Love For Ruud, Woods
December 16th, 2010
Sporting a fresh professional haircut that removed his girly golden locks — perhaps for a March job interview? — Barrett Ruud accepted a fancy award today at One Buc Palace for his great work on and off the field.
Raheem Morris presented him with a fancy silver helmet for making the USA All-Fundamentals Team and said some kind words for the man who patrols the middle of the Bucs defense and no doubt strikes fear in the hearts of opponents.
Raheem praised Ruud’s “form tackling” and “the way he absolutely controls our defense. He’s an extension of me out on the field.”
The head coach went on to talk about the men who he expects to stuff the run in front of Ruud against the Lions on Sunday: tackles Al Woods, recently promoted Frank Okam and Roy Miller.
While Raheem praised Michael Bennett’s fill-in role for injured Gerald McCoy on Sunday in Washington, Raheem made it clear that Bennett is a defensive end and just “a changeup guy” at defensive tackle. Raheem essentially said Bennett is not a guy suited to handle double teams.
Raheem called Woods “very productive” during his time this season.
Regarding Okam, Raheem was given a set-up question to sing his praises but said simply that the 6-5, 350-pound Okam will get a shot to shine. Having watched Raheem talk about players, Joe suspects not much is expected from Okam, a third-year pro.
Of course, most of the guys that the Bucs haven’t rated too highly have surprised and performed well this year.
Joe’s tossing and turning thinking about the Lions running for 190 yards against a motivated Green Bay defense last week. Joe’s not sure his stomach can handle another Jim Bates special.
December 16th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Joe, Not so sure last week will happen this week with rushing,
We basically will be platooning a dual NT D-Line and I expect the Run Defense to be solid and give up between 95-110 Yds.
December 16th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Okam could shine in limited circumstances such as simply being a fat ass space eater at nose in the 3-3-5 or 3-4. I would be shocked if such a fat load was able to do anything positive as far as rushing the passer in the 4-3 though. Maybe the acquisition of this guy is a preview of things to come though? I don’t believe that Morris hybrid defense is the way to go. Im starting to believe there is a chance the hybrid is temporary and prelude to a full transformation into a 3-4 defense. They can’t run it as a base defense now because they don’t have 3-4 type OLB’s. That could easily be rectified in the offseason. As far as Ruud goes, Morris echoed what I and others already have been saying which is that Ruud will be fine if the tackles in front of him dont get blown out of their gaps.
December 16th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Man, if we could just get Ruud and Hayes to run into Okum’s back, and knock him foward, he would be disruptive just by falling on a bunch poor guys. We could call it the ” Blubber bomb” defense. We just keep squishing Guards, centers, and Running backs until they either yield, or run outta guys!!. Congrats on the Award Barrett, you are under appreciated here. But you fill the role the defense requires of you. More pass defender than run defense. Woods has been a nice surprise so far this year! I fully expect the lions to rush for 150+ yards Sunday. I also fully don’t care, as I expect us to win!! Man, that Suh kid sure turned the lions around! Lol, idiots shoulda drafted a LT! The Lions just refuse ta get it right!!!
December 16th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Coach can’t say Polamalu? lol.
December 16th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Yeah i have to say the Lions screwed the pooch on drafting Suh. Sure they will go out and probably draft the number one LT in this years draft. But will it matter? Matthew Stafford is already damaged goods and will probably be chronically injured with that shoulder. Suh may turn out to be a once a decade talent at DT but its not going to result in a Super Bowl if their offensive line allows the franchise QB to be knocked right out of the league.
In all seriousness its pretty obvious that Stafford will never be able to stay healthy now and the Lions will just have to spend another 1st round pick on another franchise QB a few years down the road. Effectively making Stafford a waste of a #1 overall pick. So basically by refusing to draft a LT to protect Stafford, Suh ended up costing the Lions a #1 and #2 overall pick in the draft. At that price he better make the HOF.
December 16th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
What is with all of you, every one that has been called has stepped up and done the job. Sure mistakes were made but they were not repeated. I believe that Josh, Rhonde and the “who is playing now” crew will go to the playoffs and beat Atlanta in Atlanta. No one can say they are not trying.
December 16th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Yeah, whatever! What I want to know is who these guys voted for in the election? LOL!
December 16th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
I can dream that a 350 lb DT would shine and be in the rotation next year with McCoy, Miller, & Price……
As far as Ruud, my guess is this is a going away present in leiu of a new contract.