Don’t Tell Raheem Linebackers Aren’t Studs
March 25th, 2010
Raheem the Dream is happy with Quincy Black and the rest of the Bucs starting linebackers.
Yesterday Raheem the Dream had a friendly, enjoyable breakfast with reporters (quite the contrast to University of Florida tyrant/NFL quarterback guru Urban Meyer’s dealing with the fourth estate).
Raheem the Dream was worked up as usual, with his normal high-on-life attitude. Good guy Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger, sometimes referred to as “Backwards Hat” for his stylish lids and threads, caught Raheem the Dream bragging up his linebackers between gulps of orange juice.
“It’s never a set deal but there’s a certain comfort level with those guys because those guys have played well, especially in those last games when we were able to finish strong and win a couple of games,” Morris said. “Geno Hayes, I believe, led the team in tackles for loss (14). Quincy Black became a real factor on the edge and some of those things we asked him to do — off the edge rushing and some of those things in that stacked position. All the things we asked him to do along with Barrett in the middle, also a young guy controlling our defense and really doing some great things from that perspective.”
Joe really believes the Bucs have a gem in Geno Hayes. Quincy Black too often turned into a milk carton but there’s some promise there.
Barrett Ruud? Joe understands he didn’t exactly have Warren Sapp and Booger McFarland playing in front of him, but as Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM 620, has often said about Ruud, “Shed a block once in a while.”
March 25th, 2010 at 11:12 am
I may be a minority on this but I think Black was the better LB of the three. Geno has a tackle for loss on one play and misses a tackle the next.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Here’s hoping one of the “things” they won’t be “asked to do” is tackle the running back 15-20 yards down the field, after shredding the D-line.
Perhaps Mr. Suh will make that more difficult. Geno has a chance of being a good player.
See, I wrote a semi-positive post!
Damn, it hurt though.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Hayes is good but small but he is up and coming just beleive Rudd is what he is a good tackler but horrilbe in pass covarage. As far as Black on any other team he would not be starting. Morris’s diahera mouth is often a subject on these fourms
March 25th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Hayes is good in pursuit and when he shoots the gaps, but really gets blown off the ball when the play comes right at him.
As I’ve said before LB is another team weakness that must be addressed.
Ruud is overrated and Black and Hayes are basically glorified special teamers playing as hard as they can, but this corps in not playoff caliber by any stretch.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:28 am
-Geno Hayes 18 Missed Tackles (#1 in NFL in MT for OLB in a 4-3) with 4 against ATL (week 17) and 3 against NO (week 16)… so NO he did NOT finish strong. Remember not being able to stop the run?
On the other hand Quincy did well…http://profootballfocus.com/by_player.php?tab=by_player&season=2009&lastname=Black&surn=Black&playerid=3684
-Ruud finished 3rd in the league in tackles with only 8 MTs… that last game against ATL, Ruud had 8 stops… so Ruud finished strong. http://profootballfocus.com/by_player.php?tab=by_player&season=2009&lastname=Ruud&surn=Ruud&playerid=2253
-Sabby and TJax finshed #1 and #2 in the NFL (Safeties) with 20 and 17 Missed Tackles!
-Barber finished #2 in the NFL (CBs) in Missed Tackles with 16. Barber ended the season weak missing tackles in all of his last games.
-Ryan Simms and Hovan had only 17 stops each… the lowest for DT/NTs with 600 or more snaps.
-Hovan finished #1 in the NFL with missed tackles as well for DT/NTs.
-Our DEs one was avg White and the rest were below avg in results.
Only Talib and White were middle of the pack in the NFL.
See for yourselves.
And Joe, get your facts straight buddy.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:31 am
In short:
————————–
-Geno Hayes 18 Missed Tackles (#1 in NFL OLB)
-Sabby and TJax finshed #1 and #2 in the NFL (Safeties) with 20 and 17 Missed Tackles
-Barber finished #2 in the NFL (CBs) in Missed Tackles with 16.
-Ryan Simms and Hovan had only 17 stops each… the lowest for DT/NTs with 600 or more snaps.
-Hovan finished #1 in the NFL with missed tackles as well for DT/NTs.
