SB Nation - Byron Leftwich

Opponent History: Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars

sireric — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:50:01 -0000

Buffalo Bills (3-6) at Jacksonville Jaguars (5-4)
Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 1:00 PM EST
Jacksonville Municipal Stadium - Jacksonville, FL

This is a little later than we normally start to look at next week's opponent, but after the events of the past two days, it seemed appropriate to push it back a little bit. This will be the tenth meeting between the Bills and the Jaguars, including their first ever meeting in the 1996 AFC Wild Card playoff game. The Bills hold a 5-4 lead in the all-time series. This is also the fifth ever meeting to take place in Jacksonville, where the Bills hold a 3-1 victory edge. With the exception of two contests, these have been very close games, with the average margin of victory being a little over a touchdown. Recaps of last five meetings are after the jump.

Sunday, September 14, 2003: Bills 38, Jaguars 17
Completely unable to run the football, Drew Bledsoe and the Bills went to the air. Bledsoe passed for 314 yards and two touchdowns, while Travis Henry proved to be useful in the red zone by pushing in three goal line touchdowns to pace to Bills' offense. Alex Van Pelt even got into the game late and completed one pass for 14 yards. Eric Moulds had a nice day, with 7 catches for 133 yards and a touchdown.

Sunday, September 12, 2004: Jaguars 13, Bills 10
This was another good day for Moulds, but his 8 catches for 75 yards and a touchdown weren't enough. The Bills had a 10-6 lead in the closing seconds of the game, but Byron Leftwich hit Ernest Wilford in the back of the end zone as time expired to give the Jags the win. I remember that I couldn't watch this game, but I was watching a different game looking for updates. The scroll on CBS kept saying that the game was over and the Bills had won, so I was happy. When they showed the game break, I got really pissed.

Sunday, November 26, 2006: Bills 27, Jaguars 24
This time it was the Bills scoring as time expired to get the win. The Bills jumped out to a 17-7 lead on the strength of two Willis McGahee touchdown runs and a Rian Lindell field goal. The Jags pulled closer by adding a David Garrard-to-Marcedes Lewis touchdown pass to the Maurice Jones-Drew TD run they already had to make the score 17-14 at the half. After a Roscoe Parrish punt return for a touchdown and a Josh Scobee field goal, Garrard hit Matt Jones with 28 seconds left to tie the game up. But the Bills got into filed goal range in just 28 seconds, and Lindell hit a 42-yarder to give the Bills the win as the clock hit zeroes.

Sunday, November 25, 2007: Jaguars 36, Bills 14
This game was never really close. Fred Taylor and Jones-Drew combined for 124 yards and two touchdowns, and Josh Scobee hit five field goals as the Jags rolled over the Bills. Anthony Thomas and Roscoe Parrish found the end zone for the Bills as lone bright spots.

Sunday, September 14, 2008: Bills 20, Jags 16
This was probably the one game that I blame the high expectations from the previous year on the most. The Bills headed into heavily favored Jacksonville and pulled out a win. With the Jags leading 16-10 late in the fourth quarter, Trent Edwards hit James Hardy in the back of the end zone on a beautiful fade pass to give the Bills a 17-16 lead. Lindell added an insurance field goal to help seal it for the Bills. Buffalo would win their next two game to move to 4-0 on the season before starting a downward spiral that would crush all of our hearts.

Dolphins/Bucs Final Injury Report

Matty I — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:59:38 -0000

Here is the final injury report for Sunday's game between the Bucs and Dolphins. Both teams have some injury questions.

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Probable
Joey Porter, LB (knee)

Questionable
Anthony Fasano, TE (hip)

Doubtful
Justin Smiley, OG (shoulder)
Paul Soliai, NT (ankle)
Erik Walden, LB (hamstring)

Notes
-Porter missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday but returned on Friday and practiced fully.
-Fasano has been limited all week with that hip injury.
-At least Jason Ferguson is a go after practicing fully most of the week. But who will spell him at nose tackle - Tony McDaniel?

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Probable
Michael Clayton, WR (knee)
Davin Joseph, OG (ankle)
Clifton Smith, RB (knee)
Aqib Talib, CB (hamstring)

Questionable
Derrick Ward, RB (knee)
Byron Leftwich, QB (elbow)

Doubtful
Antonio Bryant, WR (knee)
Stylez White, DE (shoulder)

Notes
-Ward practiced on Wednesday and Thursday but was added to Friday's injury report when he "tweaked" his knee.
-Leftwich is nothing more than Tampa's third quarterback anyway, so his injury is not a big deal.
-White was one of Tampa' young talented defensive linemen and his absence would be big.

