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Bucs fall back to earth in 17-3 loss

Blogged under Bloglockers,Front Page by ravenhater on Sunday 29 October 2006 at 10:56 pm

The Bucs were brought back to earth at Windy Giants Stadium.  Bruce Gradkowski had his worst game as a pro, completing 20 of 48 passes for 139 yards, he also had 3 carries for 18 yards.  Cadillac Williams had a flat tire, carrying the ball 8 times for 20 yards (2.5 ypc) and catching 5 passes for 34 yards.  Michael Pittman carried the ball twice for 2 yards and caught 5 passes for 38 yards.  Joey Galloway caught 4 passes for 32 yards.

The defense played pretty well against the high-powered Giants offense.  CB Ronde Barber (10 tackles) and LB Shelton Quarles (13 tackles) led the way.  The Giants ran the ball 35 times for 108 yards (3.1 ypc)!  The Bucs allowed the Giants to complete 16 of 31 passes for 143 net yards passing.

Starting defensive back out for the season

Blogged under Bloglockers,Front Page,Injury Reports by ravenhater on Friday 27 October 2006 at 10:22 am

Brian Kelly will miss the remainder of the season after being placed on the Injured Reserve list with a foot injury.  Juran Bolden will replace him, but he gets burned quite alot and will need help.

Buccaneers vs. Giants

Blogged under Front Page,This Week's Matchup Report by ravenhater on Wednesday 25 October 2006 at 1:18 pm
The Giants are on a roll winning their last three games by an average of 14.3 points per game.  The Buccaneers have won their last two games with 4th quarter comebacks against the Eagles and Bengals.

The Giants offensive players have to be foaming at the mouth after watching game film of the Bucs defense this season that is allowing 354.7 points per game.  Look for the Giants to come out running the football to set the tone for the game.  Tiki Barber (647 yards rushing, 222 yards receiving) should carry the early load against a Bucs defense that allows 152.3 yards rushing per game and 5.1 yards per carry.  The Bucs pass defense hasn’t been too good either allowing 202.3 yards per game.  As soon as the Giants establish their running game, look for Manning (1,518 yards passing, 13 TDs) to throw short passes to Amani Toomer, Jeremy Shockey and Tiki Barber.  Then Manning will go deep to Plaxico Burress (24 rec, 424 yards).

The Bucs need to run the ball effectively if they’re going to have a chance at an upset win.  The Giants have been a little soft against the run, allowing 106.3 yards rushing and 4.0 yards per carry.  RB Cadillac Williams should get the bulk of the carries, as he has 394 yards rushing this season.  For the passing game to have any success at all, the Bucs O-Line had better protect Gradkowski from Osi Umenyiora (5 sacks) and Michael Strahan (3 sacks).

This is the kind of game that can rattle a rookie QBs confidence.  Giants stadium is a pretty hostile environment to play in and the Giants should really paste the Bucs.

 

Bucs by the numbers

Blogged under Bloglockers,Front Page by ravenhater on Wednesday 25 October 2006 at 8:24 am

The Bucs have looked a little better with Gradkowski at QB, but the offense is still struggling.  The Bucs only are averaging 14.2 points per game this season.  The running game is starting to show life, but still is only averaging 92.3 yards rushing per game and 3.9 yards per carry.  The passing game has been an up and down rollercoaster, but still they only average 175.0 net yards passing per game.  The offense still has a long way to go, to just be average.

Remarkably, the defense is only allowing 20.8 points per game.  The run defense is absolutely pathetic!  Opponents average 152.3 yards rushing per game and 5.1 yards per carry!  The pass defense allows 202.3 net yards passing per game and 63.0% completions! 

If the offense and defense don’t improve soon…..the Bucs will be drafting really high next April.

Bucs’ fans prayers answered in 23-21 win

Blogged under Bloglockers,Front Page by ravenhater on Monday 23 October 2006 at 12:24 pm

How can you explain a kicker that as been struggling nailing a 62-yard FG as time expires?  Or a team winning a football game that only had 196 yards of total offense and allowed the opponent to amass 506 total yards of offense?  That’s exactly what happened at Raymond James Stadium yesterday!  Bruce Gradkowski had his worst game as a starting QB, connecting on 13 of 26 passes for 104 yards.  Cadillac Williams had a solid game, carrying the ball 23 times for 82 yards (3.6 ypc). 

LB Shelton Quarles had 11 tackles on Sunday, but CB Ronde Barber was the main man.  Barber had 6 tackles and intercepted 2 passes and returned them both for TDs covering 103 yards!  CB Juran Bolden had six tackles, defensed a pass and intercepted a pass.  The Bucs could not stop the Eagles running game, as they ran the ball 27 times for 208 yards (7.7 ypc)!  The Eagles completed 22 of 35 passes for 298 net yards passing.

