Another Tough One For The Kick Return Game
October 23rd, 2012
Maybe Arrelious Benn got antsy after a touchback Sunday? Maybe his coaches encouraged him to try and make something happen out of the endzone? Maybe the lead blocker in front of him gave him the go signal?
But with the Bucs leading 21-14 Sunday, Benn fielded a kickoff eight yards deep in the end zone and returned it to the Bucs’ 8 yard line.
Huh? Not a good idea with a lead, plus there was no apparent opening anywhere, and Benn didn’t try anything out of the ordinary.
Damn that south end zone wasn’t kind to the Bucs against the Saints.
Last week Greg Schiano candidly said he was displeased with his kick return game but Benn’s role in it would not be affected.
The Bucs only got to return one kickoff Sunday. And it was that mess to the 8 yard line.
There’s little time this week to work on the details of kickoff return, but somehow the Bucs need to find a way to straighten it out.
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:10 am
I hope we can cover kicks as well because Harvin is no joke.
I still think we should utilize Michael Smith’s speed. Amazed he isn’t getting another chance. I mean we’ve got nowhere to go but up?!?
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:13 am
Smith’s “tired legs” should have recovered by now.
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:19 am
This week were going to work on another retun man carry the ball one way then hand off for a Benn’d around. Sooner or later it has to work.
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:21 am
Michael Smith
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:26 am
I would think someone could get an answer why we don’t see Smith.
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:49 am
Count me in on the Mike Smith bandwagon. He needs to get some snaps at RB as well. Since we’re getting jack squat out of our TE position, how about throwing some two back in there with Ware and Smitty on 3rd and longs. I thought this kid was going to be our Darren Sproles!
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:53 am
Benn looking more and more like a rich man’s Maurice Stovall: great measurables, good looking specimen but not a very good receiver. Hopefully, at worst he can become a very good special teamer so he’s not a complete waste.
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:56 am
What is about the second round and Dominik’s picks? He should be looking to trade that pick this year. Seriously. Brian Price, Benn, Bowers…. Just cut your losses, MD and trade the pick for a case of something frothy.
That being said, WTF is up with the obsession with Benn as a KR? He’s a straight line runner without any real speed. He’s basically just a slower version of Keyshawn and while I liked Keyshawn’s hands, I’m not signing him up for any track meets.
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:59 am
Benn is a bust . I think mark domminck does not want to admit it pricr bust brnn bust Lewis bust and this was from “” the deepest draft in years . Benn 5 rec 36 yds
October 23rd, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Get benn off kickoff schiano. Please!! First of all benn has the slowest acceleration of all of our wrs. not to say he is slow but it takes him a running start to get up to his top speed. On kickoffs this works against him because very rarely are you going to get an open hole to the house. Also another thing is benn has no moves hes strong like running through tackles but he can’t make people miss. So even if he does get someone to miss he’s tackled by the next guy because his acceleration is slow. It’s bad all around try smith again back there. Or just through roscoe parrish out there. Our you can always sign the guy who should have been our kr guy since clifton left and thats michael spurlock.
October 23rd, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Michael Smith
October 23rd, 2012 at 12:34 pm
The best second round pick Dominick ( rockstar???) made was the win-slow move. what does that tell you. Schiano still needs over a year to reshape the roster.
October 23rd, 2012 at 1:12 pm
One thing I do not understand is how EVERYONE other than the Bucs can see Michael Smith is the answer for kick returns, yet the Bucs themselves don’t see it.
Is there something about Michael Smith we don’t know?
October 23rd, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Smith is at top speed after about 4 steps…put him in.
October 23rd, 2012 at 1:23 pm
I am enraged everytime I see Benn back there returning kicks. Michael Smith should be the guy. Benn has already lost his 3rd WR role, why not promote Smith and have him fulfill ALL of Benn’s functions? As both a kick returner and as the runner on the Benn’d Around play? He’s 20X better at both.
October 23rd, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Benn doesn’t not have any kind of ball carring vision. That Benn around play would have gotten way more yardage if Benn would have went to the outside. Benn should be traded before he gets hurt again and isn’t even worth a 7 round pick.
October 23rd, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Why not try Underwood there? He has speed.
October 23rd, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Probably wont use Underwood there since he now is becoming one of the main receiving targets so they wont want to risk any injury using him on Ko’s.
Give Smith another chance plus a shot at Rb as well. I don’t understand why they are not using him, there must be a reason, maybe Joe can find what it is .
October 23rd, 2012 at 3:55 pm
I think the answer on Smith is clear. They don’t think he’s that good.
October 23rd, 2012 at 4:30 pm
We’re just hunting for a place where a 2nd round pick can be of some use, and we’ve been doing so for three years now. It’s not at #1, 2, 3, or 4 receiver, or at kickoff returns, or in an end-around. There’s got to be something he can do.
October 23rd, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Funny how so many teams wanted to trade for Michael Smith and we cant find a way to let him return kicks even though he had a pretty good average during the season. He must cringe every time he sees Benn dive into a pile at the 8 yard line (yes I think its happened more than once.) I think Dominick is trying to salvage another 2nd round pick gone bad “Hey Greg lets give Benn a chance to return kicks if he can’t be a wide receiver….” I for one like Benn but his injuries have killed him.
October 23rd, 2012 at 7:37 pm
NSO benched Smith after he wasn’t happy with his returns after Game 1. You see what happened to all those punt returners that didn’t please him. Benn has been returning for five games now and only had one good return against the Giants. Smith needs another chance, but NSO is mule stubborn!!
NSO is very hard headed. Do you really believe Sully called three LGB runs up the middle? This was NSO yelling to ram it up the middle, then yelling to try something unexpected on 4th down. Do you really believe Sherry called to go after Eli’s knees at the end of the Giants game?
We could have been wearing The Great Flood of Tampa 2012 t-shirt, had we hired the right Rutgers coach. It’s no coincidence they are undefeated, their offense is high powered at times and will play in a major bowl this year.
October 23rd, 2012 at 10:42 pm
Buc o deer…Many givr some of that credit to the program Shiano built.
October 23rd, 2012 at 10:44 pm
As a bukk I have seen a lot of Shiano, and I have had to retrain my self to like him now that he is a Buc. Not to give him some credit for that team is silly and piling on.
October 23rd, 2012 at 10:44 pm
LOL…Bull…
October 24th, 2012 at 8:06 am
MIKE SMITH! MIKE SMITH! MIKE SMITH!