In this very interesting TBO.com podcast with Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Cummings discusses the elements — aside from the painfully obvious — that led to the defrocking of Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates.
In short, Cummings discusses differences in philosophies and friction between Raheem the Dream and Bates that led to Bates being kicked to the curb.
Cummings also talks about the status of Bucs running back Derrick Ward.
Posted in Recent Posts | Comments Off on Clash Between Raheem The Dream, Jim Bates
The great Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com discusses in this video the race for the top pick in next spring’s NFL draft and the baggage that comes with it.
Joe’s a bit late on this but better late than never.
Good guy Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger, who Joe affectionately refers to as “Backwards Hat,” had an interesting quote from Stylez White in the aftermath of Raheem the Dream defrocking defensive coordinator Jim Bates.
I don’t know if I’m coming or going the way things have been going. I don’t know if I’m going to be here. The person next to you, don’t know if they’re going to be here. You want to fall in line. You don’t want to do anything to mess up any balance there is.
Joe doesn’t know how to read that quote. It seems that emotions are starting to boil up for White, who Joe thinks the world of.
Is White fed up and wanting to leave? Is White scared for his job? Has Raheem the Dream lost the defense, if not the locker room, with the Bates move?
That’s just a curious quote to Joe.
Posted in Recent Posts | Comments Off on What Is Stylez White Trying To Say?
One of the loudest critics of Raheem the Dream’s hiring of now defrocked Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates has been Pat Kirwan.
The former NFL coach and front office executive, who can be heard weekdays on Sirius NFL Radio, said from Day 1 Bates was a terrible fit with the Bucs personnel. In his forum and his weekly appearances on CBSSports.com’s NFL videos, rarely did Kirwan pass up an opportunity to inform viewers and listeners of the folly of Raheem the Dream hiring Bates.
Just hours after Raheem the Dream kicked Bates to the curb after Bates’ defense racked up heinous franchise marks, Kirwan tees off on Raheem the Dream in this CBSSports.com video previewing the Bucs-Dixie Chicks game.
If you’ve been disconnected from Falcons football since last season, you’re probably wondering how the Bucs will stop Michael Turner on Sunday in Atlanta, considering far lesser running backs have torched them.
Well, the Bucs may not have to worry about him. Turner missed last Sunday’s game against the Giants — the Falcons still scored 31 points — and is still hurting on his sprained ankle, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
“Yeah, it’s a game time decision,” Turner said. “I’m still working out some kinks and things like that. Just normal stuff that you’ve got to do coming off an ankle sprain.”
Jerious Norword, Atlanta’s other big threat in the backfield also missed the Giants game but is expected to return against the Bucs.
Joe hopes that in Raheem The Dream’s new defense, it actually matters who the opposition is rushing.
Posted in Recent Posts | Comments Off on Turner Might Sit Out Again Against Bucs
Sammie Stroughter is responsible for the Bucs lone touchdown in the third quarter this season, and that came on a kickoff return.
Joe has always felt this “halftime adjustments” is largely nonsense.
To hear some analysts talk, coaches take naps during games and only monkey with gameplans at halftime. In fact, coaches are making adjustments after every series if not in the middle of series.
So when Joe read the following missive from eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune via TBO.com’s Bucs Twitter page, it made Joe rethink “halftime adjustments.”
Not only have the Bucs been outscored 68-10 in the 3Q, but their only TD in that quarter came on rookie Sammie Stroughter’s 97-yd KOR.
Imagine: Through 10 games the Bucs have not scored an offensive touchdown in the third quarter — not one! “Pathetic” doesn’t begin to describe how horrible that is!
No wonder the Bucs didn’t want it leaked out that offensive coordinator Greg Olson got a contract extension.
Posted in Recent Posts | Comments Off on Third Quarter Horrors
Reading the tea leaves, “The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN, believes all signs point toward Raheem the Dream being a one-and-done coach for the Bucs. He cites, among other things, dwindling ticket sales, a fan base that is beginning to grow angry, firing not one but both coordinators and, lastly, a putrid record.