————————–
I am going to continue posting the truth.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:44 am
@RahDomDaBest
I agree with your overall assessment.
But I wonder how valuable those stas are? How do you define a missed tackle? was the guy in open space against Fitzgerald or Adrian Peterson? Did he slip on a wet field? was another player supposed to close that gap but missed it, making the guy look foolish?
I think those stats are probably only good for very general trends, because the data is way to subjective and too many other variables are present.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:48 am
RahDomDaBest:
Yeah, Ruud made a lot of tackles… seven yards (or more) downfield. He seemed very adept at chasing down runners who got past the second level, something the linebackers should be preventing.
March 25th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
After going back and watching games over I truly believe the LBs are one of the brighter spots on the team. Heres my assessment of what i’ve noticed.
Barrett Ruud: Ruud was greatly hurt by the scheme change to Bates system last year. it was a tale of two halves last season, as he got remarkably better when he was not asked to take on linemen the same under Raheem’s defense. His strength is his drop back coverage ability. His weakness is his lack of leadership to be a motivator and assert his authority on the field, as well as the fact that sometimes he gets bogged down in traffic and needs to learn to shed the blocker quicker and get to the tackle. Its highly unfair to compare him to Hardy Nickerson because sheding the blocker and leadership are what Hardy wrote the book on.
Geno Hayes: Geno has star written all over him, but he’s young. He needs to be more consistant. You see flashes of brilliance, but I believe he needs to bulk up a bit so he can be more durable. The injuries plague him and hamper his development. I do believe, however, that Geno has star potential if he can stay healthy.
Quincy Black: Quincy is a physical specimen. The guy just so looks the part, and his last games were much more consistant than the beginning of the season, but he too needs more experience through playing time. He can hang with tightends or rush the passer, which is a nice luxury to have.
To me the real question is this..we all know Joe Barry was a great LB coach, but with him gone, how will Joe baker fare. If he can really teach fundamentals and motivate these young guy, dissect there weaknesses, than these LBs will be a bright spot for this defense. If he can’t, i’d strongly advise getting someone like Nickerson in here to show these kids how to strap it on and bring the hardware every Sunday.
March 25th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Funny thing about that quote about shedding a block. The best middle linebacker bar none in recent history, Ray Lewis, complained vociferously a few years back about the need to keep guys off him so he could make plays. And the Ravens helped him out by drafting Haloti Ngata. I’ll just add that the talking point is bogus but I don’t feel like having a knockdown drag out fight about it. Ruud is solid and his numbers don’t lie.
March 25th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
When your dline is getting blown the line every running play I’d imagine its hard to make tackles within the first 3 yards
March 25th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Joe I said Sabby was tops in missed tackles… besides, I was giving you a hrad time aboutthe facts because you pointed me to this website with one of your other articles.
Eric, I can assume that there is no way to count how many untouched, whifs our guys had… being out of position and over pursuing… Sabby prob lead the league in those too… but being tops in literal missed tackles across the board is glaring to say the least.
Now, I want to see how many BIG plays we gave up in the Pass and the Run… there were a bunch of those too… I want to find all the big plays on you tube and post them… so we all can judge the film of WHO got beat… Barber, Talib, Sabby, TJax, Ruud, Hayes, et al…
March 25th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
I think DT is a huge need… as well as CB, Safety and LB.
Serious… it’s not like Geno was a top draft pick, not that that truely matters, but isn’t he small for an NFL linebacker?
March 25th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
So other than name dropping, are you going to enlighten me as to how Ruud could have done a better job last year?
March 25th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
….or what part of my post is incorrect?
March 25th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
JDouble:
No, I’d rather not. I’d rather read your intellect. Proceed Dr. Football.
Educate us all how Ruud is playing the best middle linebacker since Mike Singletary.
March 25th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Bottom line are team and franchise are in a horriable situation. What if Freeman does not get better caddy gets hurt the rookie Wr dont pan out Bottom line this morris and domminick project so far has been a disasater . Bucs fans are willing to rip each other up
March 25th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Haha. So you can take the time to respond and drop a bunch of names to make yourself look good, and make comments that try to belittle me and my explaination of Ruud’s role in our defense….but you can’t take the time to explain why I’m mistaken or how Ruud could have been better? That’s typical.