Preview: Green Bay Packers at Buccaneers

Brandon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:15:19 -0000

More photos » by Reinhold Matay - AP

2 months ago: Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Tanard Jackson (36) gets a pat on the back from teammate Sabby Piscitelli (21) after returning an interception for a touchdown during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009. The Panthers won 28-21. (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)

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The first thing that jumps out is zero, which is the number of 2009 wins by the last remaining winless team this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They looked very good in week 4 last season when they beat the Packers 30-21, but that seems like a long time ago. Since then they've fired their Super Bowl winning head coach, their long time defensive coordinator left for the University of Tennessee, and they've released or traded several defensive starters, including Pro Bowl LB Derrick Brooks. After an ugly loss to the Patriots in London, the Bucs are coming off the bye-week and giving their rookie 1st round QB Josh Freeman his first NFL start. As long as I'm dumping on the Bucs, I might as well mentioned how they shot themselves in the foot by firing Ron Wolf back in 1978.

Sometimes a record doesn't tell the whole story. But in this case it does; the Bucs are as bad as they look.

Instead of using the official NFL stats this week, I'm going with Football Outsiders. The problem with the official stats, which are based on yards/game, is that they don't take into account that their opponents have only attempted 180 passes against the Bucs, which is the lowest total in the NFL. I don't know why teams aren't throwing the ball against them because they aren't very good at stopping them: they've allowed 16 TDs to 8 INTs while their opponents' QB rating against them is 102.1. So from Football Outsiders.com:

Team	Run Offense	Pass Offense	Run Defense	Pass Defense
Packers	13	8	6	7

Team	Run Defense	Pass Defense	Run Offense	Pass Offense
Buccaneers	30	31	20	26

While RB Ryan Grant isn't running his way to the Pro Bowl this season, the Bucs aren't stopping anyone, only holding their opponents to 4.7 yards/carry. That's similar to the Browns, who allow 4.9 yards/carry, and Grant ran over them for 148 yards and 1 TD. Packers.

As I mentioned above the jump, though teams aren't throwing a lot of passes against the Bucs, it doesn't mean they are stopping the ones that are thrown. QB Aaron Rodgers has a QB rating of 110.4, Bucs are "holding" their opponents to a 102.1 QB rating - it sounds like a matchup Rodgers should win. Packers.

If the Bucs have one bright spot, it's their running game, which is moving along at a 4.2 yards/carry. Both of their top rushers, RB Cadillac Williams and RB Derrick Ward, are over 4 yards/carry this season. But the Packers run defense has been even better, holding opponents to 3.5 yards/carry, while only allowing 3 rushing TDs and recovering 4 fumbles. The Bucs rushing attack is doing about as well as Detroit and Cleveland, and neither of those teams did much running the ball against the Packers earlier this season. Packers.

While not as good as last season, the Packers pass defense is still very good with 11 INTs and holding their opponents to a QB rating of 74.4. The Bucs have been awful the last 4 weeks with QB Josh Johnson as their starter, not that QB Byron Leftwich did much in the 3 games he started. So, as mentioned before the jump, they are turning to the rookie Freeman. It's hard to know how the rookie will play, but if he is truly better than Johnson or Leftwich (at this point in his career) you'd think he would have started before week 8. Packers.

Packers 38, Bucs 10.

Analysis: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Through 7 Games

Brandon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:15:17 -0000

You might have noticed that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the only NFL team without a win this season, and the Green Bay Packers are going to play them on Sunday. And rookie QB Josh Freeman will have his 1st NFL start. The Packers should be favored, but they still have to travel to Tampa and win the game. Though I don't expect Mike McCarthy will let his players overlook any team.

Since I haven't watched a Bucs game this season, and don't know how the team that beat the Packers last season in week 4 has managed to become the only remaining winless team, I asked Buc 'Em blogger Niko Houllis a couple questions:

Brandon: What happened to the formerly great Tampa defense? The draft hasn't been kind in recent years, but they were still very good in early 2008. The collapse seems sudden to me.

