The Defensive Revival
November 29th, 2009
As mad as any Bucs fan may be at their head coach right now, Joe has to give Raheem The Dream credit for reviving the Bucs defense from the depths of the NFL against Atlanta’s strong offensive line.
Somewhere, Jim Bates is embarrassed that he couldn’t see what was right in front of him and couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag.
Forget for a moment (if you can) that Raheem The Dream hired Jim Bates and his two-gap, defense to begin with — a collossal mistake — the Bucs new defensive coordinator knew what the hell he was doing entering this Atlanta game and for much of it.
Joe will let former Bucs defensive end and JoeBucsFan.com analyst Steve White break down the defensive line play in his can’t-miss Bull Rush column tomorrow.
As for the linebackers, it was obvious Barrett Ruud, Quincy Black and Geno Hayes are built for Raheem The Dream’s new Monte Kiffin hybrid system. Ruud made the splash plays he’s been missing all season, and Quincy Black (no Joe doesn’t forgive his offside on a Falcons’ punt) and Geno Hayes’ speed was used effectively throughout the game.
The secondary, minus Sabby Piscitelli’s putrid angles, missed tackles and lost opportunities, was sound.
Joe couldn’t help but think for a moment in the third quarter that Raheem The Dream and Chucky would probably have been a good match.
Perhaps they can reunite next season.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I will always contend that fireing Chucky was mistake #1 to this downhill slide.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Are you serious? This had to be one of the most beat-up and injured teams we have faced all year. We have a new DC that the Falcons don’t know anything about to prepare for and to top it all off, they were playing from behind early in the game. Chris Redman, dude..
The only nice thing I saw, was Ruud got into the backfield for the first time all year and some other TFL’s. But this was against 3rd string linemen!
I said it before, put the team that showed up today, against the Saints last week and you get the same result.
Take off the rose-colored glasses, Joe. They don’t do you any justice.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Wait a couple weeks down the road, when teams are able to put together a gameplan considering Raheem’s play-calling tendencies on defense, then make a decision.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Morris will be a good DC. Today pretty much proved that. They should have kept to that plan because he’s not ready to be a HC. Too bad the Glazers ruined him by pushing him prematurely into that role.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Raheem isn’t ruined. I agree with you that he will be a good DC Louie, but he’s not a beaten man. Not at all.
I personally loved watching the defense, and while I think we’d have definitely lost against the Saints last week, we’d have given them a whole lot more trouble than they got, which was none.
We showed good progress. It hurts to lose like that, but we are definitely better with Raheem’s D.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Amen, Joe!!! Bring back Gruden! now! Worst mistake ever!! Culverhouse wasn’t this bad.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:37 am
IN the what we’ve(or I’ve) been saying all year column:
Bates sucks; Ruud was targeted in Bates’ system as the only one to stop; Rah is over matched as Head coach yet maybe not as what he was hired for: Def coordinator; with Freeman there’s at least: HOPE; with a little bit of money spent for depth and competitiveness we could be a .500 team for now; and last but not least: does Derrick Ward cringe when he picks up his paycheck on Mondays? (if Alex Rodriguez makes $44,000 an at bat, Ward must be making about $70,000 a yard)