Bates’ Weight Gain Plan Led To Failure, Injuries
April 11th, 2010
When Joe thinks of colossal failures of the past century, a few come quickly to mind, such as prohibition, Operation Barbarossa, the Newton and Jim Bates’ defense.
The numbers were there for all to see: Bates’ signature defense set the record for most consecutive games of coughing up 25 or more points in the sordid history of the Bucs.
Taking a break from spreading agent-driven speculation, The Mad Twitter of the St. Petersburg Times unearthed another example of why the Bates Experiment exploded in Raheem the Dream’s face:
Injuries.
It seems Bates’ fetish for obese defensive lineman led to a myriad of problems, including injuries.
In the scheme under new defensive coordinator Jim Bates, the Bucs believed their linemen would be more effective if they bulked up. But all it did was slow their development.
It also might have contributed to injuries. Moore missed the first seven games with a knee injury.
“My explosion wasn’t there,” Moore said. “I could automatically tell a difference. I started moving a little bit better with the weight. But still, it wasn’t me.”
Miller battled through ankle, knee and hamstring problems.
The Bates Experiment was a failure beyond words. Just the fact players like Chris Hovan, Miller and Moore should be in better shape and healthy, it certainly is a positive step for the Bucs.
April 11th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Although the anecdote about Kyle Moore sounds all fine and dandy, didn’t we just report a few weeks ago how the Bucs were the least injured team in the NFC South?
I mean, half of the team is composed of defensive players.
But yeah, Bates, on top of screwing the effectiveness of the D also managed to cause a large amount of injuries and fatigue to one of the least injured teams in the league last year…
April 11th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
We will be smaller next year?
I’m so excited. Maybe the Panthers can run for 500 yards against us , instead of only 350 . LOL
April 11th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
I’m sure that our genius HC/DC has a plan! Only he doesn’t have Bates hee any more to blame it on. oh oh!
April 11th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
if we stopped the kitties like 30 Yds in a game (not sure the number but was in tampa game at 2008 season) with hovan under 300 and DE not so weight….why we struggle this year?? Miller has the anchor and with the new DT can make a great chemistryin the front, so i guess we need to calm down!!
April 11th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Joe the only thing that was a bigger bust than the 2009 bust known as the Jim Bates Experiment was the 2002 film – the Adventures of Pluto Nash.
As an aside should the studios attempt a remake Raheem would be a perfect fit for Eddie. 😉
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=131067
April 11th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
the tampa two is the problem
no, the tampa two is the solution
we need bigger stronger players
no, we need smaller faster players
Another episode of “Stay the Course” by Raheem Morris.
April 12th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Blame it on Bates! Blame it all on Bates! Team Glazer hired him to run “his” defense, knowing that “his” defense called for “large” defensive linemen for the one-gap. Team Glazer promised to get Bates the players that he needed. And, after hiring Bates, Team Glazer reneged on their promise. But lets not stop there! The “Head Coach”, “Man in Charge”, that said we were going to be a “more physical”, meaner team, attended all defensive practices, and, “after each loss”, every defensive team meeting, where he seen the glaring mismatches while watching the game films. Yet he “sat in the back” and said nothing, nada, zip. Nor did he offer any suggestions about the defense, or personel. And the “Head Coach” did this through-out 10 whole games before relieving Bates and allowing our guys to play the Tampa2 defense that they were trained to play. Why isn’t the “head coach” accountable???? Because it’s “Bates fault”!
April 12th, 2010 at 10:02 am
tampa2:
As Joe has written time and again, good coaches adjust and adapt. Bates didn’t. Who knows why?
But it’s clear as crystal his tenure as the Bucs defensive coordinator was a disaster.