The Bucs and their fans should thank the good Lord above for this win, because for one day he was a Bucs fan!

Buccaneers vs. Eagles

Blogged under Front Page,This Week's Matchup Report by ravenhater on Wednesday 18 October 2006 at 3:37 pm

The Eagles are trying to rebound after a last-second loss to the Saints in New Orleans.  The Bucs are trying to build off of last week’s stunning win over the Bengals.

The Eagles will come out throwing the ball against the Bucs.  The Bucs haven’t mounted much of a pass rush this season which could be deadly for them against the Eagles.  If McNabb has time to survey the field, he will torch the Bucs secondary.  McNabb loves to spread the ball around, using short passes to TE LJ Smith (24 rec, 335 yards) and RB Brian Westbrook (23 rec, 220 yards).  Soon as you sneak up, McNabb will throw deep to his WRs.  Reggie Brown is having a great season (21 rec, 412 yards) and could be big trouble for the Bucs secondary.  Look for the Eagles to run the ball a bit more than usual if they get the lead, due to the Bucs soft run defense that allows 141.2 yards rushing and 4.7 yards per carry.

For the Bucs on offense, it will be a day of running the ball and throwing it short.  Cadillac Williams (312 yards rushing) needs to follow up last week’s big game with another good effort against an Eagles defense that allows 103.5 yards rushing per game and 3.6 yards per carry.  Look for Bruce Gradkowski to throw alot of short passes to his TEs and WRs, because he probably won’t have alot of time.  The Eagles are an aggressive blitzing unit that has racked up 23 sacks so far this season.  The Bucs want to control the clock and keep the ball away from the Eagles offense and it can be done as long as they stay mistake free.  The Eagles do allow 20.7 points per game and 341.2 yards per game.

I see the Eagles just having too much fire-power for the Bucs to handle.

Bucs defensive back hurting

Blogged under Bloglockers,Front Page,Injury Reports by ravenhater on Tuesday 17 October 2006 at 9:54 pm

Brian Kelly is doubtful for this week’s game against the Eagles.  Kelly has a case of turf toe that may need corrected through surgery.  With that in mind the Bucs signed CB Phillip Buchanon who had just been released by the Houston Texans.

Bucs trade “Booger” McFarland to the Colts

Blogged under Bloglockers,Breaking Buccs News,Front Page by ravenhater on Tuesday 17 October 2006 at 9:34 pm

The Bucs traded Anthony McFarland to the Colts for a second round pick in the 2007 draft.  McFarland hasn’t played to well this season and may be starting to slide at 29 years of age.  The fact that the Bucs got a 2nd round pick for him shows how desperate the Indianapolis Colts are to fix their run defense.

Bucs defense led by old guys

Blogged under Bloglockers,Front Page by ravenhater on Tuesday 17 October 2006 at 5:24 pm

The Bucs defense hasn’t played well this season, but two of the older guys are doing there part.  CB Ronde Barber has 43 tackles so far this season, but no interceptions.  Teams aren’t throwing the ball against the Bucs, because the Bucs have been soft against the run.  LB Derrick Brooks is playing hard and he already has 38 tackles and an interception.  Some of the other defenders should look up to these two guys because of the effort they are putting out.

Bucs shock the Bengals with 14-13 victory

Blogged under Bloglockers,Front Page by ravenhater on Sunday 15 October 2006 at 4:35 pm

Young Qb Bruce Gradkowski led the team on a drive at the end of the game that culminated with an 8 yard TD pass to Michael Clayton to win the game with 35 seconds left.  What was impressive about that was how Gradkowski led the team down the field after being shut down for 3.5 quarters.  Gradkowski completed 25 of 44 passes for 184 yards with 2 TDs and an interception.  Gradkowski also carried the ball 4 times for 19 yards (4.8 ypc).  Cadillac Williams had a solid game carrying the ball 19 times for 94 yards (4.9 ypc).  Joey Galloway caught 7 passes for 67 yards.  Michael Clayton is developing good chemistry with Gradkowski as he caught 6 passes for 55 yards, including the game-winning TD.  TE Alex Smith caught 3 passes for 10 yards and a TD.

The Bucs played solid team defense against the Bengals.  DE Ellis Wyms had 4 tackles and 2 sacks.  The Bucs defense got tough against the run, holding the Bengals to 53 yards on 20 carries (2.7 ypc).  The pass defense had some trouble with the Bengals passing game as the Bengals completed 24 of 37 passes for 252 net yards passing.

The Bucs got a huge victory…..what a game!