Clayton is not calling for Raheem the Dream to get the ax, but believes it’s very much a possibility.
It feels like years since the Bucs ground game looked strong against Dallas
Raheem The Dream was his usual fast-talking, excited self during a Wednesday conference call with the Atlanta media.
Joe’s always listening, and Joe takes his role as a watchdog seriously.
Asked about the Bucs rushing attack, Raheem The Dream seems to think it’s on the upswing, despite never duplicating its opening day performance against Dallas and being ranked just 25th in the league.
“Now we have Derrick Ward and Cadillac, who you know, primarily getting most of the carries,” Raheem The Dream said. “Those guys have been carrying the load for us. Those guys have been doing it. They’ve been improving as we go …”
Now Raheem The Dream did go on to say the running game hasn’t put up big numbers like the Atlanta tandem did last year.
But improving? Cadillac’s numbers are poor, as Joe noted the other day, and he’ll have a hard time matching Warrick Dunn’s totals from last year. As for Derrick Ward, the guy’s averaging six carries a game (3.7 yards per carry) and has stopped talking to the media.
Joe wouldn’t say they’re improving. Unfortunately, they’re going the other direction.
Bucs linebacker Barrett Ruud chases down (another) running back who is running wild.
The Bucs dismal defense is so unnerving, it’s difficult to choose where to begin.
A number of people, including Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620, are quick to point out that middle linebacker Barrett Ruud is a main culprit.
Ruud has done nothing to stop or blow up plays inside. He has yet to record a tackle for a loss. Joe takes no pride in pointing this out because Ruud is such a standup guy.
It seems this season, Ruud’s greatest attribute has been to chase down running backs who have broken into the open field.
Apparently, this is sufficient for the Bucs management, so reports eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.
Q:Again, the middle of the Bucs defense is wide open and it is so because of the middle linebacker. Barrett Ruud is consistently out of position because he either over runs the plays or has no clue where the play is going. Week after week, there’s a big running play that can be pointed to as a key play of the game and it is always Ruud putting himself in position to be blocked out of the way. He plays as if he will be fined if he makes a tackle in the middle or blows up a play in the backfield or gets a sack. Why aren’t you guys all over him? — Edward Racker
A:It’s a little simplistic to blame all of Tampa Bay’s defensive woes on Barrett Ruud, one of their better players. It’s true Ruud isn’t making any tackles in the backfield, but it’s also true the D-line is consistently pushed off the ball. Ruud can play better — and he needs to if he is going to demand a big contract. But at this point, the Bucs don’t believe middle linebacker is high on their priority list for 2010 because Ruud has already proved he can play at a high level. — Ira Kaufman
Joe wonders if the Bucs scrapping this two-gap defensive front nonsense will have any positive change in Ruud’s play. As Pawlowski has said time and again of Ruud, “Shed a block once in a while.”
Joe found it somewhat humorous that defrocked Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates would choose to eat at a chain fast food joint than spend time trying to help the team that employs him at practice.
Bates’ days as a Bucs employee may be numbered… with a single digit.
Joe was stunned when “The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN said yesterday that Raheem the Dream offered Bates “more work” but Clayton never said that Bates accepted the offer.
Bates, 63, has been extended an opportunity to remain with the team in an advisory role, breaking down film and possibly assisting on game day from the coaches’ box.
But Bates has no on-field responsibilities in practice or at games and he is currently not expected to accompany the team to Atlanta for Sunday’s game.
It’s possible Bates may elect to leave the Bucs by next week, but there has been no decision.
The Mad Twitterer apparently caught up with Bates yesterday, but Bates wouldn’t tip his hand as to whether he’s resigning or not.
Joe wants to both thank his loyal readers for suffering through with Joe this awful Bucs season, and Joe wants to wish his readers a pleasant Thanksgiving Day.
This is one of Joe’s favorite days. There’s massive amounts of food to eat, mass quantities of Caybrew to drink, and four football games to watch (don’t forget Texas-Texas A&M tonight).
