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The Buccaneers have placed 27-year old linebacker Jon Alston on the Injured Reserve List with an undisclosed injury. Alston played in 9 games for the Raiders (4 starts) last season and he finished up with 23 tackles. Alston has now played in 39 games (8 starts) in his four years in the NFL and he has 66 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 2 forced fumbles. This might hurt the special teams a little bit for the Bucs but that’s about it.
The NFL has suspended 24-year old starting CB Aqib Talib for the season opener against the Cleveland Browns due to a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. Talib played in 15 games (2 starts) for the Bucs last season and he had 64 tackles, 15 passes defensed and 5 interceptions. In two years with the Buccaneers, Talib has played in 30 games (17 starts) in which he has 87 tackles, 24 passes defensed and 9 interceptions (131 return yards). The Buccaneers are going to miss Talib in the season opener and they hope this suspension helps him realize that he hurt his team with his off field conduct.
The Buccaneers have released 30-year old RB Derrick Ward. Ward played in 14 games for the Bucs last season and he carried the ball 114 times for 409 yards (3.6 ypc) with 1 TD run. He also caught 20 passes for 150 yards (7.5 avg) with 2 TD grabs last season. Kareem Huggins and Earnest Graham will likely see increased touches with Ward out of the picture. I don’t think Ward will be unemployed too long.
It’s amazing to me that the Bucs stayed as close as they did last night as the Jaguars were pushing them around the whole game. Josh Johnson started at QB for the Buccaneers and he looked good completing 9 of 14 passes for 122 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs. He also carried the ball 1 time for 18 yards last night. Rudy Carpenter played pretty awful in this game as he completed only 4 of 13 passes for 37 yards with 1 INT. Derrick Ward led the way on the ground in this game for the Bucs with 19 yards on 4 carries (4.8 ypc). Rookie WR Mike Williams continues to impress as he caught 3 passes for 83 yards (27.7 avg) last night. TE Ryan Purvis pitched in with 3 grabs for 28 yards (9.3 avg) for the Bucs last night. The Buccaneers rushed for 42 yards (2.8 ypc) and they passed for 149 yards as they only had the ball for 21:00 last night.
The Buccaneers’ D didn’t play that well despite only giving up 19 points last night. CB Ronde Barber (7 tackles) and LB Quincy Black (7 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss) led the way for the Bucs’ D in this game. LB Nike Koutouvides was busy with 4 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 INT last night. Barrett Ruud pitched in with 2 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception in this game. The Jaguars rushed for 109 yards (3.5 ypc) and they passed for 287 yards. The Buccaneers fall to 1-2 on the pre-season with this loss.
With Josh Freeman out at least the rest of the pre-season it will give the Bucs an extended look at Josh Johnson and Rudy Carpenter. Johnson will be the #2 Qb for the Bucs in 2010. He has played well so far in the pre-season for the Bucs. In two games this pre-season, Johnson has completed 14 of 23 passes (60.9%) for 185 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT (82.7 QB Rating). He has also carried the ball 5 times for 27 yards (5.4 ypc) during the pre-season so far. Rudy Carpenter has also looked solid for the Bucs so far. In the Bucs first two pre-season games, Carpenter has completed 14 of 23 passes (60.9%) for 151 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs (94.7 QB Rating). He has also carried the ball 1 time for -1 yard.