Observations of the Bucs/Ravens 11/28/10 Reality Check
by witty on Nov 28, 2010 10:31 PM EST
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1) Reality Check: the 2010 Tampa Bay Bucs are improved from 2009. They just can't beat the good teams (Atlanta, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, now Baltimore) yet. At least keeping the score respectable (although it was never as close as that 17-10 scoreboard says it) is a moral victory...
1a) Moral victories still suck when the team loses... sigh.
2) Reality Check 2: Josh Freeman is gonna have bad days. This lousy, where-the-hell-you-throwing-it day where the good thing you can say is "at least he didn't toss up an INT". Oy.
3) Goat of the game: to the genius who didn't keep as close an eye of TE Todd Heap and he should have. You let a bulky, slow as molasses TIGHT END get behind you and into the open field for a reception that led the Ravens' longest scoring play of the year... so yeah, Barrett Ruud, I think it's time to start worrying - if you hadn't already - about those trade rumors to Detroit...
3a) To quote Samuel L Jackson from the film "Jackie Brown": "What happened to you? Your ass used to be beautiful..."
4) How bad was the Bucs' day? An awesome OH YEAH play happens with Talib snagging that INT and running it back for great field position... only for the play to end with S Cody Grimm getting carted off the field with a serious leg injury.
5) Statistics of the Game: That horrible Third Down percentages. The Bucs were coming in with pretty good ratios (57 percent success rate on Third Downs). Today? Three out of 12 Third Downs converted. Right about 25 percent. And it showed: the Bucs didn't drive very well outside of their two scoring drives. There were entire quarters (well okay the Third Quarter) where the Bucs were miserable on third downs...
5a) Four sacks today. And this was against a playoff-caliber offensive line (albeit one with injury issues) and a QB who knows what he's doing. The best news is that McCoy had 2 of those sacks and the D-line did get some decent pressure for most of the day.
5b) The Bucs gave up 92 yards rushing. The talk was about how Ray Rice could burn the team: He had 85 yards, although with a respectable 4-yard-per average.
6) My biggest quibble of the day: why the hell was Freeman tossing up those long bombs to receivers NOT named Mike Williams...? And those pass plays late in the Second Quarter when the Bucs are at the goal line and Freeman keeps tossing it across the middle into QUADRUPLE COVERAGE? Where was the look for some guy skirting the end zone line toward the pylons?
7) In other NFL news today: fans went to a Texans - Titans game and a hockey game broke out. Okay, seriously, Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnegan should really not face each other on the field ever again. As long as they are on the Texans and Titans respectively, whoever has home field has to sit out. Or work as a Beer Guy in the stands. And the other guy is buying.. yeah, for the fans. >:-) That oughta teach 'em...
7a) At this rate the Carolina Panthers will hold the overall top draft spot in next April's draft. Hey, guys, get a QB! >:-)
7b) The talk has started up again that a losing team could make the playoffs: there is currently no one in the NFC West above .500. The Monday nighter between the 3-7 teams of the 49ers and the Cardinals won't resolve that issue this week.
8) In college news, the entire Division I-A needs to understand one thing: Never EVER take the South Florida Bulls into overtime. You WILL lose. >:-) GO BULLS!
8a) That noise you just heard was the massive shout of schadenfreude by the BCS supporters once Boise State finally lost a game. They think this will settle the issue of converting the bowl system into a playoff system. The BCS supporters are wrong: there's still another non-BCS undefeated (TCU) and there is still a lot of frustration with how the bowl selection works (does anyone want to take a 4-loss Big East champion after next week? Yeah, I doubt it... even if it ends up being West Virginia).
8b) So the Florida Gators have a five-loss season. Whadda they gonna do, bring back Ron Zook? Look, guys, teams have letdown years: UF just lost a highly motivated and hard-to-gameplan-against QB in The Tebow. The shift of talent from a champion-caliber lineup to another is roughly 3-4 years the way things work in college football nowadays (the era of back-to-back killing machines like the Hurricanes of the Eighties and the Cornhuskers of the Nineties... and all the uber programs of earlier decades... are gone).
8c) So... anyone figure on the Bulls making it to the Champs Bowl in Orlando...?
9) Next up on the Bucs' radar: a home game. Against the Atlanta Falcons. Against the team sitting atop the NFC at 9-2. And looking to lock home-field advantage and a huge foot up on the NFC South race between them, the Saints, and us.
This... is REALLY the Game of the Year for the Bucs. Win it, and they help knock the Falcs down a peg. Win it, and they'll finally get a win against a winning team. Win it... and that 11-win season looks easier to reach...
10) Way off-topic note: I hit the 50,000 word mark on the NaNoWriMo event this month. Now the tricky part is to finish the rest of the damn novel and get it published! >:-)
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Really people need to stop over reacting about this loss, not that you are ! Haha !
