Jeremy Zuttah Smoothly Transitions Mid-Game
October 16th, 2011
Joe has been a big Jeremy Zuttah fan from Day 1. As a rookie, he started four games to replace an injured Davin Joseph.
Zuttah’s name was never mentioned by Gene Deckerhoff. And for an offensive lineman, there can be no greater praise.
When Bucs center Jeff Faine went down with a right bicep injury today, Zuttah, who was starting at left guard, made the transition smoothly back to center.
Last year when Faine went down with an injury, Zuttah again stepped in and one could argue the offensive line may have been better. It certainly wasn’t worse.
Zuttah just shrugged off the move in mid-game. Just another day at the office, Zuttah suggested.
“It is what it is,” Zuttah said. “I played way more at center this year in practice than any other position. So it didn’t bother me.”
As for having to flip positions in the middle of a game, Zuttah said, “You have to do what you have to do sometimes, yeah.”
Zuttah didn’t want to talk about himself so much, but rather the win. After getting mugged on the streets of San Francisco last week known better as the Massacre at Candlestick, it was a fantastic bounce-back. To do that against the Saints and in the process, reach a tie for first place was something Zuttah and the rest of his teammates were celebrating.
“It’s nice to get a win over such a good team,” Zuttah said. “This is the Saints and Drew Brees.”
Zuttah gave a lot of credit to the Bucs defense. It was the Bucs defense that forced four turnovers and allowed the offense to not panic. The Bucs’ offense didn’t need to score a touchdown each possession.
“The defense did a great job,” Zuttah said. “We still have to do a better job of scoring points when we get down there. We need to turn some of those three points into seven points. The defense helped us out. We have to help them out too.”
October 16th, 2011 at 8:53 pm
I hope faine comes back though. Larson played well today, but he was horrible before zuttah replaced him.
October 16th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
third straight year with an injury for faine, last two he ended on the IR, he needs to go and we either need to get a center or guard depending where zuttah plays
October 16th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
He is playing the best fottball of any lineman this year. A couple tough penalties this year, but his pass protection has been better than anyone else on the team. He actually got better at the Center spot today. His game is levels above Faine, who ship is soon to set sail at the end of this contract.
October 16th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Agree Faine was actually overpaid in my opinion. His contract will open up atleast 5 million but probably more. Cordy Glenn of Georgia wouldn’t be a bad idea.
October 16th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
The idiot Jim Mora was harping on Zuttah in the TV broadcast, saying the “bad snap” (where Penn ended up penalized for a false start) was the result of confusion/miscommunication from a new center.
Uh, no way Jim. Zuttah snapped that ball because a defender had jumped offsides — it just so happened that Freeman stepped out to call an audible at the same time. So it looked like a bad snap, but it wasn’t — it’s what the center is trained to do.
I don’t know how the idiots on the TV broadcast didn’t realize it. You could actually hear Penn screaming “they jumped they jumped” at the refs.
Mora was just about the worst announcer I’ve ever listened to.
October 16th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
Joke, Mora isn’t a very good coach either.