Signed off the Cowboys' practice squad, Bucs new No. 3 quarterback Rudy Carpenter talked to Joe about his relationship with Josh Freeman, Jon Kitna and Dallas practically begging him to stay with them.

In Atlanta, the Bucs’ new third-string quarterback, Rudy Carpenter, snatched last week from the Cowboys’ practice squad, stood on the sidelines with his baseball hat on backwards as a little-known commodity to Bucs fans.

After practice yesterday, Joe caught up to Carpenter and learned more about what makes him tick. The undrafted free agent out of Arizona State had some interesting things to share in his first in-depth interview as a Buccaneer.

Joe: Tell fans about your game.

Rudy Carpenter: This is my first year in the league. I’m still trying to figure out a lot about myself and a lot about my game. I’m an average size guy and I don’t have the standout skills, but I get by on my intelligence and accuracy, things like that.  

Joe: How did the Bucs come to sign you off the Cowboys’ practice squad? How did that go down?

Carpenter: Teams were calling me throughout the year, but not the Bucs. It was pretty interesting because that Monday (Nov. 23) I hadn’t heard from the Bucs before and then they called me and said, ‘We’re going to put Byron Leftwich on IR and we want to make you active immediately. Can you get on a plane tonight?’ So it was a pretty fast decision for me after I talked to my agent and considered staying in Dallas. …They signed me for the rest of this season and next season.

Joe: Have you gotten any sense of the Bucs’ plans for you?

Carpenter: Man. I have no idea. I’m trying to find out what the situation is for next year regarding Byron. Nobody seems to know.

Joe: How are you adjusting to the playbook in Tampa?

Carpenter: The plays, the schemes and the concepts are very familiar wherever you go …Offensive football is offensive football. The difference is the verbiage. One team it’s in French, another in Spanish. It’s about learning the verbiage. …It’s been a real crash course [in Tampa]. …I have really a lot of respect for both Josh’s and Byron and [Coach Greg Olson].  They’ve had a lot to adjust to with the change at offensive. I’m sure that was challenging. They’ve done a good job giving me a crash course, how we call things and plays that we run. I’ve been studying like crazy to learn as fast as I can.

Joe: Talk about your experience on the Cowboys’ practice squad.

Carpenter: I was doing really well in Dallas. They really liked me. When I got the phone call from the Bucs that they wanted to take me off the Dallas squad, Dallas even offered to pay me active [roster] money to stay with them. I really liked Dallas, but I really thought it would be good for me to get the NFL experience as a third quarterback. When you’re on a practice squad and you get phone calls from other teams to make you active, you can decline it. But I wanted the experience in Tampa.

Joe: How do you feel you developed in Dallas? What was it like for you there?

Carpenter: When I was in Dallas I had two veteran guys to learn from. Man, it was so valuable. I have a close relationship with [Cowboys No. 2 quarterback] John Kitna, who pretty much just took me under his wing and taught me everything he knew. I still talk to him all the time. He’s always teaching me. …Quarterback is such a hard deal in this league. For nearly every quarterback it’s about finding the right place at the right time in the right system. Dallas was a great system and a great orgainziaton, but there also are a lot of quarterbacks there. I felt more comfortable coming here with Josh Johnson and Josh Freeman and that’s it right now, that it might be a right place for me.

Joe: What’s your impression of Josh Freeman?

Carpenter: I actually knew Josh pretty welll before I got here. We had spent a few weeks last year together at a quarterbacks camp and became friends. Then we went to another QB camp together. … Then he came to Arizona to train for the combine, where I was living, and we hung out there. And we’ve kept in touch since then. As for how he’s playing, Josh had great numbers in Altanta, that’s pretty impressive considering he’s just get started.

It’s Thursday.

It’s JoeBucsFan.com.

It’s the gorgeous Jenny Dell! (of BSPN).

In her weekly video offering, Jenny talks Bucs. (Sigh).

You are welcome.

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson writes the weekly QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson has TV gigs in the Bay area and trains quarterbacks of all ages via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

Sunday’s game was great drama!

The entertainment lasted until the final second and that is what I want from my sports. Yeah, I know the Bucs lost, but it was great theater and that hasn’t been happening around here for quite a while — even before the Raheem era.