Niko: That is a fanastic question. Most would say it's on the sideline singing "Rocky Top"! People can say what they want to, but the collapse started the game after Monte Kiffin announced he is headed to Tennessee to coach his son's defense. Other things happened around the same time too though. We got hurt on our D line, which wasn't that good to begin with. Carolina found a weakness. They were able to put 3 receivers on the field and keep us in a defense which favored their running attack. They were able to gash us for almost 300 yards on the ground in that Monday night game that Bucs fans were waiting all day for so we could finally pronounce our team for real...and give us an inside edge on the 2nd seed just like we had in our Super Bowl year. Little did we know we would not win a game again! Truth is, the Bucs misfired on their #1 draft pick Gaines Adams, and were lucky to get a #2 for him. But the defense had gotten old, and started to patch things up with bandaids like the offense had been doing too. Instead of tearing the team apart and starting over like were doing this year, the team kept using bandaids, and drafting poorly just about every draft.

Brandon: Are their offensive problems solely due to poor QB play, or have other areas on offense let you down?

Niko: Some feel the offensive line has not been playing up to its potential, but truth is it was a FAR drop from starting Center Jeff Faine to second string Sean Mahan, who was released in preseason, only to be called up again due to Faine's injury during game one. Teams were blitzing the heck out of our gap between our left guard and center, and we couldn't do anything about it. So that is not a fair assesment. The biggest problem has been the quarterback play. I'm not sure what the Bucs were thinking during preseason, everyone just knew Byron Leftwich wasn't starting material anymore, and then they traded Luke McCown, who really didn't beat anyone out to prove his worth this preseason anyways. Josh Johnson has some upside, but he doesn't have the pedigree Josh Freeman has. This team has now taken the step, this is the 6th generation of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and we will build around Freeman, though it may be ugly to watch at first.

Brandon: I've read articles that made it seem like Tampa's coaches have been unprepared. Is Raheem Morris a capable NFL head coach?

Niko: This is a hot topic. Any article I write about Morris gets many comments. Mostly negative. The older football fan (not trying to tick off any younger fans...) tend to be more patient because they have seen more seasons of football and understand this happens, while the younger fan tends to be more impatient and want him gone now for the big name guy . Funny how we forget the past, when Steve Spurrier and Jimmy Johnson were wanted but a guy named Tony Dungy came instead!

Stat of the Day: JaMarcus Russell is Not Good

John (obviousman) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:00:29 -0000

More photos » by Tony Avelar - AP

about 1 month ago: Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell sits on the bench in the closing minutes of Oakland's 38-0 loss to the New York Jets in an NFL football game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

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I know every time I bring up QB rating people feel the need to mention that it's an antiquated statistic. I get it. There are probably better means of identifying who the best and worst QBs in the league are, but the QB rating still works quite well.

If we're looking at all of the QBs in the league, who would be your top 10 in 2009? Would it look like this?

That's your top 10 NFL QBs in 2009 ranked by their QB Rating. It's not identical to my list of the best 2009 QBs (I'd probably have Rodgers down a couple of spots), but it's damn close. That's why I continue to at least respect the QB Rating stat as a means to judge a QB's performance.

Here where it gets amazing. There are 32 teams in the NFL and therefore 32 starting QBs. Due to injuries and changes in the position for some teams, 35 QBs have averaged at least 14 passes per game. Can you guess where JaMarcus Russell ranks amongst those 35 signal-callers? 34th. That means there are at least two QBs in the league who are or were considered backups that have played better.

Now here's the kicker. The only QB that is still getting a chance to play the position with a lower QB Rating is Derek Anderson, who is probably only playing because the Browns don't want to give Brady Quinn a $11 million bonus. He is considered a starter, and Quinn does not have enough snaps to be ranked. That means there are three QBs that are or were considered backups with higher QB ratings than Russell. Can you name them all? (Answer at the end of the post)

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
2009 - JaMarcus Russell	7	47.2	74	160	46.3	891	127.3	5.6	2	8	15	38	5.4	2.5	0	18	101

Those numbers are astonishing low. How low? So low that even 2008 JaMarcus Russell would laugh at them....

