SB Nation - Clifton Smith

Josh Morgan, Punt Returner?

Fooch — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:33:51 -0000

It's no mystery that since releasing Allen Rossum, and losing Nate Clements to injury, the 49ers punt return options have been somewhere between awful and abysmal. You know what, I think I'll just stick with abysmal because they honestly don't qualify to be as good as "awful." The 49ers as a team rank 31st in the NFL in punt returns with a 3.8 yard average. Brandon Jones ranks 73rd in the NFL among all players to return a punt with a 2.9 yard average. Arnaz Battle ranks 81st with a return average of .7 yards. Yes you read that right. Oh and that is good enough for dead last among any player to return a punt, so congratulations Arnaz.

Which brings me to yet another suggestion for how to improve the punt return game, if even just a little bit. Josh Morgan is quickly showing he has some serious kick return skills. Maybe he's not Devin Hester, but in a small sample size so far, he might very well be the answer for the 49ers. On 9 kick returns he's averaging 32.9 yards per return. It's not enough returns to qualify, but it's certainly a nice start. The current leader among qualified return men is Clifton Smith with an average of 29.1 yards per return.

Given Morgan's solid start as a kick returner, should the 49ers be giving him a chance to return punts as well? I'm not throwing that out there simply because of his success as a kick returner. Although there are similarities in the two types of returns, punt returns do require some different skills than kick returns. However, Morgan does have a track record of returning punts at Virginia Tech. His sophomore season he returned 11 punts, his junior season he returned 7 punts, and his senior season he returned 1 punt. Not a huge number to work with, but still better than nothing.

John Taylor is a guy that many 49ers fans look back on fondly for both his receiving skills AND his return skills. Taylor was a very solid return man for the 49ers, particularly in the punt return arena, where he was the main returner from 1988-1991. I'm not saying Josh Morgan is the second coming of John Taylor, but it would certainly be a nice guy for him to emulate.

There are certain injury concerns in the punt return game, and given that Morgan will likely be the #2 guy in 2010, maybe it's not worth the risk. And of course, he could get worn down from the beating he would take in the return game and potentially become less effective as the #2 wide receiver. At the same time, the punt return game has been pretty awful this season. I don't know if it's at an historic level, but it has to be close given what we've been subjected to. The 49ers keep rolling out Arnaz Battle back there, but it's clearly not working. Is it time to give Josh Morgan a chance as both the punt and kick return option? Or do they just find somebody in the offseason in free agency or the draft to fill the role?

New Orleans Saints' Defensive and Special Teams Player Grades @ Bucs

saints-nation — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:00:24 -0000

by Chris O'Meara - AP

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Below are the grades for the defense and special teams @ Tampa Bay. Some terrific play all around.

Saints vs Buccaneers coverage

Saints vs Buccaneers recap

Saints vs Buccaneers boxscore

Will Smith: B+ (2.83) Smith finished with 3 tackles and a sack. He did a reasonably good job of putting pressure on Josh Freeman, and was able to waltz in untouched for an easy sack on a missed blocking assignment. It was nice to see Smith help against the run on a number of occasions, too.

Charles Grant: C (2.37) Grant finished with just 2 tackles, and he knocked Freeman down once on a pass rush. His pass rushing was mediocre, and his run defense was mediocre... so he gets a mediocre grade to go with his mediocre GPA.

Bobby McCray: D+ (1.89) What happened to this guy? He was a very solid pass rusher last year, but his reps get lessened each week mostly due to his complete lack of production. At one point in training camp they were talking about installing packages that would include McCray blitzing from the linebacker slot. Whatever happened to that? No tackles for McCray in this game despite a decent number of snaps. He was complete neutralized on pass downs, too.

Anthony Hargrove: B- (2.44) Just one tackle for Hargrove, but he did a good job getting push on passing plays up the middle, and he recovered a CRUCIAL fumble that broke Tampa Bay's back.

Remi Ayodele: B (2.19) Ayodele plugged up the middle much better than usual and forced the Tampa backs to often bounce their runs outside, allowing the Saints' linebackers to make plays. He finished with 3 tackles and also showed more effort than what I've seen in the past. The main problem I've had with Ayodele is he has a lazy streak where he won't play to the whistle, but I didn't see that in this game.

