“They’ve Been Improving As We Go”
November 26th, 2009
It feels like years since the Bucs ground game looked strong against Dallas
Raheem The Dream was his usual fast-talking, excited self during a Wednesday conference call with the Atlanta media.
Joe’s always listening, and Joe takes his role as a watchdog seriously.
Asked about the Bucs rushing attack, Raheem The Dream seems to think it’s on the upswing, despite never duplicating its opening day performance against Dallas and being ranked just 25th in the league.
“Now we have Derrick Ward and Cadillac, who you know, primarily getting most of the carries,” Raheem The Dream said. “Those guys have been carrying the load for us. Those guys have been doing it. They’ve been improving as we go …”
Now Raheem The Dream did go on to say the running game hasn’t put up big numbers like the Atlanta tandem did last year.
But improving? Cadillac’s numbers are poor, as Joe noted the other day, and he’ll have a hard time matching Warrick Dunn’s totals from last year. As for Derrick Ward, the guy’s averaging six carries a game (3.7 yards per carry) and has stopped talking to the media.
Joe wouldn’t say they’re improving. Unfortunately, they’re going the other direction.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:11 am
The running game is constantly improving, in fact it sometimes improves several times in the same game. A back goes in, gets a few reps, starts getting some good runs, that’s improvement. Of course he is then promptly pulled out and replaced by another back, rinse, lather, repeat.
Maybe if they just let one back get the bulk of the carries they would a:see some consistency, and b: have a quality backup on the bench in case of injury. All this constant improvement frustrates the heck out of me.