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Phoning It In
Posted Dec 27, 2006 by Scott Kramer
Updated Dec 27, 2006 at 01:30 AM
If you sat through the entire Browns game on Sunday, congratulations. You watched the only game this week that didn’t have any playoff implications whatsoever. Even though the Browns are an inferior team, it would have been easy for the Bucs to play down to the level of their competition and find a way to lose the game. Instead, the team took advantage of Cleveland’s incompetence and dominated them in just about every facet of the game. Since it’s Christmas and I’m on vacation (or whatever you call it when the kids are still here,) I’ll cop out and give a few quick bullet points about the Browns game.
- I’ve been riding Derrick Brooks an Jermaine Phillips all season, but both of them turned in excellent performances on Sunday. Phillips has been getting better each of the last few weeks and then against the Browns he finally found his pass coverage skills again. And after getting torched by the Bears last week, Brooks had one of his best games of the season. Both these positions still need to be addressed in the offseason, but neither one of these guys is going to make it easy.
- And, no, Derrick Brooks should not have made the Pro Bowl. He was not one of the top three outside linebackers in the NFC this year. The voters picked the right guys.
- And while Phillips is improving his play, Will Allen is just getting worse and worse. How do you let Kellen Winslow get by you like that? Look for serious competition for both safety positions next year.
- Tim Rattay is obviously a better quarterback at this stage of his career than Bruce Gradkowski is, but he is not the future of the team. The interception thrown in the endzone was a rookie mistake. Be glad the deal with Chris Simms is almost done.
- Offensive line play got much better in the second half. That touchdown run by Michael Pittman was mostly done by Davin Joseph and Jeremy Trueblood. The only sticking point is Anthony Davis, who seems to get his quarterback killed at least once per game, his most recent leading to a Tim Rattay fumble.
- Maurice Stovall is going to give Michael Clayton a run for his starting spot next season. Depending on how well Clayton does in camp, the Bucs may want to put some feelers out to gauge his trade value before he works his way onto injured reserve again.
Thanks to Indianapolis’s annual chokage coming early this year, the Bucs are still in line for the #3 draft slot and can’t drop below #6, so don’t feel conflicted about rooting for the Bucs this Sunday against the Seahawks and ending this catastrophe of a season on a high note.
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Reader Comments
Por (Charles Brandon) on December 27, 2006 (Suggest removal)
Mr. Kramer thanks for writing something, it justs warms my heart to talk about what needs to be done for next season. I pray to the heavens that Jermaine Phillips and Will Allen be kicked out of the league next year for pretending to be safeties. Anthony Davis and John Wade should be released or made backups. I am the only man alive who cannot wait for the football season to end; so my team can fix their situation. COMBINE, FREE AGENCY, and the DRAFT are like the days leading up to Christmas when I was 7.
Suggest removalPor (Charles Brandon) on December 27, 2006 (Suggest removal)
One more thing. I remember Gruden being asked about the o-line last offseason and he made a statement somewhere along the lines of: “The o-line has been a work in progress for 30 years…”. If that is such a well known fact, why is it so hard to fix it? It breaks my heart every season that this is a constant issue. O-line is an instant solution. Bears, Jets, Saints anyone? Boy do I miss Paul Gruber, Newberry, Randall McDaniel, and Jeff Christy. FIX THIS PROBLEM NOWWWWWWWWWWW! If not, we can all look forward to more batted down balls, sacks, no running game, etc.
Suggest removalPor (Tom Henson) on December 27, 2006 (Suggest removal)
If you would’ve told me after Michael Clayton’s rookie year that he would struggle mightily from that point forward, I would’ve said your someone who doesn’t know football….but the way he just fell off the map is very puzzling, he was sensational his rookie year, I mean there were whispers of the next Jerry Rice down in Tampa, he really was THAT good, but since, it seems he forgot how to play the position,I really had high hopes for MC,(we all did) and I hope he’ll get back to the form that got him to the NFL, otherwise he’ll become one of many who have come and gone with little fan fare. Now I hear he could be traded, which means the Bucs would surely get the low end of that deal. C’mon MC, bring it next year and dominate!
Suggest removalPor (Brian Coleman) on December 27, 2006 (Suggest removal)
Does anyone else besdies me question the wisdom of re-signing Chris Simms?
Suggest removalGranted, he was great in 2005, but this season, before he got hurt, he was atrocious.
Didn’t Coach Gruden talk about casting a net to find the best quarterback in the country or something to that effect a couple weeks ago? Is that search now concluded?
I’m sorry, o-line or not, we got to find a QB. Why not give Jake Plummer a try when Denver jettisons him after this season? He reminds me some of Rich Gannon, and remember how well he executed Gruden’s offense in Oakland.
Whatver else we need, and it is a lot, they must bring in another Quarterback.
Por (Dexter Fields) on December 28, 2006 (Suggest removal)
I agree with you Brain 100%,but signing Simms will save us in the long run.It’s only a two year deal,if he fails the first year we can get rid of him the next.We should worry about who’s the backup if Simms fail.
Suggest removalPor (John Fitzhenry) on December 28, 2006 (Suggest removal)
Its nice to see the BUCS putting forth some effort in the last few games.At the season’s beginning they played without any passion or cohesiveness.I have attended BUC games for the last 15 years, and this was one of the worst years in terms of player effort. Dropped passes, missed tackles, missed blocking assignments and poor pass coverage indicates a lack of concentration and desire.
Suggest removalNext season, please consider giving the paying fans a full season of effort to ease the pain of the exhoribant season ticket, parking and concession prices charged.