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The Buccaneers have signed 34-year old punter Dirk Johnson to a 1-year deal. Johnson played in 12 games for the Cardinals last season. He punted the ball 40 times last season for 1,670 yards (41.8 avg). Johnson only had 4 touchbacks (10%) and he pinned the opposition inside the 20-yard line 13 times (32.5%). The Bucs just hope that Johnson can do a decent job as Josh Bidwell’s injury occurred to late for them to get a really solid replacement.
The NFL has suspended 24-year old starting safety Tanard Jackson for the first four games of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. This will hurt the Bucs’ defense big time. Jackson played in all 16 games for the Bucs last season and he made 69 tackles, defensed 3 passes, had a sack, forced 2 fumbles and he had a interception. Will Allen will likely replace Jackson in the starting lineup so expect teams to test the Bucs deep at the start of the season. Allen played in all 16 games for the Bucs last season and he made 19 tackles and forced a fumble. The Bucs will be in trouble if Jackson isn’t ready to go when his suspension is over.
The Bucs fought the Titans hard in this game but just not hard enough to win the game. Luke McCown started this game and he completed 4 of 8 passes for 19 yards. He also carried the ball 2 times for 13 yards. Byron Leftwich looked better than McCown in this game completing 6 of 14 passes for 61 yards with 1 TD pass. Rookie Josh Freeman looked like a deer in headlights in this game completing 5 of 9 passes for 52 yards. He also threw pick six as Titans’ CB Ryan Mouton returned a Freeman INT 29 yards for a TD. Josh Johnson finished up the game for the Bucs and he was impressive completing 3 of 5 passes for 15 yards. He also carried the ball 1 time for a 43-yard TD. RB Kareem Huggins led the Bucs in rushing in this game with 43 yards on 9 carries (4.8 ypc). He also caught 3 passes for 14 yards (4.7 avg) as he was very busy. WR Sammie Stroughter led the way for the Bucs in this game with 42 yards receiving on 3 catches (14.0 avg). The Bucs were great running the ball in this game with 138 yards rushing on 26 carries (5.3 ypc). But, they only had 118 yards passing in this game.
Despite the Titans scoring 27 points in this game the Bucs’ defense looked solid. Linebacker Adam Hayward and CB Marshall McDuffie led the Bucs with six tackles apiece. The Bucs only allowed 278 total yards in this game (92 yards rushing, 186 passing).
The Bucs could be without 33-year old punter Josh Bidwell this season due to a serious hip injury. Bidwell punted the ball 77 times last season for the Bucs averaging 44.5 yards per attempt. He only had 7 touchbacks (9.1%) and he also pinned opponents inside their 20-yard line 27 times (35.1%). If Bidwell does miss the season that will definately hurt the Bucs’ special teams.
UPDATE: The Buccaneers have placed Josh Bidwell on the Injured Reserve List ending his season as he needs hip surgery.