The Pewter Plank » Michael Pittman

Graham Gets His Extension

Dustin Staggers — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:05:49 +0000

For a player who came from relative obscurity in one season, RB Ernest Graham sure made the most of his opportunity. After injuries to RB’s Cadillac Williams and Michael Pittman, Ernest Graham filled in admirably. He accumulated 751 yards and 7 TD’s in the 10 weeks he started at RB.

The Bucs do not like disclosing financial information, but most media outlets are reporting the deal to be worth about 10 million gauranteed over 3 seasons. Graham was scheduled to make the league minimum this season, with no performance escalators in his contract.

There was some speculation that Graham might not show up to camp, but from listening to him talk, that did not seem to be the case. He went about requesting a pay raise and an extension in a grown up way (unlike our two whiny QB’s) and subsequently got his wish.

Graham should enter the season as the starter, or at least the primary ball carrier on first and second downs.

First Half Quick Hits

Dustin Staggers — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:45:09 +0000

Byron Leftwich has looked pretty decent so far. Roddy White and Laurent Robinson are not giving him much help
Our offense can move the ball seemingly at will against their defense. Besides the Michael Pittman drop on 3rd down, and the fumble by Pittman, our offense has looked very effficient.
Atlanta’s LB’s and secondary are biting hard on pump fakes and play action, no discipline from Mike Zimmer’s squad.
I love that we still get to play this team another time after today’s game!!!
John Abraham has been abusing Jeremy Trueblood and Donald Penn the whole first half. He looks really good, and logged his 7th sack of the year in the first half.
Deangelo Hall gambles too much on defense. Jeff Garcia and Joey Galloway burned him on the pump fake.
Neither team has ran the ball very effectively as of yet.
Ronde Barber has no INT’s all year, this was a stat that was told by the Fox broadcasters that I was just not aware of.
Cato June has been trying to run through everyone he tackles, he looks very good today.
Notice all the empty seats in the Georgia Dome, the fans are abandoning the Falcons.
What in the world was Brian Kelly doing after the fumble recovery, that is something that happens in college, and for amateurs, very Bush…..just a horrible play.
The challenge of the aforementioned play, was a terrible call by the refs. It was obvious that Roddy White tripped Cato June, and he should have been down by contact.
No injuries in the first half for the Bucs.
We’ve layed 4 hard licks on Leftwich to this point. One caused a fumble, the other caused an incompletion, the other both resulted in sacks. Greg White has had two those 4 sacks.
It’s funny how we use Ike Hilliard to return punts when the punt returner wil be backed up to the end zone, and Phillip Buchanon for punts where we have a chance to make a move.

Rants of Jeff Garcia

Dustin Staggers — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:53:40 +0000

All these quotes came from Jeff Garcia’s weekly call in show with Ian Beckles and Ron Diaz on 620 WDAE the Sports Animal and were contained in Roy Cummings, Bucs Report.

Garcia on if his arm is tired, as has been reported in some Tampa media outlets

“Not at all, I don’t know why that would even be a question. I haven’t struggled with throwing the football at all. If anything, I feel like my body has held up really well. My arm hasn’t been a setback for me at all. If I was struggling with any sort of pain, I’d ask the coaches for a break. I haven’t needed to do that.’’

Garcia also said that Michael Clayton, Alex Smith, and Michael Pittman should all be in the game plan. He also noted that Ernest Graham will probably continue to be the main ball carrier.
He made an interesting comment that might have gone unnoticed to some, but to me stuck out. He commented on how Michael Bennet needs to speed up his processing and learning of the offensive scheme.

In other news, that Buccaneers have signed former 2nd round pick Keiwan Ratliff formely of the Cincinnati Bengals.