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Back for his weekly trip to the end zone of the NFL universe, this week at his ADD-best, popular sports radio personality Adam Schein travels through football space and time outs. Check out what Schein says about the Bucs this week. Consider yourself sucked in to the latest episode of Cosmic Schein!
Josh Freeman says doubting Greg Olson is ridiculous
One of the great NFL fan pastimes is questioning playcalling — during a game, after a game, and for days beyond.
Run or throw on first down? Take a shot deep on 2nd-and-short? Draw or throw on 3rd-and-long? The list is endless and complex.
Inevitably, when teams lose three out of four games like the Bucs have, playcalling comes under fire. Joe’s picked his spots to question Greg Olson, and Joe hears the cries of fans.
Josh Freeman, however, emphatically says fans shouldn’t go there.
“To question the playcalling is absolutely ridiculous,” Freeman said Wednesday night on The Josh Freeman Show on WDAE-AM 620.
Freeman went on to give an example of Kellen Winslow and others initially from outside the Bucs organization raving about the Bucs’ level of preparation for blitzes, route combinations, their manipulation of defenses, and more.
“It’s just really execution. It really is,” Freeman said. “That’s the thing about football. It’s the ultimate team sport. If one guy is a little bit off, it can be a negative play for everbody else.”
Joe appreciates Freeman’s confidence in his coaching staff. Without that, he and the Bucs are in trouble. They need that. But Joe still thinks it’s fair to question some playcalling over 50 or 60 offensive snaps. The continuous sluggish starts on their own justify that.
The chatter about execution flashed Joe back to the Father Dungy days when “execution” was his buzz word to the media when questioned about his sputtering offense. Execution is vital, but surely not everything.
For fans griping that Team Glazer is cheap — nonsense! — here’s further proof of the error of people’s perceptions:
This morning, for any of the remaining home games (Houston and Carolina) Team Glazer is picking up the Ticketmaster fees. The Dallas game is sold out.
The deadline, however, to take advantage of this deal is noon today.
In some cases, this could knock off the price of a ticket by $25.
Fans need to simply click on this link and enter the fan code “GOBUCS.”
The Dec. 4 game against Carolina is the throwback game honoring Jimmie Giles.
For Joe, one of the greatest things about JoeBucsFan.com is being the boss.
Joe calls the shots and can run this place via his own ethics and values, not by those of corporate journalism suits worried about all kinds of exterior impressions above all else. So unlike newspapers that bury mistakes, ignore mistakes, or run corrections in obscure locations, Joe can correct himself and make amends in bright lights.
Joe needs to do that today.
Yesterday, Joe posted a story for about five hours that mis-quoted Bucs GM Mark Dominik during a radio interview. Joe incorrectly wrote about how Dominik signed Albert Haynesworth and hadn’t yet talked to Haynesworth to get a feel for his attitude and mindset. Frankly, Joe heard it wrong and apologizes.
Joe screwed up. It happens. Joe cranks out about 3,000 posts a year and strives for perfection. Nobody’s perfect.
Unfortunately, this screwup didn’t cast Dominik in the best light, and Joe takes no pleasure giving a man’s reputation a needless shot, no matter how small, as it was in this case. At least that post in question only was seen by about 5,000 readers, but this one will be eyeballed by about 15,000.
Last week when the Bucs lost to the Saints, it seemed when the Bucs needed a stop, the defense couldn’t get off the field.
That’s never a good thing, especially when the team lining up on the other side of the ball is the New Orleans Saints led by Drew Brees.
Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune believes he knows why. In a TBO Bucs podcast, Cummings explains why the loss of Gerald McCoy has crippled the Bucs defense.
Cummings goes on to suggest GMC is the second-most valuable player on the Bucs defense, second only to Ronde Barber.
It’s a good listen and Joe strongly encourages you to click the link.
Joe apologizes to those who will read this post and end up with a visual of Albert Haynesworth sporting a Speedo and sipping wine on a giant yacht somewhere off Madeira Beach after practice one day.
It was Haynesworth himself who feared such luxury would keep his mind off football back in 2009, when the Bucs hastily courted Haynesworth with bags full of cash when the free agency whistle blew. NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas, of ESPN.com, shares Haynesworth’s story of why he didn’t become a Buccaneer back then.