Unfortunately, after watching the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots play Monday night, it was abundantly clear that we are nowhere near competing with the best in the league now or in the near future.

This Bucs team does not have “playmakers.”

Do they have good athletes? Sure, there is athleticism running around, but the Saints and Patriots have exciting, game-changing players and even the Patriots found out that their offense isn’t enough to overcome their poor pass defense with the Saints’ non-stop offensive pressure.

So, for the forseeable years ahead, the Bucs will not compete for a division title, because the Saints are way out in front and are young. I don’t know all their contract situations for each of their players, but the Bucs’ best player is a 34-year-old cornerback.

For the Bucs to make progress in playing “catch-up” with the Saints, they need to overhaul their receiving corps and give their franchise QB something to work with.

Joe is firmly of the belief that you don’t fix what’s not broken.

Of course, with the Bucs, there’s very little that isn’t broken. So even the smallest sliver of hope is considered to be functioning properly in Joe’s eyes.

When the Bucs registered 10 tackles for a loss and six sacks last Sunday in Raheem the Dream’s first stint at the Bucs defensive coordinator, it was near cause for Joe to drown himself in more Caybrew.

Defrocked defensive coordinator Jim Bates apparently stayed home, sulking, Christmas shopping or maybe watching NFL Sunday Ticket. Whatever he was doing, his fingers were not on the Bucs defense in Atlanta. Yet the Bucs defense had its best game this season.

So when Joe read that good guy Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times, taking a break from his Rays beat to help out with Bucs coverage, wrote that Raheem the Dream said Bates may make the trip to Carolina Saturday, Joe got a cold shiver up his spine.

“We’re not going to make (Bates) full participation in the game, but he’ll be at the game more than likely,” Morris said.

If last week was any hint of what the Bucs defense may be or can be without him, Joe hopes that if Bates has to go to the game, he is sitting in the stands pounding beers and not in the coaches’ box with a headset on.

An overlooked but potentially equally important responsibility a punter often has is holding for place kicks.

If a punter averages 55 yards a punt but bobbles snaps on field goals right and left, the guy will be run out of town in short order.

When Bucs punter Dirk Johnson was hurt on his Garo Yepremian-like fake punt attempt last Sunday and placed on injured reserve this week, the Bucs also lost their holder for place kicks.

Fortunately, the Bucs new punter Sam Paulescu can also hold for place kicks reports good guy “Backwards Hat,” better known as Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger.

Look for Paulescu to hold on field-goal attempts for kicker Connor Barth. The two actually have been paired before. When Barth went to New England for a try out, Paulescu was his holder.

“I trust him,” said Barth, although he did not get the job during that work out. “He’s been in the league. He has experience holding. He’ll get the job done.”

Joe believes this may be the first time he has written more than a few sentences about punting: Just kick the ball out of bounds. A return man cannot return a punt when it’s kicked out of bounds.

Football is a speciality game. Joe knows that. There are players who do nothing but kick, players who do nothing but punt.

Then there are players who only run back punts, players who only run back kicks.

On some rosters, there are players who only play in passing situations, otherwise known sack artists or pass rushing specialists.

Do the Bucs now have a kick blocking specialist? That seems to be the case upon reading eye-RAH! Kaufman’s feature in the Tampa Tribune on Corey Lynch.

A native of Fort Myers, Lynch is the worst nightmare for kickers and punters.  Lynch is a big reason why the Bucs special teams is on the cusp of a franchise record.

Signed off Cincinnati’s practice squad in September, the second-year safety joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ block party Sunday in Atlanta, snuffing out a third-quarter punt by Michael Koenen to set up a touchdown in an eventual 20-17 loss.

Under the guidance of special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, the Bucs lead the league with five blocked kicks, deflecting two punts, one FG attempt and two extra-point tries.

“Right after the ball was moved, I got a good jump,” said Lynch, who said he blocked six kicks at Appalachian State, including a deflected FG try in the final seconds at Michigan that sealed a monumental 34-32 upset. “I’ve always had a knack for doing it. That’s something we practiced a lot in college and it helped us in the long run. I ended up blocking a bunch of kicks in college … and one famous one.’

If there is one area the Bucs have actually excelled in this season, it has been special teams.