Scott Fujita: A- (2.72) Fujita is back and playing at a high level. This was arguably his best game of the season. He was making terrific reads and had a very impressive play getting in the backfield and hitting the Bucs' runner for a loss. His tackles were sure and he showed no ill effects from the calf injury that slowed him down. His biggest play was a blitz off the backside where he sacked Freeman and knocked the ball loose, leading to Hargrove's big recovery. Nice to see Fujita making plays, he's been missed. He was a major reason the Bucs struggled to move the ball after that first drive.

Scott Shanle: C+ (2.77) Quiet day for Shanle, who really didn't do much until the second half. There were no major mistakes, but some of the bigger runs early in the game were plays going right at him where he didn't absorb the blocks very well.He was solid in coverage and ended with 2 tackles.

Jonathan Vilma: A- (3.00) Vilma was all over the field, looked fast and was steady. He finished with 6 tackles, a defended pass, a knockdown on a blitz, and an interception. When he gets a clean look at stopping a rusher he almost always makes the play. I don't think he's playing at quite the level he was a season ago, but he clearly makes everyone around him better. Nice to see him get that pick, he made a fantastic catch covering a tough customer in Kellen Winslow Jr.

Randall Gay: C (2.59) Gay was pretty solid in coverage before leaving early with a tweaked hamstring. From what I've heard it sounds unlikely he'll be back in time for the Monday Night game.

Malcolm Jenkins: A- (3.07) Jenkins made a terrific interception, the first of his career, going to the ground to come up with a low pass. He benefited from Antonio Bryant slipping, but still jumped the route well and showed terrific hands. He led the team with 7 tackles on the day and 2 defended passes. He held a very good receiver in Antonio Bryant to just 3 catches. Bryant did have a 21 yard reception against Jenkins at one point, but the coverage was picture perfect and Bryant just made a ridiculous catch on his outside shoulder - not much you can blame the rookie for there. He really stepped in and did not miss a beat.

Roman Harper: B (3.23) Harper dropped an easy interception, jumping a route well but failing to come up with the catch. If there's one thing I've learned from watching Harper all the years is the guy has the worst set of hands I've almost ever seen. He finished with just 3 tackles, but was sent blitzing a number of times. He was able to register a half sack, and he also knocked Freeman to the ground two other times.

Darren Sharper: B- (3.15) Sharper was fine. No real chances to get a pick this time. The few times he was in a good position, the ball by Freeman was so poorly thrown that Sharper had no chance. He finished with 5 tackles and was especially helpful against the run. His grade suffers because of yet another personal foul 15 yard penalty. He's had at least 4 or 5 this year. It was a blatant facemask penalty, and there really was no need for him to do that.

Jo-Lonn Dunbar: C+ (2.73) Dunbar finished with 3 tackles and played in spot duty late in the game at linebacker. He was aggressive and did ok. He over-pursued twice but with the game so far out of reach it's hard to grade him. I'll give him some love for doing a great job on special teams, though.

DeMario Pressley: B- (2.78) This guy deserves to start alongside Sedrick Ellis. There, I said it. I know there's a love affair going on with just about any avid Saints watcher and Anthony Hargrove, and the coaching staff seems enamored with Ayodele, but Pressley has been the tackle performing most consistently. I see him sometimes get pushed off the line of scrimmage, but once when that happen he bounced back up the middle and ended up making the tackle. Even when he's beat he plays to the whistle and shows terrific effort. He finished with 3 tackles and did a decent job rushing the passer.

Pierson Prioleau: B- (2.67) He finished with 3 tackles and did a fairly good job in coverage. With the Saints depleted at corner thanks to the injuries to Torrence and Gay, he stepped in and helped hold down the fort.

Usama Young: B (3.17) Young also lent a helping hand at corner with the Saints shorthanded by injury. He was pretty good, especially helping in run support. He finished with 2 tackles. His grade gets a boost, too, from 2 spectacular special teams plays. First he forced a deep punt to be fair caught inside the 20 with terrific downfield coverage, then he dove on a ball and downed it at the 1 yard line after another great punt by Morstead.

Leigh Torrence: C (2.00) Torrence was placed on IR, I'm told, and that's too bad. The guy was finally getting some playing time. Sure, he wasn't the best corner but you can't argue with the guy's toughness. He separated his shoulder and came back in the game to play and make a tackle due to the Saints' injury problems. He finished with 4 tackles and teamed up with Harper to get the other half of a sack on Freeman. He was also responsible for the touchdown pass to Michael Clayton, though, and I feel like his coverage was spotty enough that a better quarterback could have made him pay. I'm surprised as far as he was playing off receivers that Freeman didn't take advantage of the short routes in front of him.

