Lumpkin No Insurance For Graham
October 23rd, 2011
It was pretty obvious the moment Earnest Graham went down injured to start the Bucs’ second offensive series that Greg Olson didn’t have confidence in Kregg Lumpkin.
Long before halftime the Bucs had little use for Lumpkin running the ball, this behind a strong Bucs offensive line and against the worst rush-per-carry defense in the NFL, and with the game close.
Joe hopes he doesn’t have to hear anymore Lumpkin love talk from the Bucs’ brass. If they don’t believe in the guy, then get someone else.
Joe and other Bucs fans clamored in the offseason to keep Cadillac Williams. For Joe, that reasoning was simple, Cadillac was better than Lumpkin — and good depth is always important. End of story.
If Graham’s out a significant amount of time, Joe hopes the silver lining is LeGarrette Blount becoming a three-down running back. Joe’s pretty damn confident he’s up to it.
Lumpkin finished today’s game with eight carries for 15 yards.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Tiki time in Tampa?
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Well why did they not draft a rb higher or get a free agent our gm and coach s cockiness is going get them in trouble
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Lumpkin sucks, he needs to go. From what I understand Sproles signed for less money with New Orleans, I think part of the reasoning is because his cousin plays on the team. Regardless, I would have overpaid for him, because a guy like Sproles is sorely missed in this offense. But even if they offered Caddy the minimum (which is what he signed for in St.Louis), I think the Bucs would have had a pretty good chance to pull out the win today.
Is Graham done for the season?
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:49 pm
When did Leftwich come back, and steal Freemans # ?
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:51 pm
God, if Graham was done for the season, I’d be so upset. We saw last week that he still has it in him even at 31.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Blount by himself is NOT the answer. The team would still be an injury away from Lumpkin again, who’s biggest deficiency is his inability to pass protect, which was definitely a strength of Caddy’s. It seems Dominik and Raheem are pretty short-sighted to only carry 2 RB’s (one who’s a dime-a-dozen type) and one fullback on game days. Don’t know of Tiki is the answer but he sure as heck can’t do any worse than Lumpkin, and he probably has a bigger upside.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Yep. Call Tiki. Something we should have done weeks ago. Dom is an idiot for us having only two running backs today.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Freeman can’t seem to succeed against Tampa 2 coverage. Every team the Bucs face is going to use tons of zone from now on because it’s obvious that Freeman sucks against it. He throws tons of picks because he can’t seem to read zone coverage very well. I know he’s smart so he’ll eventually get it figured out, but I wonder how long until he can make defenses pay for using zone coverage most of the time…? This is getting frustrating to watch.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:53 pm
On a side note, seems Raheem and Olson are starting to get out-coached on a regular basis.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Please please please put in a claim for Jordan Todman, Dominik.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:56 pm
And I’m of the thought that calling Tiki could actually help us bigtime the rest of the season if he can stay on the field. Lets see.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:58 pm
Graham has torn achilles. Out for the season.
October 23rd, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Hey Flboy84- Did Raheem get outcoached against the Saints or Falcons? I thought not. Get in the back of the line with the kneejerk crowd.
FlboyinDallas- Ive noticed that Freeman has struggled vs. zone. Thats a thing that takes time. But in the meantime yes teams will contest Freeman with zone. I have hope he will learn. Some semblance of a running game helps as we saw last week vs. New Orleans who plays zone coverage.
October 23rd, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Tiki would be nice. Unfortunately I think some other running back hard up teams would have done so already at this point if he was worth a crap at this point . It sucks that the trade deadline is past or we could have had Ronnie Brown.
October 23rd, 2011 at 5:29 pm
The real problem now is that we need a backup fullback. Lorig returned late so he will apparently be ok after they bye but without Graham we need another fullback. Why did we ever let Chris Pressley go? Dude was a Lorig type steamroller. No other skills but he could lead block. Oh wait we let him go cuz we had Lorig and Graham at FB. How much one year changes things.
WE NEED FULLBACK FOR OUR POWER O RUN!!!!
As far as another HB, our practice squadder Chad Spann should do. “IF” he is healthy from his preseason injury
October 23rd, 2011 at 5:39 pm
LenDal White for FB…cut Lumpkin give Chad a chance
October 23rd, 2011 at 6:00 pm
not sure who to sign at this point but at least they have a bye week. The only guy I can think of that might have a bit left in the tank and can block and catch is Clinton Portis. I’ve heard he’s had some tryouts but hasn’t been signed. There is a reason these guys are free agents.
I can hope Blount is ok or were in big trouble. I can’t see Dom signing Tiki and all the BS that will accompany that signing, who knows? I see us bringing someone up from the practice squad as most teams seem to do when they are in trouble.
October 23rd, 2011 at 6:03 pm
not sure who to sign at this point but at least they have a bye week to get ready. The only guy I can think of that might have a bit left in the tank and can block and catch is Clinton Portis. I’ve heard he’s had some tryouts but hasn’t been signed. There is a reason these guys are free agents.
I can only hope Blount is ok or were in big trouble. I can’t see Dom signing Tiki and all the BS that will accompany that signing, who knows? I see us bringing someone up from the practice squad as most teams seem to do when they are in trouble.
October 23rd, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Lumpkin is not renters insurance for the third-hand bowling ball table lamp gathering dust in my closet. He makes me miss Derrick Ward. Stop giving these bums Warrick Dunn’s number. It’s repulsive.
October 23rd, 2011 at 11:01 pm
I’ll bet we’d love a Caddilac right about now.
October 24th, 2011 at 12:45 am
I don’t think anyone could have run the way line blocked today. It seemed every run play there was 2 or more guys in the back field by the time Lump got the ball. When there was a bit of room, little transpired.
October 24th, 2011 at 6:31 am
Love Graham, but he gets hurt every season. BecklesHeart is right. We need 2 real RBs behind Blount, and another FB behind Lorig. It’s dangerous to go Into a game with as few backs as we had yesterday. It’s one of the areas we should have adressed in the offseason, but didn’t. Now, We are scrambling, and everyone knows we are desperate