RUUD Haters.....

[JasonOfthetower]

But why is he making tackles down the field? Cuz the dline has not helped at all...

As I clearly stated, he needs talent around him to be effective. Hardy had nothing around him (until Sapp and Brooks arrived) he still was a beast and instilled a passion in the defense.

[Feel Real Good]

But why is he making tackles down the field?  Cuz the dline has not helped at all...

Because once he starts to "tackle" a running back, they run for another 5 yards before hitting the ground.

[alldaway]

I am done defending mediocre players because that is the best the team has been able to muster the past five years.  Time for a scored earth policy on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster.  Let the second purge commence!

[tatmanfish]

the only replacement for ruud that MIGHT be better their rookie year is mcclain. he is still completely unproven in the nfl though. some are calling for spikes, but the dude has never had to call plays. not very encouraging being that all nfl MLBs are the signal callers on defense. all other guys would most likely not be as good as ruud their first year and you have to take into account for rookie mistakes. now if they were to just simply draft a guy to compete for the spot without trading ruud, then i could see it. IMO the last thing you want to do with a team starving for talent is to get rid of the proven, serviceable talents for an unproven rookie who will most likely not fill the hole for at least one season, maybe longer. when your list of need include DE(1-2), DT(1-2), OLB, CB, SS, WR(1-2), HB, OT, K, and P, why create another hole in the hopes a rookie can come in and play at the same consistent level? the team has 10 draft picks and we can only expect them to hit on 50% ish. they have at leats 10 needs. we all know they wont completely rebuild the rest off the team in a single offseason, but why add to it if you dont have to? im not sticking up for ruud, merely stating the obvious when it comes to legitimate planning for the future. what happens if you trade ruud and cant find a legitimate replacement in the draft? then the D is more screwed than before.

[PWNASAURUS]

You guys crack me up....� Kid was tied for 2nd in the NFL in tackles (142) this season, and you geniuses want him the hell out of town, PR STAFF INCLUDED.....� Barrett plays behind the WORST defensive line the NFL has seen in years and still manages to make 142 tackles, only 10 behind Patrick Willis who lead the league.....� Yes, he making tackles 4-5 yards down the filed, because his own DT's are being driven down is throat, or their getting azzez ragged dolled...� Keep in mind Barrett did all this in a NEW defense, that was all wrong for him, and everyone else on this team....� Is Ruud perfect? No, but he's far from the damn problem....� � [banghead]

This goes back to the old Mark twain line:

There are three kind of lies; Lies, damn lies and Statistics.

This is a major case in point. If you watch the games and know what you are looking at there is no way in hell you can come away saying Rudd is as good as the stats makes him look.  

[PWNASAURUS]

Ruud's shortcomings were covered up by playing next to a HOF'er in Brooks.  This guy just gets abused out there. Did you ever think the reason he has so many tackles and why all of them are downfield? Because teams target him. He is the mute out there. Even if we had the best DT's in the league Ruud would not attack the LOS and be physical. Just because you like saying "RUUUUUUUUUUUUD" with your kid or your drinking buddies when he tackles a guy 7 yards downfield doesn't make him good as much as you want to believe it. Ruud is the problem. Just think what Ray Lewis has done for his defense, what Patrick Willis does, These guys are on another level of good MLB. Ruud is not even in the conversation when it comes to debating who are the top 20 MLB's in the NFL. If McClain is projected to be a Ray Lewis Type with all the smarts, intangibles, and the never be denied fire than you have to take him and put him in the middle to address your greatest need on defense.

[alldaway]

the only replacement for ruud that MIGHT be better their rookie year is mcclain. he is still completely unproven in the nfl though. some are calling for spikes, but the dude has never had to call plays. not very encouraging being that all nfl MLBs are the signal callers on defense. all other guys would most likely not be as good as ruud their first year and you have to take into account for rookie mistakes. now if they were to just simply draft a guy to compete for the spot without trading ruud, then i could see it. IMO the last thing you want to do with a team starving for talent is to get rid of the proven, serviceable talents for an unproven rookie who will most likely not fill the hole for at least one season, maybe longer. when your list of need include DE(1-2), DT(1-2), OLB, CB, SS, WR(1-2), HB, OT, K, and P, why create another hole in the hopes a rookie can come in and play at the same consistent level? the team has 10 draft picks and we can only expect them to hit on 50% ish. they have at leats 10 needs. we all know they wont completely rebuild the rest off the team in a single offseason, but why add to it if you dont have to? im not sticking up for ruud, merely stating the obvious when it comes to legitimate planning for the future. what happens if you trade ruud and cant find a legitimate replacement in the draft? then the D is more screwed than before.

I can think of several mikes in this upcoming draft that would be upgrades over Ruud.

[PWNASAURUS]

Mouth of the south? �What's that? � Rudd makes a lot of tackles true......but he is not a "playmaker".....Look that up when you get a chance.

He "made" 142 "plays" homie, 107 solo....... Like I said, tied for 2nd in the league with the likes of Jon Beason, and 8 more than 2009 Pro Bowler Ray Lewis......� �

I'll take it!!!!

btw "mouth of the south" = 99  

Again This goes back to the old Mark twain line:

There are three kind of lies; Lies, damn lies and Statistics.