“You want to know the truth on that one?’’ Haynesworth said. “It was too pretty, it was too much water, too much sun here. I had just bought a nice, big boat, a good fast boat, and I really thought like if I came here I’d mix my time in with football and boating. When I was at Tennessee, during the offseason then I’d do the boating and do all my toys and playing around and all that. I figured with the water and the sun being here all year round, I was a little afraid of myself on a Tuesday going for a boat ride or something like that. I should have trusted myself and known, but I was kind of scared of that.’’
Now call Joe crazy, but what’s so bad about a boat ride on a day off?
Perhaps it’s what happens on those big ol’ boats when one has tens of millions of dollars. Joe wishes he knew.
The Bucs’ newest big fella was on the practice field today learning and growing, Raheem Morris said, along with acting like a man who “loves football” in position meetings and mingling in a positive fashion with Adrian Clayborn and Brian Price.
Raheem relayed the positive report on Albert Haynesworth at his afternoon news conference, and Raheem laughed when asked about Haynesworth’s fitness.
Reporter: Did you put [Haynesworth] through a conditioning test?”
Raheem Morris: We’re in week 8 of the season. A conditioning test in Tampa would be going out and making it through practice. (Raheem said chuckling in apparent disbelief at the question)
I don’t know if you guys came to work today but it is steaming hot out there. He had a sweatbag on. He worked through it. He took all his reps that we asked him to take. And he came off the field when he had to come off the field and drank water with the rest of his football team.
During the barrage of questions about Haynesworth, Raheem also explained that the defense experienced a “significant dropoff” without Gerald McCoy. And Raheem clarified that he saw Haynesworth as rougly a 30 snap player if he’s is in a full-time role.
Joe’s really looking forward to Sunday. What better test for Haynesworth than arguably the NFL’s best running game.
Raheem Morris said he was trying to light a fire under Geno Hayes with the fourth-year linebacker getting benched against New Orleans. However, Hayes won’t get to come out against Houston on Sunday like a yungry man possessed.
He’ll be a “part-time” linebacker on Sunday, per Morris’ words at his news conference yesterday. The starting lineup at LB won’t change, says Raheem, meaning Adam Hayward, Mason Foster and Quincy Black will get the call.
Joe’s not getting it. If the Bucs have hopes of reviving Hayes and the splash plays he can bring, then why not put the kid in the starting lineup and see if the wake-up call worked?
As Joe wrote Monday, it’s becoming glaringly clear these are Hayes’ last days in Tampa. Raheem has admitted he needs better play from his linebackers, and Foster (rookie) and Black (wealthy) aren’t going anywhere.
Joe has to give Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik credit. A lot of team executives, after making a controversial player acquisition, would hide behind a desk.
Not Dominik. He’s been talking about the move and opened up to NFL Network’s Albert Breer.
A story will be posted later on NFL.com, Breer Twittered, but he also posted a few of Dominik’s thoughts on Haynesworth on Twitter.
In short, Dominik claims that Haynesworth is “happy” to be in Tampa Bay and his leash is short with the Bucs.
@AlbertBreer: Had a good talk last night with Bucs GM Mark Dominik on Haynesworth. Asked if Haynesworth’s leash is short. His response: “Sure it is.” … Dominik also told me that Haynesworth was adamant about “how happy he was coming to Tampa, and that this is a system he wants to play in.”
This is going to be interesting. If Haynesworth truly is “happy” as Dominik suggested, perhaps he will be motivated.
If not… welp.
Like only he can, Adam Schein lets it all hang out on Albert Haynesworth’s time in New England in this FoxSports.com video.
Joe has to admit it: He was shocked when he learned rock star GM Mark Dominik claimed defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth off of waivers yesterday.
The Bucs were the lone team to put in a claim for the former Patriots (and Redskins and Titans) defender.
Count one former Bucs defensive lineman out of lockstep with Dominik’s latest move. That would be Steve White. Just on Tuesday, White was on “Primetime,” heard on WHBO-AM 1040, all but pleading with Dominik not to make the move.
After the deed was done, White took to Twitter and passionately blasted the move.
@sgw94: Got a talented team that’s underperforming and totally undisciplined? I have perfect answer for you. ALBERT HAYNESWORTH LADIES AND GENTS!!! … Another fair warning to any Bucs fans about to click send: I know football. You can like this move all u want but I wont. Dont try me tho … I’m actually going to sit back and laugh and SOME of you dumbasses when this blow up tho
White was not the only person who did a double-take at the Haynesworth acquisition. So too did Albert Breer of the NFL Network.
@AlbertBreer: Even with Gerald McCoy’s injury creating a need, Haynesworth move is easy to question for a Bucs team that values its locker room culture.
