Sims Out; Another Round For The New O-Line
November 5th, 2010
In a million years Joe never would have thought he’d be nervous because Ryan Sims was going to miss a game. But that’s where Joe finds himself just a few hours before the start of iced cold beer time on this lovely Friday.
The Bucs announced today that Sims is out for Sunday, along with Jeff Faine, Jeremy Trueblood and Earnest Graham.
Brian Price is done for the year. Sims is on the shelf. Kyle Moore is a waste rushing inside. And the Bucs might rely on newcomer Alex Magee heavily in Atlanta, and possibly a little bit from defensive tackle Al Woods, who found his way to Tampa this week. Woods was a fourth-round pick in 2010 by the Saints but didn’t make the team.
Don’t worry too much, at least Barrett Ruud is patrolling the middle to help stuff the run. Oh, uhhh, skip that.
In his Passing On The Game blog, former Bucs DE Steve White shares a few thoughts on this new development along the D-line.
It’s kind of ironic because I was just talking about why the loss of Brian Price to IR was so big the other day and now that Sims is going to be out people will get to see what I mean. That’s not a knock on Alex Magee though. Actually I don’t know much about him and I couldn’t say how he will fit in with our defense until he gets some snaps. But I would say its pretty damn scary when you think about the fact that he and Al Woods now make up the second team defensive tackles even though neither have taken a snap for Tampa and both were recently learning how to play in a 3-4 rather than a 4-3 defense.
And yes, it DEFINITELY matters.
I don’t know if both Magee and Woods will be up but even if they are I have a hard time believing that Woods would be able to learn the playbook quick enough to be ready to play meaningful snaps for the Bucs on Sunday. Magee on the other hand has been here for a few weeks so he should at least have some of it down pat. Its not like Sims was necessarily a world beater either but at least he knew where he was supposed to be on every play.
As for missing Trueblood and Faine for the second game in a row, Joe is very pleased that the O-line that had success in Arizona — Donald Penn, Ted Larsen, Jeremy Zuttah, Davin Joseph, James Lee — will get another shot together.
Joe believes they earned it, and trotting out a banged up Faine and/or Trueblood serves no purpose in the eighth game of the season.
If the Bucs continue to be successful along the O-line, Joe wonders if Trueblood and Faine would be accept backup roles in a team-first way.
November 5th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Not very impressed with Magee him so far. But, we could coach him up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgNP7BdGABA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Magee
November 5th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Who is “we?” Certainly not Tod Wash.
November 5th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s not like we can have less pass rush than we have had.
and maybe we’ll see another one of Dom’s scout team superstars emerge this week.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Did anyone watch Morris press conference today? Did you notice, when talking about the O-line and Zuttah, that he said Zuttah and Joseph are stepping up to be the leaders on the line? What? No Donald Penn? I mean, Penn’s been around longer than Zuttah, Penn’s been a starter the whole time. He’s not a leader? What’s that say about Penn, when Morris leaves him off his list of O-line leaders? I understand Joseph (even though I’ve watched him get beat week in and week out this year), but Zuttah over Penn? Hmmm…. makes you wonder about Penn.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Oh yeah, and on topic about the D-line. I’m excited to see (even though they have extremely limited time with the playbook and practice), if Magee or Woods can just come in and take on a double team and stuff the run. Even if they don’t have the experience, if they can just get some push to re-route the runner. That would be an improvement right there. Especially against the Falcons. One way to find out… get them on the field.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Zuttah played very well for Davin Joseph when Zuttah was a rookie. Zuttah’s doing a decent job at center in place of Jeff Faine.
Pretty clear that left guard is not his cup of tea.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
“line up and whoop the guy in front of you” _Derrick Brooks.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
The only upside to all this is again we get to raid various teams practice squads and maybe we’ll find a jewel among them.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Marcus Jones is probably available.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Still dying to see Lumpkin! Talked to some friends, they said he has some magic . I hope so
November 5th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Joe whats the problem??? We have the manbeast run stuffing Barrett Ruud. I am sure Michael Turner is shaking in his boots. The way Barrett hits the hole any running back would be!! Wait I just woke up– Oh lord we are in big trouble!! Where is Jeremiah Trotter when you need him!!!
November 5th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Can someone put McCoy and Roy Miller in some kind of protective bubble room until Sunday at 1 pm???
November 5th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Kyle Moore may be a waste to use inside, BUT he knows the defensive calls – the same can’t be said for McGee and Woods. So, if there is a struggle inside, one has to consider putting Moore inside and Crowder\Bennett outside.
Guess we’ll find out Sunday.
As for the OL, I hope Lee continues his good play and Larsen has done ok.
November 5th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Who cares about the O-line…the way the Bucs D-line looks now the only hope the Bucs have of winning this Sunday is if Matt Ryan and Michael Turner get so tired of running up and down the field that they fall over from exhaustion.
November 5th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
What happend to Sims? Did he catch salmonella from eating burgers all day?
November 5th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Could they be any worse? Our D-line has got NO pressure and can’t stop the run at all. Atleast these youngs could surprise us.
Also, how hard is it for a NT to learn the play book? You charge one of two gaps and try to eat up two blockers and tackle anyone that tries to come thru your gap. Doesn’t seem very complicated.
November 5th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Don’t give up so fast, derf. The way this staff has brought guys in and gotten them to play with virtually no experience has been nothing short of amazing so far. Don’t be surprised if one of the D-linemen step up and shock us fans.
“Nothing is over until we decide it is. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”… Bluto
November 5th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
SEE JOE???- Al Woods is a story for the Buccaneers and well…well thats just kind of sad actually.
November 5th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Hmmm.. we’ve now got a player that can play DT that was selected in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds of an NFL Draft. Between McCoy, Price, Magee/Miller, and Woods/Moore you’d think we could find 2 or 3 guys that can be pretty decent in years to come.
November 5th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Joe here,
@gitarlvr – How bout that. Joe came through for you. 😉
November 5th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
I’ve got a hard time seeing Faine get put on the bench. Didn’t we give him a record contract for a center when we brought him in?
November 5th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Michigan – Who cares about what a player is paid (other than Dominik and Joel Glazer & JimBuc). Play the best player.
November 5th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
I couldn’t agree more Mr. Lucky, but as you mentioned, a lot of GM’s and Owners don’t.
November 6th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Raheem Morris quote-
“Last week we went and got Alex Magee, who has played down in the trenches a little bit for Kansas City,” said Morris. “He hasn’t done it as much for us. This week we put him in there a little bit to see if he could handle it, see if he could hold up. So I have to make a decision between Woods and some of those guys when we get there. Or I’ve got to activate Worthington fast.”
Get ready folks. One of these minor “transaction” guys is about to see Michael Turner barreling out of the backfield straight at him over and over again on Sunday. Scary…..
November 6th, 2010 at 12:44 am
I hope Roy Miller and Gerald McCoy have better “cardiovascular endurance” than Donovan McNabb. We need them to play pretty much every snap on Sunday.
November 6th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Joe, I think Faine can do a much better job at center.
Trueblood on the other hand…well, really it’s a toss up.