Bucs Notes From Win Over Saints
December 28th, 2009
Vacation Man of BSPN.com, who resides in Tampa, decided to make the trek across the Gulf of Mexico to take in the Bucs-Saints game.
After the Bucs upset the Saints, Vacation Man came up with some interesting nuggets that caught Joe’s attention:
* The Buccaneers became the team with the fewest victories (two) entering a game to defeat a team with at least 13 wins in NFL history.
* The Bucs are 11-0 when Williams has 22 or more carries in a game and 8-1 when he rushes for 100 or more yards.
* Raheem the Dream now has two victories in December. That’s precisely two more than Jon Gruden had last December.
This just reinforces what Joe has been beating the drum for: Run the damned ball!
December 28th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Our O-line is doing a much better job of opening up holes lately too. It was hard to run earlier in the year, when the RB is met in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage. I think the OC change, and the QB changes had a significant detrimental impact on our run game as well. It is nice to see some stability now.
December 28th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Joe,
You are hardly alone in that battle cry, nearly fell out of my seat in the first half after two strong runs to get a first down, we started the next series empty set in the shotgun…I mean if you are going to pass, fine but after two runs, get under center and play action the MF play. The fourth down call was a tail of two coaches to me, first the run was an ill conceived play from the jump, I was really excited to watch Raheem sprint down the line to call a timeout to get his team out of a bad play only to watch the same formation on the next snap (shades of the Atlanta game on defense after a timeout) only to run a roll out on fourth and less than a foot.
I’m liking what I’m seeing out of Raheem on the defensive side but Olson still confuses me on his play calling. I think he is too quick to pass. The OT thing was really cool just watching them run the ball.
One thing I am confused about as well is the back rotation gig, why don’t we just call Caddy our every down back and brin Ward in to spell him on every third or fourth play. Caddy looked like he needed a play off after the first three runs in OT. Would have been great to bring Ward in at that point then follow up with Caddy for a couple of more plays.
All being said, Raheem needs to go ahead and finish off the season with a home win in Atlanta. Keep the momentum up then start putting a package together for the Rams, if they don’t bite, the Sabby Piscatelli experiment will be over with the drafting of Eric Berry.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I am 100% with you Joe ! ! It’s about freaking time that Greg Olson got the message! More Runs & less fancy trickery. As an honest Buccaneers Football Fan, I like run plays to setup the Pass more than using Pass Plays to setup the Run!
I like the screenplays when there excuted well, but let’s be clear. Run the ball to wear out opposing defense, then hit them with the Pass ! !