While head coach Raheem Morris and Cody Grimm will admit the Bucs rookie safety may have been roasted on Mike Wallace’s first touchdown yesterday in the Bucs ugly loss to Pittsburgh, both claim Grimm played fine after that.
Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune isn’t so sure. Appearing on the “Fabulous Sports Babe Show” on WHBO-AM 1040 earlier this afternoon, Cummings suggested the Bucs are looking for ways to help out Grimm, if he remains as the starter.
“I know [the Bucs] are going to look at other guys, possibly bring some in and work some other guys out and that’s not a bad thing,” Cummings said. “It’s a little obvious that [Grimm] is a little out of his league right now. I know they are looking at bringing guys in. Maybe they go to a three-man rotation [at safety]? Maybe Corey Lynch gets some time? Maybe Sabby Piscitelli will get another shot?”
Cummings went on to say that the blame of the loss should not nor cannot be blamed on Grimm making his first start, just that Grimm isn’t quite ready to be a primetime NFL player and, like other safeties of Bucs past including John Lynch, needs to find his sea legs first.
Gotta give it up for the Bucs head coach staying candid and real. Winning the first two games didn’t go to his head.
Tampa Tribune scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman hit Raheem Morris with a question today at his noon news conference that essentially asked Raheem to talk about the Bucs’ “subpar effort” on defense, the first time in may games.
Morris agreed with the subpar-effort comment and was critical of Aqib Talib and the speed with which his defense played. “Yesterday could have been a four-pick performance and a Pro Bowl type day for our left corner.” Morris said.
Most coaches would shoot down a reporter questioning his team’s effort. Not Raheem.
Morris explained the bye week would be an OTA-type format to emphasize speed and fundamentals.
No, Raheem Morris isn’t calling for drug use to jump start the Bucs sluggish running game.
The head coach talked during his news conference today about getting more from Cadillac Williams while working in rookie running back LeGarrette Blount, who clearly seemed like a favorite of the head coach after his debut yesterday.
“It’s not time for “wholesale panic,” Morris said at his news conference, referring to making changes to some starting positions and Cadillac specifically. “We gotta get him some blow,” Morris explained, so he’s not getting 25+ carries a game.
Regarding Blount, who Joe thought delivered some real hope for a stronger running game during his punishing first-half runs Sunday, Morris shared lots of love for Blount’s production in limited time with the organization.
“Blount’s only been here two weeks,” the head coach said. “Now, having a bye week, you can give him some more bases. Some fundamental core beliefs.”
Joe can only imagine how good Blount will be once those core beliefs are instilled.
Raheem Morris went on the defensive today at his noon news conference standing up for Cody Grimm, who was burned in ugly fashion on the Steelers first touchdown.
The head coach, and noted secondary guru, was quick to say the tape on Grimm’s performance, outside of that play, looked great.
“We still have young players on the come. Arrelious Benn at the end. LeGarrette Blount. Cody Grimm, actually, when you look at the tape,” Morris said. “After that first play, he played really well. He played as sharp as I’ve seen a rookie in a while. He played better than Tanard [Jackson] did in his first game out in Seattle.”
Joe’s glad to hear Grimm is looks good under his head coach’s scrutiny. But Joe expects the mistakes to continue. Grimm remains a rookie seventh-rounder learning a new position. That won’t change for a while.
Look for the Bucs rookie receiver snagged in the second round this year to play more against Cincinnati in two weeks.
Asked at his noon news conference today, Raheem Morris talked about more looks for his players “on the come,” including Arrelious Benn.
“Would I like to increase Benn’s role? Yes,” Morris said. “He can certainly help us some more. He’s young. He’s powerful. He’s dynamic.”
Benn had three catches, albeit with Troy Polamalu out of the game with the outcome decided. Regardless, he’s looks to Joe like an untapped weapon Greg Olson needs to find a way utilize.
Blackout Tour attendees in Lee Roy Selmon's yesterday. Photo by News-Press of Fort Myers.
So Joe’s been plugging this “Blackout Tour” for weeks, where fans can hop a luxury bus to Lee Roy Selmon’s in Fort Myers to watch blacked out Bucs games and get a free draft beer and a free plate of wings.
