Despite attempts by some sports radio talking heads who are trying to whip Bucs fans into a frenzy, stopping just short of calling Bucs rookie defensive tackle Gerald McCoy the next late Gaines Adams, the big fella from Oklahoma is slowly, steadily getting better.
GMC has no one to play next to him, unlike another certain rookie defensive tackle from the Big XII. GMC has no help coming from the ends. Some former Bucs believe GMC is getting no help from his position coach.
GMC showed how he is making progress today by being disruptive. He had five tackles today. Five tackles for a loss. Two passes deflected. Forced a fumble.
Still, no sacks. But GMC made his presence felt. He was bothersome for the Panthers and fellow rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen.
When someone is disruptive, that enables others to make plays.
GMC’s coming along, slowly but surely. So calm down haters.
Perhaps not visible on the Internet on TV were Cadillac Williams’ two great ass-saving blitz pickups in the second quarter that spared Josh Freeman shots to the ribs.
Joe noticed.
And, as Joe’s written many times before, that’s why Cadillac has the trust of coaches and will get plenty of carries and snaps this season, despite the presence of a pulverizing weapon in LeGarrette Blount.
But it wasn’t all blitz pickups and checkdowns for Caddy today in the 31-16 win against lowly Carolina.
Clearly in on the Bucs’ late scoring drive for his ability to protect the ball — and Freeman — Caddy ripped off a nice 15-yard run off a third-down screen pass. (Great awareness of the very early throw by Freeman).
Then Caddy, flashing some great sustained speed, busted a 45-yard touchdown run on a delayed draw to ice the game for the Bucs.
The Bucs had waited nearly nine games to get Caddy off, and now they have.
Amazingly, Caddy might be getting stronger as the season wears on, despite his two overhauled knees.
If the Bucs can get even 3.7 yards a carry the rest of the way from Cadillac, that’ll go a long way toward them scoring a winning record.
Joe loves listening to legendary Bucs play-by-play man Gene Deckerhoff whether Joe’s at the game, on the couch, the next day — anytime.
Among his many talents, Deckerhoff pulls off being a total homer announcer with incredible style and grace.
Well, Deckerhoff got the blood pressure up when LeGarrette Blount ripped apart the Panthers during the Bucs’ third posession of the game.
Blount for 12. Blount for 24. Blount for 3. Blount for 17. Bount for 17 again for the acrobatic touchdown pictured above.
“Roar Buccaneers fans, roar. No. 27’s delivering the mail. …Put on the Superman cape!” Deckerhoff screamed.
Of course, Blount found his kryptonite with a critical fumble two possessions later, and the Panthers clearly game-planned pretty well to stuff him in the second half.
But the kid is a load, and Joe is incredibly impressed considering he’s still new to the offense and went undrafted.
Joe found himself fantasizing during the game about Rachel Watson the Bucs drafting a big time running back next year to pair with Blount.
"Look slimmed down big fella, these penalties are driving me insane. We're 6-3, but we got a helluva lot to shore up!"
It was hardly pretty with foolish penalties and some subpar special teams play, but there were plenty of great moments and the Bucs are now 6-3.
6-3! That’s right. 6-3!
Kellen Winslow flashed the superstar form the Bucs need. LeGarrette Blount took to the air again (imagine if he did that last week) and finished with 91 yards on 19 carries. The young receivers made plays, and Cadillac Williams showed he can block — and run! And Josh Freeman continues to look like an ever-maturing quarterback.
Another no-name running back put a hundred yards on the Bucs, and the defense needs to do better on third down, but they did enough against to beat arguably the worst team in the NFL without a fourth-quarter comeback.
Job well done.
Joe will have so much more through the afternoon and evening. Come back early and often.
