Barret Ruud haters

[CBWx2]

Ruud has had very, very little to do with our recent ability to stop the run. He was almost a complete non factor in Baltimore. It's not opinion either, it's fact. Watch the games again. Ruud is not the one making stops. As others have said it is usually Cody Grimm.

Everyone already knew that Ruud is not a thumper. He is not physical, can't shed blocks, never deliveres bone jarring hits, and can't rush the passer to save his life. The excuse has been that he makes up for it by being fast and good in coverage. Well if he is 2ft behind Todd Heap for 60 yards and can't catch him....he is slow as hell and basically useless. He was in position to make a stop on the other TD pass as well but was turned around and never even got a hand up. The guy is a smart football player but he lacks the heart and athletism to get it done. Grimm is 40lbs lighter than Ruud and yet he hits twice as hard and actuallt stuffs the run. Ruud is a turd. Time for an upgrade.

Barrett Ruud led the Buccaneers with 9 tackles in the game. 7 of the 9 were for gains of 0-3 yards. The other two were for gains of 4 and 6 yards. How on earth do you figure he had very little to do in stopping the run? Classic Ruud hater. Making judgments devoid of fact.

Quite quoting stats and watch the game.

Stats are only unimportant to people when they are inconvenient. In this case, they don't back your claim, therefor, to you, they don't matter. But the question still remains, how do you figure a guy that made 7 tackles for 3 yard gains or less was a non-factor in stopping the run?

[JDouble]

They aren't solo tackles. They are assists. When the runner has been stopped and is on his way down, and Ruud comes running over to knock him down IT IS NOT IMPRESSIVE. If The D-line hadn't stepped up and Cody Grimm hadn't been coming down in the box and stuffing guys, our run defense would still be lousy. Ruud doesn't stuff anyone. His solo tackles are always drag down tackles from behind or he gets assisted tackles from helping bring a guy down after he has already been stuffed. He NEVER goes up man to man with a RB and stuffs him. NEVER.

[CBWx2]

They aren't solo tackles. They are assists. When the runner has been stopped and is on his way down, and Ruud comes running over to knock him down IT IS NOT IMPRESSIVE. If The D-line hadn't stepped up and Cody Grimm hadn't been coming down in the box and stuffing guys, our run defense would still be lousy. Ruud doesn't stuff anyone. His solo tackles are always drag down tackles from behind or he gets assisted tackles from helping bring a guy down after he has already been stuffed. He NEVER goes up man to man with a RB and stuffs him. NEVER.

He only had 3 assists in the entire game. They were stops on gains of 4, 3, and 3 yards. Ruud had solo stops for 2, 1, 0, 2, 3, and 6 yard gains. You can hate the guy if you want. It's a free country. All I ask is that you at least give proper credit when it's deserved and not place blame where it isn't.

[Biggs3535]

They aren't solo tackles. They are assists. When the runner has been stopped and is on his way down, and Ruud comes running over to knock him down IT IS NOT IMPRESSIVE. If The D-line hadn't stepped up and Cody Grimm hadn't been coming down in the box and stuffing guys, our run defense would still be lousy. Ruud doesn't stuff anyone. His solo tackles are always drag down tackles from behind or he gets assisted tackles from helping bring a guy down after he has already been stuffed. He NEVER goes up man to man with a RB and stuffs him. NEVER.

This was probably Ruud's most impressive game in quite a while.  He was sticking his head in the action, which we haven't been able to say about him in quite awhile.  He was stuffing Flacco on that QB sneak.

And the people who are trying to point to the improved DL play as evidence to that's why Ruud has been a pansy for most the last two seasons - bullcrap.  Ruud has displayed a mentality the last two weeks that hasn't been there in quite some time for him.  Good players don't need other players around them to be good.

[Biggs3535]

Why have the Steelers been so soft up the middle lately? Are their LBs soft?

Brett Keisel and Aaron Smith go down with injuries, and all of a sudden the Steelers are getting gashed between the tackles. Why is that? Is James Harrison soft all of a sudden?  how abnout Lawrence Timmons, you gonna start calling him soft? lol

Pittsburgh has the most physical LBs in football, and because of a weakness along the DL they are unable to play downhill and physically impose their will the last few weeks. THats football

WTF are you talking about here?  The Steelers have had the best rushing defense in the league most, if not all, of the year.  They are the #1 rushing D by over 15 yards per game, and here are their last two opponents:

Oakland - 61 rushing yards
Buffalo - 74 rushing yards

Get a clue.

[BucNY]

Ruud is not a thumper at MLB. He wasn't in college and we didn't draft him to be that on this team. He was brought into the Tampa 2 scheme which called as much for him dropping deep in the Tampa 2 scheme as it did to stop the run. Now he is doing better with the improved D-line play but clearly he is not Patrick Willis. Its obvious that we are still unsure of what exactly we should be doing with him. Is he valuable to this team? Yes, no doubt about it but he may not be our MLB after this year. If he was we would have signed him last year and not waited. I tend to think he'll be back next year but i'm not totally sure that he will. In the famous words of Dennis Green "he is who we thought he was! If you want to crown his ass then crown him" haha, i just loved the part about crown him. Point is that Ruud is the guy we needed when we drafted him and he was done well with the skills he has but considering we don't run Tampa 2 like we did he may be gone next year. I guess it'll depend on who is available in the draft and FA.

[CBWx2]

And the people who are trying to point to the improved DL play as evidence to that's why Ruud has been a pansy for most the last two seasons - bullcrap.  Ruud has displayed a mentality the last two weeks that hasn't been there in quite some time for him.  Good players don't need other players around them to be good.

