Bucs/Jags Recap

Posted Aug 24, 2008 by Darin Shaw

Updated Aug 24, 2008 at 09:43 PM

Well now, that’s what it looks like when we play a team that came to play.  In week one, the Dolphins were totally outmatched - but then again the blocking and tackling dummies in their training facility give them a run for their money.  The Patriots have looked anything but inspired to play ball this preaseason.  But DelRio had his Jags ready to rumble, and they brought it to us.

Jeff Garcia looked like a guy who hasn’t played in a long time.  He settled in a bit during his last drive.  You have to believe he will be fine.  Brian Griese did a lot to inspire my confidence in saying, despite Roy Cumming’s man-crush on Luke McCown in insisting that Luke has won the number 2 job, Brian Griese should absolutely be our second stringer.  Luke looked absolutely horrible on his first series, then went on to look great in nearly leading the come-from-behind.  I agree with Gruden’s own oft-verbalized assessment: Luke is inconsistent.  I ask again: Wouldn’t we be better with Chris Simms or Josh Johnson as our number 3?  Speaking of those two - no sign of either of them this week.

The running of Michael Bennett excites me.  I have a feeling that we’re all going to be pleased with the running game this year.  Who doesn’t make the team?  Does Kenneth Darby have a shot?  How about Clifton Smith?  Although I love these kinds of Cinderella stories, they both seem like real long-shots in the roster logjam.

The kicker!  I’m telling you, I’m losing sleep!  They say that he’s had one of the best camps a kicker has ever had.  Perfect.  In this preseason he’s been a flop.  And, am I the only one who notices that while our return guys are regularly having to decide whether to bring the ball out of the end-zone, our opponents consistently field our kick-offs at the 15 yard line?  Mark my words, this guy is going to have Gruden chewing Rolaids all year.  Why is there not some competition in camp for Matt Bryant?  Oh yeah, it’s because there are a dozen QB’s on the roster.

I still like Mike.  Clayton, that is.  Another pretty good game catching, and blocking down field. 

Hey, and the kid whose name I can’t spell - that first rounder Achoo Taloo, or whoever… looked mighty good out there.  I’m going to have to learn how to say his name!  That kid might stick.

What did you see out there this week?

---

Week 1 Depth Chart

Posted Aug 24, 2008 by Gregg Becnel

Updated Aug 24, 2008 at 08:47 PM

Here is USF’s official depth chart for Saturday’s opener against some guy named Martin from Tennessee:

OFFENSE

X  A .J. Love; Carlton Mitchell
H Jessie Hester; Patrick Richardson
LT Ryan Schmidt; Mike McGowan
LG Matt Huners; Chaz Hine
C Jake Griffin; Ryan Schmidt
RG Zach Hermann; Joe Herzhauser
RT Marc Dile; Jacob Sims
TE Cedric Hill; Trent Pupello
Y Taurus Johnson; Dontavia Bogan
Z Marcus Edwards; Jeffrey Wilson
QB Matt Grothe; Grant Gregory
RB-A Benjamin Williams; Richard Kelly
RB-B 33 Jamar Taylor OR Mike Ford

DEFENSE

LE Jarriett Buie; Craig Marshall
NT Terrell McClain; Sampson Genus
DT Aaron Harris; Keith McCaskill
RE George Selvie; Patrick Hampton
SAM Tyrone McKenzie; Chris Robinson
MIKE Kion Wilson; Alonzo McQueen
WILL Brouce Mompremier; Sabbath Joseph
CB Tyller Roberts;  Tyson Butler
SS Carlton Williams; Louis Gachette
FS Nate Allen; Danny Verpaele
CB Jerome Murphy; Quenton Washington

SPECIALISTS

K Delbert Alvarado; Justin Teachey
KO Justin Teachey; Maikon Bonani
P Delbert Alvarado; Justin Teachey
LS Eric Setser; Mike Walsh
KR Jerome Murphy; Taurus Johnson
PR Marcus Edwards
H Grant Gregory
 
Just a couple of quick notes:

—Before you throw a flag for too many men on the field on the offense, there are 13 offensive starters listed because USF could open in different formations (two-back, four-receiver, etc.)

