Would You Have Taken A Knee?
October 17th, 2010
Stuffing his face at Lee Roy Selmon’s in Fort Myers with Bucs fans on The Blackout Tour (Rams game tickets now available), Joe had an immediate case of heartburn watching Tampa Bay take a knee at its own 36 yard line following Cody Grimm’s interception.
Down 17-0, this decision had no stake in the outcome, for sure. But it was as if the Bucs killed their own momentum and gave up.
Raheem Morris always talks about opportunities to learn for his young football team. Joe would like to know what is learned by taking a knee.
Surely the Bucs have a play in Chucky’s playbook that calls for a 25- or 30-yard completion in eight seconds and a 50+ yard field goal attempt. What a great opportunity to try? Or what about the Hail Mary, rolling Josh Freeman out and letting him step into a throw? The Bucs have the tall bodies to get up for a ball.
Again, Joe knows this decision was ultimately meaningless. But it seemed to go against what the Bucs are trying to be about.
October 17th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
All we needed was a 25 yard pass and we could’ve attempted a 57 yard field goal. Barth would’ve missed it probably, but remember when he made three 50 + yard field goals last year against the Dolphins? It doesn’t hurt to try.
October 17th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
It was definitely the right call taking a knee there. We were playing terribly, and we were deep in our own territory with only 13 seconds left! Liked the call…
October 17th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Tackling Ivory would have been even more helpful.
October 17th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
so eric the hater is back after almost a month huh???
October 17th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Eric is right about Ivory Aldo. It’s pretty humiliating how nobody running backs consistently have career days against us now.
October 17th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
True, eric. Tackling Ivory would’ve been more helpful. It’s been said an awful lot around here, off-season, preseason, etc, that DTs don’t usually come into the NFL and tear it up their first year. That’s pretty obvious (although Suh seems to be doing pretty well, he has a bit more help around him on that line). In all honesty, I thought the LBs would be “tougher”, “better” than they have been so far. We knew it’d be on their shoulders to stop the run, yet they are getting caught up and nobody can get off a block.
I still can’t complain, they’re doing better (record-wise) than most expected to this point). It’s still a growing, learning year. I think they’ve shown great promise for future years, and we are seeing holes that still need filled on both sides of the ball in the next off-season.
October 17th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
im not complaining arguments, im complaining he just talk in bad moments, so thats not a fan, just a hater without life
October 17th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
no
October 17th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
The way things went in the first half, I don’t think I’d have risked having a fumble or Int run back on us. Taking the knee was the right call imo.
October 17th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Aldo you seem to have a lot of hate inside yourself as well – especially when you don’t even acknowledge that Eric is right. So instead of admitting you are wrong you call Eric a hater…so sad.
Joe – you KNOW I’m not a pro-Morris guy. Having said that I absolutely support Raheem on that call.
When the Bucs haven’t been able to do CRAP all game on offense I don’t want my QB tossing a ‘hail Mary’ pass with the potential for an INT. The offense has alread suffered enough. Go into halftime and try to regroup.
Unfortunately the Saints, like the Steelers, are in a different league than the Bucs.
October 17th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Completely agree with Joe. Throw the damn ball. Very low risk in that situation. Nothing happens when you do nothing.
October 17th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Aldo, no need to point out how much of a loser Eric is, everybody and their mom knew Eric would be back when the Bucs lose.
October 17th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Geez i don’t think tacking Ivory was such a hateful concept.
A big game in the division and a undrafted rookie lights up 158 yards and a 10.5 average?
That is some bushleague football folks.
October 17th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Ash – the reason I agree with coach Morris is that you don’t want to put Josh into those situations when there is no need for it.
Hey Eric why do you think that the wonderful brainchild Dominik couldn’t get someone like Ivory for the Bucs?
October 17th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Robert Malone may be a better punter than Bryan, but is definitely not a better holder. I seriously think that we should try Carpenter as our holder…
October 17th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
BamBam,
My concern for McCoy and Price is this – I don’t see ANY improvement. Plus moving them from NT to DE and back – this isn’t helping any…
October 17th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
BTW,
Brandon Marshall 10 catches 127 yards today.
But who needs a guy like that?