To date, each Blackout Tour bus has sold out and fans have enjoyed the experience.
The good folks at the Fort Myers News Press came out to Lee Roy Selmon’s yesterday to talk to the hardcore Bucs fans who made the bus trip from Derby Lane in St. Petersburg.
“We all work for a living and it’s hard to pay all that money to go to a game. But this tour is a great alternative,”said Roche, a welder who wore Bucs fullback and Mariner High graduate Earnest Graham’s No. 34 jersey under a red Bucs cap over a red bandanna.
Roche slapped hands with other Bucs fans anytime the team made a positive play Sunday. But there weren’t many as the Bucs (2-1) were blasted 38-13 by the Steelers (3-0).
“I’d rather pay for this than go to the stadium and pay $150 for tickets, parking and food,” Brandon resident J.R. Eldridge said before biting into a wing. “It’s a great atmosphere. The best part is I’m around some great Bucs fans here.”
Joe’s glad his readers are enjoying the Blackout Tour, courtesy of Paradise Worldwide Transportation. The cost is $24.95 per person. It’s a lot of great fun to bond with other hardcore Bucs fans. And make no mistake, you’re a serious fan if you’re driving to Fort Myers to watch the game on the big screens.
Click a Blackout Tour link and get your tickets now for the next Blackout Tour games in October, when the Bucs face the Saints and the Rams. Tickets are 100 percent refundable if the Bucs game miraculously ends up being televised in the Tampa Bay area.
Oatmeal connoisseur Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports, had a chat with superstar-for-a-day Charlie Batch following the Steelers bashing of the Bucs yesterday, and King shared some of their talk in his popular Monday Morning Quarterback column.
“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance for another start here,” Batch told me from Tampa. “But what was great today was we had everything in the game plan, and we were going to take our shots downfield early. We were just trying to open it up, because we weren’t playing us, honestly. And before the game, Mike [Wallace] said to me, ‘Give me an opportunity, Chuck. Throw it up there for me.’ We decided that if 35 [Grimm] ever turned his back to me, I was putting it up there.”
That’s exactly what happened on one of the TD bombs to Wallace. Batch put it up for Wallace, and Grimm lost the ball, and Wallace won it in the end zone. Just like the Steelers drew it up.
Of course, it’s no surprise the Steelers wanted to pick on Grimm and saw the Bucs secondary as a weakness with the absense of Tanard Jackson.
In Raheem Morris’ postgame news conference, he clarified that he has no plans to rotate safeties like he did in 2009. And he was reserving judgement on Grimm’s overall play until after reviewing tape.
Regardless of Grimm’s grades, Joe suspects a Sabby sighting on defense is about as likely as a Rachel Watson sighting in Joe’s hot tub.
There was little for Joe to be happy about with yesterday’s loss. He stretched yesterday to find some positives.
Veteran St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton could find none. He believed the Steelers exposed the Bucs in every imaginable way Sunday.
For most of Sunday afternoon, the Steelers pushed the Bucs backwards across the field at Raymond James Stadium. Think of it as a favor. Play after play, the Steelers helped point out all the things the Bucs are not. Bruising, for one. Powerful, for another. Relentless, for a third.
For the Bucs, it was as if the Steelers turned on a light to show the Bucs what a real 2-0 team looks like. You know, one that runs the ball, and one that rushes the passer, and one that wins the big plays at the line of scrimmage. Also, one that wins 38-13 despite backing off the throttle in the second half.
This was brutal. This was punishing. This was Ohio State playing Bowling Green or, perhaps, the Bowling of a Lesser Color.
Simply put, it’s time to rally the troops. The Bengals are a paper champion. They barely beat Carolina with a rookie quarterback making his first start. With a week off, the Bucs can beat Cincinnati.
This dude Charlie Batch is an old man by NFL standards (35). He was the No. 4 quarterback on the Steelers’ depth chart entering the season.
Now, as a starter until horny Ben Roethlisberger, who gets way too handsy with college chicks, returns from suspension, the Steelers are relying on the former MAC quarterback. And he responded Sunday with three touchdown passes, the first of the season for Pittsburgh, and slapped around the Bucs like a UFL team in handing Tampa Bay its first loss of the season.
