Ruud Is Out; Dreams Are Dashed
November 26th, 2011
It’s rare for Joe to fantasize about things other than Rachel Watson and bags of cash, but it does happen.
And one of those dreams involved Sunday’s Bucs-Titans game. Yes, count Joe among those drooling for months over the thought of LeGarrette Blount lowering his head and barrelling over Barrett Ruud enroute to the end zone. That would have been damn sweet, but it won’t happen. Ruud has been ruled out of Sunday’s game with a groin injury.
Per The Tennesseean, Ruud is working diligently behind the scenes to teach his teammates and coaches about all things Bucs.
“He’s been talking to (Titans teammates) about what (the Bucs) like to do,” Titans coach Mike Munchak said. “It’s disappointing for him, I’m sure he circled this on his calendar when we got him here. You always want to play well against a team he grew up with.
“I know it’s going to be a hard weekend for him not to participate in. but he’s been helpful and will still be helpful on the sidelines wihth the defense, so we’ll take advantage of any ideas he has..”
Middle linebacker Colin McCarthy (knee), tackles David Stewart (calf) and Michael Roos (groin), and defensive end Derrick Morgan (ankle) and defensive tackle Karl Klug (knee) are listed as questionable.
Interesting to read above that McCarthy, a rookie from the Bay area Joe knows well, also is hurt. McCarthy has become a protoge of Ruud’s this season and had 12 tackles a couple of weeks ago at middle linebacker in Ruud’s absence.
But Joe will take a banged up rookie in there over Ruud any day. We know Josh Freeman will be happy to see a 4-3 defense Sunday, and he’s got to be breathing easier knowing Ruud’s out and the Titans might end up using their third-stringer (behind McCarthy) up the gut.
As for Ruud, Joe can’t help but wonder what the Bucs would have looked like with him at middle linebacker this season with Mason Foster playing one of the outside spots. It’s a waste of time to think about, of course, but with the Bucs allowing 399 yards a game (second worst in the NFL), one has to think they would have fared better in that scenario, and Foster could have leaned on Ruud to help his development.
November 26th, 2011 at 8:33 am
hey i partied last night with raheem morris at soho tavern kinda weird our head coach was out partying instead of studying for the titans i got pics 2 lol
November 26th, 2011 at 8:36 am
Foster could have leaned on Ruud…at least until he went out with an injury.
November 26th, 2011 at 8:58 am
Ruud is definitely missed. All those tackles”5 yards down field” are better than no tackles. That’s what we have this year!
November 26th, 2011 at 9:06 am
@justin hes just staying “Youngry.”
November 26th, 2011 at 9:09 am
Joe, your absolutely right. It’s a real mystery why the didn’t keep Ruud- at least one more season. The lose of his leadership and ability to set the defense has really hurt us this year. Plus he would gave been a willing mentor to Foster
And the biggest issue. As I screamed all spring- at his absolute, Teddy bear softy worse- Ruud is ten times the linebacker that Black or Hayes are. Nobody can accuse Ruud of not trying. Black and Hayes absolutely hide most of the time they are on the field. They are the worst LBers( Players?) in the league. We will never stop the run, as long as the are disgracing the field.
With Ruud and Foster, our run defense would have been greatly improved
Makes no sense, and STILL pisses me off
November 26th, 2011 at 9:11 am
justin Says:
November 26th, 2011 at 8:33 am
hey i partied last night with raheem morris at soho tavern kinda weird our head coach was out partying instead of studying for the titans i got pics 2 lol
What? He doesn’t deserve some time to relax? I’d like to see him gone as much as the next guy, but cut the guy some slack! Now if it was a SATURDAY NIGHT before a game, you’d have a very valid reason to question it. He’s taking so much heat from us right now, he sure as hell doesn’t need us throwing fuel on the flames!
November 26th, 2011 at 9:29 am
Foster is is an upgrade from Ruud at MLB. Foster would also be a HUGE upgrade at SLB over Black. It would have benefited the defense far more if Foster was at SLB and Ruud was still at MLB. Ruud was better at his position than Black is at any position.
November 26th, 2011 at 9:30 am
Joe here,
@Justin – Raheem routinely is spotted around town on Fridays after practice during the season. In a lot of ways that’s the coaches’ time to rest after the week of preparation, then they get after it again on Saturday and Sunday. Joe’s been to the SoHo tavern. Hardly a nightclub party atmosphere, though one can surely get loaded and chow down on a burger. Really not out of the ordinary.