Here’s a look at Lynch’s “famous” blocked field goal, which will live in college football lore. The radio announcers get just a tad excited.

By far the best interview on the Bucs roster, Antonio Bryant let it hang out today to the throng of media at One Buc Place.

Bryant’s not a happy man.

Regardless, Joe loves Bryant and respects his talents. Plus, whenever Antonio Bryant speaks, he refers to himself as “Antonio Bryant.” Joe understands and enjoys all that third person stuff.

Today, Bryant showed himself to be completely exasperated by the Bucs not feeding him the ball 10 times a game. Those fancy Pewter Report fellas, proprietors of the Internet-only fan site known for its message boards and defunct print magazine, were there to take notes.

Bryant on if he’s talked to offensive coordinator Greg Olson about getting him more involved.
“That’s not realistic for Antonio Bryant. The person has to come to me. I have too much baggage in order for me to say something or do something. Anything I say is more than likely seen in a negative light. That’s why I keep my mouth closed. That’s the position I’m in. There are a lot of other guys that can say whatever they want to say and nothing happens. I can throw the ball down on the field and I get a flag. I watch games later on in the day and guys slam footballs and there’s no flag. It’s just my life.”

Bryant drops many other gems that all center around being a stud player in a contract year with second-rate numbers.

Joe would be stunned if Bryant returns next year, considering the demand around the league for No. 1 receiver talent and the fact he’s now taken shots — direct and barely veiled — at Greg Olson’s playcalling three weeks in a row.

From hearing and reading various NFL fans’ opinions, Joe believes he is in the minority.

Joe is not a fan of Chucky’s schlock on Monday Night Football.

Oh, trust Joe, Chucky is smooth and speaks in good sound bytes and is enthusiastic. But when you listen to what Chucky says, well, for Joe, it’s a big turn off.

Everybody is great. Everybody makes great plays. Everybody loves the game.

It’s so syrupy sweet, Joe has to find a watering hole on Monday nights — well, that’s not true. Joe already has found them — so that he can’t hear the audio.

If Joe wants to hear a cheerleader, he would pay for Rachel Watson to broadcast for him, among other services.

It was bad enough when Joe heard Chucky refer to Bill Callahan as a players’ coach. The last straw for Joe was when Chucky sang the praises of Eric Mangini.

But Joe has learned, via Mr. Irrevelant, that Chucky actually uses a script for Monday Night Football games.

Do yourself a favor and by all means click on this link for the evidence.

Despite having studs on the offensive line like Donald Penn and a deep stable of running backs, the Bucs have distanced themselves from the run.

Joe heard it over and over again prior to the season, and never had a problem with it.

Raheem the Dream was going to have a punishing running attack. The Bucs were going to pound that rock, pound the opposing defense. When that defense got beat down — boom! — the Bucs would nail said defense with a long pass.

Well, the opposite has taken place. The Bucs have become primarily a passing team, so Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer eye-RAH! of TBO’s Bucs Twitter account.

For those of us who thought TB would be a running team, the Bucs are on pace for 389 carries, which would be their fewest since 1991.

Joe of course knows part of the reason for so few rushing attempts is because the Bucs have been so far behind in games, as noted by the Bucs setting a franchise low of six straight games of allowing 25 or more points.

Still, in the early 1990s the Bucs had some truly wretched teams. With the Bucs supposedly having such a strong offensive line, to abandon the run this badly suggests something isn’t quite right.

No doubt this video below is circulating around the locker room at One Buc Place.

How could it not?

It represents the start of Clifton Smith’s career as a punt returner and the Bucs’ new punter’s 15 minutes of fame. Oh yeah, the Bucs signed punter Sam Paulescu yesterday to replace Dirk Johnson, whose disastrous fake punt Sunday ended with him stuck with a season-ending hamstring injury.

After the devastating loss in Atlanta, Joe finally found the resolve today to watch the game again and listen to Raheem The Dream’s Monday news conference.

Again, Joe came away from the game very disapppointed that the Bucs can’t run the ball. And Joe is convinced Cadillac Williams is never going to be a top running back again. (As Joe noted last week, it’s very unliekly Cadillac will equal Warrick Dunn’s production from 2008.)

But Raheem The Dream watched the same Bucs-Falcons game and told his loving media throng Monday that “Cadillac had a good day running the football and receiving the football.” 

