Vacation Man Thinking Backwards
December 19th, 2009
Vacation Man of BSPN actually believes Bucs linebacker Barrett Ruud is more valuable than tackle Donald Penn.
Bucs offensive tackle Donald Penn and linebacker Barrett Ruud are near polar opposites in Joe’s mind.
Aside from the fact the two play on opposite sides of the ball, their worth to the Bucs is on opposite spectrums.
One could make a legitimate argument the Bucs best player is Penn. He had owned some of the game’s best defensive ends this year.
Ruud has been a horrible disappointment. His play in defrocked defensive coordinator Jim Bates’ s(p)itty scheme was dreadful beyond words. He was seen more often than not chasing ball carriers downfield rather than stopping them at the line.
Yet Vacation Man of BSPN.com suggests Ruud is more valuable to the Bucs than Penn while participating in an NFC South chat on BSPN.com.
Kevin (Scranton, PA)
Hey Pat, what’s the over/under that both Penn and Rudd are back in Tampa next year?Vacation Man
I think they’ll both be back. If I had to prioritize, I’d say Ruud first, then Penn.
Whoa! By what logic would anyone think Ruud should be kept before Penn? Already this season Penn has likely saved rookie quarterback Josh Freeman from getting beheaded. It’s beyond a stretch to even consider Ruud an average player based on this season’s performance.
In football, it all starts up front. And while the Bucs offensive line has mostly been underperforming, Penn has not.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:51 am
What happened to Ruud this year?? Last year he was a stud! wouldn’t know it was a contract year . GO BUCS!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 19th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Penn has been playing his tail off! We haven’t had anyone that dominant at the LT position since Paul Gruber. (There I go, showing my age, again)
Ruud seems to have great talent, but it seems to be heavily dependent upon the defensive scheme in place. He looked a bit sorry in Bates’ scheme, but since switching back to the old scheme he has looked a lot better.
Both are definitely worth keeping, but to me the priority should definitely be Penn.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Man Joe, for a guy who has complained on and on about the late Jim Bates’ horrid defensive scheme, you sure do have a short memory when it comes to Ruud. The whole problem with Bates’ scheme was that the d-linemen couldn’t tie up all the o-line’s blockers, which ALWAYS left someone open to block Ruud. Ruud was constantly being asked to take on blocks, rather than doing what he does best: flowing to the ball and making open-field tackles.
The guy has skills, and is not just an average player, but a very GOOD player. Bates just did his best to hide that. Don’t throw Ruud under the bus for failing to succeed in a scheme that set him up to fail.
December 20th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Ruud could start on a couple teams in the NFL and that’s it. Penn could start on almost any team. Case closed, Pat Ya-saints-kas can go back to sniffing Drew Brees’ panties.