—There are 10 freshmen among the two-deep, but none starting.

—There are 15 senior starters (eight offense, five defense, two specialists)

—For whatever reason, Mike Ford’s freefall continues to be a mystery. Obviously, there is something going on behind the scenes we don’t know about. 

---

Pierzynski makes the call

Posted Aug 24, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Aug 24, 2008 at 06:35 PM

CHICAGO—A.J. Pierzynski doesn’t have that many fans around the game, but the guy certainly knows what he’s doing.

As he stumbled backward while caught in a rundown in the 10th inning, sticking his left elbow out and catching Willy Aybar along the way, Pierzynski yelled “Obstruction!” Jason Bartlett, who tagged him a moment later, couldn’t believe it, and he expected second-base umpire Doug Eddings to have a similar reaction. Instead, Eddings called Aybar for interference and gave Pierzynski third base.

“I think everybody knows A.J. plays hard, but he also does little things like that, too,” said Bartlett. “It’s something that they’re going to see on tape after the game and probably notice they made the wrong call, but you can’t change anything now.”

Naturally, the umpires defended their call following the game. Ted Barrett, who was at third base today, spoke to a pool reporter about the play. This was his explanation:

“As a runner, you’re allowed to do that. What Doug ruled at second base was, even though A.J. did kind of stick his arm out to make contact, Aybar was still in his way, so A.J., if he would have turned, he wouldn’t have been able to continue on to third. So after making the throw, Aybar is no longer in the act of fielding and he can’t obstruct the runner, which is what Doug ruled happened. And in a rundown, even though A.J. was going back to second, the rule of obstruction during a rundown is he gets his next advanced base and that’s why he was rewarded third base.

“If Aybar’s got the ball, there’s no obstruction, You protect the fielder when he’s in the act of fielding. Once that ball’s released and out of his hand, he has to vacate.”

Aybar said through interpreter Dioner Navarro that the umpire told him he initiated the contact with Pierzynski, rather than the other way around.

Joe Maddon wasn’t nearly as hot after this one as he was when B.J. Upton got called out after turning toward second in that game last week, but he still made it clear he disagreed with the call.

“We didn’t do the rundown very well, I’ll give us that. Our rundown technique was not good,” said Maddon. “But nevertheless, he still should have been out.”

---

Got your stopwatches ready?

Posted Aug 24, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Aug 24, 2008 at 01:10 PM

CHICAGO—Blink a couple times and you may miss today’s game. Both Andy Sonnanstine and Mark Buehrle are renowned for being fast workers on the mound, so this one could zoom by. And of course by saying that, I understand I’ve probably jinxed us to 14-inning purgatory or something like that, but whatever.

The Rays are looking for their ninth series sweep of the season and their second on the road (Marlins, June 24-26), and Sonnanstine would tie Rolando Arrojo’s club record for wins in a season if he can pick up his 14th today.

The weather is absolutely perfect after a couple days of mugginess, with a forecast high of 76 and a nice breeze. Should be a good one.

One more thing before we go—the Blue Jays have changed their rotation for the upcoming series for about the eighth time in the last couple of days and now plan to start Pinellas Park’s Jesse Litsch in Thursday’s series finale.

Rays
Iwamura 2B
Upton CF
Pena 1B
Baldelli DH
Aybar 3B
Zobrist LF
Riggans C
Gross RF
Bartlett SS
Sonnanstine P

White Sox
Cabrera SS
Pierzynski C
Quentin LF
Dye RF
Thome DH
Ramirez 2B
Griffey CF
Swisher 1B
Uribe 3B
Buehrle P

---

Cool Legs Luke

Posted Aug 23, 2008 by Scott Brown

Updated Aug 24, 2008 at 01:19 AM

Luke McCown just nicely atoned for his horrendous interception by scrambling down the right sideline and subsequently hitting Chad Lucas for a short touchdown to make it 23-17.