For the record, Cadillac’s longest run was eight yards. He finished with 10 carries for 30 yards, and one eight-yard reception for a touchdown.

Sorry, coach, but that’s not a good day runnning and receiving the football.

Here’s Raheem The Dream’s quote in full, as transcribed by Joe from video on Buccaneers.com:

“Cadillac started the game and was able to get some runs there early and be able to have some success there early. We just had some negative runs that kind of wack you down and take you back. And really messes up your average. Because Cadillac had a good day running the football and receiving the football. But the couple of negative plays and the few breakdowns you had just totally throws that out of whack. …You know we only had 73 yards rushing but it was some yardage left on the field that we’ve got to get. That’s part of us as an O-line group. That’s the running backs and figuring how the carries are going to be divvied up and all that stuff. We just have to go out there and play better and play harder.”

Joe found it quite comical that Raheem The Dream was quoting rushing yards and negative runs and their effect on rushing averages.

Just minutes earlier in his news conference, Raheem The Dream was asked about measuring improvement in his defense.

He replied, “Stats are really for losers. I don’t like to talk about stats.”

“The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN, takes a peek at the Bucs heading into Week 12. Clayton seems to like some of the things he saw in the loss to the Dixie Chicks.

It seems more and more Raheem the Dream and offensive coordinator Greg Olson wanted to use wide receiver Maurice Stovall more and more to see if they indeed wanted to keep him with the Bucs long term.

Now, there’s no reason not to use him more often.

Michael Clayton’s knee is so banged up, he is likely to miss two weeks, so reports Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger.

Tampa Bay receiver Michael Clayton injured his MCL and will likely miss at least 1 to 2 weeks. Clayton hurt his knee on the first play of Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. He left the game and did not return. Clayton was noticeably limping following the game.

If Clayton can not go, Maurice Stovall would likely replace him in the starting lineup.

Both receivers have 14 catches on the year and one touchdown. Stovall has 212 receiving yards, while Clayton has 204 receiving yards.

Now Joe isn’t a math major, but Joe has an idea what both receivers make. Just judging by the numbers Brown reported, Joe is inclined to believe Stovall is a better value.

But Joe could be wrong, of course.

Vacation Man of BSPN.com has a weekly list of players who are rising in the NFC South and players who are falling.

Only one Bucs player make the list this week. And it’s the good list. Vacation Man has Freeman among the rising.

Josh Freeman, Buccaneers quarterback. Yeah, I know Tampa Bay lost to Atlanta, but it wasn’t the rookie quarterback’s fault. The kid is playing well and that’s giving a struggling franchise hope for the future.

As Joe has stated before, Freeman gives Bucs fans a reason to watch the rest of the season with interest.

Also, Vacation Man in the same link has a jab at defrocked Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates as he walks out the back door of One Buc Palace.

Photo courtesy of Rivals.com.

No, Florida State football coach emeritus Bobby Bowden never worked for the Bucs. But his imprints are on the Bucs, both recent past and current.

Who knows what would have happened if Derrick Brooks or Warrick Dunn played for another college program? Brooks may have been a safety, Dunn, maybe not even a running back at the Division-I level he was so small.

Even today, Bucs radio play-by-play broadcaster Gene Deckerhoff confesses he would not have become the voice of the Bucs if not for Bobby Bowden.

Brooks spoke on record with Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune about Bowden.

Former Florida State coordinator Mickey Andrews was recruiting Brooks, but it was Bowden’s job to seal the deal. Bowden sat in Brooks’ living room, working his charm, talking about the program and conveying how the linebacker could help the Seminoles win a national championship.

Then Brooks’ little sister, Latoya, felt comfortable enough to climb into Bowden’s lap. She eventually fell asleep, and when Mom wanted to take Latoya, Bowden’s next move solidified Brooks’ decision.

“My mom got up to put her in bed and he said, ‘Nah, let her lay right here until we’re done. This is home for Derrick.’ That sealed the deal for me.”

Joe was sad yesterday, still is, to learn of Bowden’s resignation. How shameful of the university that Bowden indirectly built to not allow him one more year; what would the old man have hurt? Best as Joe can tell, the man oversaw a program that obviously slipped a great deal but somehow still managed to have winning seasons.

