Despite Strong Showing, Bucs Get Edged By Saints 24-20.It was another one of those games. The first week of the NFL season is always a time of adjustment and trial and error, being only one week removed from exhibition football played by back ups and young hopefuls. Most teams appear sluggish and that was no exception as the Bucs showed sparks of brilliance among a back drop of, well...sluggishness.
Quarterbacks: C-
Jeff Garcia looked pretty rusty. 21 of 41 for 221 passing yards with 1 TD and 1 Interception, respectively. There were several situations where ball was thrown too low, too high, or just into the ground. Don't get me wrong, I think it takes a mature QB to know when a play has been busted to the point of no return and to throw it out. On the other hand, though, when there is an opportunity to make a play, you gotta make the throw, not throw it to the other team, as he did on the last play of the game. I think the game turns out differently if Garcia throws those bad passes on the mark. Maybe next week....
Runningbacks: B
Earnest Graham rushed for 91 yards on 10 carries. Warrick Dunn had 54 yards on 9 carries. Each averaging well over the 5 yards per carry mark. These guys were the saving grace of the offense, basically. The way the game changed in the second half limited their use in the end, though. Both Graham and Dunn ran especially well against an intense Saints defense.
As for fullbacks, B.J. Askew had 3 receptions for 20 yards, including one for a gain of 11 yards.
Recievers: C-
Ugh. Everyone knows that the passing game requires intricate timing between the recieving corps and the quarterback. What do you get when your leading reciever and your starting QB both miss training camp and the entire preseason due to injury? A poor showing.
Joey Galloway had 6 receptions for a paltry 56 yards with his longest being a whoping 13 yards deep. That's only 2 yards deeper than B.J. Askew was able to do at fullback. At fullback. His timing was all over the place, giving up on two plays that looked designed for him, one a deep pass and the other being a hook route that should be easily caught. The Bucs could not stretch the field when needed, so the Saints stayed home, often putting 8 men in the box to stuff the running game.
Ike Hilliard and Alex Smith made some clutch catches but neither was able to break free enough to contribute down the field. Antonio Bryant managed to drop more passes than Micheal Clayton, which says a lot. The recievers can't be totally put to blame for all of this however, considering a lot of missed opportunities were due to Garcia being very inaccurate. Ugh.
Offensive Line: B
The line struggled from time to time but were nonetheless improved over last year. They managed to open huge holes for the runningbacks and protect the QB. The only downside I saw was that Jeremy Zuttah was getting beat pretty often while filling in for the injured Davin Joseph. There were several times that the line fell apart, but that's just first week stuff. I look to this line for great stuff in the weeks ahead.
Defensive Line: C-
Very unlike themselves, the defensive line was pretty much a no factor this week. Greg White accounted for the only sack in the game while Gaines Adams and his ill fitted helmet were basically stopped cold by the Saints O line. Chris Hovan seemed to have his hands more than full trying to break through as well.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. The line has the peices to be fierce and they will be once the season gets going. Look for a more dominant performance next week at home.
Linebackers: C+
This group of guys were hot and cold all through the game. Hot: How about Mr. Barrett RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD leading the team with 9 solo tackles and one assist as well as a tackle for loss? Cold: How about allowing allowing 110 yards rushing and giving up 112 yards in short passes thrown to Reggie Bush alone?
It seemed like the LBs were a bit sluggish. Whenever Reggie Bush would get moving it seemed like our backers were stuck in quicksand. Derrick Brooks left the game with a hamstring strain and is questionable for this week's game against Atlanta, putting his franchise record 209 consecutive start streak in doubt as well. Before he left the game he managed to put up 3 solo tackles. He also missed about 2 that I saw, so I don't know what to make of that.
I like our linebackers, though. Look to them to make a splash at home in the heat next week.
Defensive Backs: B-
The other half of the reason that this game was so close was due to these guys. Unfortunately they also cost us a lot as well. Phillip Buchanon returned an interception for a touchdown to tie the game at 7 early Sunday. Aqib Talib cost us 7 points, however, when he failed to to cover his reciever, opting instead to try a leaping interception that resulted in a TD for the Saints.
One play that got me really flustered was Jermaine Phillips half hearted tackle attempt on Reggie Bush's 26 yard touchdown run. Bush managed to pickup great tackles from his O line, shake off Ruud and Buchanon. Standing between Bush and 6 point is Phillips, an NFL starting strong safety. As Bush runs past, Phillips whifs and runs out of bounds on a weak juke move by Bush. When you watch the play it's apparent that Phillips was totally unprepared for Bush and was likewise unable to present even the slightest opposition to Bush. Pathetic.
A notable play was Ronde Barber's sick hit on Reggie Bush that caused what is still in my mind a fumble. The refs didn't see it that way, but you can bet the next time Reggie sees the ball coming in from the right and Ronde flying in fom the left, he'll be thinking about more than Pepsi commercials and paychecks.
Special Teams: B
Special teams were pretty solid, allowing only 16.8 yards per return on Sunday. Punter Josh Bidwell a.k.a. The Notorius B.I.D. punted for an average of 44 yards per punt, including one that was downed by special teams at the 1 yard line. Bidwell is always solid, every game, every punt. It was great to see him get off to a great start.
Matt Bryant, ripped by professional assclown shithead Martin Fennelly for being inconsistent through the preseason, hit two field goals for the Bucs. Just a further sign that Fennelly knows dick about what he speaks of.
Coaching: D
I think it goes without saying that Monte Kiffin always does the best job he can do. Besides a few miscues on coverage, the Bucs stayed competitive throughout the game defensively. As usual, though, Gruden's mistakes ultimately cost us the game.
Like I mentioned before, when the timing between the Garcia and Galloway is rusted and blurry, why would you repeatedly call for plays that depend on that relationship to be executed? When you are out of touch, that's when.
Gruden has showed his inability to grasp the reality of situations before, when doubting Chris Simms poor performance being due to his spleen injury, when promising Keenan McCardel a contract extension only to go back on that word, and calling plays that go against what appears to make sense in the game situation, putting his players in awkward situations and inevitibly costing the team a victory. All of this is becasue to Gruden, it's either his way or the highway, even if the highway mean losing the game.
Another reason the Bucs couldn't get the win yesterday was because Gruden's offensive play calling makes the two minute drill almost impossible, ruining our efforts at clock managment totally, killing our chances of quickly scoring to win the game, and putting a rusty Jeff Garcia in a position to throw the game ending interception. Most football playnames are specific to a certain play, it's just coded so that the defense doesn't know what the specific words mean. In Gruden's system the play calls are very long, containing coded messages for each specific player concerning what they are to do. When you start to have to basically explain an entire play in code to each player, the chances of making good use of time is very unlikely.
It's the difference between asking "Dude, could you get me a Coke?" versus saying "Dude, get me a Coke from the fridge while I sit here and work on writing this blog. The handle is on the left side of the fridge and the Coke should be on the top shelf. And don't drop the Coke because if you do, it may explode all over me. That would suck." Garcia got Gruden to lighten up a little on the audibles and the various trickery in favor of a more straight approach last year, so you can drop the "that would suck." line from the play.
Conclusion:
All in all, though, I hope that Gruden gets the message this week. We have to do what we have to do to win football games. If that means changing the method a little to maximize on what we can do then that's what it takes.
Half of the teams in this league are 0-1, just like us. If we are going to take advantage of this season we have to start doing so next against a Falcons team that everyone counted out this year but managed to stomp the Lions 34-21. We have our work cut out for us.
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