West Coast Woes

What is it with the Buccaneers futility on the West Coast? Is it the long plane ride? The time zone change? The Pacific Ocean air? Who the hell knows? Hopefully the Buccaneers know, or at least figured out some small piece of this mystery. For the first time the team left Tampa two days before the game in an attempt to acclimate themselves to their surroundings. Will it help? Who knows, but it certainly can't hurt. Seattle, San Diego, Oakland, San Fransisco......the city doesn't matter. Even the quality of the team doesn't matter. In the midst of the Buccs last Championship season, 2005, the Buccs lost to a bad 49er team.

What do these things have in common?
George Bush's Presidency
World Trade Center Bombings
HDTV
Playstation 2
2 Olympic games
Hybrid cars
Iraq War
Houston Texans
Turn of the milenium

All those things listed above took place after the Buccs last won a game on the west coast. That's right, the last time the Buccs won a game out there, was against Seattle in 1999. You remember that game? That was the last time Trent Dilfer ever threw a pass for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was also the first game of Shaun King's short uneventful career. Since kick off of that game, Tampa has had 9 QB's take a snap in a regular season game. There are kids in second grade now that weren't even born yet last time the Buccs claimed victory on the left side of the map. Let's hope the Buccs can get past this hurdle and start a winning tradition west of the Rockies starting this Sunday.
...JJC/ABuccsFan

The Good, The Bad & The Masterful! Saints

The Good

Luke McCown - There is a glimmer of hope to the future of the Buccaneer Quarterback position after all. This situation has a long way to go before it is played out to it's fullest extent, but not too long ago many Buccs fans were hoping we'd address the future at QB through the upcoming '08 draft. Sunday Luke McCown gave us reason to be optimistic the the future is already in Pewter and Red. Luke played superbly in his 5th career start. He made some mistakes that can be expected of an inexperienced QB. The key now is to learn and correct those mistakes. The most exciting aspects of Luke performance for me were his arm strength and accuracy. It's hard to believe a kid of his slight stature could put such zip on the ball. McCown dissected the Saints defense at one point with 15 straight completions, and finishing the game 29 of 37 (78%) for 313 yards and 2 TD's.

Ernest Graham - OK, it's getting very repetitive talking about how great Graham has been filling in for the injured Carnell "The Tricycle" Williams, and Mike Pittman. But yet again Ernest helped guide the Buccs to an important win with his legs racking up 106 yards on 22 carries and a 25 yard TD jaunt. EG also tied for the team lead with 7 receptions for 37 yards. His contribution is immeasurable, and has to be the front runner for the team's MVP.

Gaines Adams - Gaines showed Sunday that his early progress in the NFL is on the rise. His improvement from week to week has been very noticeable. I think Adams had his best game as a pro, and made a significant play to help the Buccs' outcome Sunday a favorable one. In addition to Gaines 4 tackles and 1 sack, he pressured Brees all day and got heavy penetration into the backfield. The biggest play of his young career came with 3:36 left in the game, and the ball on the Saints 49 yard line. Payton called a double reverse that should have featured Bush handing the ball off to Deverey Henderson. Gaines exploded off the LOS at the snap of the ball, and quickly got 6 yards deep in the backfield. The Saints LT had no choice but to go with Gaines, as he had the LT beat around the corner. Gaines' penetration forced a total disruption of the play, and got in the way of a possible hand off exchange of the ball. Bush's jerking body movements suggests to me that he panicked and had no idea what to do, not expecting Adams to be standing there in his way. With his view of Henderson now shield by 2 large linemen, in a last ditch effort he tried to toss the ball with his right hand to Deverey who was running by him on the left. The result, a widely inaccurate toss that resulted in a live ball rolling around on the ground and recovered by Tampa Bay.

Joey Galloway - Joey Galloway tore the Saints secondary a new one again Sunday. Joey torched the Saints in their week 2 match-up, and followed that up with 6 receptions for 148 yards in the 1st half alone. He added another catch in the second half for an additional 11 yards. Joey didn't see the endzone, but his play in the first half opened up the defense and allowed Graham to run all over them. He showed again Sunday why some call him the ageless wonder. Leaving guys just over half his age in the dust has been his trademark this season. Defenders line up across from him on the LOS, they notice the gray whiskers in his beard....then he disappears.

The Bad

Greg White - Greg White has been a pleasant surprise this season. With that being said, Greg has showcased to the world what is is capable of at the NFL level now that he has been given the chance. We now have a benchmark to measure what we expect of Greg White, and when he is held off the stat sheet with 0 tackles, 0 assists, 0 sacks....that will earn him a spot on the bad list. Every player has an off day once in a while, and I fully expect White to atone for the game with a good performance next week.

Barrett Ruud - How does the MLB of the Tampa 2 defense record 1 tackle? That's all I have to say about that.

Phillip Buchanon - P-Buc got beat on 2 plays in a row, the first being a deep bomb from Brees to Colston. P-Buc was in good position and had MC covered closely, but he never turned his head to look at the ball, and that allowed Colston to reach over and snag the ball for a huge gain of 40 yards. On the very next play, Terrence Copper got the outside edge and Brees looped the ball right over P-Buc and into the waiting hands of Copper for the Saints first TD of the game. Those were 2 very good plays executed by the Saints. When you couple those 2 plays with the complete and utter gaff on a failed punt return, I had to add Phillip to the bad list. Mr. Buchanon...when you let a punt drop.....GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THE BALL!!!!!! The Saints coverage team wisely tried to push Buchanon into the loose ball, which would have made it a live ball. It was close, very close. A Saint defender picked up the ball and ran it into the endzone. Lucky for us, and P-Buc, the ref had a good look at the play and new it was a dead ball. But why even give the Ref a chance to make a mistake? Again Mr. Buchanon...when you let a punt drop....GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THE BALL!!!!

The Masterful

Jon Gruden - Jon called a hell of a game Sunday. The best call he made was declaring Luke McCown the starter over Bruce Gradkowski. He opened up the playbook, and confused the Saints defense. He mixed and matched runs and passes with great wizardry keeping the Saints defense on their heels. He made a gutsy, ballsy 4th down call that helped seal the deal. That one play call was a glaring example of how far our Offensive line has come, and just how much confidence Gruden has in his young line. Pulling Sears behind Joseph and T-Blood has become Jon's security blanket, and it has worked when he has needed it to. This game was the best showing of Gruden's playbook I have seen. Jon has worked with quarterbacks Brad Johnson, Rob Johnson, Shaun King, Chris Simms, Brian Griese, Bruce Gradkowski, Tim Rattay and Jeff Garcia over his tenure in Tampa. Why he chose Luke McCown and yesterday, to finally showcase the plays he designs while hiding in the darkness of his cave like office, we may never know. But it was very refreshing to finally watch a Buccaneer offense move down the field at will. We have been teased Jon, and we expect another display against the Texans.
...JJC/ABuccsFan