John Carney: A- (2.77) Carney did his job, so it's hard to give him a worse grade. He hit a big 38 yard field goal to break a 7-7 tie, and at the time it was important. He also hit all 5 of his extra points, but once again got one or two barely inside the upright.

Thomas Morstead: A+ (3.03) He was booming the ball all day long. I tip my cap to you, Mr. Morstead, and I can't tell you how glad I am the Saints kept you over Glenn Pakulak. He was, in a word, fantastic. Every kickoff he booted went into the end zone, and as the game progressed they kept getting deeper and deeper (I believe his last 3 were touchbacks). Clifton Smith is known for being one of the most dangerous returners in the NFC, and Morstead completely neutralized him. He also blasted 4 punts for a 48.8 average, and pinned two inside the 20 (one of those at the 1). He only had one of his punts returned for 11 yards, so he ends up with an extremely impressive net average of a little over 46 yards. Without question his best game as a Saint.

Courtney Roby: B+ (2.93) Roby was pretty good returning kickoffs. No standout plays but he returned 2 kicks for a 25.5 average. His coverage skills, however, are what earned him his grade this time. The play that Usama Young made at the one was only thanks to a great athletic and head's up play by Roby, as he dove into the end zone and tipped the ball back into the field. For some reason the Bucs challenged that play, too, which had to be one of the dumbest challenges of all time.

My Defensive Player of the Game: Malcolm Jenkins
My Special Teams Player of the Game: Thomas Morstead

Poll

Who Was Your Defensive Player of the Game?

Malcolm Jenkins

200 votes

Scott Fujita

113 votes

Jonathan Vilma

111 votes

Chris Reis (didn't play enough to get a grade, but I'll give him props for his pick)

17 votes

441 votes | Poll has closed

Closing the Book on Week 10: A Clear-Headed Look Back

Craig T — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:58:25 -0000

More photos » by Hans Deryk - AP

about 1 month ago: Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Connor Barth (10) kicks a field goal against the Miami Dolphins during the second quarter of NFL football action in Miami, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Hans Deryk)

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After going through what we in the legal field call a "cooling off period", its a little bit easier to get over the BS officiating at the end of the first half and the sting of the late-game defensive collapse. Emotions aside, as usual, there are some things to take away from Sunday's game that left me nodding my head and grinning. Likewise, there are some things to look at that had me ready to chuck something at the TV. With a cooler head, let's take a look at some of those things.

3 things to take with us into Week 11:

1. Connor Barth. Need I say more? The cat booted THREE field goals of 50+ yards and launched some deep kickoffs, putting 2 of 3 second-half KO's from the 30 yd line into the end zone. His FG's carried straight through the middle of the uprights into the net, with plenty of leg to spare. Also, after kicking off from the 15 on the final drive after Winslow's boneheaded penalty, he punched a hard, knuckling line drive that streaked past Ginn, pinning the Dolphins inside the 20 with just over one minute to play. Game ball, sir, because Sunday you were the spark that set up...

2. A solid game by the Buccaneer special teams. The Buccaneers succeeded on one of the main factors I identified as a key coming into Sunday's game: contain Ted Ginn, Jr. On the strength of the deep kicks from Barth, the success the Buccaneers had in getting penetration in the initial Dolphin wedge, and the discipline to stay in their assigned lanes, the Buccaneer kick coverage team was as sound Sunday as in any game they played this year for certain. Miami averaged 18 yards per KO return and returned 3 punts for a total of 3 yards. Conversely, our weapon X, Clifton Smith, continued to provide a spark for the offense, finding a crease and returning a kick for 36 yards. He averaged 28.5 YPRet. Edge to our disciplined Buccaneer special teams unit.