Week 10 Panthers at Bucs
Kickoff: 1 p.m. TV: Game is blacked out locally. Those outside the Tampa and Orlando TV markets can watch the game on DirecTV 710 Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); Sirius Channel 122. Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, dynamite weather. Temperature at kickoff is expected to be 76 which will hold steady through the game. No clouds. Odds:PerBodog.com, Bucs -7. Outlook: This game scares Joe for some reason. First, division games are or at least should be close games. Second, the Panthers have nothing to lose, they can play loose. Third, yeah, Joe knows the Panthers are decimated at running back, down to their third string back. Anyone remember the last time a team came into the CITS with a backfield beat to a pulp, you know, the New Orleans Saints? How did that work out? Remember, the Bucs rush defense is awful. Joe’s is absolutely convinced the Bucs would give up 100 yards to Jim Brown and he’s 74-years old. But the way the Bucs offense has lit up the scoreboard of late, if the Bucs jump out to an early and explosive lead, it shouldn’t matter. If the Bucs jump out to a big lead, it will take the ball out of the Panthers’ running backs hands and force rookie Jimmy Clausen to throw. Joe likes the Bucs’ odds in that matchup. Video: NFL Films previews the Panthers-Bucs game. … Brian Baldinger, Michael Lombardi and Solomon Wilcotts of the NFL Network highlight the Bucs passing game. … Anwar Richardson and Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune discuss why the Bucs can’t sack the quarterback. … Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times previews the Panthers-Bucs game. Fun facts: The Bucs are 13-0 when Cadillac Williams gets at least 22 carries. … Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith generally torches the Bucs. He has six 100-yard receiving games when playing the Bucs. … Carolina’s Chris Gamble is second in Panthers history with 24 picks.
Gregg Rosenthal was more impressed by the Bucs losing to the Dixie Chicks last week than he was with any of the Bucs wins this year. He explains in this NBCSports.com video.
Some Panthers fan had the gall to put together a highlight reel of the Panthers beat down of the Bucs last year at the CITS replete with the assault on Clifton “Peanut” Smith. Also in the video are mistackles by Sabby too numerous to count. If this video can’t get a Bucs fan worked up for today’s game, Joe’s not sure what will.
Joe honestly never thought he’d write about troubled former Bucs offensive lineman Arron Sears again.
Joe was wrong.
Sears, who mysteriously disappeared from the Bucs due to what is believed to be a mental health disorder — the Bucs guarded the condition as if it was a stash of black market Russian nuclear warheads — was arrested in Tampa today described as “confused” and “wandering” the streets of Tampa, so reports Chad Cookler of WFTS-TV.
According to the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office, Sears was very confused when he was found walking down the middle of the road in the 7900 block of Gunn Highway around 3 p.m.
Deputies planned to Baker Act him but found Tampa Police had an outstanding warrant on Sears stemming from a June incident, where he had been charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, a third class felony.
Per the report, Sears is behind held on $2,000 bond.
This is disturbing to Joe. First he beats up a cop, and now he’s roaming the streets of Tampa “confused.” This guy needs help.
The Panthers are awful this year and banged up. But Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net cautions Bucs fans that John Fox is a damned good coach and isn’t about to throw in the towel.
The way “Run Micheal Run” Spurlock has played for the Bucs, both in a previous stint and his current hitch, it’s hard to believe or imagine Spurlock was nearly out of football.
Cut by the San Francisco 49ers and relegated to the UFL, Spurlock has a new found love of the NFL and the Bucs, so writes Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune.
“It was a very humbling period,” Spurlock said. “Everything was on the up and up in San Francisco. It was looking like I had a home. Then, all of a sudden, you have to go home and tell your wife you don’t have a job.”
He wound up in Orlando, where commercial flights weren’t the only difference. “In the UFL, you’re limited to one or two pair of cleats,” he said. “You get maybe one or two pair of gloves. Everything is limited. It was almost like you were back in high school; this guy might have an extra pair of socks or gloves, so you deal with him.
“It made guys closer, but it also made me respect the NFL and what it’s all about. I think we take for granted what we have, what the NFL stands for, and all the people before us who made it what it is today.”
In the story, Henderson writes that quarterback Josh Freeman trusts very few teammates more than Spurlock, and often goes to the wide receiver when all hell seems to be breaking loose.
Great story, as can be expected, from Henderson. Spurlock is one of Joe’s favorite players and he hopes to hear Gene Deckerhoff yell “run Micheal run” early and often Sunday.
It appears Jeremy Zuttah's days as a left guard may be over with the Bucs. Local product Ted Larsen has kept the starting job at left guard.
Ted Larsen grew up in Pinellas County. He played for that (not so much) football powerhouse Palm Harbor University High. Larsen was the school’s first Division-I recruit.
After passing through the Patriots organization he landed with the Bucs and, due to injuries found himself in the starting lineup. It appears he will be there for a few more games, per eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune who Twittered the news on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed.
Rookie Ted Larsen may have won the starting job at left guard ahead of third-year pro Jeremy Zuttah. It’s something to watch Sunday.
Jeremy Zuttah has been somewhat of a disappointment as a left guard. But as a center (he filled in for injured Jeff Faine) and previously at right guard (when he played for an injured Davin Joseph as a rookie), Zuttah has done quite well.
