One Down… Literally

Posted Sep 13, 2009 by Darin Shaw

Updated Sep 13, 2009 at 03:26 PM

What did you think of our new look Bucs?  Were you surprised?  Better than you thought?  Worse?  Did they really play so bad that they are being sent to Buffalo next week? 

What did you see out there today?

I saw a running offense that showed great promise.  I saw Cadillac Williams looking like the Cadillac of his rookie season.  I saw Michael Clayton looking like the Clayton of his rookie year. Very encouraging.  I saw an offensive line that handled business well for most of the game.  I think Radio… er, Byron Leftwich took a beating late in the game.  But, there was reason for offensive line optomism, I think.

On the other side of the ball, save the four long pass plays (and a couple more that would have been long completions that just missed), the Bucs D looked pretty good.  I mean, the pressure on the passer was pretty constant.  The run defense was stout.  But what to make of our DBs in chase mode all afternoon?  Interesting though that the man on man coverage we were worried about heading into this season wasn’t the problem.  Ronde and Aquib looked very good in the man situations.  Aquib was on opposing receivers like they were cab drivers.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)  Where the break-downs occurred were all in understanding who was covering who.  Did you see it?  As our safeties were walking back to the sideline after having given sixty yards of chase they were looking at each other, like, “Was that my man?”

Don’t get me started on Mike Nugent and our placekicking game today.  I wonder how Matt Bryant’s hammy is this evening.

All in all, though, I come away encouraged.  Our Bucs looked a little better today than I expected.  If they figure out their secondary assignments, we might be okay.  Take away the big plays today and it was a Bucs win.  But, of course, you can’t take away those big plays.

Player of the game: Cadillac Williams.  Goat of the game: I’ll give that one to both Sabby Piscatelli and Jermaine Phillips.

Looking forward, I’ll bet T.O. was salivating watching our DBs give chase.  We better tune it up, and quick.