Don’t Expect Ronde Barber At Safety
December 2nd, 2010
Though Bucs coach Raheem Morris has hinted he may dabble with longtime cornerback fixture Ronde Barber at safety, don’t get caught up in the hype Woody Cummings says.
The Bucs beat writer for the Tampa Tribune suggests the hints dropped by Morris are nothing more than gamesmanship, that Barber will remain at his familiar cornerback position.
The Buccaneers thought about it. Then they thought better of it. Cornerback Ronde Barber will not be moving to safety to take over for injured rookie starter Cody Grimm. Not just yet anyway.
“I’ll only go back there in case there’s an emergency,” said Barber, who constituted an emergency as “Corey or Vince going down.”
Corey would be third-year safety Corey Lynch. Vince is first-year safety Vince Anderson. One of them will start this week ahead of Grimm, who was lost to a lower left leg fracture during the Bucs’ 17-10 loss at Baltimore on Sunday.
From what Joe can piece together, it appears Morris, whose specialty is the secondary, is going to try all sorts of different looks and personnel in the defensive backfield, given the various particulars of the game.
While Joe thinks it would be smart to put Barber at safety (it prolonged Ronnie Lott’s career by years), apparently the Bucs think moving Barber is too much of a risk for an already thin secondary.
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:33 am
Joe,
Where is Jenny Dell with her statistical gibberish???
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:40 am
I didn’t think we would see this happening.
The truth is, this weeks injuries are going to prove devastating to the Bucs. We lost 3 players to IR and 2 of them were key components to the team.
Over the coming weeks, barring a miracle, we are going to see defenses hitting our QB a lot more and the result will be bad throws and picks, maybe a couple fumbles.
We will see a defense that had been getting better taking some steps back in hte rankings…unless one of these new starting safeties can turn out really good. Either way, we’ll still fall in hte rankings on defense because it will take time for the new guys to acclimate…provided they are any good at all.
Of the injuries this week, I think Grimm is the most costly. Zutah (who fans wanted cut earlier this year) will prove invaluable right now. His ability to play different positions on the line has the potential to save our offense. If he can step up the rest of the year…it’s remotely possible he could prove me wrong and the offense could do well.
If I were Zutah, I would use this opportunity to prove I should be a full time starter.
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:42 am
On a side note, Joe…I don’t mind the ads but the Big League sports keeps auto playing and that gets very frustrating, especially when I’m up late and the kids are sleeping.
It just starts playing out of the blue.
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:58 am
Pete-think your placing to much emphasis on Joseph injury.Zutah came in and played fine.Cody Grim injury might create problems but Corey Lynch looked great in preseason and could be a pleasent surprise.Has to be better than Sabby.
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:04 am
I don’t know why they don’t bring back Phillips he is the missing piece plus he can stop the run won’t get caught out of position and can defend the pass
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 am
Nice call L.B, we owe him that much after he made the switch to linebacker,he was playing great at saftey.Dont think he will last long but can give the younger ones time to learn before he gets hurt.
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:30 am
I’d rather see what we have in these young guys before resorting to signing Phillips. Remember, Lynch was a starter for cincy at one point and both he and Anderson know the plays since they’ve been here all season. Asante was one of the hardest hitting safeties coming out of college. But it would be nice to have Flip, an experienced vet, on the roster to help mentor and coach these kids from the sidelines.
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:57 am
For all those wanting to re-sign Flip, did you see him play over the last few years? Dude was as slow as molasses! You want him or Sean Jones covering a deep third against Matt Ryan and Roddy White?
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:02 am
Pete, do not worrie the sky is not falling. We have seen all sorts of back ups and rookies step it up for Morris this year. The Bucs will be fine.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:19 am
Vince Anderson is actually a 2nd year guy, not a rookie. He spent last year on the Giants practice squad. Way to do your research Mr. Cummings!
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:21 am
Only reason I corrected that is because the Giants run a 4-3 so Mr. Anderson has basicly had two full years of practicing a 4-3 defense at the NFL level. He should be quite a bit more experienced than a rookie.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:28 am
Okay…I’ll give you that. lol. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I’m comparing Lynch to Grimm when I should be comparing Lynch to Sabby. Future looks much more brighter that way, lol.
I can understand their reluctance. Phillips is an injury waiting to happen. Personally, I think it’s worth bringing him in for the remainder of the season. We know what we have in him and it’s only a few games. But I don’t see it happening. He’s a bit slow now. He might do well against the run though.
Morris and Dominick have shown they would rather give unproven young guys a shot, hoping to strike gold, then proven vets that are prone to injury.
I can’t really hold it against them either…it seems to be working thus far.
On this you do have a good point. Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, lol.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:31 am
@JDouble
But I do think it would take him 1-2 weeks to get acclimated to the Tampa playbook and such…which would only leave 3-4 games left…perhaps still time to make a difference, but unlikely.
Of course, if we can pull out a win over the next 2 weeks, maybe he can…but that would likely mean Lynch is playing well.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:32 am
If we can somehow get a win this weekend…then our playoff hopes are still alive. If we lose, there’s no chance we pull ahead of the Falcons.
This game is the biggest of the year, bar none.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:34 am
Leroy Buttermilk,
I’m sure Dominick has done his due dilligence on Phillips but he hasn’t played in the NFL in almost two seasons.
Plus I read on P.F.T.com that If an NFL team wants to sign a UFL player they have to pay a $150,000 transfer fee. They’re trying to squeeze the UFL and make them waive it so no team wants to be the first one to agree to pay the transfer fee.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/12/02/ufl-player-tryouts-continue-as-transfer-fee-impasse-lingers/
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:17 pm
did any of you read what that toolbag yasinkas wrote bout ronde? he says he’s not a hall of famer because he’s a “system player”. what i wanna know is who isn’t a system player?..
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:24 pm
@Joe,
I think you mean Rod Woodson, not Ronnie Lott. Anyway, I don’t think you want to take Ronde Barber away from his CB position when he is playing this well. I don’t think you want to force him into a position change midseason unless the other guys are “Sabbying” it up. I guess we will find out soon enough.
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:28 pm
@Joe,
I think you mean Rod Woodson, not Ronnie Lott. Anyway, I don’t think you want to take Ronde Barber away from his CB position when he is playing this well. That would leave us vulnerable attrue CB position. I don’t think you want to force him into a position change midseason unless the other guys are stinking it up. I guess we will find out soon enough.
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Sorry for the duplicate post, it wouldn’t let me send it the first time. I thought your filters were blocking the word “Sabbying”, lol.
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I still expect to see Ronde playing safety more next year…. unless TJax gets over his smoke and comes back on the cheap.
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Hawaiian Buc:
Joe means Ronnie Lott.
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:47 pm
yeah, just an fyi, ronnie lott played maybe 4 & a 1/2 yrs of corner out of 14, that was it.
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:14 pm
@Joe,
Okay. I don’t know if playing safety really prolonged his career, since the major part of his career was at safety. Rod Woodson, on the other hand, I can see that since he became a safety late in his career.
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Maybe we won’t see Ronde at safety but I was thinking about it and it would also possibly make sense to move Myron Lewis to safety. He would have prototype size and speed for the position. He is supposed to be an excellent tackler with big hit ability and pre-draft analysis on him was that he may have projected best to the free safety position at the NFL level. Why would the Bucs not make this move? If they don’t then I have to hope thats its because they are seeing things in him that really make them believe he will be a legitimate replacement for Ronde when he retires.