Blount Back For New Orleans
October 26th, 2011
Of all the comments from Raheem Morris today, the most important was the confident talk about a return of LeGarrette Blount for the Bucs’ next game in New Orleans.
Sure, the Bucs beat New Orleans without him 12 days ago, but with Earnest Graham out of the season, there’s no question the Bucs might not win another game this season without Blount.
The good fellows at TBO.com listened to Raheem and took notes.
“We lost ‘Insurance’ Graham, but we’ll get Blount back after the bye,” Morris said. “We’ve also moved up (rookie running back) Mossis Madu. I’m feeling really confident about Blount. He looked good last week and he looked better today. He’ll have another week of rest and he’ll get a bunch of treatment and be ready to go downhill … here we go.”
Morris said he expects defensive tackle Gerald McCoy (ankle) back for the New Orleans game, along with center Jeff Faine (biceps). He said center Jeremy Zuttah (knee), rookie middle linebacker Mason Foster (ankle) and safety Tanard Jackson (hamstring) may all be available to play at the Superdome.
With Blount’s return, Bucs fans should be praying for at least the return of Zuttah or Faine. Joe’s going to need a case of Tums at the ready if the Bucs are forced to start Ted Larsen at center and Derek Hardman at left guard.
October 26th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Great news! Hoping we can have Blount and the rest of them back for our game @ New Orleans we sure need them..along with a lot of other things. Let’s get this offense in gear so we can take out the Saints again.
October 26th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Blount, McCoy, Faine, Zuttah, Foster and T-Jack!?!?! Look out New Orleans! Here we come!
October 26th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
@Joe
I know this sounds crazy, but Hardeman and Larsen played the whole 4th qtr last week and did a pretty good job. Isn’t center Larsen’s natural position.
October 26th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
This is great news. Blount is going to have a great day against the Saints’ run defense. As long as McCoy plays we should be fine on the defensive line. We desperately need Mason Foster back. Hayward really played well last week and I think him and Foster in there together could do some damage. Hayward is twice the player Black is. Glad to see things looking up after a tough loss and going into the 2nd half of the season mostly healty.
October 26th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Larsen’s natural position is Center. That’s what He played in college.
Why worried about Larsen and Hardman starting? They were both starting the last part of past season. Blount and Freeman had some of their best games with Larsen and Hardman starting.
October 26th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
If anyone needs to come back it’s Zuttah. He’s played well this year. I barely notice a difference when Faine’s in and when he’s out. Faine is an average replacable player.
October 26th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
“Joe’s going to need a case of Tums at the ready if the Bucs are forced to start Ted Larsen at center and Derek Hardman at left guard.”
No offense but did you watch the game on Sunday? As others have said, both those guys played well against the Bears and Larsen’s normal position is C. I’d rather have a healthy Zuttah than Hardman at G but I won’t be needing Tums if that doesn’t happen.
October 26th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
I understand Zuttah can play center, and play it well. But the question I have is: Why not play Larsen at his natural position at C, and play Zuttah at LG? That would seem to use both players in accordance w/ their strengths, and as almost all have said Larsen performed well at C last week.
October 26th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Great news. But we still need to bring in another back. Cut Huggins and move Chad Spann up to the roster. Or sign Tiki Barber (makes complete sense over Lumpkin).
October 26th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
I meant cut Lumpkin
October 26th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
I think that EG exposed what some of us thought. Blount is very average or below until he gets into the secondary where he is above-average. Most runs will be predicated on what happens before the LB level. No doubt that Blount is much better than Lumpkin but I am not sure how much overall he adds.
I think that the addition of Faine really helps. You know the Big Softie adds little if anything. The best game of the year for the defense was when the Big Softie was out. The Bucs are 0-2 against the Saints with the Big Softie on the sidelines.
Faine will add back that leadership and continuity, Zuttah is okay but I believe that long-term Larsen is a better player.
October 26th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
I thought you guys were high on Lumpkin…
OTOH! Im oh so glad B-train is back!! I hope he is able to pick up where he left off. I for one was glad they didnt rush his return.
We really do need shifty RB back there.
Im licking my chops and looking at you New Orleans…muahahah
Go Bucs!!
October 26th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Blount’s only real issue is his hesitation when the original hole is blocked…he’s too patient. If it’s not there, make a cut and go. Since he’s back, or should be, I would work in Madu as a change of pace. Better to know now what we have than be forced to find out later.
October 26th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
Madu being activated is exciting for me. As much as I liked Bradford, Madu outperformed him in preseason. Maybe Tampa should let Blount wear defenses down, then unleash Madu.
October 26th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Patrick:
Kind of hard to cut a guy who hasn’t been on the roster in over a year.
October 26th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Would agree with Thomas a bit on Blount, he is a bit indecisive at the line and maybe not much better. The major difference between the two is when they get to the lb and secondary level. LB’s and secondary players aren’t concerned with tackling Graham like they are with Blount (fear factor, remember when he ran Jenkins over and he missed the Seahawks playoff game?). I really hope they work on some play action plays to Blount then hit him with a pass to get open in the flat. He did it against the Pats in the pre-season, now reason he can’t now. I still don’t recall an accurate pass thrown to Blount that he has dropped although I may be mistaken.
