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1. How many total sacks for the game, both teams included?
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1st round pick Davin Joseph (OG), who was projected to be a starter, will miss the first four weeks of the season with a knee injury.  This will hurt the running game and it showed last Sunday.

The Bucs looked absolutely horrible on offense.  The Ravens decided early on that Cadillac Williams was not going to beat them.  The Ravens defense then looked like sharks that smelled blood in the water when they forced Chris Simms to pass the ball.  Simms completed 17 of 29 (58.6%) of his passes for 133 yards and 3 interceptions!  Gruden yanked him in the 4th quarter and he threw rookie Bruce Gradkowski to the wolves.  Gradkowski quickly found out that the NFL defenses are a little tougher than the MAC defenses he played against in college.  Gradkowski completed 1 of 5 passes for 4 yards.  RB Cadillac Williams looked like he was left in the garage as he only carried the ball 8 times for 22 yards (2.8 ypc) and caught 5 passes for 25 yards.

The defense actually did play that bad when you look at the numbers, but the offense kept putting the D in bad situations.  CB Ronde Barber and LB Derrick Brooks each had 11 tackles.  The Bucs held the Ravens to an average of 3.0 yards per carry (34-103).  The Ravens completed 63% of their passes for 168 net yards thru the air.

I think the big mistake Coach Gruden made was not to play his starters long enough in pre-season games.  This play one series then all the starters are out in favor of viewing the young players is what cost the Bucs so dearly in their first game and led to their crushing defeat at the hands of the Ravens.

The starters were just too rusty, and out of synch because of lack of playing time in actual game conditions.  They were just never able to get on track.  Practice squad activity is not the same as game conditions.

Coach, I hope you learned something from this and don’t make the same mistake next pre-season.  Play your starters for at least one full quarter, if not the entire first half.

David Boston was cut, but no reason was given why yet.  This is a surprising development due to how well Boston played in the pre-season, making the team out of nowhere.  Rookie WR Maurice Stovall will move up the depth chart due to this move.

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The Ravens are a very physical type team that gives the speed teams like the Bucs big problems.  On offense the Ravens will be more balanced than ever, but make no mistake, they will attack the Bucs with their power running game.  In the passing game, look for McNair to look for his old pal from his Titans’ days, Derrick Mason frequently.  Also, Todd Heap will attack the safeties in the middle of the field.

The Bucs would love to run the football effectively and then take some shots downfield.  The problem with that is that the front 7 of the Ravens will be too good to run on.  Ray “The Killa” Lewis will be free to roam sideline to sideline to blow up running backs with DTs Haloti Ngata and Kelly Gregg occupying double -teams.

It will be a long day for Chris Simms, who will have to avoid DE’s Terrell Suggs and Trevor Pryce, and then take on CB’s Chris McAllister, Samari Rolle, and safety Ed Reed.

The Ravens will win this game, and look good doing it.

Jon Gruden has a career record of 73-55 (57% wins) and is 5-3 in the post-season.  Gruden has won 4 division titles and 1 Super Bowl Championship.  With the Bucs, Gruden is 35-29 (54.7% wins).

Chris Simms has a career record as a starting QB of 7-5 (58.3% wins) and an 0-1 playoff record.  Simms career QB rating is 78.1.

Tim Rattay has a career record of 4-12 (25% wins) and an 81.6 career QB rating.

Yesterday the Bucs traded for tight-end Doug Jolley.  The Bucs sent an undisclosed draft pick to the Jets as compensation.  Jolley has played in 63 games (32 starts) and has caught 119 passes for 1,296 yards (10.9 avg) and 6 TDs.

The Bucs didn’t look too good in the pre-season finale.  Chris Simms completed 1 of 2 passes for 6 yards.  Rookie Bruce Gradkowski performed well again, completing 13 of 17 passes (76.5%) for 90 yards and a TD.  Gradkowski also ran the ball three times for 47 yards (15.7 ypc).  Tim Rattay completed 9 of 16 passes (56.3%) for 89 yards with an interception.

Ernest Graham ran the ball 10 times for 37 yards.  WR David Boston caught 6 passes for 77 yards (12.8 avg).

The Texans ran for 153 yards on 29 carries (5.3 ypc).  The Bucs allowed the Texans to complete 64.3% of their passes for 174 net yards passing.