November 26th, 2011 at 9:40 am
Newsflash: Football players and coaches blow off steam too. I have seen players at Jacksons on Harbour Island as well.
I actually like that Raheem is out mixing it up with folks, its kinda fun to see him out and about and hey, it get’s a bunch of 20 somethings charged up about the Bucs cuz they saw the coach out with them that night.
I agree w JB, if we see him on saturday night, then we got a problem but the couple times I have seen him, it was indeed always a Friday night.
November 26th, 2011 at 9:43 am
Also, ruud looks like the lead signer of nickelback in this picture. Which is funny, because both party’s performances are often numbing to the senses!
November 26th, 2011 at 9:50 am
I either saw or heard or read (too much holiday cheer) an interview where Morris still speaks of Ruud in glowing terms and especially his intelligence in commanding the defense on the field. As you recall Morris wanted to keep Ruud and Cadillac and was overruled by Dominik. They both only have 1yr contracts. Never say Never……just maybe….. ( I know, I know…too much holiday cheer)!
November 26th, 2011 at 10:03 am
I wasn’t Ruud fan either but I guess I was wrong. Now our defense is last in the league and our linebacker play is abysmal. Could it be that his smarts and play calling at the line is sorely missed too? Probably why Black and Hayes have regressed so much.
November 26th, 2011 at 10:06 am
LOL@Ruud love here. People, even with Ruud, our run defense is as pitiful as it was last season. Now consider the fact that the offenses/RBs we have faced are much superior to the ones we faced last season, I would say what happened last season was more inexcusable.
November 26th, 2011 at 10:08 am
If Ruud would have worked a little harder, stopped whining a little sooner, and gave 110% each and every day, he’d still be a Buc. If ever there was a “Me” guy that lacked effort it was Ruud. He still looks like he never lifted a barbell in his life, and for a Mike Backer, that doesn’t sit too well with many. And he was as slow as molasses, on a good day. I don’t miss him, and if he was still here the run defense would be as bad or worse. He had his opportunity and he squandered it. It is unfair to Cadi to even mention Ruud in the same sentence. Cadi was one of the bright spots on the team last year, and now we have Plumpkin.
November 26th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Justin: I am shocked rah rah didn’t have his boy Quincy with him. Is it a huge deal that the head coach is hitting up the bars on the Friday night before a travel day for an away game? No.
Is it typical to see the top head coaches partying up on Friday nights during the season? No. Do you think that Bellichick, McCarthy, the Harbaughs, even Dungy and Gruden are at the bars on Friday nights in-season? No.
If this novice was a winning coach, had made the playoffs, finished above third in the division, had better than the 31st ranked defense – I wouldn’t care as much – but with all of those things being the case – it is irritating.
November 26th, 2011 at 10:29 am
@Justin – I hope you and Raheem had a really good time, and that’s cool you got some pictures.
November 26th, 2011 at 10:33 am
We added Clayborn, Bower, and Foster. Still the defense is worse than last year.
BigMac- remember what I said in March? If we resign Ruud and Caddy, we win 10-12 games and make the playoffs. If we don’t , 8-8 and no playoffs. Everyone was arguing, saying there was no way this team regressed.
We’ll never know for sure. But Loss of leadership kills young teams
All you Ruud haters got what you wanted. You all listened to Beckles, pretended you knew what you were talking about, and helped run off our best linebacker. Now even Beckles admits that Ruud was a better LB than Black or Hayes. I wonder if he laughs at the ones that listened to him. He should- it’s pretty funny.
You got what you wanted. And it screwed up the team. Way to be a rat, following the pied piper
At least now, you should be man enough to admit you were wrong
Guess not
November 26th, 2011 at 10:42 am
Why is there a picture of Owen Wilson with this article?
November 26th, 2011 at 10:48 am
That came off sounding harsher than I meant it to.
After all, I thought Ruud was a great player. Not so. He’s pretty much sucked with the Titans, and he wasn’t highly sought after. So getting rid of him was probably the right idea. I just think that we needed a one year “transition” phase. To let Foster lean his job.
So those screaming for Ruuds head were probably right. Just not so quick.
I stand by my opinion/prediction, that not signing Ruud and Caddy cost us games this year. Ruud> Black and Hayes. But his leadership is missed far worse.
November 26th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Wow, the last few days have really shown the negativity on JBF. You guys need some meds or something.