His 47.2 QB Rating is the lowest of his career. His previous lowest QB Rating was 55.9, during his rookie campaign.
The 46.3% completion rate doesn't even come close to JaMarcus' previous lowest completion rate (53.8%).
His career TD/INT ratio before this season was 5/4, far better than the 1/4 he's producing in 2009.
Although Oakland's line was supposedly improved since last season, Russell is on pace to be sacked 41 times in 2009. That's significantly more than the 31 times he was sacked in 2008.
5% of his passes in 2009 have been intercepted. That's more than double last season, where only 2.2% of his passes were picked off.
1.3% of his passes in 2009 have been touchdowns. Not only is that less than half of his second worst season (2007 - 3.0%), but if you take away the Louis Murphy touchdown against the Chargers (where nobody covered him) that percentage goes down to 0.6%.
In 2008, JaMarcus used his nimble feet and big body to gain 7.5 yards per carry as a runner. In 2009, he's gaining just 2.5 YPC.
In 2008, Russell proved to have a difficult time fumbling the ball, losing the pigskin 12 times in 15 games. In 2009, he's on pace to fumble it 11.5 times over 16 games. That's an improvement!

Trivia Answer: Technically there are five "backup" QBs with higher QB ratings than Russell. Kevin Kolb (88.9) filled in for McNabb and Seneca Wallace (82.6) filled in for Matt Hasselbeck. Both played significantly better than JaMarcus Russell. Now here's where it just gets silly.....

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers benched Byron Leftwich after he posted a 71.2 QB Rating in the first few games of the season. His replacement, Josh Johnson, was replaced after a handful of games after posting a 50.9 QB Rating. Josh Freeman, who hasn't thrown enough passes to be ranked, played for about a quarter against the Patriots and still managed a 60.4 QB Rating. All three QB Ratings are higher than Russell's.

The Call for Free-Chise!

Niko Houllis — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:15:42 -0000

More photos » by Stephan Savoia - AP

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Ok, I'm sure I'm going to catch heat for that take on NY Jets Sanchize (or last week was being called DEmise), but hey, what are you gonna do!

Josh Freeman got in the game and pretty much did what we expected him to do with 8 minutes left, gett sacked, throw a nice completion, and have one of those 'throw the ball away but it looks like a fumble' moment rookies have a patent right to.

For a coaching staff that has not been afraid to admit its mistakes (See Offensive Coordinator Jags), the way the Quarterback position has been handled this year seems to have been another big one. Either way, it is time to make this right.

The entire preseason and training camp was a complete waste. Luke McCown and Byron Leftwich took all of the valuable snaps in practice for their battle to start the 2009 season. Well they may as well have been Jack Thompson and Jerry Goldstein; because neither one was in the Bucs plans only 4 weeks later. When it was obvious that the rumours about Byron Leftwich were actually true, the competition was already shipped off to Jacksonville.

Moving to Josh Johnson was questionable at best, but Johnson did show flashes of potential in both camp, and preseason, perhaps even winning the job in the exhibition games. In four games however as the starter, he has regressed and any chance of magically taking over this team should now be given solely to the man the Bucs stated all along would become THE Franchise here in Tampa Bay.

You don't have to like Josh Freeman's college stats or accomplishments there, or lack of if you feel that is the case. Josh Freeman is a Blue Chipper. He is the raw talent that has all of the keys necessary to be given the car to drive. He has the size, the arm, and the experience for the job. Freeman was a starter for three seasons at Kansas State, and in the history of the league, that translates into better chance to succeed early for rookie signal callers being given the reins in their first year.

In the coming weeks, we will take a look not only at Tampa Bay's rookie signal callers like Vinny Testeverde, Steve Young, and Trent Dilfer; but we will also look at the rest of the league and their history with first timers like Joe Montana, Heath Shuler, and Peyton Manning.

No one can be sure which one of these men Freemen will emulate, but one thing is certain...its time to start finding out; in two weeks against the Green Bay Packers, wearing that familiar color of Orange to remind us of all the potential and all the heart aches and heartbreaks going with a #1 round Quarterback pick will do for you.

And all the Glory too.

BucEm's NFL Predictions! Put yours on record today!

Niko Houllis — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:09:33 -0000

Congrats to UNFNole who came out alive in an upset Sunday by going 9-5 to BW's 8-6. Guest CatScratchReader came in at 7-7, and like the Bucs, I came in dead last at 5-9.

BucEm's NFL PREDICTIONS

BucsFanDave

Green Bay at Cleveland

Green Bay struggles on the road, so Cleveland has a chance. However, too much talent offensively for Green Bay. Packers win 27-17.