That’s the reason why Joe was shocked at the news. Dominik is careful about perceived bad influences on his young roster. That’s part of the reason why Derrick Ward was jettisoned last year. That’s also an element in why Stylez White was let go.
This just reinforces Joe’s belief that signing Haynesworth is a move of desperation.
THE PESSIMIST is a diehard Bucs fan whose negative writings appear occasionally on JoeBucsFan.com.
His views surely do not necessarily reflect those of Joe. However, Joe sure gets a kick out of them.
THE PESSIMIST felt compelled to emerge from his self-imposed lockout to comment on this glorious Albert Haynesworth signing, just in case the man with the worst work ethic in the NFL is back on the street soon.
Congratulations, Mark Dominik, for taking your underwear off, putting on your big boy pads, and putting on your win-now Chucky face.
THE PESSIMIST and real fans have our hearts and wallets in this game to win at all costs immediately — not play some fantasy lasting contender game that banks on players maturing perfectly and nobody getting injured. You like fantasy football? That’s fantasy football.
Real football is building the best possible team to win now, the kind of stuff fans of the Falcons, Saints, Jets and others lap up like starved dogs.
THE PESSIMIST is sickened by Bucs fans that would rather see Roy Miller act like Sean Mahan against the Texans, or have Da’Quan Bowers or someone else play out of position, rather than see if the Bucs can motivate Haynesworth to get after it for half a game or more.
Haynesworth is the best available option for the Bucs in this game. Period.
If Raheem can’t motivate Haynesworth for Sunday, then Raheem isn’t the man he thinks he is. Because THE PESSIMIST guarantees that Raheem is fired up and bouncing off the walls getting ready to deliver his famous core beliefs to Haynesworth in the morning — like Haynesworth never heard it from the last two old, stuffy coaches previously trying to motivate him.
This is your moment, Raheem. Shine, brother, shine.
For everything this signing represents for this year and beyond, THE PESSIMIST considers Haynesworth the most exciting thing to happen to the Bucs since they put their balls on the table and drafted Da’Quan Bowers.
Amid the euphoria/hysteria/disbelief over the Albert Haynesworth signing today, Frank Okam remains a glaring name on the Bucs’ new injury report. He’s still listed with a calf pull and didn’t practice Wednesday.
Given Okam’s mountainous size and his position, this doesn’t bode well for his availability Sunday. And for Joe that means one thing: Haynesworth is going to start on Sunday, assuming he’s not cut before then.
Speaking on WDAE-AM 620 tonight, Mark Dominik said Haynesworth’s evaluation is a week-to-week process, meaning he’s not necessarily in Tampa for the whole season.
It’s pretty darn clear to Joe that as long as Haynesworth doesn’t go all mental patient in the next 48 hours (Joe wouldn’t bet against it), then he’ll have a chance to play hero for the home crowd if the Bucs can slow the Texans’ stunning running game and generate some pressure off the edges.
Joe’s still stunned. Who could have imagined that fans might be running to buy Haynesworth Bucs jerseys by Monday. On that note, Dominik said the Bucs’ newest manbeast is likely to wear No. 95 and not have a special number request before he hits the practice field tomorrow morning.
The Albert Haynesworth signing has Joe wondering whether the Bucs’ grand master build-through-the-draft plan has been altered and, if so, why?
Clearly Haynesworth is Exhibit A of why not to rely on a free agent. And he’s pretty high on the questionable character list. (Joe’s being kind.)
Yet here he is — on his way to Tampa to join and influence the “yungriest” unit on the Buccanners.
Hell, two weeks ago after the injury to Earnest Graham on The Raheem Morris Show, the head coach told a caller asking about a Tiki Barber signing that Tiki was like a family member to him but the Bucs were all about building through the draft and staying within the organization so don’t look for Tiki.
Now all along rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has said that free agency is to be used when you fail in the draft. Michael Koenan is the easiest example.
So barring a new philosophy in place, one can only surmise that the Bucs see a significant element of failure among their last three picks at defensive tackle, in addition to needing a live body.
Don’t get Joe wrong. Joe’s dying to see Hayenesworth resurrect his glory years. And if he does, look for the Bucs to get a lot more comfortable bringing in veterans next year.
One of the very first near-misses Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik whiffed on when he took the helm of the football operations of the Bucs was to sign the man formerly referred to as “Facestomper,” Albert Haynesworth, to a free agent deal.
Reportedly, Dominik offered the troubled defensive tackle more cash than the Redskins, which is where Haynesworth landed.