Joe isn’t exactly objective. Joe’s had the opportunity in his profession to cross paths with Bowden a handful of times. Joe can’t imagine any other sports figure being as kind and cooperative (Dick Vitale comes a close second. Whitey Herzog may be No. 3 on Joe’s list. Unlike Bowden and Vitale, Herzog was always willing to drink beer with Joe).

Joe loved talking football with Bowden. How many men still walking on this planet can talk about times spent with Vince Lombardi (“He’d yell and cuss all the time then he’d get away with it because he went to Mass the next morning.”), Paul Brown (“He just whispered.”) and Bear Bryant (“I need one of them ‘Junctions.'”)?

Joe just hopes Bowden doesn’t meet the same fate in retirement as his father and his coaching idol, Bryant.

In the video below from WTSP-TV, Brooks said he can relate to staring into the face of retirement and has a not-so-subtle jab at the Bucs.

"Damn! I knew I shouldn't have called that timeout."

Joe stumbled across some unsettling information pertaining to the stinging Bucs loss to the Dixie Chicks Sunday.

When Raheem the Dream called a late timeout, Joe fell back in his chair and moaned out loud.

No, it had nothing to do with Rachel Watson.

Joe was scared the timeout would enable the Dixie Chicks to set up a play to win the game. It did, but it didn’t. The Dixie Chicks did go on to score.

The disturbing thing, however, was that the Bucs didn’t change the defense the showed just prior to Raheem the Dream calling a timeout, which in turn played right into the hands of the Dixie Chicks.

Atlanta quarterback Chris Redman, who hadn’t thrown an NFL pass in over two years, came off the bench and rallied the Dixie Chicks from behind to win. He explained to good guy albeit a Maoist, Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports, what took place.

If Redman performs like he did last Sunday, his NFL employment prospects will remain bountiful. His relief effort was admirable even before he engineered the game-winning drive, but the day ultimately hinged on the final play, which called for future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez to run an inside slant from one side and White, the team’s emerging star of a wideout, to run an outside slant from the other.

“When I got to the line [the Bucs] were in man free coverage, and I thought, ‘This is perfect; I couldn’t ask for anything better,’ ” Redman recalled. “Then they called timeout and I said, ‘Oh, no, they’re gonna change it for sure.’ But they came out in the same defense and tried to bracket Tony, so I was pretty sure I’d go Roddy’s way. I just trusted he was going to get across the defender’s face – and he’s a Pro Bowler, so I figured there was a pretty good chance he would.”

White did, and Redman made a throw that couldn’t have been more perfect. He knew it had reached his intended target not from what he saw amid the crowd of bodies or from the roar of the crowd, but from a slightly earlier, equally telling sound.

“It was kind of quiet when I threw it, and then I just heard the thump of the ball hitting his shoulder pads,” Redman said. “That’s what I remember about the play. It’s almost like that feeling when you hit a perfect golf shot – you just know.”

Geez, com’ on Rah, if you call a timeout, at least show or flash something different.

If there is any hope from this miserable season, it’s been the play of rookie quarterback Josh Freeman.

It’s not just fans and pundits who have been impressed by Freeman. It’s also Freeman’s teammates, specifically wide receiver Antonio Bryant, documents Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

“He’s getting better every week,” Bryant said of Freeman, who bounced back from a shaky effort a week ago against New Orleans to keep the Bucs alive in what proved to be a 20-17 loss to the Falcons.

Freeman played at almost an elite level against the Falcons, who were on the receiving end of a 20-for-29 passing effort in which Freeman threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns.

Freeman also was sacked once, and just as he has on several occasions already this year, he fumbled the ball while being sacked. This time, however, teammate Cadillac Williams was there to save him.

Freeman also ran two times for 14 yards, but it was his throwing performance (he finished the game with a 118.5 passer rating) that had the Bucs buzzing again.

“You saw right there on those two plays what he can do,” said Bryant, who had to make an adjustment against cornerback Tye Hill and come back on the ball to make his touchdown catch.

That’s about the only thing to look forward to the rest of the season for Joe: To see how Freeman develops.

