Bucs Beat: 10/21

A lot to catch up on this week. We’re going to move forward and just put last week squarely behind us at the Pewter Plank. The Bucs didn’t have a good weekend and neither did we. First of all a few administrative notes. As I mentioned yesterday, unfortunately Matt Staton is leaving us, but Luke O’Laughlin will be rejoining the staff as a regular contributor. In the coming weeks we still hope to add a few more dedicated writers, but please welcome back Luke as he rejoins the Pewter Plank staff.

Now let’s talk about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who will face the St. Louis Rams at home this Sunday in what should hopefully be a nice rebound game.

McCoy Claiming He Gets It…

Gerald McCoy comes highly touted, that goes without a doubt. The Buccaneers saw fit to make McCoy their top pick in last year’s draft and are hoping to build their defense around him in the future. For that to happen, McCoy needs to learn his role and start to become more instinctual, a feat he claims he’s making progress on.

"“The thing about the 3 technique in the Tampa 2 defense is he can’t be wrong,” he said. “Everybody else has to read off him. Whereas I was thinking, ‘I can’t get out of my gap.’ You just have to go out there and play reckless.”“I was playing like, ‘Oh my gosh, don’t make a mistake.’ Instead of , ‘Oh my gosh, I made a mistake but I made it going 1,000 miles an hour.’ That’s the difference in what I was doing and the difference in what I will do.”"

McCoy was also quick to point out that despite the seemingly natural comparison most Bucs fans make, McCoy against Warren Sapp, the two are very different players and the similarities really only extend about as far as the position they play for the Bucs. The comment was a bit hubristic but you can understand why a young guy would want to make their own identity and not forever be linked with or compared to a past player.

Bucs Trade for DE

The Bucs made a deadline move yesterday trading for Chiefs DE Alex Magee. The Bucs sent and undisclosed pick to Kansas City in exchange for Magee, a 2009 3rd rounder. GM Mark Dominik obviously felt the Bucs’ inability to stop the run or generate a pass rush needed to be addressed immediately, rather than wait until next offseason so he pulled the trigger. If he managed to do it for a 6 or a 7 it’s a good trade, anything else I begin to wonder if he gave up too much value. Magee clearly has potential, but has struggled in KC’s 3-4 scheme.

At 6’3 298 Magee is versatile, he played at Purdue in the 3 technique and is a lineman with the versatility to play inside or out. Last season he played in 15 games tallying eight tackles and two sacks. The Bucs currently rank dead last in the league in sacks, with just four in five games in addition to ranking 31st against the run. While Magee isn’t expected to challenge for a starting role, he will provide depth to the beleaguered unit.

Huggins Done for Season

Kareem Huggins is done for the season after tearing up his right knee on Sunday. The rookie back had a great preseason and the Bucs were hopeful that he could provide their rushing attack with a much-needed spark, but on Sunday Huggins’ season ended against the Saints. Now the Bucs are really left between a rock and a hard place, the line doesn’t appear to be nearly as good as advertised, Cadillac is running like a guy with two bum knees and nobody has any clue how to move the ball without chucking it. I’ll have a full write up on this later today, but long story short, the Bucs’ running game is in a tough spot.

Brian Price Could Miss Sunday

Rookie Brian Price could miss Sunday with a pelvic injury. You’ve got to love the vague nature of the NFL injury report, because Pelvic injury could be any number of things but what we do know is Price’s status for Sunday is highly in question. As was mentioned, the Bucs D-Line has been awful so far this season so losing Price only plunges that unit further into the abyss.

Fortunately for the Bucs, Ernest Graham, despite missing some practice this week is expected to play on Sunday. Davin Joseph and Barrett Ruud also were held out of practice, no word yet on their availability.

Malcolm Jenkins Could Still Be Fined

A lot of Bucs fans were wondering why Malcolm Jenkins of the Saints didn’t draw a fine for last weekend’s fairly flagrant attempt on Josh Freeman‘s knees. For those of you who don’t remember (or live in Tampa and can’t see the Bucs games) the play occurred on a Freeman scramble when, once out of bounds, Jenkins dove for Freeman’s legs. The play was flagged. The NFL has already levied fines against Dunta Robinson, James Harrison and Brandon Merriwheather but those were fines were hastened by the NFL’s need to address concussion concerns and big hits. Most fines become public on Friday so the NFL may still very well dock Jenkins for what appeared to be a dirty play.