We are still in the hunt for a playoff spot, and no one looked at the schedule in August and said there’s a win !
Win next week and this will be a forgotten memory.
Losing Grimm, that will hurt for the rest of the year !
by skunk5150 on Nov 29, 2010 12:21 AM EST via mobile reply actions
This was a tough one
We have made huge growth this season and despite being young, we are competing with the best and have a winning record.
I am a bear of very little brains and big words bother me.
I may be wrong about Ruud being the guy who screwed the coverage on Heap
It might have been Sabby instead. Which still should not stop the trade rumors for Ruud Piscatelli to Detroit…
The 2010 Bucs: Considering their two-minute offense works wonders... Why can't EVERY offensive drive be run like that during the other 58 minutes of the damn game?!
it was Sabby
Rudd had to come across field to try to make a play on Heap. Sabby bit on a fake, and he was too far in toward the line. BUT, in his defense he was pass rushing a lot. I think it was more lack of reps than anything else.
Addendum: Peyton Manning is screwing up?!
OOooooooohh Boy.
Before this year, I can’t recall a time where Manning had back-to-back terrible games like this. Never a good sign…
He is at that point – Hi, Brett Favre! – where he’s on the tailend of a career – Is Favre retiring for good this time? – and where he’s going to be facing the fact that his physical abilities are gonna start falling apart… and his mental abilities aren’t as sharp as they used to be…
The 2010 Bucs: Considering their two-minute offense works wonders... Why can't EVERY offensive drive be run like that during the other 58 minutes of the damn game?!
That's an overreaction
Manning isn’t as good as he’s used to be, but a big part of this performance is miscommunication with the slew of random receivers. Plus, getting hit on every other play because his O-line’s terrible.
This!
The Colts could be the most injury plagued team in the league this year & it is showing.
by RuudAwakening on Nov 29, 2010 9:15 AM EST up reply actions
Been saying for years that Manning makes his OL look better than it actually is.
who would of thought we would be arguably the greatest of all time
around here we developed such a sound down here
but duplicate it off the steel it can only be found here
He does
He’s really good at getting the ball out just before the rush gets to him, no matter how much time het gets from his O-line.
But that relies on communicating well with his receivers to connect on those quick throws. And his O-line has been much, much worse than it was in previous years.
one other thing: I guess everyone gets along with their Mothers-In-Law nowadays...
nobody’s voting for that in the poll above… well, that’s a good thing, families ought to get along…
The 2010 Bucs: Considering their two-minute offense works wonders... Why can't EVERY offensive drive be run like that during the other 58 minutes of the damn game?!
Too Late This Time
It seemed to me like during the game it took too long for the Buc offense to adjust to the defensive scheme of the Ravens most of the plays that were called were all like bunch plays and kept everyone close to the line of scrimmage and just were not spreading out the defense …. which I place that blame on who ever is calling the plays (OLSON) The Bucs played with an Urgency that seemed to be missing throughout the rest of the game what do you think?
Raheem Morris + 2010 = Buccaneer in the playoffs
The playcalling did adjust to the defense
They called a number of shot plays that had wide receivers open – except Freeman overthrew them or the receivers dropped the ball.
Now you can argue that with Freeman off all day they should’ve called different plays, and that’s fine. But the design of those plays took advantage of the opposing defense just fine.
That is a good point & I failed to mention that in my post below.
While that is true, other than those few plays (one of which should have been reeled in by Spurlock), the play calls were this issue in my opinion. In the 4th when they started running a faster paced hurry-up things started working ALOT better. Now I know it is foolish to think we could run the hurry-up the whole game, but I definately think switching to it earlier would have been a huge help.
by RuudAwakening on Nov 29, 2010 12:22 PM EST up reply actions
It could've
It seemed to work well, but what we did on the first drive of the game seemed to work well as well.
Honestly, I think it was the pass blocking and Freeman just being off much more than the playcalling.
Even the announcer started saying before the half that they should try a no huddle, because it’s a well known hole in the Ravens pass defense, and Freeman is notoriously good at running it.
Proved correct when they finally did. Should have tried it coming out of the half, or midway through the 3rd quarter. We might have pulled this one out.
Speaking of, was it news to anyone else that Freeman was known for running no huddle back in college? Somehow I missed that about him until this game, but it does make his 4th quarter talents, and the way he’s played this year, make a lot more sense now. Not saying it surprises me, just explains a lot.
Morris said on his radio show yesterday that he should have gone no huddle a lot earlier.
But he didn’t, nothing we can do about it now but learn from it.
I'm not negative, I'm just telling you how it is.
I know we can't run it exclusively...
However, I think throughing it in on several series through out the game and not just at the end of each half could net positive results.
by RuudAwakening on Nov 30, 2010 3:45 PM EST up reply actions
Freeman was having an off day.