Former Bucs DE Steve White

By STEVE WHITE
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Steve White spent every season of the Tony Dungy era playing defensive end for the Bucs. He’s spent countless hours in the film room with the likes of Warren Sapp, Rod Marinelli and more. Joe is humbled to now have White, also a published author and blogger, as part of the JoeBucsFan.com team. White’s weekly Bull Rush typically breaks down all things defensive line. It’s simply a can’t-miss read for the hardcore Bucs fan.

Today, White gives a special Xs and Os look at the Bucs defense during the Falcons’ game-winning drive on Sunday.

Readers asked for Xs and Os breakdown of the Falcons game, so I decided to do another post. After a few thoughts, I’ve prepared a play-by-play breakdown of the final drive:

First, I was really happy to see our weak tackle over the center for this game. We didn’t have them lined up over the center every play, but when we did they made a difference. Our tackles consistently pushed the Falcons’ center into the backfield and many times made the running backs cut back. This kind of penetration it also made it easier for our linebackers to recognize their gaps and come downhill to fill, which is why you saw a lot more tackles for a loss.

Second, I thought bringing back the under defense really helped us against the run a lot. Getting Quincy Black up on the line to get physical with the tight ends while the four defensive linemen were getting upfield in their gaps created very few running lanes for the Falcons’ running backs.

Third, while I really like Geno Hayes as a player, the guy has to get in his playbook and start playing within the rules of the defense. On the shuffle pass to Jerrious Norwood that went for a touchdown, that was his play.

Not only was it his play, but he should have had a slobber-knocker hit on Norwood on that play. Coach Morris dialed up a blitz where our defensive end was supposed to go outside of the tackle, our safety was supposed to go in the outside half of the B-gap and Hayes was supposed to in the inside half. Jimmy Wilkerson did his job and went up field unblocked. Tanard Jackson went in the B-gap but drifted outside when the tackle went to block him. If Hayes runs through the B-gap he would have met Norwood with enough force to probably jar the ball free. Instead, Hayes also drifted outside looking in the backfield at the quarterback.

Because of that, Norwood was able to receive that pass and run 22 yards for a touchdown. That play although, made before halftime, might have been the difference in the game.

If Hayes ever gets the defenses down and learns to go where he is supposed to, he has a very good chance of being an outstanding player in the NFL. Until that day, he will always be a guy that makes some plays but misses others. Just good enough to start but never good enough to dominate.

Now for that final drive:

We were so close on almost every single play in that two-minute drive of closing out the game that its sickening to watch all over again. But even though we came up short, the guys on our defense fought their ass off to try to pull it off.

For most of the drive the Falcons went with a two-by-two formation, meaning they had two receivers wide on either side with one of those receivers being tight end Tony Gonzales. (When they change up that formation I will note it.)

1st and 10: We went with a four-man rush playing Cover 2 behind it. Jimmy Wilkerson and Chris Hovan got good push and Chris Redman’s pass to Tony Gonzales fell incomplete.

2nd ant 10: We had another four-man rush but this time the coverage appeared to be two-man. Tim Crowder and Wilkerson ran an EX game on the left side of the center but didn’t really get any pressure. Redman was able to connect with Gonzales on an eight-yard reception. Hayes was in coverage and was close to Gonzales but not close enough to break up the pass.

3rd and 2: Coach Morris dialed up a blitz with Ronde coming off the defense’s right side off the edge outside the defensive end. Now this blitz seemed to be flawed in my opinion. Greg White went inside which created the space for Ronde to blitz outside but Hovan just rushed head up on the guard. Because Hovan didn’t also go inside the center was actually able to pop back and help the running back block Ronde. That gave Redman enough time to hit the receiver in the slot Ronde was initially lined up on before Tanard Jackson could rotate down for coverage. The end result was a first down.

Two Minute Warning:

1st and 10: We went back to a two-man rush playing Cover 2 behind it again. This time Greg (Stylez) White made a helluva spin move and hit Redman right as he was throwing the ball. Because of the hit the pass fell incomplete.

2nd and 10: We stayed with the same coverage. This time the defensive line lined up with three out of our four guys to the right of their center. On the snap, Wilkerson, who was lined up just to the right of the center, crossed the center’s face to the opposite A-gap. Hovan and White ran a TEX game and White looped into the A-gap that Wilkerson had just vacated. White hit Redman again just as he is throwing the ball but this time Redman is able to connect with Gonzales again for a first down. Maybe a half second earlier and that is either a sack or an incomplete pass. Hayes was in coverage on Gonzales pretty much with no help so I can’t blame him on that one.