Anwar Richardson, of the Tampa Tribune, documented just how difficult Batch made life for the Bucs defensive backs.
Pittsburgh faced second-and-7 on Tampa Bay’s 41-yard line when Batch noticed Wallace matched up against Talib and unloaded. Talib tried to grab his second interception, but the ball bounced off his hands into the waiting arms of Wallace, who hauled in his second touchdown of the game.
“That’s why he plays cornerback. They can’t catch,” Wallace said. “I always got to play the ball. He made a good play on it, but he dropped it and I caught it.”
There were not many balls for Steelers receivers to grab in the second half.
If Joe was an uncaring arse, he’d point a finger at safety Cody Grimm for getting roasted twice. But Grimm is a rookie seventh round draft pick, what do you expect? He’s still learning.
No, if Tanard Jackson had just kept the bowl down, Grimm wouldn’t have been out there. If any fingers are to be pointed at the Bucs’ secondary, it should be at the selfish clod Jackson, not Grimm, who let his team, and Tampa Bay fans, down. Again.
Yeah, Joe’s bummed too. That doesn’t mean he is going to blow off his responsibilities.
Below are the Bucs lowlights of the loss to the Steelers today, the first time this season the Bucs have tasted defeat. Lowlights courtesy of the good people of the NFL Network.
LeGarrette Blount’s first NFL touchdown and the only touchdown for the Bucs.
Joe loves to hear confident players and all that tough guy, machospeak that comes from athletes, but there is a time and a place. And it’s not after your team loses 38-13 at home.
Donald Penn apparently disagrees. Per his postgame conversation with Tom Balog, of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Penn has concluded that the Steelers aren’t that much better than the Bucs.
”They won the score, they didn’t win the physical battle,” Penn said. “Go ask them. I know they have a lot of respect for us. As an offensive line, I know they have a lot of respect for us.
”Go watch the film. Please,” Penn said. “Because I was throwing those guys around. I was banging those guys more than anything.”
Joe suggests you read Balog’s whole piece, linked above.
Joe would like to take this time to remind Penn that today the Steelers registered four sacks, 17 hurries, and five knockdowns, per the CBS stat hounds.
And if the offensive line didn’t lose the physical battle, as Penn claims, then what does that say for Cadillac Williams and the Bucs’ receivers?
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For one reporter at Raheem Morris’ postgame news conference, it seems today’s 38-13 beat down from Pittsburgh conjured up memories of the Bucs getting clobbered last year at home by the New York Jets (26-3) and New York Giants (24-0).
Morris was asked if today’s game had that Jets or Giants feel to it. In his response, he gave a glimpse into just how low the Bucs were in 2009.
“No. We didn’t feel helpless [today],” Morris said, referring to last year’s losses.
The head coach went on to say the Bucs are keeping the “big picture” in focus, meaning the fact they are 2-1 and have time to assess their performance and improve with a bye week next Sunday.
“It’s a great time for all of us to get together and bond and be one, and not let anything tear us down for the next two weeks and get ready to go play Cincinnati at their place on their home turf and get a win and close out the first quarter of the season,” Morris said.
Joe knows “We didn’t feel helpless” doesn’t represent improvement to feel good about. But really, all that matters at this point is the Bucs’ response in two weeks.
Empty seats were scarce today and Terrible Towels were plentiful
Considering the beat down the Steelers dropped on the Bucs today, plus the ugly TV shots of Steelers fans all over the stadium, maybe Team Glazer made the right call keeping this “Bucs infomercial” away from hundreds of thousands of local football fans?
Joe’s wondering just how exactly this game would have inspired the non-harcore fan base into positive water cooler chatter and Bucs love.
At least now, for the masses, the no-name Bucs are still a bit unknown and 2-1 and tied for first place?
Joe can’t blame Team Glazer for not shelling out the cash to gobble up the remaining tickets a few days ago to get the game aired today. Yes, Joe would have done it if he owned the Bucs. But perhaps Team Glazer is better served coughing up the cash to get a game aired when the team has a better shot of impressing?
Now Joe’s not ragging on Aqib Talib in this post. Instead, this post is to illustrate how a few inches can turn into points.
Yeah, Talib had an interception in the first quarter when the Bucs were very much in the game. But it was two near-misses Talib damned near had that later turned into Pittsburgh touchdowns that helped turn the game into a blowout.