3. Maybe, just maybe, this offensive scheme has some promise with Josh Freeman leading the way. Two weeks, two herculean comebacks by the rookie and a suddenly resurgent Buccaneer offense that has found a growing heartbeat in Olson's shotgun, multiple WR 60/40 pass/run offense. The offensive line (now even better with the return of Arron Sears) has actually done a pretty nice job protecting Josh Freeman, who has made plays mainly with his arm, but has also shown the ability to tuck and run... pretty darn well, actually... certainly better than I gave him credit for in my draft preview back in March. At one point, I recall him fighting through what appeared to be a sure sack and picking up positive yardage in a very Jared Lorenzen-like manner. Freeman gave double-digit targets to Kellen Winslow, who just can't be covered by anyone right now except good cover CBs and FSs. So far (and yes, it's early), you just have that feeling that when Freeman drops back and he has time, he's going to find an open receiver and make a play. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks, and it's of course possible he puts up a stinker, but his poise and level of play gives you a heckuva lot more confidence that he's got what it takes to succeed in this league than any other young quarterback this team has tried out in recent years.

3 things to leave behind at Landshark Stadium:

1. The continuing mental mistakes. As Paul aptly noted in his well-written piece today, good teams make plays and find ways to win games, and bad teams make mistakes and cost themselves chances to win games. The defensive breakdown on the final drive is obvious, but there were other mistakes during the game that contributed to the loss. FOUR fumbles by QB Josh Freeman, one of which was lost, another of which killed a potential TD drive in which Bucs had to settle for a long FG. Kellen Winslow had a big drop that hit him in the hands in the 2nd half, stalling a drive. He also had a selfish, look-at-me penalty after Caddy's go-ahead TD, setting the Bucs back to the 15 yard line. Think of your team, Soldja, and check yourself. Party on the sidelines after the extra point, guy. No, it may not have ultimately mattered in the end, but it could have if not for Barth's pick-me-up on the kickoff. Mo Stovall dropped a huge pass inside the Fins' 10 yard line, killing a drive late in the 4th quarter.

2. An anemic rush from the front 7. And I say "rush" to identify not just rushing on passing downs, but run blitzing off the edges on obvious rushing downs. As UNFNole and Buc Wild discussed before the game, the advantage gained through the extra blocker by the Dolphins' wildcat formation is suspect in some degree to a pass rush off the edge. My problem was not per se with the passing down situations, because I thought the secondary had a solid game, limiting the opportunities for passes over 15 yards by the pedestrian Dolphin receivers. Henne only completed 17 of 31 passes for a paltry 5.5 yards per attempt, the same ypc as the Dolphin rushing attack. It would have been even less if the defense had not gone into 'ole! mode on the final drive. As such, I don't think the lack of pass rush killed them as much today as it might when facing a much more potent passing attack.

Pretty conservative plan, alot of 4 and 5 man rushes. Not gonna get away with that next week against a strong Saints offense and all-world QB like Brees. Gonna have to take some chances.

3. More suspect tackling. This might upset me the most. This wasn't Week-2-in-Buffalo-debacle bad, but still... Forget the fact the Dolphins ran for 199 yards at a hearty 5.5 ypc gallop. The Buccaneer defense whiffed on some tackles that just simply had to be made. Good defenses have defenders who make plays in the open field when it counts. Unfortunately, the Buccaneer defense has some players who can't get it done play in and play out. Sabby not only lost his jock on Miami's first drive of the game, allowing Ronnie Brown to scamper from Dolphin territory into the Buccaneer red zone, but he took a terrible angle on the play. Instead of breaking down and at least forcing the outside-running Brown to cut it back towards the line of scrimmage and fellow defenders, he froze and let Brown get outside and into the open field. With the game in the balance, Ricky Williams ran right through an arm tackle from 300+ lb DT Ryan Sims on the final drive that sent the Dolphins from the fringe of field goal range to chip shot territory. Those two plays were game-changing plays at two important points of the game that set the Bucs back. No doubt there were more, but those two stuck out to me.

Chime in kiddos. What else did you guys and gals take as a positive from this game? What else do you want to leave behind at Landshark Stadium?

Viva La Rookie! A light-hearted look how a 3rd Rookie in a row returns a Kickoff for TD!

Niko Houllis — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:00:50 -0000

32 Years.

37,395 Return yards without one.

141 Kick Returners

1,865 Tries.

And then, in 2007, 2008, and now 2009, Three consecutive rookies are able to return a kickoff for a TD, like its Practice!

Practice?!?

Add Sammie Stroughter to the name of "Rookies with names that begin with an S" as in Superman.

Spurlock, Michael; was the first. Then came...