Defensive calls had Chris Hovan rushing in a way that freed up the center to pick up blitzes on the Falcons' game-winning drive, writes former Bucs defensive end Steve White.

1st and 10: We blitz Ronde again off the slot receiver on the defense’s right, but this time instead of going outside he rushes up inside the B-gap. Greg White rushed outside the offensive tackle and again Hovan doesn’t make an inside move but instead rushes head up on the guard. For the second time on this drive, the center popped back and helped the back block Ronde who gets to Redman just a hair too late after he releases the ball and completes the pass to Michael Jenkins on an in-route — once again in the area where Ronde had just blitzed from.

This time it wasn’t just that Hovan didn’t go inside that was the problem with the blitz. The defensive ends, Crowder and White, also didn’t speed rush from the outside. When we have guys blitzing up inside its imperative that the ends get upfield because its likely that the quarterback will get flushed and we don’t want to lose contain. It appeared to me that had White made a speed rush instead of getting into the tackle that he also had a shot at getting a hit on Redman before he could release the ball. Instead the Falcons end up getting the ball down to our 25 yard line.

1st and 10: Spike.

2nd and 10: For whatever reason Coach Morris decided to go with a three-man rush. Now he had used it earlier in the game, and although we didn’t get any pressure on the quarterback, we did get off the field several times on third down when he used it. I am NOT a proponent of a three-man rush, especially considering the pressure we had been getting with our three-man rush most of the game. But I guess I can still see why he might have used it, even if it’s not something I would have done.

With the three-man rush we played a Cover 2 with the extra guy, in this case Quincy Black, playing the short area over the middle that Barrett Ruud, our middle linebacker, vacates in his Cover 2 drop to the deep-seam route. This time it didn’t work, however, as Redman was able to hook up with Gonzales again for nine yards.

3rd and 1: We went back to our four-man rush with Cover 2 behind it and Redman hit Gonzales on a timing route again for a first down. Hayes was once again in coverage. Gonzales made the catch all the way down to our 10-yard line.

1st and goal from the 10: Spike.

2nd and goal from the 10: Coach Morris again goes with the three-man line with cover 2 behind it. This time it pays off as Black comes across and breaks up a pass to Marty Booker in the short middle zone. Helluva hit by him to get the ball loose.

3rd and goal from the 10: This time we go with a four-man rush but play a man-to-man coverage behind it with one safety deep. It appears that the coverage is set up for Sabby Piscitelli to take the outside half of Gonzales with Ruud having the inside half to double team him down the field. For whatever reason. Sabby let Gonzales get outside of him, effectively negating the double team. In the meantime Wilkerson made another hellafied move on the guard, beating him inside. Unfortunately, Michael Bennett had come into the game at left end and decided to bull rush his guy, giving up containment. Had Bennett stayed upfield it’s very likely that Wilkerson would have had a sack. Instead, Redman was able to scramble to our left and try to hit Gonzales on the sideline. Thankfully Sabby recovered and had a nice breakup on the pass on a great individual effort.

Unfortunately we had our rookie corner Derrick Roberson, who was only in the game because Aqib Talib, our best cover guy, was injured, get called for holding on a receiver on the other side of the field. Five yard penalty and automatic 1st down.

1st and goal from the 5: We stayed with our four-man rush as the Falcons bunched up their receiver sets close together. It looked like there was some confusion on defense and the Falcons snapped the ball before we appeared to be set up. Redman rolled to our right and thankfully our guys just took a man and ran with him. Roberson immediately redeemed himself by breaking up Redman’s pass to Roddy White on an out route.

2nd and goal from the 5: The Falcons lined up in their bunch set again and this time they rolled to our left. This time the defense was set and we settled back into our cover 2 scheme. Finding nobody open Redman just threw the ball away.

3rd and goal from the 5: We went with a four-man rush again and man-to-man defense behind it with Ruud and Sabby once again doubling Gonzales in the slot. This time Wilkerson made another great move this time at right defensive tackle. He beat his guy clean and came screaming right at Redman’s grill full speed ready to make a game-changing sack. Instead Redman saw the pressure coming and just threw the ball away. Sabby was once again beaten to the outside on the double team scheme on Gonzales which almost cost us big time.