Whether it is a sign of dogged determination by Dominik or a sign of desperation with the Bucs in dire need of a defensive tackle due to injuries, with just 12 sacks this season, or perhaps the very real possibiity of slipping below the .500 mark, Dominik apparently has agreed to terms with Haynesworth, so Twitters Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.
@ TBO_Buccaneers: the Bucs have claimed DT Albert Haynesworth off waivers. Bucs GM says move predicated by loss of Gerald McCoy.
Color Joe stunned. Haynesworth wore out his welcome with the Titans, all but started bonfires on the White House lawn in Washington so he could be released, and was reported to have been involved in a shouting match with a Patriots assistant coach that got him on the free market this week.
And this is a guy the Bucs want to influence a “youngry” roster?
Seems more desperation than dogged pursuit.
In this TBO Bucs vlog, Woody Cummings and his cohort eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune discuss the future of the Bucs and look back at the loss to the Saints. Kaufman put the loss squarely on the shoulders of the defense, suggesting the Bucs’ defense may not have been “ready.”
Fifteen year NFL veteran and former Bucs tight end Dave Moore, the Buccaneers radio color analyst, gets to look at the fancy “coach’s tape” of Bucs games to really see what’s happening on the field, not the distorted TV feed fans watch on Sundays.
Moore has studied the Saints-Bucs game and said he sees a Bucs defense that is physically up to the task but is executing poorly and an entire team that is very undisciplined. Moore made the comments on The Dan Sileo Show on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.
“As far as the assignments, your run fits on defense, you know, they’re calling the defense soft, but you break down the film from the endzone, there’s just guys not in their gaps,” Moore said. “There’s some guys that are holding their gaps. There’s some penetration in the backfield. They’re certainly not getting manhandled. They had a lot of mis-tackles and a lot of guys that just weren’t in their gaps. And that’s player responsibility. That’s your job as a professional.
“‘Hey, I know that I’m responsible for this gap. This gap is all the way out by the numbers I gotta keep my face in the gap.’ On offense, ‘Hey, this formation, I know I gotta line up here. I gotta know that I can’t go in motion when somebody else is moving. I gotta know if I’m in for the X, I gotta be at that spot and I gotta line up at this position.’ They are the details they’re not taking care of and it needs to be cleaned up.
“But like I said, the big picture, if they didn’t have halfway decent talent, I promise you. I played on some teams in the early ’90s, if we weren’t playing our best ball we wouldn’t be within 14 points of the opponent. These guys [now] are not playing near where they’re capapble of playing, and they’re still lingering in ball games.”
Moore went on to say that all that ails the Bucs is “fixable” and the team is definitely not lacking in talent. That’s somewhat soothing to Joe, though troubling at the same time.
If the Bucs laid an undisciplined, sloppy egg coming off a bye week in a crucial division game, then it’s hard to imagine they can fix that in a hurry.
Texans linebacker Brian Cushing, right, is one reason the Texans have the best defense in the NFL.
It was bad enough for Joe to learn defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, a critical cog in the Bucs front line, is gone for the season.
It was bad enough for Joe to see that the powers that be at One Buc Palace still can’t get through to the coaching staff that LeGarrette Blount is not a weapon, if he only sparingly gets the ball.
But the news is getting worse. The Bucs will be facing what is now deemed as the best defense in the NFL in the Houston Texans, so writes veteran NFL scribe John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.
In Wade Phillips’ first season as defensive coordinator, the Texans have allowed 274 yards per game. They rank fourth against the run (91.4) and second against the pass (182.6).
The dramatic improvement of the pass defense is astonishing. The Texans were last in 2010, allowing 267.5 yards per game.
One reason the Texans (6-3) have a 1½-game lead over the Titans (4-4) in the AFC South is because they’ve surrendered only 2,466 yards. Through nine games last season, they had allowed 3,687. That’s an improvement of 33 percent.
Right now it is futile to beg, plead, stomp for Blount to run the ball more because Joe’s cries are falling of deaf ears.
So for the Bucs to beat the Texans, Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman is going to have to channel his success of last year. In short, he will have to play his best game of the season.
Well, Bucs fans who can’t scrape together a few shekels over the course of six months to go to a home game can celebrate.
The Cowboys game on Saturday night, Dec. 17, has sold out.
Also, Bucs fans who steadfastly refuse to go to Bucs games can enjoy the game at home, relaxing while they watch the contest on the glorious NFL Network.