By the way Joe, MLBs aren’t lineman, they aren’t suppose to be experts at shedding blocks from offensive lineman. Just ask Ray Lewis.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
LOL!!!
March 25th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
In 2008, Barber was #1 in the NFL in missed tackles
http://profootballfocus.com/by_position.php?tab=by_position&season=2008&pos=CB&stype=r&runpass=&teamid=-1&numsnaps=25&numgames=1
He missed 5 against Carolina in week 14!!!
TJax also again had double digit missed tackle numbers.
This is why Tampa is know to be weak at stopping the run guys… this is why Raheem himself said he wanted to get bigger and more violent to stop the run… only to revert back to the cover-2… NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN. Hopefully we draft guys who can tackle.
Foot Note: Barber had a great 2008 in regards to defensive TDs.
It just looks as the scouting report is to run, run, run at Barber and the Bucs weak run stopping defense.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Also look at the teams the Bucs beat all finess teams Packers Seahawks saints. Gaints Jets Cowboys power teams beat the hell out of us so are linebackers to me needs to be upgraded. as mater of fact every position can be upgraded except QB,TE
March 25th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
In 2008 Derrick Brooks only missed 5 tackles… I loved DB… the guy was an open field tackling machine.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
@ TJ… even the Qb needs competition! LOL
Although, our O-Line is good, Trueblodd is KILLING US. He is tops in penalties and sacks surrendered on the team on the line… thats a double whammy.
HBs are ok… TE is good if we keep the blockers too.. WRs, well, I think we all know about that one… we need a FB, but Graham is pretty good there imo.
To me, this is how far away we are at being better than 9-7.
2 DT
1 CB
2 LB
1 FS
1 SS
1 RT
2 WR
1 FB
1 HB
1 DE
1 QB
March 25th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
@RahDomDaBest
Ok based upon that, I am warming up to the stats.
you mean washed up DB only had five missed tackles in 2008? And his replacement had 18 in 2009?
Has anybody besides me noticed that these young players Rah is bragging about were brought in by Jon “hated young guys and ignored the draft” Gruden?
March 25th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
@ Eric… you said it all.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Eric… yes, Geno Hayes 18 Missed Tackles (#1 in NFL OLB), Brooks replacement.
And EVERYONE just LOVES GENO.
I have always questioned this love, considering he was a late draft pick and is undersized.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Formerbuc:
First, thanks so much for your insight.
Strange. JDouble claims linebackers aren’t supposed to shed blocks.
The whole defense stunk under Bates for two reasons:
1) They were not drafted to play in Bates’ defense.
2) Bates had all the flexiblity in his defense of a telephone pole. One of the truisms of sports, any sport, is that a good coach melds his philosophy and tactics to get the most out of a player’s ability.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Bates was the scapegoat. Raheem wanted to change the defense to a violent one, but without the personel.
So Raheem takes over when we played teams with back up QBs… and the guys STILL got steam rolled against the run.
But yes, the pass defense improved… I suppose… against the 2 back ups… and sorry Hasslebeck… of course, the Seahawks had ZERO running game.
Recipe to beat the Bucs, Run the ball and Blitz the QB.
Can we reverse this trend?
March 25th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
SGW, I feel what youre saying about the inadequacies of the DL and dont disagree, but I also cant count the number of times ive watched Hardware (or Ray) have a TE, a FB, or a OL oso strictly on the MIC and the man still lead Brooks in tackles 3 of the 5 years they played together. But Nick’ had one hell of a rip move (among others) that got him to the second level. Sometimes you just have to get your nose dirty. It’s the toughest position in cover2 to play. Your calling the shots for everyone, as well as making some quick desicions. This isnt a knock on Ruud. He needs help up front, yes. But he does get stuck in traffic at times. You gotta have grit.
Also, just once this season id have loved to see Ruud grab Sabby by the face mask and tell the man what time it is! I can’t say whether it would’ve made him better or not, and i dont know what went on behind closed doors, but every great team has to have ‘that guy’. Rah talked a lot about having leaders emerge this year and I believe he’s directly speaking about his defensive field presence. I do believe Freeman can be that guy on the other side of the ball for the Bucs.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
@ Former Buc
What do you think about these?
