First piece of news of the day that I was aware of, was the subtle announcement by the Buccaneers that SS Jermaine “Flip” Phillips might see some time at the Will Linebacker position this season.  This is actually something I mentioned as a strong possibility awhile back.  With Sabby Piscatelli, Tanard Jackson and Jermaine Phillips at the safety positions, the Bucs are very deep.  Situationaly, it would only make sense, especially in Jim Bates style traditional 4-3 man defense, to play some hybrid style players at the weakside linebacker position, and most of the hybrid players would generally come from the SS spot on the field.  

“I’d never played linebacker before, and I told them, ‘I’ll never know how effective I’m going to be at the position or how fun it will be for me unless I try it.’ So I told them I was willing to give it a try and we’ll see how it goes. I know there’s a lot more hitting up there and I like to hit, so let’s work out and see what happens.”

“It was something that coach brought to my attention, kind of like a proposal,” recounted Phillips. “He said, ‘You can do this, and I’d like to see you try it, or you can just stay where you are.’ The way I see it, you’ll never know if you’re going to like something unless you try it. I’m willing to give it a try and go out there and work. If I can better serve the team at linebacker rather than safety, then that’s where I want to be. But if I can better serve the team at safety than linebacker, then that’s where I want to be. I just want to be where I can help the organization win. That’s the main objective, and being the team player I am, I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

I’ve always loved Flip, and comments like the last one are one of the reasons why.  

The second piece of Buccaneer linebacker news of the day came with the signing of Sam Linebacker Angelo Crowell, formerly of the Buffalo Bills.   The Bills were attempting to resign the unrestricted free agent but he chose to come to Tampa instead.  This is a guy that, before he suffered a bad knee injury last season, looked like one of the up and coming linebackers in the league.  He had 140 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery and six passes defended in 2007.  I know the Bills were a little irked last year that he decided to have knee surgery so close to the regular season, landing him on the IR, and maybe that had something to do with their initial lack of attempts to resign Crowell, but if he is healthy, Angelo could be a big piece of our linebacking equation.  

For 4 weeks I have been listening to people saying that the linebacking corps is decimated and will be a weakness of this team.  I couldn’t have disagreed more, but I also had a little foresight to foresee one of those SS playing some LB this season.  That announcement, plus the addition of Angelo Crowell today via free agency, should assure the fans that the Bucs will have a formidable linebacking corps in 2009.  Quincy Black and Angelo Crowell will battle for the strongside linebacker spot.  Geno Hayes will most likely play the weakside spot with some certain PT from both Sabby Piscatelli and Jermaine Phillips, and Barrett Ruud will man the middle with Adam Heyward backing him up.  Add in the fact that Black, Crowell, Hayes, Piscatelli and Heyward are all studs on special teams, and the position once held in the highest regard in Tampa is back.

I was expecting a few of these guys to be released, especially due to their age.  I think there is a strong possibility that 4 of the 5 guys that were released could retire.  Derrick Brooks, Joey Galloway, Ike Hilliard and Warrick Dunn all could retire.  Dunn and Brooks in particular have so many other charitable endeavors on their plate that retirement is not out of the question.  After watching Joey Galloway’s lack of speed coming off the line, I don’t foresee many teams knocking down the door for his services.  Cato June on the other hand should generate plenty of interest once FA starts this Friday.  

As far as repercussions for the current o9 Bucs, there are 3 major repercussions from these moves.

1. Lowered expectations for a first year coach and GM should help them avoid the hot seat for at least a few seasons. 
2. Cap Room.  The Bucs were already entering FA with a reported 40+ mil in cap space.  These releases in my guestimation should put us over 60+ mil in cap space.   This gives the new regime the ability to go after the free agent’s of their choosing and draft the players they think fit their system as opposed to filling holes.
3. I think the main goal of this was to remake the roster in a much younger form.  The release of Brooks and June should clear the way for recent draft picks Geno Hayes and and Quincy Black to step into the WLB and SLB spots respectively.  Both guys have been deserving of more playing time, and should get it with the release of these players.  

Finally I want to express my thanks and gratitude for the 14 years he has blessed the Bay Area with his talent and benevolence.  He is an 11 time Pro Bowler and one time Defensive Player of the Year in the year the Bucs won the Super Bowl.  He has 1698 career tackles, 24 forced fumbles, 25 INT’s and 13.5 career sacks.  He is a sure fire first ballot Hall of Famer and on the day of his enshrinement I will be present at his speech in Canton.  I think it would be hard to argue that he is the greatest Buccaneer of All Time.  Above all of his accomplishments on the football field, the man is an ever better person than he is a football player.  He is the kind of person that you hope your children grow up to be like and is an inspiration to any human being, football fan or not.  

Derrick Brooks, Greatest Buc of All Time

One touchdown and 5 field goals in our last two road games will not get it done in today’s NFL.  This Bucs squad is solid up and down, extremely deep, and capable of making a big run through the playoffs but home field advantage is not an easy thing to obtain in the NFL, and without winning on the road, you have no chance of doing it.   The Bucs need to find a way to improve on their 28th ranked red zone scoring offense, an offense which I’m sure is probably dead last in road red zone percentage. 

Random thoughts from the game:

• The Cowboys defense came out and had a good day against the run holding us to 48 yards on the ground, and 262 total yards.
• The game was truly decided by the refs during the last drive of the first half.  We got called for a horse collar on third down, an illegal contact penalty on a ball that was horribly thrown by Brad Johnson, and a ridiculous Personal Foul on Cato June on a play where Marc Colombo dropped a hammer on June after the play was over and June got into his face.  A real travesty in retrospect. 
• I think I mention this every week, but Barrett Ruud is a machine of tackling.  The guy is so solid in the middle of our base D.  He combined for 5 solo and 7 assisted tackled today. 
• Gained Adams with two big sacks, and with each passing week is looking harder and harder to defend against. 
• Rookie Aqib Talib had a great defensive play late in the game, deflecting a well thrown ball from Brad Johnson to Terrell Owens that would have gone for about 50.  Talib never turned around, but read Owens’ eyes perfectly and put his hands up at exactly the right time.
• Antonio Bryant is firmly entrenched as Jeff Garcia’s favorite target.  He had 7 catches today. 
• I was a little perplexed as to why with the Cowboys inability to move the ball in the first half, that we tried a 51 yard field goal with Matt Bryant.  I could even see on the television that it was windy, and Josh Bidwell is just so good at pinning opponents inside the 10.  The Cowboys subsequently put 3 points on the board. 
• Brad Johnson looked horrendous.  I know they picked up the W, but it might be time to take a look at Brooks Bollinger if Tony Romo can’t go next week. 
• Jeff Garcia took a beating today, but had a fairly efficient day, and did a good job of getting rid of the ball right before getting sacked numerous times.   
• If I haven’t mentioned it already, we’re not going to do shit if we can’t score TD’s on the road.