Fab 5 Comments

[BornaBuc47]

Fab 1-Who is saying that Adams is a bust? I know I saw one thread about it but most people in the thread were supporting Adams' play. Was there someone on the radio that I missed or maybe TV? I don't know why this was a Fab article.

Fab 2-3-Why not mention that there have been large increases to the salary cap and that our team has stunk and looks like they might stink again when talking about the salary cap. We don't have the players to push the salary cap. If we were over the cap with the players we have I'd be pissed. We brought in a couple of good players this offseason which is great. Give him credit for that but why should we be excited about having salary cap space if we're not going to use it? Why do we care about dead money. How much dead money did we have before Allen back in 99'-02' when we were winning. I guess my point is everybody always gives him credit for handling the cap but we've stunk and it's not because he had no money. We spent a bunch of money on free agents under Gruden that mainly turned out to be busts but used cap space that would have allowed us to keep pro bowlers and Bucs legends. I totally disagree with the point of this when we stink.

Fab 4-Pass Happy? I think I'm going to puke. Keys to winning =pass happy under Gruden? How about a strong running game to take pressure off of our suck offensive line so that our QB doesn't get crushed and have his spleen removed which will force us to use any McCown brother or Gradkowski for the rest of the season? What's next, we're going to move Gaines Adams to center?

[Dominico]

Don't you think you should post this in the Insider message board?

[bradentonian]

Don't you think you should post this in the Insider message board?

This article was free

[bucs1]

Don't you think you should post this in the Insider message board?

No, he doesn't have to post this on the Insider message board because SR's Fab Five was free this week and he's not even an Insider.

[Dominico]

I didn't realize, my bad. Whats the point of coming to this board if you are not an insider? I think he would be more at home at buccaneers.com

[redbeard10]

I didn't realize, my bad. Whats the point of coming to this board if you are not an insider? I think he would be more at home at buccaneers.com

I'm not an insider, and believe me, I prefer it over here.

[bizkitlimped]

the same reason you did, just he hasnt elected to sign up as an insider...

[CurtR1995]

If that free article was designed to compel us non PI folks to subscribe, that really missed the mark.  I am tired cheering on the lightweight passing game plan and the excuse machine.

Allen doesn't get credit for lowering the cap when all he did was allow the star's contracts to expire and backfilled their roster spots with low level talent.  You get credit for being a cap wizard when you lower the cap AND maintain or increase the talent of the roster.

[Feel Real Good]

Fab 2: Hasn't it been the excuse McKay screwed the team's cap and previously didn't allow them to acquire any players above the Todd Steussie level, yet they're being praised for not spending big money now that they actually have it?

[PewterReportSR]

BornaBuc and Feel Real Good - In reference to Fab 2., this past year's free agent class was quite mediocre. We saw several "average" to "good" players get "great" to "excellent" money. I feel the Bucs showed some good fiscal responsibility in not overpaying for mediocre talent like other teams did and noted it. If a player like Leonard Davis or Eric Steinbach bombs in Dallas or Cleveland, respectively, that's a cap killer. If Luke Petitgout or Kevin Carter bomb in Tampa Bay, they can be cut without much in the way of a negative ramification.

CurtR1995 - I'm not cheering on the lightweight passing game at all. I'm not endorsing Gruden's proposed game plan of pass-first. I'm simply offering up some analysis of what I believe will unfold this season when it comes to the run-pass ratio to start games this fall. Allen gets credit for structuring contracts wisely so if a player bombs, they don't kill the cap. He uses roster bonuses and incentives a lot more wisely than his predecessor did. Part of good cap management is to not overspend, and that is something Allen hasn't done since his acquisition of Deese, Garner and Steussie. He's learned his lesson and hasn't repeated the mistakes he made. We'll have to wait and see if this free agent crop yields big results or doesn't. We'll know by December one way or another.

[bucnut]

Dang, tough crowd.

[Aric]

Dang, tough crowd.

Mainly just BornaBuc and someone who sounds like his parrot. Most of us know what to expect from BornaBuc by now.

[finnbluebucs]

CurtR1995 - I'm not cheering on the lightweight passing game at all. I'm not endorsing Gruden's proposed game plan of pass-first. I'm simply offering up some analysis of what I believe will unfold this season when it comes to the run-pass ratio to start games this fall. Allen gets credit for structuring contracts wisely so if a player bombs, they don't kill the cap. He uses roster bonuses and incentives a lot more wisely than his predecessor did. Part of good cap management is to not overspend, and that is something Allen hasn't done since his acquisition of Deese, Garner and Steussie. He's learned his lesson and hasn't repeated the mistakes he made. We'll have to wait and see if this free agent crop yields big results or doesn't. We'll know by December one way or another.

Or maybe by March 

I suppose we can all hope.

[BornaBuc47]

SR-Thanks for what you do in covering the Bucs. I listened to your radio show last week filling in for the big dog and today as well as many weeks prior. I did have a subscription last year(you can check that) but I got extremely busy with work and really didn't make time to read the magazine and when the ownership and website changed over I didn't go back and change my setting. So no, I'm not an insider. At this point I appreciate the way we're treated here as apposed to the official Bucs site message board. So again, thanks for all you do.

I know that you are just offering up your professional advice on what to expect and what is happening at camp and practices that most of us don't have time to go to as well as access to. I have to say though that at times I disagree with your analysis of certain things. This offseason I thought that we did an excellent job signing Garcia because without Simms being healthy we would have been in serious trouble. I like the signing of June as well. He fits the defense and is the first linebacker IMO that can take over for Derrick Brooks kinda like Brooks took over for Nickerson as the leader of the LB core. So here's what I have a problem with...Deese, garner, and Steussie were not big name or talent signings. They were just signings that Allen overpaid. Saying that he learned from this is only half right. The way it appears to me is that he just won't spend money now. There's a difference between not spending money and not spending money on quality. Deese was old, Garner was hurt, and Steussie was hurt and had a bad history of penalties. What does Leonard Davis have to do with any of these guys. He's a big, physical, complete OT who will help the Cowboys as long as he doesn't get hurt. I just don't think Gruden/Allen have learned from their mistakes. They still haven't changed the way they do business after several years of losing. Gruden won't change the way he calls plays, bring in another offensive coordinator to assist him, or try and develop talent. A good recent example is Caddy. One bad year and he's in the doghouse evidently. The number of balls thrown to Clayton was decreased substially because of a couple of drops and now he looks to be out the door. Simms got hurt and he's out the door. It goes on and on.

Pass happy offense-I know this isn't your choice, but instead it's what your reporting as your opinion of what might happen this year. Haven't we tried this before? Brad Johnson had more attempts in this dink and dunk offense in 2003 then any other QB in Bucs history and we stunk. Griese ranks as one of the highest in Buccaneers history in attempts in a season as well and we stunk. The only season that we have a winning record since 2002 was 2005 and we depended on the run and the pass. IMO if we start throwing it around again Garcia is going to get killed and we are still going to stink. IMO Gruden doesn't know how to win with this much power. No doubt he was a great motivator in 2002 but he's trying to do everything and it's not going to work.

[JavaBuc]

Why would anyone still be bringing up Deese, Garner and Steussie?   Guys who were signed in a last ditch effort to try to win a superbowl prior to our talent getting too old to win one....

I haven't seen ANY signings like those in years.    I can't blame them for trying to win one last ring.   It didn't work, they changed course and started rebuilding.