Raheem Not Concerned By Run Defense
August 22nd, 2011
Joe’s gone to the videotape and his notebook and taken a look at the run defense against the Patriots.
In the first quarter, New England totaled runs of the following yardage: 2, 29, 6, no gain, 6, 2, 14, 16, and 1 (TD).
In the second quarter, the Patriots’ carries came consecutively on one drive. They pounded the ball as follows (in yards): 7, 5, 12, 7, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Then, after a completed pass, New England scored on a one-yard touchdown run to grab a 21-0 lead.
So that’s eight of 18 first half runs of at least six yards a carry, plus two touchdowns. It was ugly. But Raheem Morris has no worries, so he said yesterday during his afternoon news conference.
Reporter: What’s your concern with the run defense overall?
Raheem Morris: None really. It’s just a matter of fitting things up, letting Mason Foster get better. Our first team actually did a decent job on the run game. You had the one breakout run against the first team, where the ball cut black on a blitz. We were closed the wrong way. That was a mistake, whether it was by the D-line or young Mason closing the wrong way, that was an error that was very correctable. So I don’t have an issue. …
“For the most part, I’m pretty comfortable with what’s going on. We missed a couple of tackles on Woodhead. He’s slippery. He’s quick. He’s fast — quick twitch. But other than that we feel pretty good. It was not any just miss fits where you had a real problem. There was a missed tackle on the one big Woodhead run. And there was a missed [call] where we didn’t have a player where he was supposed to be. And we just gotta fix those things.”
Frankly, this response by Raheem left Joe speechless. Joe has nightmares about the Bucs’ run defense while the head coach thinks the first team “did a decent job” Thursday.
Joe sure hopes Raheem has got this one right and Joe is terribly wrong.
August 22nd, 2011 at 12:33 pm
I think Tampa misses Ruud’s defensive play calling experience, but will not admit it, lest other teams exploit it.
And yes, Whitehead did juke GMC out of his shoes, but NFL Backs will do that, from time to time. It was GMC’s first game back from injury, and he did get penetration on that play.
What I am seeing is a lack of the right defensive play calls that Brady exploited.
Brady tends to do that to teams, even when they scheme for him. I have to give Raheem the benefit of the doubt here, and it is only preseason. Remember, we have beaten the Patriots before in preseason, and up in Foxboro too. Perhaps, this was a pay back ?
August 22nd, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Hey, is that a big iceberg up ahead?
nah.
August 22nd, 2011 at 12:58 pm
At least he did not say Youngry. Thats a step up.
August 22nd, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Having either dreams or nightmares based on the preseason is silly.
August 22nd, 2011 at 1:02 pm
If this run D isn’t worrysome, what the hell is? I know Raheem’s got to be positive, but this is a bit much. Stats are for losers but reality is for winners.
August 22nd, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Doubling down on the core beliefs.
August 22nd, 2011 at 1:37 pm
He is an optimistic coach with a bunch of young guys. He continues to instill confidence. He is basically saying “we can fix those big runs.”
I don’t see a problem with saying that. I also believe they will be better than they were last year against the run, but only time will tell.
August 22nd, 2011 at 1:38 pm
“What about the gaping holes?”-reporter
“What gaping holes? I didn’t see any gaping holes”-Raheem
Pfft! Was I the only one that saw HUGE, gaping holes??? lol I know. It’s preseason but he’d better lock this down.
Raheem’s giving fluff to the reporters but I guarantee he’s chewed some asses this past few days.
August 22nd, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Ahem. FYI, that “reporter” was Jenna Laine, famous NFL.com blogger and budding radio superstar.
Who says chicks don’t know football?
August 22nd, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Oh My FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF G–!
Too funny actually.
This is akin to what Joe Biden said to China the other day… you know, “No need to worry about the US paying back our debt to you guys”.
A bold faced lie.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:06 pm
I’m mostly just glad that cutback wasn’t there, or at least not exploited, except for one missed tackle in the backfield.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Um, that is how Woodhead, the backup, ran for 29 yds (one of his big runs). It was off the cutback and sho nuff, the defense was caught over pursuing. To no one’s surprise, Geno Hayes’ side fo the field was picked on with the most success.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Its not just our D line….
Hayes and Black are awful at shedding lineman and making tackles. If they can get a clean line to the runner, they usually can fly in there and disrupt things. But if they get any lineman on them at the second level, they tend to get mauled. Literally. It is why I think we are going to see lots of draw plays and counter plays. New England was brilliant at letting our over-aggressive D lineman run past the play – and then they would get downfield and just eat up Black and Hayes. Poor Grimm.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Good think stinktroit is the first game.
If they open gaping holes we do have a disaster.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:38 pm
The next time someone sees Quicy Black making a splash play, please post it here on this blog.
Last time I remember Black making a splash play was two years ago when he intercepted a tipped pass at Miami.
If there is a more overrated Bucs player than Black, I’d like to know who.
I listened to Gene Deckerhoff Thursday and I swear I didn’t hear Geno Hayes’ name called once. That guy is so inconsistent. One game he’s on fire, the next game he might as well be back at home playing with scissors.
This linebacker group is pretty p!ss poor if you ask me. But, by god we just had to get rid of Barrett Ruud.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:43 pm
At least Black makes tackles. Hayes is all or nothing. Either he is in the right place at the right time and makes a tackle behind the LOS… or he is completely out of position over pursuing. The guy is a late round draft pick and NEVER will he be Derrick Brooks.
August 22nd, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Joe, Rah is the consumate players coach. I watched the day after press conference after New England where he praised pretty much every member of the offensive line. I was wondering if he maybe took a nap during the first quarter because the offensive line I saw last Thursday was putrid and deserved zero praise. Its great to keep players upbeat but lets get some sense of reality!!!
August 22nd, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Um WeNeedDefense Says, that was that missed tackle that actully knocked him into the other direction. McCoy needed to wrap up.
August 22nd, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Some coaches push players for improvement by drawing attention to the one bad play out of dozens to show where the player can get better.
Other coaches point out the bad plays but encourage by focusing on the good ones as examples of how every play should be.
Our coach, Rah Rah, has never seen a bad play by his team. He refuses to admit that the team plays poorly or makes a mistake. This is a rare kind of coach. You are 13-19, never made the playoffs or finished above 3rd out of 4, your team just got embarrassed in front of 30,000 loyal and screaming fans, yet you are not (never) concerned about their performances?
I am starting to wonder if he understands things well enough to become concerned about anything. Concern when warranted is necessary for improvement and future failure prevention.
August 22nd, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Perhaps he’s more concerned with Talib’s pending suspension…
August 22nd, 2011 at 6:56 pm
If he gets hungry he can grab an affordable turkey leg. Why worry?
We got that going for us………….
August 22nd, 2011 at 7:01 pm
The main issue I saw in the Pats game was over pursuit by the defense. With their new style of penetrating, pursuing play they’re going to need to be careful to always watch the back side of the play, otherwise RB’s who are very good at cutting back like Woodhead will exploit the hell out of that style of defense.
If they can keep a certain level of discipline “on the way to the QB” then I think they’ll be alright.