Spotlight: Donald Penn

After the Buccs game vs. the Indianapolis Colts, many Buccs fans had differing opinions as to how Donald Penn performed in his first NFL start. I knew what I thought of his performance after my first viewing of the game, so I was somewhat baffled to read some of the critique by others on various fan message boards. I wanted to go back and re-evaluate after a couple days. What I did was review the first half of the game, watched each play Penn was on the field multiple times, in some instances frame by frame to get a better idea. The format is as follows: The bold numbers are the possession by the Buccs offense. The letter next to it is the grade I gave Penn for that possession. The Italic numbers represent the play, and not the down.

1st:A
1st - Nice cut block on Freeney, takes him out of the play. Garcia completes pass.
2nd - Run right, Penn non-factor
3rd - Penn stonewalled DT, as Freeny made a looping stunt. Sacked by Rocky Boiman, Freeney gets credit with 1/2 sack.

2nd:B
1st - Chipped Freeney advanced to second level to engage LB
2nd - Freeney makes tackle on Pittman for a loss. Penn engaged nicely, and a hole was there if Pittman cut inside.
3rd - Blocked Freeney effectively, kept him away from Garcia, completes pass.

3rd:A
1st - Penn blocked Freeney effectively. Dwight, inside spin move, Penn rode him inside. Inside was clogged up, so freeney looped outside and Penn rode him out.
2nd - Penn double teamed DT with Sears as Freeney tired another loop stunt. No penetration from left side.
3rd - Freeney lines up very wide. Taken by Alex Smith, passed off to Pittman. Penn double teams DT with Sears.

4th:B
1st - Entire O-line down blocks, gets 4 yard push. Penn blocks DT.
2nd - Penn stops Freeney's outside move. Gets beat with a spin inside. Garcia gets the ball off in time.
3rd - (Freeney out for a rest)Quick strike pass, neither player a factor.
4th - Not sure what the blocking assignments were on this play, seems to have been a breakdown somewhere. Sears pulls right. Penn steps inside to close gap between he and Wade, then tries to engage DE with cut block. Penn whiffs being too far away from the DE, but he's a non-factor being a run to the right.
5th - (Freeney re-enters)Freeney loops way inside, Penn stonewalls DT.
6th - Freeney takes outside first step, quickly changes direction and again loops inside. Penn double teams DT with Sears.
7th - Penn downblocks DT, Smith downblocks Freeney.
8th - Garcia rolls right, away from Penn. Freeney takes an outside angle, then spins inside. Tough to tell if Penn falls or intentionally cut blocks Freeney, but either way it has the same effect in neutralizing Freeney.
9th - Entire line downblocks right, Garcia rolls out right TD pass to Smith.

5th:A
1st - Inside dive Penn and Freeney non factors.
2nd - Freeney is lined up so wide to the left, he's not Penn responsibility at this time. Freeney chipped by Smith, passed off to Graham as Smith goes out for pass in the flat. Penn flows to the outside behind Graham looking to pick up Freeney if he beats Graham.
3rd - Again Freeney lined up so wide he's not Penn's responsibility. Penn chips DT and leaves him for Sears. Penn awaits pressure and flows to the outside protecting Garcia's blind side.

**it was between these last two plays that Moose Johnston was commenting on Penn needing help from a TE and a RB to neutralize Freeney. That simply was not the case during the first half, and Freeney had 1/2 sack and 1 tackle the entire first half. It's these comments that lead me to believe where the opinion of Penn playing poorly came from. Freeney doesn't record another tackle for the rest of the game.
...JJC/ABuccsFan