Thanksgiving Day has the three necessary ingredients to sustain life: Food, beer and football.
When Raheem the Dream (or Mark Dominik, or Bryan and/or Joel Glazer) fired the first of two Bucs coordinators, Jeff Jagodzinski, the decision by the team’s hierarchy to re-up Greg Olson’s contract was made simultaneously, so reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.
Despite a Tuesday report from an Internet-only, Bucs fan site known for its defunct print magazine suggesting otherwise, Cummings documents that Olson’s promotion just days before the first game of 2009 to offensive coordinator came with a two-year contract.
When they promoted him to coordinator in September, the Bucs signed quarterbacks coach Greg Olson to a new contract that was more reflective of his new duties as offensive architect.
Olson’s new deal calls for him to be with the Bucs through at least the 2010 season, but Bucs general manager Mark Dominik said the team will evaluate Olson at the end of the season, along with all other coaches and players.
“This is something that was settled months ago,” Olson said. “I did sign an extension, but I don’t think that’s a big deal right now. Right now I’m just trying to win a game.”
Joe only hopes that next year given a full offseason to plan and develop, the Bucs offense under Olson can make great strides.
“The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN, claims defrocked defensive coordinator Jim Bates was offered the chance to remain in his former title. … Clayton never finished the sentence.
This leads a reasoned Bucs fan like Joe to assume that Raheem the Dream told Bates he was changing the defense back to the Tampa-2, but was assigning Bates to handle those duties and Bates said, in effect, “no.”
Also, Clayton said by defrocking Bates, Raheem the Dream has exposed himself. If the Bucs defense doesn’t improve the rest of the season, Clayton feels Raheem the Dream has now set himself up to be fired. Clayton added, “Bill Cowher, you may get a phone call.”
Sharp, punishing runs against the Saints (three carries for 31 yards) will not catapult Earnest Graham into becoming a primary option in the Bucs running game on Sunday in Atlanta.
Graham was asked last night in an interview on 1010 AM whether he might log more carries against the Falcons, and Graham quickly dismissed the thought. “I wouldn’t dare say that. no. I don’t know,” he said.
Graham went on to explain that he’s the starting fullback and midseason signee Chris Pressley, an undrafted rookie fullback off the Bengals practice squad, just isn’t ready to fill that role.
There have been a long list of surprises with the Bucs this season. Graham having just 11 carries entering the Bucs 11th game certainly is one of them.
Joe will have a post in an hour you’ll want to check out that casts some light on the status of Jim Bates and the Bucs, despite what the defrocked Bucs defensive coordinator told a reporter for a trashy yenta cable outfit that denies football fans the NFL Network yet rams every friggin’ shopping channel known to mankind down subscribers’ throats.
Assholes!
Yesterday, said reporter caught Bates in a parking lot of a fast food joint while the Bucs were practicing. And while Bates refused to answer questions, he did claim he was still employed by the Bucs.
If that’s the case, he sure as hell doesn’t have anything to do with the team.
Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, who apparently is working during the Thanksgiving break, twittered on the TBO.com’s Bucs Twitter page that for the second day in a row, Bates is nowhere to be found at One Buc Palace while practice is held.
Former Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates was not at practice for the second consecutive day since his demotion.
Joe wonders what fast foot joint Bates dined at today?
Some friendly advice for Bates: Try La Teresita. It’s within walking distance of One Buc Palace and the food is significantly better and less expensive than that place you were at yesterday.
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.
Am I hearing this right?
Greg Olson is moving the Bucs offense back to Jon Gruden’s and Raheem Morris is moving the defense back to Monte Kiffin’s?
For the record, I never believed the Tampa 2 was out of vogue or couldn’t work anymore. A soft Cover 2 (corners that have flexibility in their sideline coverage) that protects the deep middle a bit with the middle linebacker is a tough defense to work a passing game against.
With a four-man defensive front, it is only great if those guys are solid and that hasn’t been the case since Warren Sapp was let go. Jim Bates’ philosophy of blitz and play man-to-man behind it never made sense for this cast of characters from the get-go. And now Morris has dumped the coordinator on both sides of the ball.
