Tampa Bay Sports Blog

The list continues to grow for Buccaneers players in the rehab center. Jon Gruden came out and talked about it today.  They now have at least 10 players I could count on the weekly injury list..

• Michael Clayton
• Brian Griese
• Jeff Garcia
• Jovan Haye
• Chris Hovan
• Greg White (oops, I mean Stylez G. White)
• Sean Mahan
• Jeremy Zuttah
• Joey Galloway (not officially listed but Gruden says he’s injured).

Then we have the injured reserve guys…

• Earnest Graham
• Torrie Cox
• Byron Storer
• Cortez Hankton
• Maurice Stovall
• Geno Hayes
• Jermaine Phillips (assumed)

Not sure if I missed anyone, but that is a lot of injuries. Here’s why we shouldn’t feel bad for the Bucs though. They have built themselves to be deep, not star heavy. That’s a great way to build to try to remain competitive when injuries pile up (sound familiar) but doesn’t lend to having a dominant team. That’s why, when healthy this team doesn’t light up the scoreboard or rout too many teams, but that’s also why we’re in a position to make the playoffs with so many injuries. It’s tough to deal with and handle. I want a deep team, but I long for some hardcore play makers on the offensive side. I like being able to compete throughout the season, but I would desperately love to see this team have some play makers. I realize that we all can’t be the New England Patriots, who seem to be able to plug guys in and cruise right along without skipping a beat (even Matt Cassel threw four TD’s yesterday). Say what you want about those guys but Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli do it better than anyone, cheating or not. I have come to the realization that we will never develop a QB under Gruden, we will always have the revolving door of “veteran” QB’s, but why can’t these guys stumble into a great player on the offensive side of the ball? Maybe Clifton Smith is it, but we’ll never know. I’m still excited about the Bucs maybe making the playoffs, but I will be disappointed with a one and done performance, won’t you?

Technorati Tags: Bill Belichick, Brian Griese, Byron Storer, Chris Hovan, Clifton Smith, Cortez Hankton, Earnest Graham, Geno Hayes, Greg White, Jeff Garcia, Jeremy Zuttah, Jermaine Phillips, Joey Galloway, Jon Gruden, Jovan Haye, Matt Cassel, Maurice Stovall, Michael Clayton, New England Patriots, Scott Pioli, Sean Mahan, Stylez White, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Torrie Cox

   Let’s not get too excited about the victory the Bucs got yesterday in Detroit. They obviously fell behind quick and that was enough to bash them. But I’m not gonna harp on that. It’s time for people to stop defending Jon Gruden for his shortcomings. The Bucs got out of Detroit with a 38-20 victory and are ready to take Carolina to the wire for the NFC South title. But here’s the problem with what I watch on Sunday’s with this team. Every week Gruden challenges the defense to score points. How bout challenging the offense Jon? If it weren’t for Clifton Smith and Monte Kiffin this season, the Bucs would be .500 at best. This holds true for other seasons as well and I’m tired of listening to people proclaim Mr. Gruden as one of the best coaches in the NFL. He’s not! It’s a mystery to me what these people see in this guy to call him great. He feuds with players, changes QB’s like underwear and lies to anyone who’ll listen. It’s like saying that a drug addicted, jobless wife is great if she doesn’t cheat on you. There’s more to this than wins and losses. If you go by winning percentage by the way, Gruden is at .523 right now and that doesn’t scream great either. His offenses have never ranked higher than tenth since his arrival (even though they’re ranked ninth right now) and that doesn’t scream great either. Now I’m not saying he hasn’t been useful, he won the Super Bowl here and not Tony Dungy. I can’t stand those people either. It wasn’t Dungy’s team that won the Super Bowl, it was Gruden/Kiffin’s team that won. Monte Kiffin has been the glue that has held this whole thing together for years and at least Gruden has recognized that and hasn’t forced Kiffin to go elsewhere. His faces aren’t funny, they’re fake. His offense is average. His player relationship skills are awful and his talent evaluation is even worse. This is the world of the NFL and change is inevitable. There are people out there who praise and admire Gruden on a daily basis and I can’t help but wonder what they’re being given to say these things. I don’t hate Jon Gruden, I hate the statements made about him being “great”. I could swallow it better if people said he was good or doing well, not great. Monte Kiffin is a great defensive coach, it doesn’t mean he would be a great head coach and there’s nothing wrong with that. There are great coaches around the league, Bill Belichick, Tom Moore, etc.. They’re not all head coaches and they’re not going to be on top every season, but you know they’ll bounce back when they’re down. Now to finish off my point with this whole thing. I’m not saying we need to fire Gruden. I’m saying SHUT UP! Shut up about the “greatness” of Jon Gruden. Stop rolling out the red carpet for his Hall of Fame induction and stop getting mad at people like me who actually recognize the flaws that this guy has. I hate the way he treats players. I hate the way he calls out the defense and not the offense. I hate his love affair with himself. I hate his play calling. There’s a lot that I hate, but not enough to want to wash him away just yet. I liked the way Dungy conducted himself and treated everyone, but I don’t miss him coaching this team. Gruden is helping keep the team competitive so we have to deal with him dissing Mark, uh I mean Mike Alstott and loving Jerramy Stevens, but not forever.

