Was Sunday The Beginning Of The End?
December 8th, 2010
Joe is trying to look forward by taking on last brief peek at the past.
Joe’s just about moved on from Sunday’s depressing loss to the Dixie Chicks. But eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune believes that loss will linger for weeks.
It was a physical game. Jeff Faine went down for the year. Aqib Talib went down for the year. Kaufman isn’t so sure the Bucs can rebound, as he posted on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed.
It stretches credulity to think the 7-5 Bucs will be resilient enough to overcome season-ending injuries to Aqib Talib and Jeff Faine.
As Joe stated before, the Bucs did OK when Faine was lost earlier in the year. The big loss will be Talib. Can E.J. Biggers and Myron Lewis be the next men up and replace arguably one of the better corners in the NFC South?
December 8th, 2010 at 9:19 am
i dont think its “arguable” that Talib is “one of the better corners in the NFC South” That is a fact.
Its “arguable” that he is THE BEST corner in the NFC South.
Its “arguable” that he is one of the better corners in the league (top 5 imo)
(Asomugha, Revis, Samuel, Talib, Flowers) <- my list of the best corners
December 8th, 2010 at 9:23 am
travis
well said
definitely top 5 in the nfl
December 8th, 2010 at 9:23 am
The loss of Talib is a significant blow to our secondary – I think the 3rd and 20 Roddy White converted would be a different story had he been in. Probably something to consider for Raheem’s playingcalling.
That said, I think our schedule is very favorable to the mentality of this young Bucs team – if we had a muderer’s row, questioning if they could bounce back would be a more legitimate question. But very winnable games against Redskins, Lions and Seahawks lead me to believe we can still make the race to 10 (which probably will not get a playoff spot). We probably will play New Orleans well, but not be able to take them down this year.
But the young men in the locker room would run through a brick wall for Raheem at the moment – and I do not expect that to change. I do expect Freeman to look significantly better the next 3 weeks against defenses that are not Top 10 in the NFL. Blount should continue to be punishing. And that should be enough to exceed all expectations for the 2010 season and leave a ton of momentum for 2011.
December 8th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Travis how do you not include Devin McCourty and DeAngelo Hall on that list??
December 8th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Devin McCourty is a great “ball skills” corner, similar to talib early in his carrier. Not yet an elite cover corner, same goes for Joe Haden of the Browns
Deangelo Hall…. surely your not being serious about this guy…. he gets burnt by average wr’s, but takes alot of chances and gets the big stat INT’s and people assume hes good. Hes garbage.
December 8th, 2010 at 9:43 am
If anything, I think the Talib injury will bring this team closer than that already are. Now, they have to truly have each other’s back out there. When Talib was healthy they could just leave him on the island and let him do his thing, now they are really going to have to play as a team in the secondary. Ronde is going to have to lead his youngsters and show them what it is to be a professional DB, I would love to see him back next year as player/coach, then the next season as the DB coach, then we’ll see, I think Ronda has a great football IQ and could possibly be a future DC.
December 8th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Hi Joe, with Talib out, do you expect to see more zone coverage than man coverage?
December 8th, 2010 at 9:56 am
I think Bigg and Lewis will be fine against the Skins and Seapigeons…..however the real test will come against Detroit (CJ) and the Saints. Heem will have to dial up some pressure situations in those matchups to keep pressure off the corners.
December 8th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Cannon:
Playing Washington and their stiffs, man.
December 8th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Yeah, “heem” did a great job dialing up pressure on Matt Ryan. Please see McCoy’s stat line as well.
December 8th, 2010 at 10:34 am
As good as I believe Talib to be I was surprised that the Falcons didn’t do MORE passing. In reality this gives Myron Lewis more playing time which is a good thing.
My concern is with the O-Line. Was it just me or did anyone else notice that once Zuttah moved from guard to center the running game shut down? Blount got NOTHING from that point forward.
These next 3 games will be very telling to the Bucs…very revealing indeed
December 8th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I do not think the Bucs are doomed but I think that a 9-7 or 10-6 record is where we will end the seaon, just missing a playoff berth. Regardless of making the playoffs or not, I feel like this has been a great season of improvement and growth. Who would have really thought that with 4 games remaining that the Bucs would even still be in the playoff talks. The truth is that no one really knows or can predict what will happen between now and the end of the regular season. We could win all of them and make the playoffs or lose all of them, that is why they play the games. Regardless, I am satisfied with the direction they are heading in and look forward to future seasons.