-Geno Hayes 18 Missed Tackles (#1 in NFL OLB)
-Sabby and TJax finshed #1 and #2 in the NFL (Safeties) with 20 and 17 Missed Tackles
-Barber finished #2 in the NFL (CBs) in Missed Tackles with 16.
-Ryan Simms and Hovan had only 17 stops each… the lowest for DT/NTs with 600 or more snaps.
-Hovan finished #1 in the NFL with missed tackles as well for DT/NTs.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
@RahDomDaBest
Thats the easiest way, while waiting for Rah to make some stupid mistake.
But, the bucs defense is a virtual smorgasbord of opportunity. U can beat them running as you pointed out, or burn the secondary with the big play, or short controlled passing followed by horrific tackling.
It’s all good really.
March 25th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
If these numbers and rankings truly are accurate, that’s very unfortunate to a Monte Kiffin inspired defense. Kif always placed a premium on tackles/cap offs verses wiffs and held everybody accountable to the team. But I do have to disagree about the Bates system scapegoat thing. Everybody looked lost most of last season. Even the veterans. It truly was a tale of two halves. You cant change your scheme halfway through a season and have success. Especially with a bunch of rooks and 2nd year players. If Raheem could change one thing about what he did last year that would probably be it.
But just be patient. This thing will get better as time goes on (provided they draft some impact studs this year up front). Its all about the players man. You got a lineup of Rice, Sapp, McFarland (before he got lazy), and White your going to win more games than you are with what they had this year to work with. Talent has a lot to do with winning. Attitude and fundamental coaching are also major factors.
March 25th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Those numbers are on the Bucs last year… maybe that’s why Monte left…
But, even Raheem said we had to get better against the run… what he needs to do is draft, draft, draft defense once and for all…. forget about the WRs for the first 4 rounds… just draft defense… no one’s job should be safe…
March 25th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
This site is infested with negative Buc hating jerk offs led by the ring leader Joe that loves to feed into the negative hyperbole because it gets more hits. Joe, your site is petty, your a hack and I’ve grown tired of your tabloid type reporting. I’m taking your site of my favorites and won’t be back. You should close shop and get into something more fitting…like politics. You’d be a great republican soldier. Peace.
March 25th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
So long you delusional fruitloop jdouble… now go find a website that pamper’s your Buccaneer desires…
I have one for you… CBS Sportsline-NFL Teams- Bucs forum. Those dudes seem to MAKE their own coolaid on that forum.
By the way, Raheem Morris is a CLOWN. Dude needs to stop talking to the media… and he is the freakin head coach of an NFL franchise. Yet he isn’t qualified to talk to the media.
Make sense?
March 25th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
awwwwwwww poor little Koolaid drinker can’t take reading some opinions contrary to his.
March 25th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
jdouble, NOOOO!!! Say it isn’t so! You’ll be missed so much! What will we do..sniffle…sniffle…
BTW dont let the non-block shedding linebacker hit your ass on the way out!
March 25th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Not to jump on Jdouble’s case but when I first joined this site we had a verbal battle. He said Dungy was just as inexperienced as Morris. Now Swallow that one.
March 25th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Morris is the head coach of the Buccaneers. So he is supposuse to be a leader. The thing is is Morris going to be a leader or is he going to be the players friend cause he cant be both. Just like my boss at work yeah he talks to me but he is not trying to be my friend he is trying to supervise me and be a leader. Understand the Bucs want To build around young players but If Morris is not teaching them to be leaders through his own actions then we will never have a good team in my opinon
March 25th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
TJ, That’s one thing I had against Raheem the Dream was his INEXPERIENCE! And it showed. I also have to agree with you about his player’s-chestbump-coach approach.
March 25th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
@oar
I think you hit the nail on the head.
I am a big Gruden supporter, but I do see the argument that the team had gotten stale and perhaps a change was needed. Still don’t like or agree with it, but understand it.
