowl level in 2012.
Yeah, the Bucs would be better Sunday with Talib on the roster, but Joe still would make that trade in a heartbeat.
Whoa! Imagine buying 10 hours of limousine time with the best limo/transporation company on the planet at a huge discount, and then being able to carve up the time any way you want?
What a great way to impress business clients, cruise to the airport, or take a cheerleader for a wild night. Joe suggests you get this done immediately!
You can even split it with a friend. It’s another Tampa Bay limo deal for the ages from Paradise Worldwide Transportation.
When it comes to coaches talking to the media, Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan is no Raheem Morris.
Sullivan isn’t prone to hyperbole or crazy talk. So Joe’s ears perked up yesterday when Sullivan answered a question about maintaining possession of the football to keep Peyton Manning off the field.
“To be honest with you, there’s so many overwhelming challenges in looking right at this defense right now we’re really just zeroed in on how we’re going to move the football and how we’re going to put points on the board,” Sullivan said.
Earlier, “Sully” called the Broncos “the best defense we’ve played all year.”
So where are the Broncos vulnerable?
Denver-area resident, Bucs icon, and the FOX color analyst for Sunday’s game, John Lynch, said on WDAE-AM 620 this morning that the Broncos can be pounded successfully between the tackles.
However the Bucs choose to attack, Joe knows they can’t afford to fall too far behind. They’ve got to remain a two-dimensional offense. A miracle comeback like the one against Carolina would be near impossible in Denver.
This somewhat disturbing link to the “SoundFX” video of Sunday’s Bucs-Falcons game includes conversations among receivers and Tony Gonzalez on the Atlanta sideline.
Now Joe realizes many receivers assume they’re open on every play, but it was still troubling to hear the flow that led to Gonzalez saying “all of us is open.” And considering Matt Ryan completed a staggering 81.3 percent of his passes Sunday, it’s hard to discount the concept that the Bucs aren’t covering well across the board.
Joe hopes the Denver receivers feel a little more Buccaneer breath as they run their routes.
“Broncos do lead the NFL in plays over 25 yards,” says Broncos beat writer Jeff Legwold in this DenverPost.com video below. Legwold tells Broncos fans how to beat the Bucs. It’s no surprise that he sees the Fearsome Foursome, “E.J., Leonard, Danny and LeQuan” as a weakness.
It will be hard enough to get pressure on Peyton Manning, even harder because of stud tackles like Ryan Clady.
A lot of Bucs fans will suggest the Bucs need to get pressure on Peyton Manning this week. Well, that’s like saying Rachel Watson should saunter through Joe’s front door no less than three times a week in the small hours of the morning.
Getting pressure on Manning is virtually impossible when he is using a three-step drop to slice up defenses.
Then Joe was reading a recent breakdown of the best offensive tackles graded out by the NFL thinktank of ProFootballFocus.com. It seems the Broncos have two of the best tackles in the NFL: Ryan Clady (ranked No. 2) and Orlando Franklin (tied for No. 6).
So here is the scenario the Bucs are faced with: Trying to get in the face of Peyton Manning on a three-step drop and getting past a couple of stone walls of offensive tackles.
Not a pleasant proposition.
On the flip side, the only Bucs offensive tackle rated (the site only has the top and bottom 20 of NFL tackles), is Donald Penn at No. 55.
Joe hasn’t enjoyed the Pro Bowl since he was a kid, and Joe’s found the whole Pro Bowl concept to be a complete freakin’ joke ever since Derrick Brooks make the Pro Bowl after the 2008 season but was then cut by the Bucs and couldn’t find a job that suited him.
That written, given that Ronde Barber is leading the NFL Pro Bowl fan voting at the free safety position with just a couple weeks to go in the voting, Joe would like to see Barber win. A fan-vote victory would mean Barber would have a darn good shot to be a starter in the game after league coaches and players vote after Week 15.
Barber has 74,120 votes, per the NFL.com story this morning linked above. That’s not much compared to players leading other positions, so Barber needs your help.
You can vote as often as you like via the “vote now” button on the graphic in this post. If you don’t vote, well, then Joe considers you a fraudulent Bucs fan.
Broncos strongside linebacker Von Miller has the attention of the Bucs’ offensive line
The vibe from players in the locker room today seems to be something out of the movie “Gettysburg,” where the Confederates knew the gravity of what they were about to face on the final day of the three-day battle, yet were confident the task at hand could be accomplished.
Yeah, everyone knows how dangerous Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is. But the offensive players know how important getting Doug Martin into gear is in order to keep the ball out of Manning’s hands.
Joe had a chance to chat with Bucs right tackle Demar Dotson, among other offensive linemen. Dotson seemed to believe protecting Josh Freeman was just as important as the defense stopping Peyton Manning. With Elvis Dumervil at defensive end and Von Miller at strongside linebacker, the Broncos have two of the best pass rushers in the game. This is not lost on Dotson.
“It is going to be big time to get the run game going because they have some dynamic pass rushers,” Dotson said. “We have to slow those guys down as best we can. So if we can get the run game going, it will help big time.”
In particular, Dotson was concerned about Miller, who he believed to be among the NFL’s elite linebackers.
“He is just a great rusher,” Dotson said. “He may be one of the best pass rushers in the league if not the best. He is a very good speed rush guy. We have to get up on him and get a game plan to stop these guys and get the job done.”
It seems like a game of “pick your poison.” If the Bucs run, there’s Miller to worry about. If the Bucs pass, there is both Miller and Dumervil to worry about.
The Bucs’ offensive line will certainly be earning their salaries Sunday.