Nothing happened tonight to make the Bucs quarterback depth chart any clearer. Five guys in (presumably) three slots is not good math. So who stays and who goes? That was the question going into training camp, and it seems no clearer now - other than to note, of course, that Chris Simms might as well have been watching other preseason games in the locker room tonight.

---

Scary Moment For Bucs

Posted Aug 23, 2008 by Scott Brown

Updated Aug 24, 2008 at 01:18 AM

In a scene sadly reminiscent of last year’s Paris Warren injury, Antoine Cash (above) has just been carted off the field after colliding with teammate Marcus Hamilton with seven minutes to play

Hamilton limped off (with help from Derrick Brooks - no surprise there), but Cash’s injuries are clearly more serious, and we’ll let you know more as soon as we know.

Meanwhile, Josh Scobee connects again, and the Jaguars lead 23-10, with just under seven minutes to go.

---

Let’s Play ‘Impress The Coach’

Posted Aug 23, 2008 by Scott Brown

Updated Aug 23, 2008 at 09:56 PM

Josh Scobee just kicked a field goal to essentially seal the outcome of the game, but with 12 minutes left a number of reserves on the bubble have a chance to show the Bucs’ coaching staff what they can do. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Cleo Lemon led the drive that put the game out of reach.

So now, Luke McCown is in at QB for the Bucs, while Joey Galloway (of course) and Antonio Bryant watch from the bench. We haven’t heard what kept Bryant from live action tonight, but if we do we’ll send it along.

---

Jaguars Extend Advantage

Posted Aug 23, 2008 by Scott Brown

Updated Aug 23, 2008 at 09:14 PM

Say what you will about preseason games, but the Jaguars, at least, find some meaning in them. Starting quarterback David Garrard stayed in the game for the first possession of the third quarter, leading the Jags to a touchdown drive, set up by a long connection with Matt Jones (who made a nice move on Tanard Jackson) and finished by a TD strike to Marcedes Lewis for a 17-7 lead.

We’ll see how seriously the teams take the final outcome from this point forward.

---

Familiar Names Make It A Game

Posted Aug 23, 2008 by Scott Brown

Updated Aug 23, 2008 at 08:44 PM

An interception by (who else?) Ronde Barber gave the Bucs offense a short field, and Garcia, looking a bit more into the game, found Michael Clayton for a 10-yard score to cut the Jaguars’ lead to 10-7. Clayton, in fact, had a key reception earlier in the drive to keep it going.

So, we come back to the annual question: is Clayton ready to be a regular contributor to the offense again? It would certainly seem important, given Joey Galloway’s absence to this point, which is not a good sign at all for the Bucs.

Meanwhile, the Bucs defense, keyed mostly by first-teamers, forced a three-and-out and Garcia will have a chance to leave the game with a lead-claiming drive just before half.

Update: OK, forget that. Brian Griese is the guy with the chance to give the Bucs the halftime edge

---

Garcia Obviously Rusty

Posted Aug 23, 2008 by Scott Brown

Updated Aug 24, 2008 at 01:19 AM

Jon Gruden’s concerns about Jeff Garcia’s lack of playing time in the preseason seem to be well-founded. Garcia misfired on a pass intended for Maurice Stovall (who fell down, anyway), and former Florida Gator Reggie Nelson was waiting for an easy interception, and the Jaguars are deep in Bucs territory, already leading 3-0.

Clearly, the speed of the Jacksonville defense, particularly the pass rush, is something Garcia couldn’t have prepared for while watching the other Bucs quarterbacks from the sidelines. It will be interesting to see how much Gruden chooses to play Garcia tonight, given that the last preseason game (at Houston next Thursday in the Bucs’ case) is rarely a showcase for established starters.

---