But to decide haphazardly to bring this guy in is the problem. If your gonna replace Gruden, bring in a guy with Grudenesque type credentials. Just like when they replaced Dungy. Or even when they replaced Wyche.
Why the totally different approach if it isn’t about the money? I am at a loss to find another explanation. Is hiring Raheem Morris the act of an owner going all out for a Championship?
March 25th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Eric, I have to agree wholeheartedly. I too was and still am a Gruden fan. I for one would have loved to see Morris be defensive coordinator and what Gruden would have done last year with Josh Johnson or McCown and the offense. I think he was going to change somethings up, but we will never know. Shame.
March 25th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
@ Oar yeah like when he chest bumped during the dolphins game only problem was there we a minuate left and the doplhins came back and won the game
March 25th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Raheem has chest bumped on many of loses. Did Raheem even play football in college???
Look, everyone wanted Gruden gone… Okay, understand that 7 years is a long time in the NFL, the fans were getting antsy and Gruden was an ego maniac… So he was let go… Fine.
But as Eric said, to replace him with Raheem and Dom and then have the audacity to say that just going 9-7 isn’t good enough, we want to play in the NFC championship every year… And then promote the DB coach to HC is insane. Raheem is not a young coaching prodigy, as proved last year… He’s not. This is ridiculous.
The Glazers making that comment and putting these clowns in those position smells fishy. I think the Glazers want to finally call the shots with a puppet coach and GM who won’t challenge them, just because they can… The real scapegoats may be Rah and Dom.
March 25th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Did you guys notice that the Dream also exressed great confidence in Clayton and Leftwich in that PR interview? He said Clayton was just slowed by a bad hammy, and the Slug was really good for the team.
Also, most fascinating to me, he stated it was not important to surround Freeman with great players, because Freeman was going to be so good he would make those around him great.
That tells me that we really are gonna see the blocking icon, Reggie Brown, Straughter, and Stovall as the wide-outs.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
@ RahDomDaBest I agree with you about Gruden I liked him but his ego was a problem . Also agreewhen we let him go I was like thinking Shanhaon or Cowher then they annouced morris .I was like when waas he ever a cordinator ? I can be wrong but I think there are alot of assitanit coaches that were not cordinators that have become Head coach. Cable was oline coach Harbrough was special teams coach Zorn was QB coach DOnt know if Singeltary was a d cordinator know he was LB coach for ravens. Bottom line the glazers regret letting Dungy and Tomlin get out the nest. Morris interviewed with the Broncos I hear they liked him but they did not hire him hmm wonder why
March 25th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
have you guys noticed end of game when Morris shakes the coaches hand it is like he is trying to french kiss there ear maybe he is kiss ass to get a secoindary job next year cause I see maybe 5 wins
March 25th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
If they actually don’t get another receiver, I am prediciting 1-15. They may not score ten points a game.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:16 am
The Bucs proved last year that it is TOUGH to lose all 16 games… As much as they tried, when the other team made mistakes and stopped running the ball, then Tampa’s decent pass defense became oportunistic and counters Freemans interceptions, thus putting the Bucs in a few spots to get lucky and have the other team miss a game winning field goal (see Saints). LOL, many people believe the bucs beat the Saints… They forget that the Saints missed a game winning FG to lose to the Bucs.
Matt Hassleback throws a bunch of picks against us… Again, they didn’t rn the ball or just had no running game.
The Packers oline got manhandled by our defensive line… Still think it was the cream cycle unis that threw the Packers off… we beat Green Bay with ugly… THEY are acustomed to having the ugliest uniforms in the NFL… So to see the orange unis, I believe that threw the Packers off guard… Lol.
So that is how close we came to going 0-16…. but the Bucs weren’t consistent enough to pull it off! LOL
March 26th, 2010 at 7:50 am
yeah I do remeber the saints missed a FG that is when the owner was celenrating and they told him they missed it I can see 5 or 6 games they could win but that is giving them something mostly every team we have played have gottne better this offseason from detriot to the falcons. We have to remeber that Morris pushed these players in training camp with pads. my opinon that is why we struggled with injuries cause the dream wanted to play violonet
March 26th, 2010 at 8:52 am
So he practiced violent?