November 26th, 2011 at 10:56 am
Not the articles Joe, the posters…
November 26th, 2011 at 11:24 am
No need to apologize Capt Tim, While many of the posters are right about Ruuds tackling skills, leadership is a valuable asset too. We would have been better off to offer Ruud a 2yr contract to allow Foster to command the position. Don’t know if Ruud would have accepted with everything that had gone on, but the Titans even recognize and appreciate Ruud’s leadership. http://www2.tbo.com/sports/bucs/2011/nov/23/ex-buc-lb-ruud-providing-leadership-for-titans-ar-326941/
November 26th, 2011 at 11:25 am
McBuc Says:
November 26th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Wow, the last few days have really shown the negativity on JBF. You guys need some meds or something.
REALLY??????
Perhaps most of us are not satisfied with below mediocre football? Ya Think? You like the way our team has performed this season?
HOMERS……………….LMAO!!!
November 26th, 2011 at 11:30 am
McBuc, lol! Everyone is probably in post” Black Friday” shock!
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s dearly belove-ed sent the Bank account into trama induced shock yesterday.
Among the piles if Electronics, Kitchen Gadets, and mounds of Clothes, I noticed and questioned my Wife about a Belgium waffle maker. Both Wife and daughter were quick to point out how, once they figure out how to make the batter, and freeze dozens of preportioned quantities, we can have waffles for breakfast – at the flip of a wrist!!
Neither were able to explain who would eat these waffles, as none of us eat sweet things for breakfast.
Apparently, some bargains are so good, that my wife refuses to late reality block her from a major score! God bless her.
That’s how a simple lil” think losing Ruud hurt us” turns into something that almost sounds hostile! It’s the new ailment for the century- “post Black Friday depression”
November 26th, 2011 at 11:41 am
Ruud will not be with the Titans next season, and most likely will be out of the NFL altogether. The LB the Bucs should have kept for leadership was Derrick Brooks a couple years ago. if anyone deserved one more year, it was Brooks. Ruud would have meant more misery because, Leaders inspire their teammates. Leaders work harder than their teammates. Leaders are exemplify excellence and determination. Leaders don’t hold out and sit home doing nothing while their teammates work in the off season. Ruud was no leader. He wasn’t even a good follower, or he would have learned that MLB’s have to be as strong as D linemen to fight off big O linemen. Ruud didn’t learn any of these things. He just wanted a fat reward before putting in the work. I can’t stand the guy. He got progressively worse each year after becoming a starter. Dom surely made the right call here. Cadi was the wrong call, but Rudd was the right one.
November 26th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Rudd’s a bum enough said. Foster is better then him and he’s only a rookie. That tells you somethin. Look at the stats. Sorry Im not going to cry over rudd being gone when we couldve signed him to a 1 year deal, to teach foster. Why would you want rudd to teach foster? How to tackle 5-10 yards down the field? HOw to not get off blocks? or how to play consistently mediocre? Na im good Id rather just have foster learn on the job. The lb we shouldve signed for a one year deal shouldve been stephen tulloch if anybody. Now he wouldve been an upgrade and we couldve played him at one of the outside spots. Wow if yall wanted to have rudd play on the outside we’d be even worse then we are now. Rudd cant shed blocks at all the only reason he got the tackles he did was because he was in the middle of the D.
November 26th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
No matter who plays Rahs defense is horrrible, and has been since he took over. Every bit as heinous as Jim Bates.
Don’t hear a lot of talk on here anymore about how Rah was going to take the Tampa two to a new level. He has taken it to a new level – 31st out of 32 teams. Great job.
Minus 86 in point differential? Sickening.
November 26th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
What an sycophantic a-hole! Brags that he hangs out with a guy who is nice enough to take pictures with him and then stabs him in the back in the morning. I use to see Sam Wyche drinking all nights of the week. I didn’t believe he was a good coach so I just didn’t acknowledge him.
November 26th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
@Capt.Tim
“We added Clayborn, Bower, and Foster. Still the defense is worse than last year.”
Wow seriously are you surprised at all? I knew our defense would still suck when more and more rookies and thrown into the starting lineup! And they were well aware of the schedule we had. It’ll be the same stuff next year too. Unless Dom and Rah change their philosophy a little and learn that veterans and having experience and leadership isn’t going to poison our team.