On offense, I was never a fan of Gruden’s program (always ranking in the lower half of the NFL), and I don’t like whatever hybrid Olson has been employing thus far, but I’m giving the guy a break for taking over a week before opening day.
The Bucs do not have explosive receivers like the Saints or game-breaking backs like the Panthers, Saints or Falcons, so they must begin using deception like most of the other teams in the NFL do or they will continue to flounder Sunday after Sunday.
The Bucs personnel just isn’t good enough to line up and play smash-mouth football, and that is what most of their plays are lined up to do. I have been relatively pleased with Josh Freeman’s early play, but he needs help from his play caller if they want to have any sustained success.
In a recent piece typed by Joe Henderson, the Tampa Tribune columnist all but skinned Bucs general manager Mark Dominik.
While Joe enjoyed a late-morning breakfast Tuesday of biscuits and gravy — sprinkled with paprika — and a side order of hash browns, he was surfing through his blackberry — the 21st Century version of spreading out the fishwraps — for reactions to the Bucs defrocking defensive coordinator Jim Bates.
When Joe ran across Joe Henderson’s missive in the Tampa Tribune, he had to set down his cup of coffee and make sure he didn’t drop his blackberry in his breakfast.
An angry Henderson lashed out at Bucs management, including its head coach, claiming shredding Bates from his title was nothing more than a ploy to cover up the many errors since taking the reigns of the Bucs last winter.
Here’s a simple question for Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik: Who’s left to blame now?
You ran the offensive coordinator away before the season even started. And now, you stripped defensive coordinator Jim Bates of his duties after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense fell to the bottom of the National Football League.
So who’s left to blame?
How about you guys?
Wow! And Henderson was just warming up. He indirectly mocked Raheem the Dream for his indecision but left his harshest words for Dominik.
Dominik squandered money on Mike Nugent (cut) and Michael Clayton. I’ll give him a thumbs-up on Kellen Winslow and a cautious thumbs-up on Josh Freeman, but that’s about it. His fingerprints were on the Jeff Jagodzinski disaster at offensive coordinator, and when they’re done investigating the chalk outline of Jim Bates it will lead to Dominik’s door instead.
Joe will be the first to admit: The best style of prose is angry writing.
Posted in Recent Posts | Comments Off on Bucs Have Run Out Of Scapegoats
Joe wrote about the spirited radio interview of esteemed Tampa Tribune NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman yesterday on 1040 AM.
But Joe didn’t reveal all the good stuff at once. He’s saved a couple of juicy nuggets.
Asked whether the Jim Bates firing was approved by the Glazer Boys, Kaufman said the move certainly was.
“It’s run past the Glazers. Just like when Josh Freeman was put in the game in England,” Kaufman said.
That Freeman-England-Glazer comment by Kaufman made Joe sit up straight as if Jenn Sterger requested he help her shave.
Of course, it’s no surprise to hear the Glazers were in on the firing of yet another coordinator, but playing Freeman?
Raheem The Dream had to call Brian and Joel to get a rubber stamp on playing a quarterback?
Are things that bizarre at One Buc Place?
Kaufman also said Raheem The Dream and Mark Dominik’s recent decisions are being scrutinized “at the upper levels” where it’s being asked, “Can we trust these guys?” and “If you can’t pick a coordinator, how can you pick a cornerstone [in the draft]? It’s an open debate right now.”
In this very interesting TBO.com podcast with Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Cummings discusses the elements — aside from the painfully obvious — that led to the defrocking of Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates.
If you’ve been disconnected from Falcons football since last season, you’re probably wondering how the Bucs will stop Michael Turner on Sunday in Atlanta, considering far lesser running backs have torched them.
Sharp, punishing runs against the Saints (three carries for 31 yards) will not catapult Earnest Graham into becoming a primary option in the Bucs running game on Sunday in Atlanta. 
Joe wrote about the spirited radio interview of esteemed Tampa Tribune NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman yesterday on 1040 AM.
