Rams Secondary Formidable
December 21st, 2012
Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan (31) may be the best defender Bucs receivers will have faced in a few weeks.
Yeah, the Bucs passing game has been rough of late. Trying to get on track Sunday might be a hurdle.
The Rams defense is a bit underrated in Joe’s eyes. It gets a strong pass rush from its ends, has one of the most unheralded linebackers in Son of Animal, James Laurinaitis, and then there are the cornerbacks.
Last offseason, the Rams really beefed up their secondary by landing free agent Cortland Finnegan and drafting supremely talented problem child Janoris Jenkins.
Joe got a chance to chat with Bucs receiver Tiquan Underwood and trust Joe, the Rams cornerback duo has the attention of the Bucs.
“They have been playing pretty well,” Underwood said. “Jenkins already has a couple of picks for touchdowns. He’s an aggressive and talented player. We just have to execute and stay on the same page as our quarterback.”
When it comes to Finnegan, Underwood has a bit of a history going mano y mano against Finnegan a few times when the two were division rivals, Finnegan played for Tennessee and Underwood for Jacksonville. But Underwood downplayed gaining any extra knowledge of Finnegan from those match-ups.
“It is a new year and two different teams,” Underwood said. “It’s all about executing this Sunday.”
The Bucs M*A*S*H unit of an offensive line has done a good job of keeping quarterback Josh Freeman’s jersey clean this year. If they can continue to do that Sunday, that will be half the battle of getting the Bucs’ passing game back in the groove.
December 21st, 2012 at 3:55 pm
The Rams will stack the line of scrimmage to stop Martin and they will cover the deep routes. They will put pressure on Gosh who has problems reading defenses and checking down. They will force Freeman to complete short routes and make long drives to score which everybody knows he not capable of.
This game plan which limits the Buc’s time of possession will stress the Buc defense to collapse.
December 21st, 2012 at 4:26 pm
If Sam Bradford out performs Freeman….that is un-excusable
December 21st, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Why would the top pick in 2010 outperforming the ice cold Freeman be inexcusable? It will probably happen. Freeman is going against a stout defense with good corners ( too late to pay Finnegan instead of Wright?). Bradford will face two corners that will be loading lumber at the Brandon Home Depot this time next year.
December 21st, 2012 at 5:25 pm
The key to winning this game is getting Doug Martin going. it will take a lot of pressure off Freeman and help us control the game. if he has a bad game it will be tough to win. on defense, well… just pray the rams don’t get 50 points. lol.
December 21st, 2012 at 5:32 pm
I’m very interested to see how this team responds. A win would certainly hurt draft status next year but would be important for morale….this fan’s included! Should be plenty of good seats…
December 21st, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Draft Status? I don’t think players ever think about draft status when it comes to late season games that don’t mean anything. And while coaches and GMs that are secure in their position may privately think that, I highly doubt that’s crossed Schiano’s mind.
December 21st, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Draft status from a fan’s point of view…you are correct that player’s/coaches and even GM’s don’t think about that stuff. Too many Broderick Thomas instead of Barry Sanders and Gaines Adams RIP instead of Calvin Johnson scenarios have scarred me. I should have been more clear, T Bag. All apologies….
December 21st, 2012 at 6:10 pm
I know Finnegan never even approached Dominik, but imagine how much better our defense would have been with lockdown Finnegan in our secondary instead of scrub Eric Wright. For a couple Mil per year more, we could have landed a guy that would really earn all his pay.
December 21st, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Finnegan would have been a much better pick up the Eric Wrong.
December 21st, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Yeh Mark Dominkin sure messed up in paying eric wright when we could of had cortland finnegan!