Does it matter at all that in the last two weeks the D-Line play has been stellar? If the D-Line play continues to shine, and Ruud continues to play like he has been recently, then I think it pretty much proves the assertion that the D-Line play was limiting Ruud's capabilities.

And good players do need other players around them to be good. Now great players, they are great no matter the condition. Ruud is good, but he is not great. But good can be good enough with some help. A good team with no great players will always beat a bad team with one great player on it, even if that great player makes plays. Kyle Williams has played great, yet the Bills are 2-9. All I'm saying.

[Balls Out]

I agree BucNY...I think Raheem has a different plan for the MLB in his scheme, otherwise, as you pointed out, he would have been re-signed by now. Having said all that, Ruud did have his best game against the Ravens, but I still won't be sad to see him go at the end of the season if that does indeed happen.

[Biggs3535]

Does it matter at all that in the last two weeks the D-Line play has been stellar? If the D-Line play continues to shine, and Ruud continues to play like he has been recently, then I think it pretty much proves the assertion that the D-Line play was limiting Ruud's capabilities.

The mentality of a player should not hinge on what other guys around you are doing.  Ruud's mentality has clearly been different the last three weeks.  He's firing at the line.  He's getting off of blocks.  What does any of that have to do with any of the other 10 players on the field?  Nada...

[CBWx2]

I agree BucNY...I think Raheem has a different plan for the MLB in his scheme, otherwise, as you pointed out, he would have been re-signed by now. Having said all that, Ruud did have his best game against the Ravens, but I still won't be sad to see him go at the end of the season if that does indeed happen.

Not necessarily. The Bucs have tendered nearly every free agent on the team for the last two seasons. Keep in mind, Penn was tendered too, and the only reason he got a deal was because he held out. Had Ruud maintained his holdout in the spring of 2009, he likely would have gotten a deal too. I'm not saying Ruud will be resigned, I'm just saying that the fact that he hasn't been thus far is no indication one way or the other.

[CBWx2]

Does it matter at all that in the last two weeks the D-Line play has been stellar? If the D-Line play continues to shine, and Ruud continues to play like he has been recently, then I think it pretty much proves the assertion that the D-Line play was limiting Ruud's capabilities.

The mentality of a player should not hinge on what other guys around you are doing.  Ruud's mentality has clearly been different the last three weeks.  He's firing at the line.  He's getting off of blocks.  What does any of that have to do with any of the other 10 players on the field?  Nada...

It may have to do with scheme, not mentality. By Morris' own admission, he was asking Ruud not to shoot gaps and to fall back. You only have to watch the game to see that that has changed over the last few weeks.

[Biggs3535]

Does it matter at all that in the last two weeks the D-Line play has been stellar? If the D-Line play continues to shine, and Ruud continues to play like he has been recently, then I think it pretty much proves the assertion that the D-Line play was limiting Ruud's capabilities.

The mentality of a player should not hinge on what other guys around you are doing.  Ruud's mentality has clearly been different the last three weeks.  He's firing at the line.  He's getting off of blocks.  What does any of that have to do with any of the other 10 players on the field?  Nada...

It may have to do with scheme, not mentality. By Morris' own admission, he was asking Ruud not to shoot gaps and to fall back. You only have to watch the game to see that that has changed over the last few weeks.

I realize the excuses for Ruud with you are never-ending, but the scheme has little to do with his mentality.  Even when the scheme did call for him to "fall back", there are still many, many plays a game where that wasn't Ruud's responsibility and he lacked the physical-mentality that he has shown the last few weeks.

[JDouble]

I rewatched the game just now. I saw Ruud make THREE solo tackles where he kept the ball carrier to 3 yards or less. That was impressive for Ruud and I'd agree he has played better the last few weeks. He had a few more tackles that were around 6 yard gains. I'm not sure what some of you where watching though. What really stuck out were the plays where Ray Rice stiff armed Ruud to the ground, and the play where Ruud ran 2ft behind 31 year old Todd Heap for 60 yards but couldn't catch him or didn't appear like he even wanted to.

PR listed Ruud as thier most disappointing yesterday and siad despite the numbers, he had a bad day. I guess PR doesn't know what they are talking about either.

[bradentonian]

He also missed a tackle in the backfield

[CBWx2]

I rewatched the game just now. I saw Ruud make THREE solo tackles where he kept the ball carrier to 3 yards or less. That was impressive for Ruud and I'd agree he has played better the last few weeks. He had a few more tackles that were around 6 yard gains. I'm not sure what some of you where watching though. What really stuck out were the plays where Ray Rice stiff armed Ruud to the ground, and the play where Ruud ran 2ft behind 31 year old Todd Heap for 60 yards but couldn't catch him or didn't appear like he even wanted to.

PR listed Ruud as thier most disappointing yesterday and siad despite the numbers, he had a bad day. I guess PR doesn't know what they are talking about either.

 PR: "In the second quarter, Ravens tight end Todd Heap ran a go route down the seam. Linebacker Quincy Black let Heap run past him expecting Ruud to be there, but he was late coming over. Ruud also couldn't catch Heap from behind. The result of the play was a 65-yard touchdown for the Ravens."

That was Sabby Piscitelli's blown assignment, not Ruud's. And the fact that Ruud didn't chase down Heap from behind is a bunch of crap. Ronde Barber couldn't chase Heap down from behind on that play either, and last I checked, Barber was faster than Ruud. The very fact that they are putting that play in the analysis debases the claim that he had a bad game.