San Diego at KC. The Chargers defense is terrible. The Chargers offense is explosive. However, the Chiefs are showing momentum and will win a tight game at home. Chiefs 34, Chargers 31.

Indianapolis at St. Louis. The Colts are one of the three best teams in the league. The Rams are one of the bottom two. Chaos ensues. The saying "any given Sunday" is now obsolete with this matchup. Colts 35, Rams 6.

More picks including what BFDave thinks of the Bucs/Pats game, after the jump.....

New England at Tampa Bay. This has the makings of a blowout. Or is it Raiders over Eagles, part deux? Nah. Patriots 42, Buccaneers 14.

BucWild

Minnesota at STEELERS - The defending champs take on the NFC favorites in a possible preview on the Super Bowl. Peterson is good, but the Steelers are a better all around team. Look for Big Ben to go to the air against a weaker pass defense without Winfield. The champs take this one.

San Francisco at TEXANS - This one was tough. I like what the 49ers are doing, but I think Schaub gets it done. The Texans are an enigma and will give all their fans hope this week before falling back to 8-8 at year end.

Buffalo at PANTHERS - The Bills are just too banged up. The Panthers will continue to run the ball, much like Thomas Jones did on the Bills last week. The Panthers stay on track and rattle off win number 3.

Niko

NY Jets at Oakland -Sanchize is playing like a rookie, and the Raidahs are playing like the Bucs; Like its 1976. I say the Uncle Al gets two in a row.

Chicago at Cincinnati- Could be balls flying in the air in Ohio; with Palmer and Cutler; two premier QBs go at it with the Bengals trying to stay on top, and the Bears trying to catch the phenom Vikes.

Atlanta at Dallas - Seems like every good team has a ‘make a statement vs a cowboys. Not this time. Dallas pulls it together in time.

UNFNOLE

New Orleans at Miami - Miami may be better than their schedule, especially with Chad Henne at the helm. However, New Orleans is an elite team. Not only are they the top offensive team in the league, but the 2nd ranked Defensive unit. They are better coached, have better talent and will hand Miami reality in a box on Sunday.

8PM) Arizona at NY Giants - The Cardinals will have to find their run-game if they want to beat the Giants at home. However, NYG will need to rely on Eli Manning to win this game for them. Arizona has the top rated rush-defense in the NFL and the Giants have struggled mightly on the ground. Arizonas pass rush and secondary is better than most give them credit for, therefor my upset of the week is Arizona in New York.

Mon) Philadelphia at Washington - Did anyone see that Philthy loss to Oakland coming? Probably not. They are a very overrated team. Their wins come against Carolina, Tampa and Kansas City while they got it handed to them by New Orleans and couldn't muster up a win against Oakland.They have had the 30th easiest schedule thus far. McNabb has been bad. How bad? Byron Leftwich, Seneca Wallace, Jason Campbell, David Garrard and Marc Bulger have a higher DVOA of QB's who threw more than 50 times. They will move to 4-2 and appear a much better team than they really are. After Washington, their schedule beefs up slightly and the real Philthy Eagles will reveal themselves. What a terrible MNF game.

Here are the BucEm staff totals...

BucWild 27-15 .628

UNFnole 27-15 .628

Niko 20-22 .476

BFDave 0-0 .00

NY Giants @ New Orleans Saints: Front Four Matchups are the Key

saints-nation — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:15:23 -0000

Make no mistake about it, the game on Sunday is the toughest test the Saints will experience at this point in the young season (Giants vs Saints coverage). Throwing out the two undefeated records for a second, this is the most complete team the Saints have faced by a significant margin. The Giants represent both the best offense and the best defense the Saints have seen, hands down. The most important matchup of Sunday's game, in my opinion, is the Saints' ability to get pressure with their front four and the Saints' ability to block the Giants' front four.