It appeared that Talib had an interception in the corner of the end zone in the second quarter when the ball bounced off his fingertips and into the waiting arms of Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace. Touchdown Steelers.
Later in the same quarter, a Charlie Batch (Charlie Batch?) pass to the right sailed right through the arms of a diving Talib that Wallace caught for a first down. Pittsburgh later scored a touchdown on the same drive.
If Talib could have hauled in two more picks, would it have changed the game around? Maybe, maybe not. But it shows how just a few inches can mean the difference in a great defensive play, and six points for the opposition.
Charlie Batch and the Steelers did a good job softening the Bucs' interior defense with punishing runs.
Prior to the season, Joe noted, with help from Pat Kirwan of NFL.com, Sirius NFL Network, CBSSports.com and whoever else cuts Kirwan a check, that Gerald McCoy and Brian Price were rookies. And there would be times when they played like rookies.
First-year defensive tackles often struggle. Even the best of them (ask Warren Sapp).
Those rookie moments came into play today. As Ross Tucker said earlier this week on Sirius NFL Radio, the Bucs, and rookies GMC and Price, were going to play big boy football this week, the Steelers.
Aside from the two bombs from Charlie Batch (Charlie Batch?), the Steelers from the second quarter on did a nice job of hammering the Bucs interior defense with Rashard Mendenhall for large chunks of real estate.
When the Steelers weren’t hurting the Bucs with the run, they were giving Batch way too much time to throw, which reinforces the premise that if you give any quarterback time he will hurt you.
Yes, GMC and Price did make some nice plays. But overall, against a rugged offensive line, the duo played like, well, rookies.
It was to be expected. Joe’s not knocking them at all. It’s part of the growing process in the NFL.
The Steelers dominating the Bucs at the line of scrimmage aside, turnovers by the wide receivers was a huge killer in the 38-13 loss today.
First, it was Mike Williams’ first-half fumble after not really being hit hard, and then it was Sammie Stroughter late not catching a quick screen in his hands, which was caught by Steelers lineman Brett Keisel, who rumbled 79 yards for a score.
To Joe, this is just more growing pains, the result of trotting out a bunch of youngsters. The key will be whether they don’t do this stuff again.
During the CBS broadcast, analyst Steve Tasker was critical of Williams early in the game for giving up on a deep route. (Yes, Joe had someone feeding him notes off the TV feed outside the blackout zone).
It was good to see Arrelious Benn get some garbage time minutes outside of special teams and get three catches. Joe suspects he earned himself some more snaps.
While head coach Raheem Morris and Cody Grimm will admit the Bucs rookie safety may have been roasted on Mike Wallace’s first touchdown yesterday in the Bucs ugly loss to Pittsburgh, both claim Grimm played fine after that.
Gotta give it up for the Bucs head coach staying candid and real. Winning the first two games didn’t go to his head.
No, Raheem Morris isn’t calling for drug use to jump start the Bucs sluggish running game.
Raheem Morris went on the defensive today at his noon news conference standing up for Cody Grimm, who was burned in ugly fashion on the Steelers first touchdown.
Look for the Bucs rookie receiver snagged in the second round this year to play more against Cincinnati in two weeks.
Oatmeal connoisseur Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports, had a chat with superstar-for-a-day Charlie Batch following the Steelers bashing of the Bucs yesterday, and King shared some of their talk in his popular Monday Morning Quarterback column.
There was little for Joe to be happy about with yesterday’s loss. He stretched yesterday to find some positives.
Yeah, Joe’s bummed too. That doesn’t mean he is going to blow off his responsibilities.
Joe loves to hear confident players and all that tough guy, machospeak that comes from athletes, but there is a time and a place. And it’s not after your team loses 38-13 at home. 
JoeBucsFan.com has teamed up with his good friends at 
For one reporter at Raheem Morris’ postgame news conference, it seems today’s 38-13 beat down from Pittsburgh conjured up memories of the Bucs getting clobbered last year at home by the New York Jets (26-3) and New York Giants (24-0).
The Steelers dominating the Bucs at the line of scrimmage aside, turnovers by the wide receivers was a huge killer in the 38-13 loss today.