Now a member of the Bucs’ top quartet of cornerbacks for the 2012 homestretch, Danny Gorrer is a guy most Bucs fans never heard of until last Sunday against Atlanta. Gorrer saw a lot of playing time in nickel situations and Roddy White shoved him off the line on a slant route/catch to all but seal the Falcons’ victory. Gorrer is an undrafted third-year player out of Texas A&M, who spent 2010 with the Rams, played in 11 games for the Ravens last year, and was cut this season in October by the Seahawks before signing with the Bucs. Joe hit him up with a few questions this week.
JoeBucsFan.com: Did you have any connections with the Bucs before you got here? Is there any story behind you coming here?
Danny Gorrer: Not at all. I think they saw me play before and liked what I done in the past and gave me an opportunity.
JoeBucsFan.com: You’ve been with a few teams. Greg Schiano talks a lot about how hard this team works. What are your impressions of the work ethic here versus what you’ve seen at your other stops?
Gorrer: Coming from Baltimore and coming from Seattle, I feel like every team I’ve been on worked hard. And when I got here I felt like I fit right in with the guys because everybody on the team works hard, and everybody’s got one goal in mind, and that’s to get better every day. I feel like I fit in.
JoeBucsFan.com: That play when you were covering Roddy White on the third-down slant, there’s not much you can do there. What happened there?
Gorrer: Yeah, there’s not much you can do, but I feel like I watched film on that play, and I’ll see what I can do better. I’m kind of upset about the play with Roddy. There’s always something you can do to get better.
JoeBucsFan.com: Anything unique you can tell fans about yourself? What should people know about you? Maybe something about your history in the NFL and something in your personal life?
Gorrer: Something about me, when you see me out there you’re going to see me going 100 percent. You’re going to get the best of Danny Gorrer every time I go out there. Fans will see me getting better every week.
Barber reached out to Raheem for guidance on tackling at his new position
Lots of folks, including rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, have gone on record saying Ronde Barber is playing at a Pro Bowl level in his first year as a safety.
Well, it seems the Ole’ ball coach, Raheem Morris, gets a little piece of the credit, along with Steelers head coach and former Bucs secondary coach Mike Tomlin, and Raheem’s Bucs defensive backs coach, Jimmy Raye.
Barber told Joe today that “Mike, Rah, Jimmy, the guys that I’m close with,” are former coaches that have assisted him in his daily battle to learn how to tackle effectively from the safety position in the run game.
A couple of weeks ago on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Barber explained his his adjustment challenges.
“That’s something that I’ve had to work on. I’ve talked pretty extensively with my coaches, some of my old coaches too, about just the tackling system [from the safety position,] Barber said. “Because we have a tackling system, but you know getting to the tackling system is, you know, it’s something I’ve had to work on and work on, and consciously think about every day in practice. So when you get to the game it becomes kind of like it’s habit. You’re not wondering like, ‘Oh my god, here comes this enormous, you know, train truck of a runner, how am I going to get him on the ground?” You go into the game and you have confidence in what you’re going to do and how you’re going to tackle him then it’s a lot easier. It really kind of showed up during that Minnesota game, because there were runs a couple of weeks before, there was one against Washington where I went in and missed a tackle and they scored a touchdown.
“The little things about the game, like tackling angles and, you know, how to approach a runner when he’s open field, those things I’ve had to learn. Had to fight some of my instincts. It’s week [10] I guess, and I still feel like I got a chance to get better here in the next seven weeks doing it.”
What a generous guy Raheem is, helping Barber while he’s working for a conference rival. Joe hopes it helped. Surely Raheem couldn’t “fix” angle-challenged Sabby the Goat, as he promised to do late in the 2009 season.
Joe finds it very cool that Barber is leaving no stone unturned in an effort to master his new position. What a true pro.
Don’t hang the Bucs’ questionable pass rush on Gerald McCoy, says former Bucs tight end and current radio network analyst Dave Moore.
McCoy is pushing the pocket against the pass, Moore told the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, but the Bucs’ defensive ends aren’t forcing quarterbacks to step up. QBs are able to move laterally, rather than being forced to step up where McCoy has eaten space.
“What’s happening is Gerald McCoy is collapsing the inside, but because the quarterback’s able to step to his left or to his right, rather than forcing the step-up, or having to throw it right away to shorten his motion because there’s a guy coming from inside. What you’re missing is Clayborn on the outside. You’re missing the guys to force the quarterback to step up into the pocket.”
Moore went on to say McCoy is playing well and that the scenario above is costing McCoy on the stat sheet. Moore was fighting off co-host Ian Beckles’ assertion that McCoy is a guy that isn’t making anywhere near the number of plays he should be making.
Of course, the Bucs’ three-man rushes, and the now infamous two-man rush on display against Atlanta, one that saw McCoy drop in pass coverage on third down, aren’t helping No. 93 either.
Regardless, the Bucs need more from the defensive line. Michael Bennett can’t have an off day in Denver like he had on Sunday.
The story of guard Derek Hardman always flummoxed Joe a bit.
Hardman was an undrafted rookie in 2010, and played five games in place of Davin Joseph, during which time the Bucs’ ground game was stellar and the passing game put up big numbers. Hardman did well, notbably holding fellow rookie Ndamukong Suh in check.
Then Hardman fell off the map. He saw very little action in 2011, none this season, and was cut by the New Schiano Order after two games, despite Joseph being out for the season.
That seemed odd considering he had more experience at guard than the guys considered to be Joseph’s replacements.
But now Hardman is back off the streets, re-signed today by the Bucs.