Saints front four:

With Eli Manning's ability, the Saints would be taking a big risk if they blitzed as much as they have early in the season. While they've had success doing so in their first four games, the first four quarterbacks they've faced lack the experience, quick decision making skills and accuracy of an Eli Manning. While Charles Grant and Will Smith have looked healthy and inspired of late, getting to the quarterback without the luxury of blitz help will be of utmost importance for them. I anticipate Gregg Williams asking his four man front to create more pressure this week on their own. If you look at game tape against Matt Stafford and Kevin Kolb especially, there were plays where the Saints blitzed and left their coverage on an island against receivers, potentially exposing themselves to huge pass gains. Luckily on most of those plays the accuracy of the passes thrown were way off, largely due to the amount of pressure the defense was bringing. Granted, that was a comfortable risk to take given the opposition. The difference is Eli Manning will make those throws more consistently, and can make the Saints pay for taking such risks. The duty lies on Smith, Grant, Bobby McCray, Sedrick Ellis, Anthony Hargrove and company to show they can get in Eli's face. The Giants have given up just three sacks in five games coming into New Orleans, while the Saints have generated ten sacks in four games (eight by the front four).

Saints blocking the Giant's front four:

The Giants have generated fourteen sacks in just five games, eleven of which were made by a member of their front four. Their ability to create pressure without blitzing is flat out scary, led by the devastating bookend combination of Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora. Take a look at how quarterbacks have done against them so far this season:

Jason Campbell: 19-26, 211yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, 2 fumbles - sacked 3 times

Tony Romo: 13-29, 127yds, 1 TD, 3 INTs, - sacked 0 times

Byron Leftwich: 7-16, 22yds, O TDs, 1 INT - sacked 0 times

Matt Cassel: 15-32, 127yds, 2 TDs, 0 INT, 3 fumbles - sacked 5 times

JaMarcus Russell: 8-13, 100 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 3 fumbles - sacked 6 times

Those performances aren't just bad, they're flat out embarassing. As evidence by Romo and Leftwich's numbers, even when these quarterbacks are getting the ball out quick enough, they're still performing terribly. Granted none of these guys are Drew Brees, but it is worth noting how badly they've all played. The Saints' offensive line has given up four sacks in four games, but this game they'll have a replacement left tackle going up against the NFL's finest. Whether that's Jermon Bushrod or Zach Strief, they better be ready to play the game of their life and Brees better be ready to get the ball out in a hurry.

The matchups in these areas are about as tough as it gets. When the Saints are on defense, the home crowd's influence will need to be the x factor that can help them. When the Saints are on offense, I believe the key ingredients to success are threefold: the performance of the Saints at left tackle, Reggie Bush and Jeremy Shockey. Bush and Shockey will both offer Brees the most dangerous short passing checkdown options. When Brees wants to get rid of the ball in a hurry, these two players will be available and targeted often. Expect both of these guys to get many opportunities as Brees won't always have the time to attack the perimeter. We'll see if they can deliver when called upon. Sidenote: Bush and Shockey are killer fantasy plays this week, ESPECIALLY in leagues where you get points for receptions.

So it all boils down to getting pressure with our front four, and limiting their front four's pressure. Sounds simple but much easier said than done. So what are your thoughts? Do you guys think Smith and Grant have turned a corner and can have big games this weekend when the Saints need them the most? Do you think Strief/Bushrod/Stinchcomb can realistically slow down Tuck/Umenyiora?

Philadelphia Eagles Opponents previews - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

JasonB — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:19:46 -0000

More photos » by Haraz N. Ghanbari - AP

2 months ago: Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Johnson (11) is tackled by Washington Redskins safety Reed Doughty (37) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, in Landover, Md. Washington won 16-13. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

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This is the next part in our series of previews of the Eagles 2009 opponents. Joining us for this feature is Dave Schwab, who writes about the Eagles at his site Eagles Lincs.

In the years leading up to the Eagles' superbowl appearance in 2004, Tampa Bay was probably their biggest non NFC East rival. The Eagles have remained pretty good, Tampa not so much. Still, the thought of Tampa Bay brings up some bad memories... The NFC title game that closed the Vet, the 65 yard Matt Bryant FG... I shake just thinking about those games.

Is this going to be a leisurely win or could we be in for another Tampa inspired heartache? Check out Dave's insights after the jump.

The 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers head into Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday October 11^th in a 1:00 P.M. start against the 2-1 Eagles who are coming off a bye week. If Tampa has any hope to avoid losing their fifth in a row they will have to play the game of their lives as under head coach Andy Reid, Philadelphia is a perfect 10-0 after having a week off. A loss to the Eagles would also complete the NFC East sweep as they have already lost to the Cowboys, Giants, and Redskins. Heading into this week, the Buccaneers are coming off a loss to Washington where they jumped out to a 10-0 lead but were unable to do anything from that point on, eventually losing the game 16-13. The Redskins held Tampa to 229 yards of total offense only allowing the Bucs to convert 2-of-15 attempts on third down. I do not attribute this to an overwhelming Washington defense, rather an inept Tampa Bay offense.