I’m not sure if the hurry up would have helped him or just caused him to go 3 and out earlier.
I don't think it was the hurry up offense that was working...
I think it was more that Freeman was starting from the shotgun. He always does better when he gets the ball in the shotgun.
I agree!
Offensive adjustments came way too late. It’s like before every series Olso said “ok, I know this didn’t work last time, but lets try it again”. I know we can’t afford to to get too cute with the playbook, but seriously, the same type of plays in a hurry-up format would have probably been enough. Although I think a hurry-up/spread the field format would have really got things moving. I blame most of this loss on the O-Line & the offensive play calling. The officiating was horrible, but they did make at least 1 bad call against Baltimore that actually erased a score so…I will say it was just horrible overall and not the rease for the Loss. I honestly think this was our worst game for offensive playcalling this year. I am not a huge Olson fan anyway, but overall I think he has done decent with what he has, not in this game though.
by RuudAwakening on Nov 29, 2010 12:19 PM EST up reply actions
LOL
‘In other NFL news today: fans went to a Texans – Titans game and a hockey game broke out.’
^^^ awesome
And no suspensions either. I thought for sure they'd each get at least one game.
I'm not negative, I'm just telling you how it is.
Although it would never ever happen, but if they let them fight like in hockey, it would bring a whole new excitement to the game.
But then you would get the 340 lb DL guys jumping on QB’s like Brees lol.
I'm not negative, I'm just telling you how it is.
Blown Coverage
it was all on Sabby just go back and watch the play on NFL. sabby clearly has no idea what he is doing on that play(like most of the time) so he runs in a circle then chases off after some random person. Heap even said that the safety blew his coverage and thats how he got open. you could see ruud shaking his head at the end of that play, even the other players are getting tired of Sabby routinely making mistakes and costing the team games. Corey Lynch has got to take the starting safety spot (hell even some random dude off the street plz just not Sabby)
over on ESPN Easterbrook reviewed that play and noted the LBs were ALL out of position
so it’s a combination apparently of both Sabby playing like Sabby (blindfolded) and the linebackers – Ruud especially – shifting out of position.
The 2010 Bucs: Considering their two-minute offense works wonders... Why can't EVERY offensive drive be run like that during the other 58 minutes of the damn game?!
I find that hard to believe
I don’t believe Eastbrook on schematics anyway, he has no expertise.
It’s a lot easier to believe that Sabby specifically is out of position than to believe that all the linebackers are also out of position – there’s no way they all get the call wrong.
And Easterbrook is wrong
I just watched the play. The only thing the linebackers did was switch Geno and Quincy in reaction to the strength of the opponent’s formation changing. So they moved Quincy over to Heap’s side because Quincy’s the strongside linebacker, and Geno to the other side because he’s the weakside linebacker. There’s no chaos or confusion there, it’s just the strength of the formation shifting. All three linebackers are in position at the snap.
To be a bit more concise: Easterbrook has no clue what he’s talking about.
What actually seems to happen is that they're playing a standard zone
Black clearly carries Heap to about 8 yards and then sits in an underneath zone. Both corners carry their receivers. Ruud runs after Heap when he sees Flacco starting to throw.
The more I look at it the more it’s clear that Sabby is at fault here. He stays deep but drops inside the box just before the snap. Once in the box he just kind of stands around looking lost and drops to the flat underneath Mason, which is weird because Ronde already has that responsibility. If you compare Sean Jones on the other side, he’s deep and playing over the top of the routes to his side. In fact he’s so deep you can’t even see him on the screen.
That seriously looked like cover 2.
Barber and Talib looked to be playing their 10-15 yard cushion in the flats. Ruud took off to the deep middle of the field, with Geno and Black playing in hook zones.
I say it looked like Tampa 2. The only person out of place was the fantastic Sabby Piscitelli. Mr. Flatfoot took off to the left, shook to the right, did a little dance, then was off to the races.
Sean Jones came racing from the deep right end of the field, and i’m pretty sure Sabby was supposed to be there. Barber was obviously not following his man deep.
Tisk tisk….
Check this out.
The play in slow-mo.
http://bucstop.com/blog/2010/11/30/slo-mo-analysis-was-sabby-out-of-position/
Flagged for Evil Links.
/JK
who would of thought we would be arguably the greatest of all time
around here we developed such a sound down here
but duplicate it off the steel it can only be found here
5b - Ray Rice only gained 85 yards
Ray Rice also caught 7 passes for 47 yards to go with his 85 rushing yards. That is a pretty good day when added together. He is much more than just a RB, just like Matt Forte of the Bears.
I would not crow about 5b. He had a good day and they won. Not as close as the score might indicate.