If you watch the games and know what you are looking at there is no way in hell you can come away saying Rudd is as good as the stats makes him look.  
Did you ever consider that the reason he gets high tackle numbers is because teams run right at him on purpose? Is there any coincidence that the 3 games the Bucs won were the 3 games where Ruud had his fewest number of tackles. All of the Games were Ruud has a bunch of tackles we get crushed? You get it.  In fact I would venture to say that the Bucs would have gone 0-16 if the Packers, Seahawks, and Saints didn't all stop running the ball right at Ruud like every other team did for 4 quarters. People the reason he gets a ton of tackles is because #1, teams run right at him because he is the mute, and #2, he likes to jump on top of guys after they have already been tackled or hit by another player and he gets his little gay assist tackle. The guy has not made one big hit all year while two rookies on his outside are making plays. Stopping the run should always be the #1 priority because it sets up the rest of your D. Ruud always seems to be thinking pass first and is always on his heels. You can cover up MLB pass coverage with good secondary play, but you cannot hide a Soft MLB unless you put him next to a Hall of Famer. Some seem to forget that Hayes and Black were essentially ROOKIES out there. Neither had started or even seen any real long game experience. So Ruud who was in his 5th season including 3 full seasons as the starter was getting outplayed by the 2 rookies next to him. Don't underestimate the value of a Good MLB. Brooks covered up for Ruud so well that some of you thought he was good or some even thought great. Now you saw 20 game of evidence that Ruud is not a good or even mediocre MLB, last 4 from 2008 where Brooks was clearly hurt and all 16 without Brooks in 2009. Just think back to how good Quarles made us and How important Nickerson was to our defense. When those guys went out of the game there was a huge drop off. Remember when we had Jaime Duncan and it was not that pretty, well Ruud is worse because at least Duncan would attack the LOS and stick his nose in and hit the ball carrier straight on instead of diving for ankles. I can't stand having a MLB that ankle tackles like a little ankle bitter dog when there are so many MLB out there that will stick their nose in and be physical at the point of attack. You cannot tell me that Ruud does any of that. In fact Ruud is more apt to be leaning on his back foot at the snap instead of looking to attack, that is unacceptable. The team needs to go in a different direction at MLB mainly towards the LOS. Get a real MLB in here.

[bucsense]

You guys crack me up....� Kid was tied for 2nd in the NFL in tackles (142) this season, and you geniuses want him the hell out of town, PR STAFF INCLUDED.....� Barrett plays behind the WORST defensive line the NFL has seen in years and still manages to make 142 tackles, only 10 behind Patrick Willis who lead the league.....� Yes, he making tackles 4-5 yards down the filed, because his own DT's are being driven down is throat, or their getting azzez ragged dolled...� Keep in mind Barrett did all this in a NEW defense, that was all wrong for him, and everyone else on this team....� Is Ruud perfect? No, but he's far from the damn problem....� � [banghead]

This goes back to the old Mark twain line:

There are three kind of lies; Lies, damn lies and Statistics.

This is a major case in point. If you watch the games and know what you are looking at there is no way in hell you can come away saying Rudd is as good as the stats makes him look.  

He has no fire........no emotion.....It's like he's doing his job, but not actually fond of the job.....He makes his tackles, but does not make any game changing plays....(playmaker)...for those that don't get it.

[alldaway]

I watched Hayes and Black show greater tenacity out there than Ruud consistently and Hayes is outweighed by Ruud by a good 10-15 lbs.  

[bucpimpin]

He's topped out.. What you see is his A Game. We should trade him for a 2nd round pick. There is far better talent in this draft. He isn't a play maker.

Not a playmaker? 

I hear people say that all the time, and I really think is because he's not the chest thumping, "look at me, I made a tackle" mouth of the south type player....   SO WHAT!!!  He's productive as hell.....  Shelton Quarles was the same way and last time I checked he has a Super Bowl Ring!

I think your confusing Playmaker with Leader.. When I say he isn't a playmaker, I mean he isn't causing many fumbles/Picks/D-TD's/Tak for loss. ect.. .. We need that on D.

Since you brought it up.. YES I would like to see a fiery vocal leader with some balls on the D. Preferably from my MLB. This team sorely needs some swagger and attitude.

[alldaway]

The only thing Ruud showed everyone was his golf game.

[littlericky]

Great player make great plays. Ruud is an average MLB nothing more. I'll even agree with you and say if our D-lin was good he would be better, but so would E.Mack and Sabby.Also have you ever seen Ruud try to blitz, its funny G.Hayes can blitz just fine and he is playing with the same sorry D-line. Ruud is awesome at tackling after the line of scrimmage I want a MLB that stuffs the run.

[calicojack]

Just to put a myth to rest... In the last six games (post-Bates), Ruud was making tackles on run plays that averaged 3.44 yards from the line of scrimmage.  Baltimore Ravens led the league as a team at 3.4 yards per run...  Ruud's median tackle during that same six games was 3 yards for run plays...

Those stats come from nfl.com in their play-by-play analysis for each game... (Hint for FSUBUC) 

[littlericky]

I think is avg. for the year was 5.18 and befor we switched back to the cover two it was 6.26.