Tampa Bay’s season got off to rough start when new head coach Raheem Morris decide to fire his offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski just ten days before their opening game. After their first three games, he then decided to bench his starting quarterback, Byron Leftwich in favor of second year man Josh Johnson who had never started an NFL game in his short career. Johnson’s stats for the Redskin game were nothing to write home about as he went 13 for 22 for 106 yards. He did have 1 TD, an 8 yard pass on his first throw of the game to WR Antonio Bryant. Unfortunately, that play is basically his entire highlight reel. It is undecided as to whether Johnson will get the start against the Eagles, but in all actuality I hardly think it matters. Tampa’s offense has been horrible no matter who is behind center and I do not see that changing in a week’s time. They were able to run the ball against Washington gaining 118 yards on the ground led by RB Cadillac Williams who had 77 yards on 16 carries. Overall, I would not consider their running game a major strength as they are still ranked 23^th overall averaging only 97 rushing yards per game.

Defensively the Buccaneers are not much better than their offense. While they only gave up 16 points to Washington, they are ranked 25^th overall in points allowed and 31st yards given up per game. The fact that the Redskins only scored 16 points should not really be credited to the Buccaneer’s defense, rather the fact that Washington’s offense is just not that good. The only highlights for Tampa’s defense on Sunday were CB Aquib Talib’s three interceptions of Redskin QB Jason Campbell and DE Gaines Adam’s recovery of a Campbell fumble on Washington’s 10 yard line early in the first quarter that led to their only touchdown of the game.

With the Eagles coming off the bye, in all likely hood Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook should be back in the starting lineup. This game would provide the perfect opportunity for both these players to get back in the groove to help get their game ready for the meat of the schedule that starts in earnest in a few weeks. A familiar face is back in Philly, LB Jeremiah Trotter and should see some significant action in this game that is sure to fire up the home town crowd. All this adds up to another long day for Tampa Bay. There are just too many holes on this team for them to come into the Linc and have any chance of winning this game.

Check out more of Dave's insights at Eagles Lincs.

Bucs kick away early chances at win

Niko Houllis — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:48:21 -0000

More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

Success came early for Josh Johnson.

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Call it imagination lost. Byron Leftwich was benched because of his ineffectiveness against the NY Giants; Josh Johnson was called up to use his athletic ability, and that he did, but it wasn't enough in a 16-13 loss to the Redskins.
Johnson ran 7 times for 41 yards, but only a few of his runs did not look as if they were for his life. Meanwhile throwing the ball, J.J. was a pedestrian 13 of 22 for 106 yards; 1 TD and INT each.

The Bucs took the lead early in the game with a stellar defensive effort that saw Gaines Adams probably play the best game of his career here in Tampa. Being called out by everyone including his coach, Adams got a sack on the second play that set up a 3rd and long in which the Bucs were able to get a turnover and prime real estate in the Red Zone. Johnson hit Antonio Bryant for the early lead and the Bucs weren't done yet.

Aqib Talib had a couple of interceptions in the first half, and three on the day, but his early ones and Geno Hayes spectacular plays kept the Bucs in Washington territory for most of the first half, but they came away with only 3 points to show for it. Two missed by new Bucs kicker Mike Nugent had Bucs fans longing for Matt Bryant, if not Martin Gramatica! Nugent missed kicks of 48 and 49 yards leaving 6 points shy of a 13-0 lead going into the half.

After that, The Bucs who had been running well with Cadillac Williams (16 carries 77 yards), seemed to abandon the run in the 3rd quarter as the Redskins took over the momentum with 16 3rd Qtr points. It would have been 17 if not for Ronde Barber blocking an extra point.

Tampa Bay closed the game to within 3 on a late drive with 4 minutes left, going for the FG instead of the touchdown, and hoping for the ball back from their defense. They got it back, but on third and short with two time outs left, RB Clifton Smith fumbled on a draw play that ended the day for the Buccaneers, and left them in last place with an 0-4 record.