It seems the Bucs have come to the same conclusion. Should Faine (with a hefty contract) be concerned?
As one local member of the Bucs press corps texted Joe Thursday afternoon, “Steve White tells it like it is.”
The former Bucs defensive end has keen interest in the Bucs, the Bucs defensive line, and in particular Gerald McCoy. The struggling Bucs rookie defensive tackle is starting to come under criticism from some sports radio talking heads and White has kept a watching gaze as to how the Bucs are handing his development.
White devours just about anything written about the Bucs. In his latest post on his blog “Passing on the Game,” White has a hunch there are certain eyes that are monitoring his blog and he believes he has some evidence of such.
But in particular, White focuses on how GMC is being coached up and, to be succinct, White believes someone on the defensive staff is dropping the ball, in so many words.
Here’s the truth, Ive watched every game and I don’t think any team has changed their pass protection rules because of McCoy. In fact I’m about as close to being sure of it as you can get next to sitting in the offensive line meeting rooms of the opposing teams. But if you don’t know what the opposing team protection scheme is and you keep sending McCoy to the side where the center is already supposed to slide, then yeah I guess he WILL keep getting double teamed.
White’s post is explosive and not too kind on the Bucs defensive staff. Joe strongly encourages his readers to educate themselves and read White’s post in its entirety.
Someone called Emory Hunt has a video where he explains how the Panthers can beat the Bucs. He also explains how the Bucs can beat the Panthers. Joe finds his logic faulty when Hunt claims the Panthers would be wise to chase Freeman out of the pocket. Well, how’d that turn out for the Kittens earlier this year? Joe says, “Keep that up John Fox!”
Joe knows there are talking heads on local sports radio trying to whip Bucs fans into a frenzy saying 2010 first round pick Gerald McCoy is the next coming of the late Gaines Adams.
Joe thinks this is outrageous, that rookie defensive tackles struggle and to expect GMC to be the next Warren Sapp or even Booger McFarland his rookie year is simply over the top.
Peter King can sense the pressure building about GMC from his lofty condo in chilly Boston. But he believes that GMC will have a break out game this weekend.
Languishing in the shadow of the very famous rookie defensive-tackle twin Ndamukong Suh, McCoy trails Suh in sacks after half a season, 6.5 to 0. That could change when the Bucs host Carolina on Sunday. Sack-starved Tampa Bay, last in the NFL with six sacks, plans to start trying to free up McCoy so he’ll have a better chance and more freedom to rush the passer. McCoy was considered a strong interior pass-rush prospect when drafted out of Oklahoma, one slot behind Suh in Detroit, and while he’s been disruptive at times in the season’s first half, he hasn’t pressured the quarterback nearly as much as the Bucs had hoped. Look for some defensive calls to try to get McCoy isolated on one blocker against Carolina.
Joe’s not going to go over point-by-point why it’s insane to bury GMC already. Joe’s written why too many times.
“Cadillac knows it as well as anybody,” Freeman said. “We’ll go up to the line and he knows the protection calls and exactly who’s blocking who. “He even knows the offensive line matchups, so if we have a mismatch or they’re stunting inside, he knows he can step up and help a guy out.
“A guy like Cadillac, it’s really impossible to replace what he’s doing for us right now.”
This is all very nice. But while the Bucs can’t replace Cadillac’s blocking prowess, they can adjust the offense to need him to do a lot less of it.
Is that on the way? They have to be smarter about how they use LeGarrette Blount.
Early in the Atlanta game, the Bucs trotted out Blount for the first time, didn’t hand him the ball and stuck him in a position to pick up a blitz. Blount failed and Freeman got nailed.
Joe is stuck on all this because more Blount and less Cadillac is ultimately going to be a key to the Bucs posting a winning season.
A weekend is not complete without the solid, educational, informative fantasy football advice from Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620. Justin seems to have been influenced by Cosmic Schein in a couple of ways. See if you can tell Joe what those examples are.
Despite attempts by some sports radio talking heads who are trying to whip Bucs fans into a frenzy, stopping just short of calling Bucs rookie defensive tackle Gerald McCoy the next late Gaines Adams, the big fella from Oklahoma is slowly, steadily getting better.
Perhaps not visible on 
Joe knows there are talking heads on local sports radio trying to whip Bucs fans into a frenzy saying 2010 first round pick Gerald McCoy is the next coming of the late Gaines Adams.
Earlier this week, Joe heard Josh Freeman utter the folllowing quote that appears today