October 17th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Forget the knee, what about Grim’s dumbass pitching the ball backwards at the 15 yard line??? Saints could have taken that one back to the house. Hopefully that was corrected, and not with a chest bump.
October 17th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Seriously???? One of the few bright spots, a tip by Black and INT by Grimm is criticized. Maybe the team is losing the game, and Grimm thought MAYBE someone could take it to the house and get back into the game. Unbelievable.
Eric, I’m sorry you obviously hate Mike Williams so much you have to keep bringing up players we “could have had” while Williams sits on the bench.
Lucky, You really expect to see McCoy or Price become a beast in 5 games? Most people understood before the season that most DTs take at least one full year to grasp the NFL game. That’s not always the case, but is very typical, even with a high first round draft choice.
October 17th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Why would Williams sit on the bench if the Bucs had Brandon Marshall?
The question is would marshall be more valuable that Benn and his five catches? Thats the pick we would have sacrificed.
But, Dom can never do any wrong, he is infallable like the Pope.
October 17th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Never said Dom is infallible. He obviously has missed on Brent Bowden. I’d have to say Xavier Fulton was a miss too. Williams and Marshall are both X WRs, odds are one would play, the other would sit. We’d still be struggling with a Z WR. Boldin would have been the better selection, as he’s been the Z WR for Arizona for quite some time.
October 18th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Well Mr. BamBam, brother marshall played one hell of a game today and is tied for third in the league in receiving.
Would have been the best receiver the bucs ever had IMO, and I believe our front office rejected it due to his sizable contract.
At 26 would have been a hell of an addition. Ill bet we could have figured out how to get him and Williams on the field together.
Not that I don’t like Boldin, but Brandon is another level of talent.
October 18th, 2010 at 12:41 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugmdgVS95dk
This is why Joe.
October 18th, 2010 at 6:43 am
@Eric,
Nice to have you back (well, not really, but you know what I mean). Anyway, it’s way to early to tell what kind of a player Benn will be and if it was worth the draft pick. That’s 3 years down the road at minimum. Don’t get me wrong, I would loved to have had Marshall here, but I think the issue was more so how would he have fit in on this team. The team is young that by the time the team was ready to compete (3 years or so most likely), Marshall would be on the decline as far as his production (he is in his prime now). At that point from a business perspective, it’s just not a wise investment. I really don’t see the addition of Marshall as a huge difference in our win-loss record. We could have added Marshall and Bolden, but if we don’t start stopping the run and running the ball efficiently, we won’t beat good teams. It’s just totally unfair to expect what you are expecting from a bunch of rookies and second year players. Have a little patience brother. Why don’t you join us after we win too? You were happy last week, right?
October 18th, 2010 at 7:41 am
Seems to be fitting in rather well in Miami, who have a second year player as their starting QB.
Having a bunch of rooks in starting positions is a recipe for disaster, which is why you suppplement with some experienced players, and make a move to get the beast when given the opportunity.
As for me, I have been to all three home games, have you?
October 18th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
@Eric
“As for me, I have been to all three home games, have you?”
That’s a little difficult for me seeing as though I live 5000 miles away and my job has me working on (most) weekends. I did, however, fly out for 3 days to go to the Cleveland game, and I’m flying by myself to go to the Arizona and San Francisco game. I wake up at 6 a.m. every Sunday because the game comes on here at 7:00 am. Trust me, I support this team plenty no matter who is coaching it (I just couldn’t afford it as much when Gruden was coaching).
I agree starting rookies can be a recipe for disaster, but that was a decision of the organization, not the coach. Coaches want to win so they can have a job. I highly doubt Raheem Morris came in and wanted to get rid of all the veterans. I agree it sucks to have to go through days like Sunday, but it will be worth it if we are a great team down the road. Obviously, nobody knows whether or not that will happen, but I see major improvement and I believe we will. I just don’t understand why we are 3-2 and you want Raheem fired. If we falter down the stretch and continue losing games like this, I will agree it’s time to move on, but it’s still early and we are in good shape. So far, we’ve beaten teams we are supposed to and lost to teams we are supposed to. That’s not coaching, that’s just talent. Relax.