November 26th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
This is just stupid. You got Capt. Tim talking jibberish about all subpar LB’s including Ruud. They all suck, Ruud would not be that big of an upgrade of these Punky Brewsters. Only Chuck Norris could help this LB corps and maybe Chuck Norris could call offensive plays too because guess what, Olsen sucks too. You are what your record says you are, period.
November 26th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Ah, Architech, sharing his new “hater”view. Yet he was a full blown homer last spring- arguing the team would win 14 games- wasn’t that you?
To achieve respectability, ya gotta have a little consistency. If ya jump on and off the bandwagon, like it’s a halfassed merry-go-round, you just come across as emotionally unstable.
Hater or Homer- pick yer Tshirt, and stay with the plan. If you don’t know what you believe, you’ll never convince us!
November 26th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Say what you will about Barrett Ruud but the man got tackles, more than you can say about some current Bucs linebackers.
November 26th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
I think Ruud would fare better if he was relocated to OLB. I don’t mind Ruud coming back next year, since he has a 1 year contract for the Titans, only if he relocates to OLB. Leave Foster in the middle or move him to OLB and then draft a stud MLB.
November 26th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
“one has to think they would have fared better in that scenario, and Foster could have leaned on Ruud to help his development.”- Really Joe?
Yeah what a crying shame Barrett Ruud isn’t around to show Mason Foster the art of waiting for the running back to come to you… and then knock you over.
By the way Ruud has made the PFF weekly all suck ass team a few times this year. Not as many as Quincy Black but that doesn’t make Ruud’s non-signing a mistake.
The real mistake is that the Bucs didn’t go after a linebacker like the Titans former MLB Stephen Tulloch who signed with Detroit for the same peanuts that Ruud signed and is absolutely tearing it up for the Lions. Tulloch could have shown Foster how to really play linebacker in the NFL. So for that matter could have Paul Posluzny. Letting Ruud go is still the single best move the Bucs made this offseason. They failed to upgrade with a veteran linebacker in free agency but thats a different matter from the letting go of Ruud.
November 26th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Losing Ruud and Caddy was detrimental to our team. NO DOUBT! They provided stability, discipline, and positive energy.
I wish Ruud the best. He’s a class act.
And I totally agree with Capt. Tim-Losing leadership killed our chances of a solid season.
November 26th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
ruud was turned on in tampa, but ya gotta realize he was covering tracks for geno hayes and quincy black….now that he is gone it is clear that those two are truely exposed as the crappy linebackers they really are….yes ruud was tackling 5-10 yard down the field, but some of that was due to the lack of decent play by hayes and black….ruud might as well have maned the middle by his lonesome last year now that we see what hayes and black can do with the somewhat young and oblivious mason foster maning the middle (and no i’m not slamming foster – it’s just evident that he is a rookie and is a step behind everything being thrown his way)
adam from ny
November 26th, 2011 at 11:03 pm
ruud looks like owen wilson on rizzoids in that pic….or maybe he is looking for a role as “hutch” in starsky & hutch part 3
adam from ny
November 26th, 2011 at 11:04 pm
all he looks like a weed diva who just sucked on a bong hit
adam from ny
November 26th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
actually thats the look of a man without a contract roaming around at tampa airport on the way out of town
November 26th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
the weird thing …and not a bad idea……would be to re-sign ruud and bring him back next year on a cheap 2 year deal….he would never go for it….but he certainly wouldn’t make our backers look any worse than now….if i’m correct, he only signed for a year with the titans, so he is back at square one and is a free agent soon enough.
November 27th, 2011 at 10:06 am
Bring Ruud back??? Huh?
Adam, whatever you’re smoking, I want some of it.
Capt Tim, home run on the switching sides thing. That has become the norm for many around here. I’m still hanging tough with Rah.
November 27th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
“It sure would be nice if the Titans would be able to pressure him into some bad decisions, but they haven’t pressured much of anyone this season. They will be able to force him to make some tougher throws with Colin McCarthy starting at middle linebacker instead of the gaping hole that was Barrett Ruud.”- Titans SB nation blogger
“GAPING HOLE THAT WAS BARRETT RUUD”- Thats straight from the mouth of Titan fan folks, not Bucfan. Make no mistake that Colin Mcarthy will now be the 2nd rookie this year that Ruud has lost his job too. Mcarthy might have gotten the start due to Ruud’s injury but something tells me the Titans won’t be going back to their one year washed up stopgap after his return from injury.