Tag: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Page 10 of 25)

      The NFC North is the most overrated division in the NFL

      November 8, 2009 /

      Once Brett Favre signed with the Vikings and the Bears acquired Jay Cutler this offseason, pundits couldn’t help but to gush over how good the NFC North Division would be.

      But now that nine weeks are in the books, it’s clear that the NFC North is the most overrated division in football.

      With Favre under center, the Vikings have been as good as advertised this season. But the Bears were crushed 41-21 at home by the Cardinals on Sunday and the Packers lost 38-28 to the freaking winless Buccaneers and rookie quarterback Josh Freeman, who was making his first career start.

      Turnovers killed Green Bay today in Tampa. The Packers managed to rack up 404 yards of total offense, 170 yards on the ground (Ryan Grant was effective) and also held the Bucs to just 81 rushing yards of their own. But Aaron Rodgers was intercepted three times, including once with time ticking down in the fourth to seal Green Bay’s fate. (Tanard Jackson returned the interception 35 yards for a touchdown to put Tampa Bay up for good at 38-28.)

      Somehow, the Packers allowed Freeman to throw three touchdown passes without much threat of a running game. Freeman was far from perfect as he threw an interception, struggled with his accuracy and fumbled a snap (which was recovered by Tampa). But he was solid in the second half, showed nice poise for being a rookie and bought extra time for himself while scrambling out of trouble. Head coach Raheem Morris said his rookie signal caller was ready to play coming into the game and it showed.

      The Packers still haven’t beaten a team with a winning record this season. I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong when I said in the preseason that they were Super Bowl contenders. They haven’t been able to overcome the injuries on the offensive line and the defense has been inconsistent. Rodgers wasn’t great today, but for the most part he has kept his team in games on his own by buying himself extra time to find open receivers.

      Green Bay’s schedule is tougher in the second half than it was in the first. This is an 8-8 team at best and so are the Bears (if that). That’s not exactly what most pundits had in mind when they were talking up the NFC North in preseason.

      NFL

      Bucs to start rookie Freeman after the bye

      October 28, 2009 /

      The Josh Freeman era has started in Tampa Bay.

      Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris said Wednesday that the rookie will start at quarterback when the team takes on the Packers next Sunday (following their bye this week). Freeman, a Kansas State product, was the 17th overall pick in April’s draft.

      This will be the second quarterback change for the Bucs in 2009, as Freeman replaces Josh Johnson, who replaced Week 1’s starter, Byron Leftwich. Freeman took two sacks and fumbled once while going 2-for-4 for 16 yards in his NFL debut last week against the Patriots in London. He also completed just 44.9% of his attempts with one touchdown and three interceptions in preseason.

      Freeman was an incredibly raw prospect coming out of Kansas State, which is why the Bucs were hoping to leave him on the sidelines during his rookie year and learn from Leftwich. But the Bucs have been so abysmal this year that Morris is hoping the strong-armed Freeman will provide a spark.

      It’s doubtful that the rookie QB will turn around a Tampa team that ranks 23rd overall in total offense. The Bucs’ defense is often left on the field too long because the offense can’t sustain drives. The team has not gelled together since Morris has taken over and ranks near the bottom in every offensive and defensive category in the NFL. But hey, you never know. At least he’ll gain some experience and the Bucs will see what kind of player they have on their hands.

      NFL

      Bears trade for Gaines Adams

      October 17, 2009 /

      In a rather surprising move, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded former top 5 pick Gaines Adams to the Chicago Bears for a 2010 second round pick according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

      This could turn out to be a great move by Bears general manager Jerry Angelo, who continues to acquire talented defensive players. The Bears are going to have trouble re-signing Adewale Oguneleye, who is having a solid start to the season and who becomes a free agent in the offseason. Angelo knows this and if doesn’t think he can find a premier pass-rusher in the second round next April, then it’s worth it for him to take a shot on Adams, who was the top defensive end prospect in the 2007 draft. Adams is also under contract through 2012 and is only 26.

      The X-factor in this trade is Chicago defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, who has a knack for getting the most out of his players. Adams has the talent, but it hasn’t developed yet and unleashed his full capabilities as a pass rusher. If anyone can get him to reach his full potential, it could be Marinelli.

      As for the Bucs, they get a second round pick out of this deal but lose their most talented pass rusher. I realize that Adams wasn’t exactly the player Tampa that he’d be when they drafted him, but this seems a tad early for the Bucs to give up on him.

      Who knows, maybe Adams will never develop and Tampa will draft a starter with the second round pick it got out of this deal. But as of now, this is a questionable decision by the Bucs’ new regime.

      NFL

      Will Freeman take over the Bucs’ starting QB job soon?

      October 16, 2009 /

      According to a report by NFL.com, the Bucs could start rookie first round pick Josh Freeman as early as Week 9, or the week after Tampa has its bye.

      From Rotoworld.com:

      NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora reports that “people in the (Bucs’) organization” expect first-round rookie Josh Freeman to take over as the team’s starting quarterback by as soon as Week 9.

      Week 8 is the Buccaneers’ bye. There has been a startling lack of commitment to quarterbacks among team brass so far, so this isn’t a surprise. Coach Raheem Morris also admitted following Week 5 that he strongly considered letting Freeman make his debut against Philadelphia. La Canfora says a change may only happen if Tampa loses its next two games, but that’s a fair bet to happen against Carolina and New England.

      I’ve been befuddled by the way Raheem Morris has handled things in Tampa since taking over for the fired Jon Gruden. I don’t know if the guy is completely overmatched and incapable of being a NFL head coach, or if he’s just feeling his way through things in the early going. He deserves a chance either way, but he has plenty of skeptics already.

      As far as Freeman is concerned, the Tampa coaching staff knows if he’s ready or not. If he has made significant strides since offseason workouts and preseason, then maybe he deserves to start. Personally, I wasn’t very high on him as a prospect. He’s a great kid with great work ethic and he has all the physical tools to succeed in the NFL, but he’s incredibly raw and will probably need a few years to develop.

      Hopefully Morris and company exercise patience with Freeman.

      NFL

      Bucs fire offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski

      September 3, 2009 /

      In a surprising move, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have fired offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski, who was hired in January.

      From NFL Fanhouse.com:

      Jagodzinski spent the last two seasons as Boston College’s head coach, but he was fired early this year after he interviewed for the New York Jets’ head coaching job against the wishes of the BC athletic department. He didn’t get the Jets job, but new Tampa Bay head coach Raheem Morris hired Jagodzinski as the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator shortly after.

      But now Morris has fired Jagodzinski and replaced him with quarterbacks coach Greg Olson. It is not clear why Morris fired Jagodzinski, but the big story in Tampa Bay’s training camp this year has been the quarterback competition between Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown, and there’s already speculation that Morris and Jagodzinski butted heads over the decision to start Leftwich.

      It’s important to keep in mind that the offensive terminology will stay the same as Olson takes over, so it’s not like the Bucs are going to have to learn a completely new offense. That said, this is not an ideal situation just 11 days before the start of the regular season. If his coaches aren’t on the same page, Morris has the right to jettison one of them so that the rest of his staff can be cohesive. But this is a stunner and it’ll be interesting to see if any more details are released.

      I guess Jags shouldn’t have flirted with the Jets last year (which led to his ousting at Boston College).

      NFL

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