4th and goal from the 5: We go with the 4 man rush that has been good to us all day and Coach Morris puts us in man-to-man doubling Gonzales again. I can’t say that it was a bad call but what I will say is that after calling that time out I think we might have wanted to change up the coverage. By that time the Falcons had seen it several times on the drive and the one problem with that kind of coverage is that it leaves the outside receivers open on slant routes because the corners aren’t getting any help. I am not sure that playing cover 2, would have solved that problem but I would have loved to have seen us give it a try.

Instead, we played man-to-man and that was essentially all she wrote. This time Sabby and Ruud actually did a great job of doubling Gonzales. There was absolutely no chance he was going to catch the touchdown to win the game. But not only was Roddy White open for that game winning catch, the wide receiver on the opposite side of the field, Michael Jenkins, was also wide open on a slant route. Such is life though. There was no way of knowing beforehand that that’s the play they would call. And again, if you are a betting man you probably would have believed that the Falcons were going to try to hit Gonzales for the touchdown, too.

Well, that’s what happened on the final drive. It sucks like hell because we were so close all those times to getting off the field.

But it also shows that there is reason for optimism. I wish we could have seen this kind of defensive scheme all year, and I wonder how many more wins we might have right now. But we didn’t and we don’t, so all we can do is focus on the future and hope to see more of that come Sunday.

Monte Kiffin’s defenses used to abuse inexperienced quarterbacks. Even last season, the Bucs punished Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers when they came to Tampa.

Now, Raheem The Dream will try to step up and continue Kiffin’s legacy on Sunday in Carolina.

On Sunday, the Panthers are expected to start Matt Moore at quarterback, tweets BSPN NFL guru Adam Schefter. Moore has just a few career starts under his belt.

Jake Delhomme has a busted finger.

Of course, none of this will mean crap if the Panthers run the ball down the Bucs’ throats for the third time in as many matchups. Even Kiffin couldn’t stop that last year.

The Football Moron of BSPN talks about the critical key for the Bucs to beat the Panthers this week. You’ll never guess what he claims is the key.

"All these empty seats add up to a lot of lost revenue. We'll have to cut back on payroll."

Back on October 18, the local and national media were all buzzing about the Bucs’ actual in-stadium attendance against the Carolina Panthers. The total was a mere 42,847, about 20,000 less than the announced “sold out” attendance of 62,422.

Official stadium capacity is 65,857.

Part of the buzz that day was the Bucs falling short of the in-stadium attendance of a University of South Florida football game just three days earlier, which drew 55,073 fannies in the seats.

So what happened next? The answer isn’t a pretty one for the Glazer Boys.

The Bucs have played two home games since.

On the heralded Lee Roy Selmon/Ring of Honor day against the Green Bay Packers, the actual attendance was just 53,599, per the Tampa Stadium Authority, the public entity that manages Raymond James Stadium.

The mark was still shy of the USF game total, despite massive hype, a gorgeous day, and a historic moment for the franchise.

Next up was the undefeated Saints facing the emerging Josh Freeman and the Bucs. Actual attendance: 49,542.

Now Joe firmly believes attendance is a factor in the Glazers decision making process when it comes to keeping Raheem The Dream for the 2010 season.

Bryan Glazer, in one of his rare public appearances in January, said he and his brothers consulted with fans on whether to retain Jon Gruden, reported the St. Pete Times.

Asked further about the community feedback, Glazer said, “Our fans are our stockholders. They’re what we play for — the people in our stadium and the ones that watch on TV. That’s what it’s all about: winning and how they feel about the team. If they don’t feel good about the team, then there’s something wrong. . . I think you all know the sense that’s out there. It was time for a change.”

In the quote above, Glazer specifically mentioned the “people in the stadium.” Why wouldn’t the Glazers use attendance as a referendum on the head coach over the final two home games? It’s very reasonable to assume they will.

If Bucs fans are excited by what Raheem The Dream is doing with the team down the stretch, it’s fair to assume actual attendance will increase. Especially considering it’s common knowledge that a good pair of Bucs tickets can be had these days outside the stadium for a mere $35.