5b) The Bucs gave up 92 yards rushing. The talk was about how Ray Rice could burn the team: He had 85 yards, although with a respectable 4-yard-per average.
This was my stat of the game. I wish we’d won, because then all anyone would talk about would be how well the Bucs have progressed, instead we get talk about how we’re still not beating winning teams. >.<
And to point out, most of Rice’s yards came in the 4th quarter, in the final drive, when they were running out the clock. They kept him WELL contained for the better part of the game, I just wish they hadn’t quit at the end.
7b) The talk has started up again that a losing team could make the playoffs: there is currently no one in the NFC West above .500. The Monday nighter between the 3-7 teams of the 49ers and the Cardinals won’t resolve that issue this week.
I still say this entire thing needs to be looked at. A team with a losing record does not belong in the playoffs. There has to be a way to work out a fair method of making them earn the berth against an opponent who otherwise would be left out with a winning record. Third place for the wildcard spot, against the losing-record division winner, winner takes the playoff spot. That would decide it, without negating the rights of the other wildcard teams.
Even if the rule never has to be used, because it’s too late to do anything about it this year, it would be there for the future. Just in case something this stupid ever happens again.
It may not seem fair at times...
but a division winner goes to the playoffs. Period. As it should be. If they are THAT bad, they will lose anyway, so no harm done.
by Cracker Ball on Nov 30, 2010 11:58 AM EST up reply actions
It's ugly to see, though
But it’s what makes divisions work. Besides, those teams can turn it on in the postseason too. Like the Cardinals getting to the Super Bowl.
True enough...
I believe NE and OAK both made it to the Superbowl starting as as a wild card.
by Cracker Ball on Nov 30, 2010 7:10 PM EST up reply actions
I believe the NFL did change a rule this past year...
So that a better wild card team gets a home game instead of a division winner with an inferior record but that’s about it… Does anybody know about that or am I making stuff up?
I heard somewhere that the NFC West winner...
could have a bye in the first week of the playoffs, which could mean that is not correct. I just caught the end of the conversation, so it may require certain circumstances to be true.
yeah, but...
making them play an extra "sudden-death’ playoff game wouldn’t take a chance to turn it on away from them. It would just make things a little more fair for a team that won their games but got screwed over due to a crappy season for an entire division.
I dunno, it would probably screw the playoff schedules all to hell, but as a fan, I’d be saying this even if it were the south having the shitty year instead of the west. There’s something fundamentally wrong about the idea of a losing team going into the playoffs. That’s not what the postseason is supposed to be about.
and...
I’m pretty sure the Cards didn’t actually have a LOSING record.
My idea would be set to only take effect in a case where an under-.500 team somehow won their division.
Even if all it did was make an under-achieving divison play their asses off at the end of the season to get to above .500 to avoid it coming up, it’d be better than this.
what they could do for the playoffs though...
while the division winners have a right to make the playoffs, they can tweak the rules by:
1) If a wild card team facing a division winner in the first round of playoffs has a record where they have 2 or more wins than the division winner, the home game goes to the wild card.
That means if the lowest division winner (4th spot) plays the top wild card team (5th spot), say the Niners at 8-8 play the Green Bay Packers who could have a 10-6 record at the end, the home field advantage goes to Green Bay. And the third-spot division winner (3rd) plays the sixth spot, which could be Philly at 10-6 playing New Orleans at 10-6… Philly still gets home field.
The 2010 Bucs: Considering their two-minute offense works wonders... Why can't EVERY offensive drive be run like that during the other 58 minutes of the damn game?!
I think basing home field advantage on record is a good idea.
I know it has happened several times that the first wild card has had a better record than the 4th seed. It seems fair to let the best record host the game.
I believe the NFL did change a rule this past year...
So that a better wild card team gets a home game instead of a division winner with an inferior record but that’s about it… Does anybody know about that or am I making stuff up?
I think the Owners
were discussing it this past offseason but i’m not sure if they decided on changing anything. I guess we’ll see in a few weeks.
can we really trade ruud?
into the mashed potateos
nope trading period was done weeks ago. I'm just sayin'
The 2010 Bucs: Considering their two-minute offense works wonders... Why can't EVERY offensive drive be run like that during the other 58 minutes of the damn game?!
ya i thought so
but if we could get a 2nd round pick for ruud. I would not be opposed to that
into the mashed potateos
Aqib man,
Why do you want to trade your teammate?
who would of thought we would be arguably the greatest of all time
around here we developed such a sound down here
but duplicate it off the steel it can only be found here
cuz he has too many u's in his name
into the mashed potateos
Too many u's in his name
did you really just post that c’mon man LOL
RUN THE BALL ON FIRST DOWN!!!!!!
by bucfanlostiniowa on Dec 2, 2010 6:50 PM EST up reply actions
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