Having a true change of back option may be huge for this offense. I am still concerned about a 3rd down blocking back for Freeman. Caddy sure was key for big plays on 3rd down last year.
October 26th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Thomas is actually right about Blount being much better after the 2nd Level .. Especially in the 4th quarter .. The main reason 75% of all Blounts yards are 3rd and 4th quarter
October 26th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Are any of these guys the long term answer at 3rd down RB? No.
Is Blount going to be here for the long term as a RB? Yes.
I guarantee you Blount can handle the role as a 3rd down back. Just play him. Spell him when he’s tired, but don’t take him out just cuz it’s 3rd down. In fact, even if we are going to pass on a 3rd and short, the threat of him in there as a runner, and (eventually) a checkdown option, will bring defenses closer, and open up the downfield threat.
Seeing what Blount can do consistently on 3rd down>>>>>>>seeing what Madu, Lumpkin or Spann can do on 3rd down. End of discussion.
October 26th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Great points patrick and jvato, I agree with hour analysis completely.
Sorry for the typo on the Bucs record against the saints without the big softy – it is of course 2-0.
October 26th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
As if a win or loss can be placed on one defensive tackle’s shoulders.
We lost two games this year without McCoy. Price and Okam played almost all of one(McCoy only played 9 snaps) and completely all of another. Does that make them responsible for the losses?
Awaiting a relevant response.
This is your chance to be consistent, Thomas.
October 26th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
Mauh:
Of course, a loss or win the NFL is not attributable to 1 player. I do not attribute the Saints win solely to Big Softy’s absence. I do believe that it is no coincidence that the front 7 has been at its best when Softy is off the field. And no, shutting down the inept Colts is not the same as stifling the Saints. You watch, the bucs front 7 will be less effective if Softy plays after the bye.
Softy’s lack of strength causes him to be a 1 dimensional gap jumper which is terrible for run defense gap integrity and is easy for coordinators to scheme Softy right out of the passing game. The ability to physically win a battle with an o lineman is what makes a Suh dominant and Softy a liability – it is also why Suh has nearly 90 career tackles and 13 sacks, and McCoy has less than 40 career tackles and 4 sacks.
So doesn’t need to create new statistics for determining his productivity.
With that said, I believe that is good overall for Softy to be coming back for depth. Price and Okam aren’t conditioned enough to play 50 plays and Miller is worse than Softy. I think Softy should be used as the 3rd tackle in the rotation getting spot duty in certain situations.
This would keep him fresh and limit the plays for him to be injured – which he is obviously prone to.
October 26th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
Blount and McCoy back is huge. Faine as well. BUT they really need Foster and TJax back.
Foster, Hayward, and Watson are proving to be the best 3 LBs, they need them starting.
October 26th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
I will say he is injury prone, but as far as our run defense the worst two run stopping performances of this year were against a McCoyless bucs team. Saying he is bad at run stop is simply a farce. Of course a lot of the blame lies on Rondes missed tackles and inept OLB play, but teams do not run well up the middle when McCoy is on the field. He and Bennett are the best on the team. Price has his plays but he consistently over pursues or loses his gap. Same exact thing happens to Suh, albeit Suh is dominant in the pass rush department where Price and Okam are not. MCCoy is better in both areas of the game. Only Lineman more consistent on the team this year is Bennett who is having the best DE performance the Bucs have seen in 7 years.
Here, get a PFF membership, use there rushing direction stats(which rushing plays went where), download the 49ers, Bears and Vikings games, watch all the rushing plays and see whe the biggest running plays went straight up the middle. 6 times out of ten it will be on either Okam or miller, 3.5 times out of ten they will be against Price, and the other half will be McCoy. He constantly redirects the run game.
October 26th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
If you’d like, I’ll even e-mail you the the rushing direction stats for you to breakdown and any of their other stats that you’d like.
October 26th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Awesome news. Now Olson can run the ball.
Who am I kidding after Blount rips off a long gain Olson will try to trick the defense with three straight pass plays.
October 26th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
@Joe
Read my post again. It was a careless typo. I meant to type Lumpkin, not Huggins.
October 27th, 2011 at 2:50 am
Thomas I agreed with your last post before but I really have to disagree with your last post.. Do you actually follow and watch Suh and have the ticket or just look at the stats? Two of his sacks were because is his d-line forced the QB right in to him. Lions are my back up team as I am from there. If you watched the Lions, the vast majority of the oppositions runs are right at Suh.. He rushes the passer as well or better than most, however he can’t defend the run or be a stop gap like a supposed “stud” dt, not even close. If you watch the games or tape, they run right at him, often whammed blocked by a fb.. You usually rip on McCoy and his penetration, arguing the opposition allows him to do so as a counter to their offense. He has a number of talented d-line right next to him and their weakness has been exposed, run right at Suh. I argued this last year as well as Olsen’s lack of knowledge in an effective game plan this year in their loss. He is looking for qb sack first, run d second even in obvious running situations. The Lions are among the league’s worst at stopping the run. You are always are for Price and Okam but they did what against the Bears in run-d?
The Lions are built like the Colts; rush the passer first with the lead minimize rushing yards without it. So far that has been ineffective. Suh would be much more effective on a down to down basis as a 3-4 rushing end. McCoy (if and when healthy) is much better fit the Bucs d now and moving forward imo. Take a look at how much the educated D loves Suh at freep.com