Yuccs thoughts on the game

[yuccaneers]

Not a big surprise to see the early struggles from the Buccaneers offense, As was expected Gruden would come out throwing trying to get Garcia in a groove an it is what he tried to do with a two to one margin in pass plays to running plays. A total of 41 pass plays to only 20 running plays with one being a scramble.

The dropped passes are drive killers, not sure this will every be corrected with the current receiving corps on the team, but for the most part the passes were catchable.

Not feeding the football to Graham in the second half was a mistake, after he ripped off the 46 yard run. The other concerns are the explosive plays given up by the defense with 10 plays of more then 15 yards is just huge for a defense that has a bend but dont break attitude. The other thing that stands out is the lack of pressure even though Kiffin dialed up some blitz packages for this game and the lack of tackling

While no one should be to overly concerned with the out come there are some things that can be built upon on both sides of the football. The first is the running game even with a rookie starting for the injured Davin Joseph. The team still managed 146 yards on 20 carries for an average of 7.3 yards per carry. Even if you omit the 46 yard run by Graham the team still had a good day running the football with an average of 5.26 yards per carry on 19 carry for 100 yards.

The other is the reality that the team is willing to blitz on defense this coming year, the front four alone wont get it done with the effort the put in today, thus it is good to see Kiffin dialing up some new wrinkles.

The other is the reality that the team is willing to blitz on defense this coming year, the front four alone wont get it done with the effort the put in today, thus it is good to see Kiffin dialing up some new wrinkles.

Very true.  Didn't get anywhere near Brees until Monte started bringing the heat.  Of course it would be nice if holding was actually called when it happened  [banghead].

[BucsGuru]

Our pass rush was awful. Gaines Adams got pushed around all day.

You mean got dragged around all day..

Our pass rush was awful. Gaines Adams got pushed around all day.

[replica]

Great post Yucc, Tough game, looking at the positive side we saw some nice plays from Graham, Bryant (wr), & Alex Smith. Atlanta looked good today, or the Lions look bad..Should be another good game next week.

I don't want to dwell on the negatives so here's some good things from today -

- T Jack is a stud

- Defense looked good overall

- Nice hit from Sabby on Colston

- Honestly, Garcia played better than I expected

- We responded to pressure (for the most part)

And one more thing - Bennett better be active next week.

[Kodiak]

We run for 140 and Graham and Dunn looked good and you say Bennett better be active? I think he is the least of our worries.

[keeponbucn]

very tough game to lose.

the D had to get tired after a while but to give up that many points is a concern

the O didn't help at all, you need to punch a score in when your up 3, not wait until the Saints score.

this loss is all on the O, every bit

keeponbucn - "this loss is all on the O, every bit"

That's how it always is with the Buccaneers

[BuccanAy]

Bennet could have scored on more than one of the plays.  This was, IMO, the worst call I've ever seen from Gruden.  He's, by far, the most explosive player we have on offense and he wasn't even active.
I lost alot of the confidence I had in Gruden to make the best decisions possible for the team.  There is absolutely NO reason Bennet should not have been in the game.!

[bibfortuna]

I think that considering that Graham and Dunn were pretty successful, keeping Bennett out would not have hurt the running game that much.

However, I think that Bennett would have done better in the return game. Some growing pains from Dexter today.

[John Galt?]

I hear people say Brooks has lost a step, but when "lost a step" isn't in the game, we give up a huge game winning play.  "lost a step" is still 3x better than McCoy.

Barber should have had a sack if not for an unbelievable play by Brees.  Ronde also had some wicked pass breakups/hits.

I do think the decison to get Garcia "warmed up" at the expense of our running game, cost us the game IMO.  I don't think our D gives up the big plays if our running game had evened up the TOP.

Zuttah hasn't arrived yet.  The presure JG got mostly came from the right side.

Stupid drive killing peanlty by Trueblood.

[sammy8887]

I think that considering that Graham and Dunn were pretty successful, keeping Bennett out would not have hurt the running game that much.

However, I think that Bennett would have done better in the return game. Some growing pains from Dexter today.

RB was a big plus today -- especially compared to some other areas...