Arrelious Benn Walking Just Fine
February 22nd, 2011
Arguably Joe’s favorite Bucs rookie was wide receiver Arrelious Benn. Coming from one of those gimmick, dimestore high schoolish spread option offenses, it took Benn a while to learn an NFL offense, just like Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik cautioned it would.
So after a few weeks Benn began to blow up and turned into a lethal weapon of a receiver before he was felled by a knee injury late in the season.
Joe was sick seeing Benn writhing in front of the Bucs bench with a bum knee.
As he promised he would, Benn has periodically updated fans on the status of his recovery via Twitter. Last night Benn gave his latest update and it is quite refreshing.
The knee is doing great couldn’t be any better right now. Walking like it never happened. God blessed me to be a fast healer!
The only thing that scares Joe about this is if there is a lockout, Benn will have to find doctors and a rehabilitation facility away from One Buc Palace. This is not good.
Joe recently did some snooping around and e-mailing people in the know and was told it is very likely that the Bucs have a list of approved doctors, rehab centers and workout facilities that the Bucs have distributed to players to utilize in the case of a work stoppage.
February 22nd, 2011 at 1:29 pm
GK also made a similar tweet saying that his recovery is over and he’s on to building strength back in his bicep.
I’d like to hear how the Grimm Reaper is doing…
February 22nd, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Yeah I saw that too HGO. Good to hear they’re quick healers. I want to know how Brian Price is doing too.
February 22nd, 2011 at 2:24 pm
“…and was told it is very likely that the Bucs have a list of approved doctors, rehab centers and workout facilities that the Bucs have distributed to players to utilize in the case of a work stoppage.”
Good to hear. I figure they would do something like that, especially since so many of the guys hurt are youngsters.
February 22nd, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Still can’t wait to Williams, Benn and Briscoe on the field together. 3- 6’2″ WR with speed- that’s gonna be something to see. And that still leaves Preston Parker, Sammy Stroughter, and Michael Spurlock In reserve. Just can’t wait!
February 22nd, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Fast healers? Recovery? Who cares! What I want to know is who they voted for!? LOL!
February 22nd, 2011 at 3:18 pm
Seriously, great to hear! Hope they will all be healthy for the possible training camp and the possible season!
February 22nd, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Ronde Barber signed 1 year contract….
February 22nd, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Joe: I know that you have a thing for Benn but in response to: “So after a few weeks Benn began to blow up and turned into a lethal weapon.”
After 7 weeks Benn had 8 catches and barely 100 yards total with no touchdowns. I think 7 is more than a few.
After 13 games he had 18 catches about 200 yards and 2 short touchdown catches. Still hasn’t blown up into a lethal weapon.
In week 14, he had a 4 catch 122 yard 0 TD game. That was followed by a 3 catch 34 yard 0 Td game and then the injury. One very good game but blown up??
The conclusion: it took a lot longer than a few weeks for him to be a meaningful contributor, and to call him a “lethal weapon” is quite an overstatement.
I will agree he was improving and starting to shown positive signs but the “lethal weapon” tag is premature.
February 22nd, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Thomas- nope , joe’s right- LETHAL WEAPON! In the last two years, we’ve gathered a few. Hard to believe after soooo many years of nothing. Gotta live it. I think Dezmon Briscoe is a fully developed LETHAL WEAPON also. Just great times in The Pirate nation. Goes to show what a great GM and Coach can accomplish together. Glad we finally have a couple. I know you gotta be seeing it Thomas! Good times!
February 22nd, 2011 at 8:37 pm
I do like Briscoe Tim, quite a bit, thought that he was very impressive and athletic late in the season. Most of my family are KU grads so I am familiar with him in College. I knew he was a big and fast athlete just thought that he was raw.
As for Benn, I agree that the signs are encouraging but Blown up lethal weapon – not yet.
Dom has done a good job, no denying it. Olson has done a great job in implimenting Dom’s offensive talent – I have yet to see any real improvement defensively and I blame that on the defensive coordinator.
February 22nd, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Wow, Thomas. Nice. You can disagree with people without being nasty or rude. This place would suck if we all agreed. It’s just that being insulting to people isn’t nessesary.
The defense was disappointing this year. With that many young starters, it was inevitable. The thing that was most disappointing was several players- who should have really been in their prime- regressed. I think all three Lbs played worse than the year before. Black and Hayes horribly so. They both showed promise earlier.
Last year the defense still improved in scoring. This year will be the defense’s turn to impress. But we still need a few pieces.
Dominick will find them. I have faith in him, and he hasn’t let me down.
And that offense is gonna be killer this year!!!
February 22nd, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Two points about Benn. If you extrapolate his stats (football outsiders) to a full season, he would be easily a top 10 receiver. (Way ahead of Mike Williams who drops way down because of his 50% catch rate.) I know you can’t extrapolate in that way, but just saying.
He should be walking fine at this point, and at three months he should feel good to go. Problem is that the ACL graft gets progressively weaker for about the first three months until revascularization takes place (that’s the growth of blood vessels). No surgeon is going to sign off until 6 months because there is no way of knowing how quickly the graft will come up to strength. The period from 3-6 months is difficult (and risky) because the patient feels so good. It’s really hard to convince him that he shouldn’t be pushing it. Hopefully Benn is receiving (and listening to) good advice.
February 23rd, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Capt Tim and Thomas…If you look at the defense as a hole, it was greatly imporved from 2009. They moved from 28th to 17th.
February 23rd, 2011 at 2:29 pm
McBuc,
the improvement in overall defensive ranking is misleading for 2 reasons: first, the number of second and third string qb’s that they faced which caused very conservative game plans; second, when a team is very poor against the run it favorably impacts passing and scoring statistics – because of the fact that running the ball mostly will shorten the number of plays. The Redsking game is a good example – they gave up a record amount of yards vs. the run but not many points and very few passing yards – by the stats – the team would have ranked highly defensively – but annyone who watched that game in the first half would have to say they were terrible.
Football Outsiders who adjusts rankings for misleading factors ranks the bucs overall and 23, and 32 against the run. Last year, by the same stats Football Outsiders ranked them 25. Not much improvement.
February 23rd, 2011 at 4:30 pm
McBuc- I mentioned that in my post, improved in scoring defense. Maily our defense was disappointing against the run. But, as I also said, with that many young players, that was inevitable.
I think we had a great year. And I know this one should be even better. I can’t wait!
February 23rd, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Football outsiders isnt a reputable source, as the really” adjust” to match their taste,and they have always been anti-Buc. They have no credibility. Generally they are considered a back alley operation specializing in Troll food. Only useful in generating bad numbers for sucessful teams. Again- troll food!
February 23rd, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Thomas if you take away credit because the q.bs were young and second string shouldnt you give the defense and the coordinator the same credit because they were so young and second or third string?
February 23rd, 2011 at 4:53 pm
M.Wesley and the Capt…Exactly!