Has Zuttah Ousted Larsen At Left Guard?
August 28th, 2011
Longtime readers of JoeBucsFan.com know Joe’s not shy about his admiration of Jeremy Zuttah.
The guy did everything the Bucs asked of him in his first three seasons along the offensive line. Zuttah was successful jumping into the starting lineup as a rookie at right guard for Davin Joseph in 2008. Though some disagree, Joe believes he was solid at left guard in 2009, and the 25-year-old started at center in place of Jeff Faine when the Bucs O-line was dominant during the second half of 2010.
Joe never got the Keydrick Vincent signing to replace Zuttah. How un-Dominik-like that was.
This season, it was obvious Zuttah was tossed back into his supersub role, but that might have changed last night.
After the Bucs played New England, Raheem Morris called out Ted Larsen for having a rough game. And Larsen was not sharp last night. Holes were not to be found on the left side of the first-team line, and Larsen was beaten badly on the Bucs’ second possession on third down. Freeman ran for his life and was forced into an incompletion.
By the second quarter, Zuttah replaced Larsen, and a pulling Zuttah had the key block to spring Earnest Graham to an easy touchdown run, the Bucs’ only TD of the night for the first-teamers.
Joe’s no psychic, but it’s not a big leap to suggest the starting left guard job is still up for grabs.
August 28th, 2011 at 9:09 am
The Bucs only touchdown of the night? (scratches head) Joe where you inebriated in the 4th quarter? 😛
August 28th, 2011 at 9:10 am
Zuttah > Larsen
August 28th, 2011 at 9:18 am
Zuttah did a much better job than Larsen. Ted has struggled and should be moved to backup
August 28th, 2011 at 9:24 am
zuttah>>>larson
August 28th, 2011 at 9:41 am
Zuttah and Brandon Carter have proven themselves to be far better than Larsen at this time. I think it is a great sign that Zuttah was out there with the 1st stingers last night, particularly after watching Larsen’s heinous whiff of a Dolphin pass rusher.
Larsen had his head down, lunged forward, and completely missed the Dolphin DT that had a free run at Freeman. He played well last season, but he’s either hurt or completely lacking in confidence because he looks horrid at this point. I hope he can stick on the roster because I doubt he could go from a C+ to an F- being as young as he is and he still has value as a backup or future OC. If Larsen were to somehow make it to opening day as the LG, I dread to see the Bucs on O, especially when Suh is lined up over Larsen, that should make for ugly football and several highlight reel plays for Suh.
August 28th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Only Bucs’ TD of the night? Better not mention that to Rudy Carpenter or Nathan Overbay then, might hurt their feelings, they’re under the delusion they scored the go-ahead TD :/
August 28th, 2011 at 9:59 am
Didn’t we get 2 TD’s? G’ram and Overbay.
RUDY! RUDY! RUDY! or
RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDY haha
August 28th, 2011 at 10:13 am
Zuttah should have been starting ANYWAY.
Larsen will make good backup material.
And Joe, questioning the Keydrick Vincent move is a nice dig on your ex-buddy JimBuc. I love it! 🙂
August 28th, 2011 at 10:34 am
Joe here,
Joe only considers first-team touchdowns when assessing the game. But Joe will fix now in the copy. Thanks, as always, for the heads-up.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:04 am
Bad gm for Larsen, looked silly that second series. Bad gm for trublood, struggled w wakes speed move all night.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:52 am
Nobody looked as bad as our Right tackles
August 28th, 2011 at 11:57 am
Definately should’ve signed some O-Line help. They looked bleh, Faine ever going to play up to his contract?
August 28th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
@ Joe
I agree 120%. I thought for a while now that Zuttah deserves a starting spot somewhere on that line. The dude is smart and more than capable. If you watched the New England game, he was tossing people on the ground with regularity. He was head and shoulders better than anyone on the field when he was in there. I like Larsen and think he has very nice potential, but he is not on Zuttah’s level IMO…yet. I thought Larsen did a good job in the KC game. Particularly on the Freeman scramble when he scored a touchdown, he showed his athleticism by pulling out and diving with all fours off the ground to throw a block for Free. That game against New England though, he was beyond awful. Zuttah has been consistently good/great this whole preseason and I don’t care if it is 2nd teamers or not. Zuttah needs to start before he starts thinking he is more valuable somewhere else and bolts. I think Larsen can be more of a Kevin Mawae type center for us anyways (with a little Shaun O’Hara mixed in) and while Faine is still here, we could cross-train him at the center position. Zuttah has shown more, been here longer and should not have to wait behind Faine, because he is capable of playing more than just the center position. If Faine goes down again, then by all means, move him back to center, but for now…START HIM!
August 28th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Larsen hurt his ankle early in the game and stayed in there. Not a smart move.
August 28th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
@SteveK What you are seeing is what you are getting from Faine. He only gets worse and paid more from here on out. Dude is way overpaid.
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/tampa-bay-buccaneers/jeff-faine/
August 28th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
I honestly think young players like Larsen suffer when there’s a coaching change that brings a new style of play. There are going to be struggles with the line under Pat Morris until they reach a comfort level similar to the one they had with Mangurian.
Olson wanted “his guy” coaching the o-line so now they have to live with the early struggles. Comes with the territory, especially when you basically have no offseason to speak of and the youngest team in the NFL. The first quarter of the season may be an adjustment period, unfortunately.
August 28th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
I also prefer Dotson over Trueblood. And we should be watching the waiver wire for better young OLine talent.
PS: Brandon Carter played well also at left guard.
August 28th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
I’m also high on Dotson at RT. The guy impresses the hell out of me. To be fair though, we haven’t seen him against starters.
Id much rather have Zuttah against Suh or Fairly come week 1.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
I believe I read that Larsen was playing injured, which makes sense. Larsen played pretty good last year, and was starting this preseason for a reason; he’s a good player. I really don’t think he’s nearly as bad as he looked against Miami. He looked god awful last night. But let’s relax and quit beating the dude up.