Bucs Dramatic Win Blindsides Peter King
October 26th, 2012
A road win on a Thursday night is a surprising feat in the NFL, based on simple facts. But the Bucs blew that theory out of the water by pistol-whipping the Vikings last night.
The most surprised of Americans may have been Marriott-sleeping, cricket-watching, smartphone-censoring, scone-loathing Peter King of Sports Illustrated, who made no secret he was stunned by the Bucs win.
About Last Night …
Well, who saw 37-16, Tampa, coming? Not me. But the one thing that is patently obvious about the way the Bucs play is the emphasis on the run. Greg Schiano is using Doug Martin the way he used Ray Rice at Rutgers. Using a 53 percent-47 percent run-pass ratio, the Bucs ran Martin 29 times and passed to him six times (completing three, including a 64-yard touchdown catch-and-run). Schiano is defying the rest of the league — I have a feeling that’s going to be a recurring theme — by running so much with Martin, but why wouldn’t he? If he’s going to have a quarterback completing 50-something percent of his throws, which Josh Freeman has in each of his last three games, why not move the chains the way your grandfather did?
King makes a salient point, and it’s not his shock at last night’s outcome.
Sooner or later the rookie wall is going to hit Doug Martin and hit him hard. How well he is able to manage that wall will be interesting; some rookies can, some cannot.
It’s one thing to play 12 games in college, quite another to play 20 (including preseason games) with men.
Joe wonders if Bucs coach Greg Schiano has a pitch-count on Martin?
October 26th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
20 games? I’d hardly count the 4 preseason games as actual work for Martin. The most he played was the 1st half of the 3rd game. In total, those 4 games maybe works out to 1 game. So 17 games in total.
FYI – He played 13 games at Boise in 2011, 13 games in 2010 and 14 games in 2009. Is 17 really that different? Its not. Especially when you’re the Muscle Hamster.
October 26th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
King has the wrong view of Bucs offense imo. Bucs have been more pass heavy than run heavy the last few weeks and that helped the offense to turn around. He is complaining about Freeman completing just 50% of his passes and produces it as a reason for Schiano opting to go run heavy with Martin. That is as lazy one can get with his research on a team. He does not realize that it is Freeman-Jackson-MWill’s big play making ability that has helped our run game. The low comp % is majorly because of Freeman trying to take the big shots to spread the defense.
October 26th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
@Jonny3.3 – 100% agree with you.
King’s insight is misguided at best and it honestly just seems like a backhanded compliment to the Bucs. Oh, your running game has been solid despite a struggling QB. I find it interesting he chose to omit Freeman’s TD/INT ratio, passer rating, yards, and yards per attempt over the past three games. Why does it seem this guy always has it out for us?
October 26th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
I love watching Doug Martin on the sidelines. He reminds me of a boxer before a fight, because he is hopping up and down, like he is itching to get back in the game. I’ve never seen him without his helmet on the sidelines, as if he would go in and play defense if they wanted him to. When he’s in the game, he plays with more effort than anyone else on the field. Even when they hit him in the backfield and he is obviously going down, he still manages to fight to get any yard he can. There’s no quit in this guy, and I can’t imagine why every Buc fan wouldn’t love this guy.
October 26th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Hmm, I don’t like the suggestion that Freeman hasn’t played well the last two weeks (why else bring up the 50 something completion percentage?). He was the biggest reason our offense did so well against the Saints, not Doug Martin, and though last night he didn’t have an amazing game stat wise, he made huge throws when it was needed. The last game clinching drive was full of big time third down completions in a VERY hostile environment at a critical time in the game.
Also, in several of our games we’ve actually been more pass oriented, and I don’t think last night was indicative of what our identity has been when our offense has done well this year (as King says it is). So all in all, some pretty dumb words by King.
October 26th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
If Doug hits the rookie wall we unleash the monster who’s been chained down all this time. Won’t be the end of the world.
October 26th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Ha, I see others beat me to expressing this sentiment ^^
October 26th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Snook:
Do you really believe the punishment he took from the likes of Nevada, Fresno State, UTEP and Utah State is the same beatings he takes on the NFL level?
October 26th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Kind of reminds me of how much Jon Gruden ran the heck out of Caddy until he got hurt.
October 26th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Whether Schiano can manage the offense some of the time with Blount in there will be a real test of his coaching skill. If he can get all of his players to perform up to their potential rather than just a few, that is what will make us a real contender.
October 26th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Hawaiian makes a good point about Martin’s mental game which can’t be overlooked. He is a supreme competitor.
My favorite is when he makes a run for a decent gain and then gets upset with himself because he knew it could have been a bigger play. He is learning and he might have started the season slow but he is just going to continue to get better. Look for more games like last night my friends.
October 26th, 2012 at 3:29 pm
@Hawaiian Buc
Lmao you are so right he never takes his helmet off at all he is ready and willing to play every play every time. The only time he had it off was for the post game interview, not even when they where going to the looker room did he take it off. LOL
October 26th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Freeman will throw 7 bad passes a game.We now know this to be a fact.It’s the timing of these bad throw’s that makes all the difference.Last night he was money on 3rd down.Those 2 throws to the vik’s DE were bad but luckly incomplete.But him pushing the ball downfield is opening EVERYTHING up.I think those short throw’s kinda handcuff Freeman.Kinda like Shaq and his freethrow’s.He is powerful enough to simply arm throw any short pass but bad mechanic’s lead’s to incompletion’s.When he throw’s deep he has to plant his foot so he more accurate.
