The Buccaneers played their first preseason game Saturday night vs the Tennessee Titans, and from my vantage point little looked good.
Players and units that I thought looked good:
- Clifton Smith – Smith made a few guys miss on 3 consecutive plays running the ball. His elusiveness is something Jeff Jagodzisnki needs to find a way to utilize other than just on special teams. Smith ran for 27 yards on 5 carries.
- Kareem Huggins – Another Bucs backup running back, Huggins did his damage in the fourth quarter against players who most likely will not be on NFL rosters this season. Huggins ran for 43 yards on 9 carries.
- Sabby Piscatelli – The Bucs new starting SS had two big sticks on the opening drive of the game, and later intercepted a pass from Kerry Collins in the endzone. This guy has a chance to be a roaming force for the Bucs this season.
- Josh Johnson – My pick for the Bucs third string QB, Johnson is bigger and has a bigger arm than most people want to give him credit for. He was 3 of 5 for 15 yards, but his most impressive play was a 43 yard run for a TD off of a bad snap. Johnson was running by linebackers and corners on his way to the endzone.
- Starting defense – I personally liked the pep that the first string defense had in its step to start the game. Jermaine Flip Phillips missed a tackle but showed a lot of promise roaming the weakside on Saturday. If Greg White ends up being a regular player (albeit not a starter) and has games like he did Sunday (3 tackles, 1 sack , 1 INT) than this Bucs defense is going to be much better than people think.
"“Playing a tough, physical team like Tennessee, that was a great test,” said Morris the day after the game. “You’re talking about a team that won 13 games last year. For your first defense to perform like that in the first half, stand up and play the run like they did, do really positive things like that, was great. That was encouraging for the first time out. I was excited about that.“The linebackers, I was excited about them, to be honest with you,” said Morris. “You’re talking about exciting play from Quincy Black. Flip was decent for his first time out in the box – very average but decent. He shot his gun a couple times. We looked very fast, very explosive. The only thing we’ve got to clean up is some of the flat throws. Some of those were toughs, some of the bootlegs when we’re playing quarters and you’re trying to read that thing. Some of those things are tough, some of them are schematic differences in the defense that show up.“But talking about playing fast, hitting, hustling, physical and tough play, like we’ve talking about all season? We got that. They played fast and they hit. I was excited to see the young guys go. Geno Hayes is another one that played well. Hayward, Quincy, Niko and Rod when they were in there…take away that one missed tackle by Hayward and he played pretty good.”"
Players and units that I thought looked bad:
- The Quarterbacks – Leftwich and McCown were 10 of 22 for a combine 80 yards. Even the TD pass that Byron Leftwich threw to Brian Clark was a horrible pass to a wide open player and a great catch to go back behind his body by Clark. Leftwich has an ever bigger arm on TV than he does in person, but he had minor accuracy issues on Saturday. He actually stepped up in the pocket on one play showing a little footwork that I thought he lacked. McCown kind of looked lost to be perfectly honest. Not the start for McCown that I was looking for. Josh Freeman was 5 of 9 for 52 yards but threw an INT, a quality that I think you will see for a long time with Josh.
- Offensive Line – The Titans got to the Bucs QB’s three times, and until the backup units were completely in charge of every position on the field, opened no holes for the running backs. Another dissapointing start for a unit that I thought would be the Bucs strongest.
"“Early on, you saw Earnest [Graham] get the ball a little bit and he couldn’t find any holes. Really, what I’m going to stress today to this team is the backside cut-off blocks. It’s harder to execute in practice because you can’t cut in practice. You just get a really good feel for it. We got better as the game went along. You saw some of the guys executing some of the things and taking one more step, following through, and getting the whole deal down. When you get people on the ground, that’s how you see Peanut [Clifton Smith] get some of those holes and Derrick Ward hit a few of the holes early when he got in. Earnest got the bad lick of it because people were just getting used to it. The first group, the only thing they really struggled on was the cut-off blocks. We did identify a couple of blitzes which was good for the protection. That’s just all the little kinks and stuff that you work out. For the most part it was mainly positive.”"
3. Hands – I counted at least 4 dropped passes in the game, unacceptable for a fringe team like the Bucs. We also fumbled the ball 2 times.
Injury updates from the game: cornerback Kyle Arrington (groin), safety Will Allen (shoulder), wide receiver Dexter Jackson (ankle), linebacker Matt McCoy (ankle), linebacker Rod Wilson (hamstring), safety Donte Nicholson (quad), tackle Demar Dotson (knee) and cornerback Torrie Cox (wrist).
Game quotes from HC Raheem Morris:
On if Luke McCown was less aggressive in throwing the ball downfield than Byron Leftwich:
“I didn’t see his opportunities to get the ball down the field like ‘Lefty’ had when he got in there because that is going to be a part of the offense in getting the ball down the field. I think you will see a more aggressive and a more deliberate Luke this week when we get some of those plays in there for him this week. There is nothing I can say to just point the finger at Luke and say, ‘Hey, you didn’t throw the ball down the field.’ It was not like something was there that he missed. Now, he is not as aggressive as Byron. There is no secret about that. Byron, if it is one-on-one defense, he is throwing the ball at his wideout. It is a little different mentality there. That is just the makeup of the player. Luke might not throw that ball but might run for 10 whereas Lefty is a, ‘Hey, I’m not running anywhere so I’m going to try to stick it to your facemask and hope you catch it’ kind of mentality.”
On what style of QB he prefers:
“Depends on whoever gets the first downs. Luke scrambled out there and got a great first down, bounced out of the pocket and looked good. Josh Johnson took one 43 yards; I like that, too. But I did like the shot that Lefty threw to [Maurice] Stovall that he had a chance to go get. That could have been a 60-yard gain. And I do like the shot he took to Stovall again on the sideline with the one-on-one coverage. You want Stovall at 6-5 to get some of those for you, and it would have been nice to see him get some of those. A couple he threw to [Cortez] Hankton, a couple of those balls were nice. Luke got blitzed a lot, maybe because it was the first group and they working on a couple things, and I saw him throw a couple hot throws. It was just different situations for the two guys.”
On how the receivers played:
“The receivers were the guys that had an opportunity really to step up. You saw Sammie Stroughter step up, the young guy we’ve been talking about. He caught some balls; he dropped some. I wanted to see more out of Hankton. B.C. [Brian Clark] showed up a little bit, caught a ball down the field. We need some of those guys to step up. We talked about Mo a long time ago. You get one-on-one coverage with some of these shorter cornerbacks, I’d like to see you make some of those. Some of those comeback throws that hit you in the hands – they’re tough catches, don’t get wrong, but we want to see some of those made. We’ve got to stand up. Somebody has to emerge and be the guy we look to. Coach [Richard] Mann always says, ‘You’ve got to let them play tackle.’ Last night they played a little tackle and it got a little different for them. Sammie Stroughter played a little tackle.”
On if he has confidence in Stovall’s ability:
“No question. I wouldn’t have the confidence to instill in my team, put a display up on the board and say, ‘Hey, this is the guy we’re throwing the ball to. If he gets a one-on-one matchup, put it on him, throw the ball at him.’ I’ve got that confidence in him and I want him to have that confidence in himself and I want him to feel like that’s his role. It would be nice if you had a third-and-five guy and every time somebody went bump-man you could look over there and go, ‘There’s a first down.’ Those are the kinds of things that the big wides in this league provide. I’m just trying to give people opportunities to have roles.”