Technorati Tags: Bill Belichick, Clifton Smith, Detroit Lions, Jerramy Stevens, Jon Gruden, Mike Alstott, Monte Kiffin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tom Moore, Tony Dungy

   In not so surprising news today the Bucs placed RB Earnest Graham and LB Geno Hayes on injured reserve and they will be gone for the rest of the season. Graham hurt his ankle in the first quarter of the Viking game and coach Jon Gruden immediately speculated that he was gone for the year. Coach was right for once and Graham’s done. Hayes also left the game Sunday with a knee injury and has been lost for the season. Hayes’ injury isn’t a big blow but Graham’s absence will be huge. This puts a lot more pressure on the aging Warrick Dunn and rookie Clifton Smith. The Bucs added free agent RB Noah Herron and brought back LB Matt McCoy to fill Graham and Hayes’ spots on the roster. McCoy played in a few games earlier in the year when Barrett Ruud went down and did an adequate job. Herron hasn’t played since 2006 and will likely fill the emergency back role once occupied by Micheal Bennett (think the Bucs miss him now?). There is also speculation now that Edgerrin James has asked for his release and, in a round about way, is interested in the Bucs. Buc ‘Em shot this article up pretty quick and has a poll up already. Damn those boys are quick. It will definitely be interesting to see how this all pans out for the Bucs this season as Graham’s loss seems so huge right now. Gruden doesn’t seem to like the run the ball much anyway so it may not be as big as we think, but I do believe the passing game has been opened up due to Graham’s presence and effectiveness when he is used. Garcia has been good so far and Dunn still has life left in his legs, but big Earnest did a lot more dirty work than most so we’ll have to see how it goes. As all this was going down everyone seemed to think Cadillac Williams would immediately fill in but that’s being shut down for the moment. I personally don’t see Williams making much of a difference down the stretch anyway. I thought he was over-rated before and I don’t think everyone out there realizes how hard it’s going to be for him to come back from his knee injury right now. No amount of rehab and practice he could’ve had to this point is going to have his knee and mind in good enough game shape to go out and make a difference on any Sunday this season. This all has made the rest of this season a whole lot more interesting. On another note, there’s not much going on until Friday so I’m taking tomorrow off. Whatever goes down I’ll get to Friday morning and I’m going to get out and enjoy myself for the rest on tonight. See ya!

Technorati Tags: Barrett Ruud, Cadillac Williams, Clifton Smith, Earnest Graham, Edgerrin James, Geno Hayes, Jeff Garcia, Jon Gruden, Matt McCoy, Michael Bennett, Minnesota Vikings, Noah Herron, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Warrick Dunn

Technorati Tags: Antonio Bryant, Barrett Ruud, Clifton Smith, Kansas City Chiefs, Maurice Stovall, Michael Clayton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

   The Bucs came away from this weekend’s rookie mini-camp without a lot of certainty on who can contribute here. Though this was hard to judge the Bucs kept four undrafted rookies to include Troy DT Chris Bradwell, Miami C John Rochford, Fresno St. RB Clifton Smith and USF’s own Amarri Jackson. None of these guys were standouts in college, especially Jackson who developed a reputation as a ‘dropper’ in crucial situations. Here’s a little background…

•    Chris Bradwell, DT: 6′4″, 285lb’s. Has a history of trouble after being arrested while at FSU for marijuana and suspected of credit card fraud. Was suspended for a year at Troy for a burglary arrest. Won newcomer of the year in the Sun Belt Conference after accumulating 36 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 recovered fumbles including 1 touchdown. Is a long shot and will have a lot to prove in overcoming troubled past.
•    John Rochford, OL: 6′2″, 273lb’s.  A special teams standout type player. A four year player at the ‘U’ who excelled as a Long Snapper. In addition to playing Center and Guard in college he also played H-Back and Fullback due to his above average blocking skills.
•    Clifton Smith, RB: 5′8″, 190lb’s. Small speed type RB who can serve as a third down type back and return punts. Another target athlete for the special teams.
•    Amarri Jackson, WR: 6′5″, 200lb’s. A hometown signing that could possibly work. Jackson is in the large ‘possession receiver’ mold who could push for a spot if he can get over his butter fingers. Maurice Stovall could get pushed hard if Jackson shows promise as they are similar type players.

Sources: Hurricane Sports, NFL Draft Scout, Roy Cummings

Technorati Tags: Amarri Jackson, Chris Bradwell, Clifton Smith, John Rochford, Maurice Stovall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers