Midweek Gameplan 11-9-11

The Buccaneers’ Most Recent

Just like everyone else this week, I think that the Bucs need to do something about their horrendous offense and play calling. I agree that they cannot get away from running the ball, and running nothing but short crossing patterns becomes predictable and easy to defend. In general, though, the Bucs coaches need to take a step back look at the big picture and see that most of the problems right now are on them.

Penalties are due to lack of discipline and are pretty much the responsibility of the coaches. Every once in a while a player will make a mistake or have a bad call not go their way, but to have procedural and personal foul penalties week after week, this is solely on the coaches. It shows a lack of discipline and lack of control of the players.

The play calling has also been suspect, and the slow starts pretty much boil down to the team not being ready to play. This is also a fault of the coaches. If they can’t get the team ready to play and call the plays early in the game which gives a team success, things need to change. As an offense, the defense should have to adjust and react to you, not the other way around.

I do like the aggressiveness which they have displayed by going for it on fourth down numerous times, but don’t kick a field goal after a long drive where you have already gone for it and made it on a couple of fourth downs. In other words, be consistent when you commit to something.

In no way am I saying that we need to fire any coach or make drastic changes, I just want the staff to realize what is happening and do whatever it takes to make these things happen. Otherwise, it will continue to happen and it will get worse.

Injury Updates and Commentary

Gerald McCoy sustained another distal biceps rupture this week and was placed on injured reserve for the rest of the season. This is really unfortunate, but at least it is on the other side this time. I don’t know why his biceps tendon attachments are weak, but the surgery to repair this should prevent it from happening again.  Usually it is not an indication that other tendons are at risk.

Biceps tendon tears are somewhat common, as I just fixed one last week.  It is also not unheard of someone having it in both arms.  What is concerning is his young age at the time of the injuries.  It is usually someone a decade or more older who typically get this injury.   It will take some time to recover, but I expect him to be back next year. Let’s just hope the team doctors down there give him something to eradicate the injury bug he has acquired.

NFL Matters

It is really funny to me how people make a huge deal out of schedule difficulty prior to the season start. The “experts” will talk about how a team’s schedule is brutal at some point and then lightens up at another. They do this even though things can change quite a bit from year to year in the NFL, and so called “dream teams” are 3-5 at the mid season point.

A prime example is the Bucs’ schedule. The easy games in the early part of the season were San Fransisco and perhaps even the Lions at home as they were improving, but not thought to be there quite yet. Well, those two teams have only three loses between them. Indianapolis was supposed to be a tough opponent, and despite the Bucs trying to make them look better than they are, the Colts are still winless. No one could have predicted that one neck injury can decimate an entire team. My point is that you can’t really give much credence to schedule difficulty until you start playing some games and it is determined on the field who is really good and who just looks good on paper.

Fantasy Focus

Trades are always tricky in fantasy and often you trade players because you are desperate for a player or you have really good players at one position and need help at another. This week, I think as a knowledgeable Bucs fan you may want to consider a trade this week if you need any help at running back. It would be to acquire LeGarrette Blount for one or two good but not great players.   If you already own Blount, don’t give him up too easily quite yet.

The reason for this is because the owner of Blount in your league is likely frustrated and will consider unloading him after a couple weeks of injury and a poor showing this last week. This may be the lowest value he will have all season, and if you can get him without getting much, he may have a good return of investment, as the Bucs are taking heat for not using him as much as they should, and he is likely to get more carries.

At The End of the Day

Recently there has been some backlash against all the Christmas advertising and displays which have been popping up all over the place.  It was bad enough when they started to show up before Thanksgiving and I didn’t seem to mind much then, but now it is showing up before Halloween, and even into the summer.  I just don’t see the point.

Are we that enthralled with the holiday that we need to start thinking about it two months or more before the actual day? In the instant information type world we live in now, I don’t think we need to prepare this early.  Have a fun Halloween, support Veterans Day, and be thankful around Thanksgiving.  After that is over, enjoy your Christmas.

Until next week, read the midseason position reports on thepewterplank.com.