October 26th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
That’s because Ricky Williams is his hero.
Remember when Ricky’s anxiety was so high that he left his helmet on for interviews?
October 26th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
I’m pretty sure Blount can handle the load for a few games while Martin rest rest up if he hit the rookie wall. Blount might not seem like a great replacement for Martin given the fact that he has look ok in the last few games. I can understand, because he gets warmed up as the game goes on and can’t just get tossed in cold and expect to do much. He takes a while to warm up, but when he is hot he is hard to stop.
October 26th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Peter King is a dweeb.
He quickly points out Freeman’s passing percentage…but what he neglects is the 93.3 QB Rating for the year.
Against KC he had a 124.7 Rating
Against NO he had a 115.2 Rating
Against Vikings he had 104.2 Rating
Since the Bye Week, Josh has had a rating over 100 every week. Before the bye he had them as low as 45.2.
There have been plenty of elite QBs with low completion percentages…because drops count against them. Josh Freeman is not elite…yet…but he is getting better and better.
October 26th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
King, sounds like most sports writers more upset that he was wrong than giving credit where it’s due.
October 26th, 2012 at 4:16 pm
Did Peter King not watch the 17 play drive. Was five first downs by Freeman all passes?
October 26th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
76Buc…Thise deflected passes go to the OL.
October 26th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
@Buc fan #237: You’re such a moron. It wasn’t heavy work load that brought the first major injury to Caddy. It was a hard hit from Panthers’ safety Chris Harris which made Cadillac land awkwardly on his knee.
October 26th, 2012 at 4:51 pm
@McBuc: No they are on Freeman. He is a tall guy and the release point on those throws is around 5ft. I am sure Sully will coach Freeman up on those short passes though.
October 26th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
actually Jonny 3.3 Caddy had a severe foot injury his rookie year and missed I believe 3 games from the direct result of Gruden over using him at the start of his NFL career.
If I remember correctly he hurt the foot in a home game against the Bills and instead of rest he played through it and made it worse.
October 27th, 2012 at 7:57 am
King is a douche bag. Freeman is not the most accurate passer but when he is on his game he is clutch see 9 min drive & third and long conversions at pivotal time in the game, and he doesn’t turn the ball over. Isn’t that what matters? His deep and intermediate ball is usually accurate evidenced by the high average yards per completion. Funny thing Ponder was actually more accurate than Freeman did that help him Peter?
Has anyone noticed how well the offensive line has played lately? Freeman has a good amount of time and little pressure. Kudos to Dominik and the coaching staff. Pretty gutsy move using a former College Basketball player to replace the human sieve Jeremy Trueblood. Also the move of Meredith inside to replace Larsen was a master stroke. The staff learns and adapts which to me is what makes them impressive.
October 27th, 2012 at 8:33 am
I am a big Gruden fan, but Jonney3.3 (are you Gruden?), I do recall that Caddy, as a rookie, was ran way too much for a rookie in his first season. As noted above about his foot injury.
The reason why Blount doesnt get more runs, even against Minnesota, is because he is terrible at consistently hitting the hole. He is not a good, dependable RB. He needs holes the size of the Grand Canyon to get him to the second level. When it comes time to close out a game, Blount has proven that he cant keep drives going. However, Martin has showed he can at least get 3. I do wish we had an Alstott type back with a bruising lead blocker to run up the gut.
Speaking of lead blocker… did anyone notice how well Lorig did Thursday night? Mike Mayock gave him quite a bit of credit.
October 27th, 2012 at 8:50 am
No….those throws WERE on the O-line and if you watched the game and listened or knew a thing about football you’d know that. Every commentator said that the reason Freeman’s throws hit the DE was because Dotson failed to execute the cut block so the DE had to drop his arms. The play is designed to throw right over the top of that block. If the block isn’t executed properly then I don’t care if it’s Aaron Rogers or Josh Freeman, the ball is going to hit the DE when he’s still standing.
October 27th, 2012 at 8:55 am
By the way, Peter King is a complete moron for that comment. Get the yardage the way ‘your grandfather’ did it?? How stupid is that? Last time I checked good RB’s still go in the first round and I’m just guessing but I suppose that’s because teams still value a good running game….just like grandpa did. Some of these guys set the journalistic bar low for sports writers.
October 27th, 2012 at 9:31 am
This King dude has nothing good to say. I don’t even listen to him. I know freeman is having problems with short intermediate routes but actually you see most of the times that the receivers always acknowledge they are running the wrong routes . its nt like freeman always have the perfect pocket. Most times against the vikes he was hit hard while throwing the ball. i thinki the right side of the offensive line improves and he has more time then he can reset his foot and be able to complete those passes
October 27th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Hey Joe
I don’t understand your obsession with this guy.He isn’t very smart ,he makes crazy comments just to get people talking about his oppinions,that are quite often are way off base.Yet every week you bring this poor excuse of a sports writer to our GREAT web site.I think maybe he’s family and your trying to help him out lol.Love the site just don’t understand your obsession.
October 27th, 2012 at 10:03 am
King rates and reviews teams based on how well they feed him when he visits their facilities. King is like a sideshow comic when it comes to football.
October 27th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
That’s because Joe likes both Kings for the same reason. Shaun and Peter King love reactions.