Yasinskas not sold on our O-line anymore

[sammy8887]

The Tampa Bay offensive line, which looked so good on paper a few months ago, suddenly looks very ordinary. Luke Petitgout, who was supposed to be the starting left tackle, is gone because of an injury and a suspension. Right guard Davin Joseph is out for the foreseeable future with a foot injury.

That has the Bucs shuffling their line around and it's not looking nearly as pretty as it once did. The Bucs don't have their quarterbacks take a lot of deep drops, but they're running the possibility of seeing Jeff Garcia run for his life. Donald Penn took over as Petitgout's replacement early last season and, according to STATS, allowed 6.5 sacks. That number might have approached 10, but Penn only started 12 games. Over the course of this season, he's got to get better or Garcia's blind side will be a problem spot. One problem Penn will have this year that he didn't have last year is Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers, who is switching positions and will line up directly across from Penn for two games.

The right tackle spot isn't rock-solid either. Jeremy Trueblood is a good run blocker, but he allowed 7.5 sacks last season and 6.5 in 2006. The depth behind Trueblood and Penn also is a concern. Anthony Davis appears to be the top backup. Davis didn't play much last year and didn't give up a sack. But Davis allowed 7 sacks in 2006 and 7.5 in 2005 when he was a starter.

Trueblood and Penn are going to have to get some help from the tight ends or else Garcia could be in trouble.


http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcsouth/0-2-89/Bucs--revamped-O-line-needs-to-limit-sacks.html



Also, if he has the goods on our WR situation, brace yourself if you're not an Ike fan...


Galloway's back at practice now and I think the Bucs were just being overly cautious with a veteran player who already knows the system. Nothing wrong with that because Galloway is so critical to this offense. He just needs a couple weeks of practice to get his timing down with Garcia. I think they'll both be fine by the start of the regular season. If not, the Bucs have plenty of depth behind Garcia and I really think Antonio Bryant can have a nice season at receiver. Bryant appears headed for the No. 3 spot. But, if something happens to Galloway, I can see him jumping up to No. 1.


http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcsouth/0-2-88/The-evening-mail.html

[rowdie]

Good thing that fool was identified as such ages ago or people 'round here might go all chicken little.


...  ... ...

[Feel Real Good]

I've had concerns about the ends pass protecting all off-season.

[keeponbucn]

Well suddenly the great depth is lost, I agree with his concerns. Penn is average at best unless he drank some magical pass protection potion Muir created in the offseason. Davis should only see the field in an emergency, he's turrible as well.

[Magnaccia]

You do remember Penn was a rookie last year?

He wasn't drafted with the intention he'd be starting for us most of the season.. all things considered he exceeded expectations.

[keeponbucn]

You do remember Penn was a rookie last year?

He wasn't drafted with the intention he'd be starting for us most of the season.. all things considered he exceeded expectations.

I'm as positive about the team as the next guy but he blew goats in pass pro last year. Lets hope Muir has some magical potion up his sleeve.

[acacius]

You do remember Penn was a rookie last year?

Strictly speaking, that's not true.  I mean yes, for all intents and purposes it is, but he was signed by the Vikings as an UDFA in 2006.

[Feel Real Good]

You do remember Penn was a rookie last year?

Young players don't necessarily get better.

He wasn't drafted with the intention he'd be starting for us most of the season.. all things considered he exceeded expectations.

Despite exceeding expectations, he's still in the bottom 1/3 of the league left tackles.

[rowdie]

I've had concerns about the ends pass protecting all off-season.

Wow... Did they give up many sacks this offseason?

[Magnaccia]

You do remember Penn was a rookie last year?

Young players don't necessarily get better.

He wasn't drafted with the intention he'd be starting for us most of the season.. all things considered he exceeded expectations.

Despite exceeding expectations, he's still in the bottom 1/3 of the league left tackles.

No, he could get even worse. But likewise, being bad last year as a new player leaves the door wide open for improvements going into his second season, this time knowing he'll be starting.

[kevabuc]

You do remember Penn was a rookie last year?

He wasn't drafted with the intention he'd be starting for us most of the season.. all things considered he exceeded expectations.

Last year was Penn's second year in the league. He was a free agent aquisition in Oct. 2006 and was inactive all that year.

[benir0]

Yeah.  I'm not sure this is news.  I was feeling pretty good about our ability to hide our OT's a bit with strong run blocking. With Joseph out, everything is up in the air.  Zuttah might be a steal, though, who knows?

[Badabing]

I certainly felt better about our offenseline when Pettigout and Joseph were supposed to be starters....but I still feel good with Penn and Zuttah replacing them.

[nitey]

Well, I think this is a bit of a over reaction. It's not like we lost Joseph for the entire season. He'll miss the next two pre-season games and probably the first two regular season games but I would expect him to be back by the 3rd or 4th game of the season and in the meantime Z gets some valuable game experience. I'm concerned about our LT position, but I was concerned before we released Luke simply because he wasn't back at the start of TC and everyone was saying that he would.

That said, Penn was a decent LT last season. He may have given up 6.5 sacks, but how many of those were Garcia and how many were McCown? As I remember McCown had almost the same number of sacks that Garcia had in a 1/4 of the playing time. I thought Penn was reasonably solid in pass protection, just not great in run blocking. Even so, watching the NE game, Penn looked quite solid last week.

My concern is our backup LT. Davis is a try hard guy, but not really suited to LT IMO and I suspect we are not just going to find a valuable backup on the waiver wire right before the season starts either. We can still suffer another guard or even Faine going down short term, we have depth in the line interior, but tackle is thin and it worries me. Still, I was worried about tackle last season and when Luke went down - Penn stepped up and did fine.

As long as we get through until Joseph gets back, I think we'll be fine. Zuttah, Buenning and even Davis are decent to good reserves for a few games. I just don't want to see any one go down long term.

Penn was fine in Pass pro last year.  I have a strong su**CENSORED**ion the people who are saying he "blew goats" in pass pro last year never watched the games, just looked at the stats.  The dropoff in pass pro from Pet to Penn was minimal.  It was in runblocking where he struggled.