Dexter Jackson, drafted to be a kick return specialist. Problem was he spent too much of his youth on the slip n slide instead of playing Foosball with Bobby Bouchet. He was removed from his duties, and undrafted Clifton Smith took over and returned his version. Oh he also added a punt return to boot.

Same Clifton Smith is hit by a Mack Truck (why is it a Mack Truck? Won't a Ford Ranger do the job just as well?) and taken out of the game. In comes 7th round selection Sammie Superman 3 Stroughter, with the record (we're having to keep records of these things now).

Credit Special Teams coach Richard Bisaccia who survived the coaching purge. He designed the attack plans that were crippled with new 2009 rules that prohibit 3 man wedges.

Imagine someone from the past coming to the future to read this. His story would be straight science fiction. The Bucs with three KO returns! Sure..in Star Trek 3: The Search for Spurlock.

Week 2 Preview: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-1) @ Buffalo Bills (0-1)

Buc Wild — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:00:32 -0000

by Brian Blanco - AP

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Week 2 is descending upon us rather quickly. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will try to shake the stink of a 34-21 loss off their backs while the Buffalo Bills are trying to get back to an even keel after an emotional letdown and loss at the hands of the Patriots. Sunday's game will also be the 50th anniversary celebration of the Bills All Time AFL Team, so the team should be extra fired up.

The Bucs have some problems to fix, we know that, but how do they match up with Bills?

Overview/Team Stats

Thankfully this game takes place in September, as I don't want to hear about the Bucs and cold weather. Sure, we more or less broke that dismal record a few years back, but I'd rather avoid it whenever possible. The Bucs will travel north to the land of the unknown for them. What they'll find is a rather angry and hungry team, looking to get win number one on the year, much like the Bucs.

This is an important game for both teams as each team tries to hold off the 0-2 hole to start the season. For the Bucs, it's more about momentum as an 0-2 hole with the Giants, Redskins and Eagles all on tap may cause for a dreary start.

The Bills have a potent offense, and a player you may not have heard of. Terrell Owens. Oh, you've heard of him? He had a pretty quiet showing in Monday night's loss, so I'm sure he's amped up to get the ball and do some celebrating. And no better team to do that against than our Bucs, who ranked in the bottom 3 in pass defense.

But how do these two teams match up? Let's look at some handy dandy stats to find out

TEAM	TOTAL DVOA	TOTAL DAVE	RANK	OFF DVOA	RANK	DEF DVOA	RANK	S.T. DVOA	RANK
TB	-44.60%	-15.20%	27	43.00%	3	75.70%	32	-11.90%	28
BUF	0.00%	-25.80%	32	31.30%	5	21.20%	26	-10.10%	27

Somewhat similar teams. While the Bucs offense was better than average (based on opponent and situation), the defense was much worse, though Buffalo still feel in the bottom third of the league. Special Teams they're pretty similar. Hard to believe that the team that hung in with the Patriots is relatively close to the team that got smoked by the Cowboys in terms of rankings.

The traditional stats show a similar picture.

TB	Team	Buf
450	Off Yds/Gm	276
5	Rank	20
276	Passing	186
174	Rushing	90
33:32	T.O.P.	22:52
21	Pts/Game	24
14	Rank	9
462	Yds All/Gm	441
29	Rank	26
34	Points All	25

Neither team is exaclty building up a head of steam going into week 1.

When Buffalo has the Ball

Buffalo is in a similar predicament as the Bucs, having fired their OC just weeks before opening day. They run more of a no huddle offense this year, aimed at keeping the defense on the field and wearing them down. Their top running back, Marshawn Lynch has 2 more games left on his suspension, but they have a capable back up in Fred Jackson.

Also, you might have heard, they have a new wide receiver opposite Lee Evans. His name is Terrell Owens. While he wasn't involved in the game on Monday night, you can bet he wants to see more action this coming Sunday. A tough match up for any defensive secondary, it doesn't get much easier with Lee Evans on the opposite side and Roscoe Parrish in the slot.

A quick look at their 2008 and 2009 numbers as individuals. Remember that 08 numbers are based on a complete year, thus DYAR will be significantly higher (in theory)

Player	DVOA 08	DVOA 09	DYAR 08	DYAR 09
Trent Edwards	-0.30%	31.80%	278	69
Fred Jackson	7%	4.30%	91	8
Lee Evans	11.20%	-39.60%	191	-12

This could pose some problems for the Bucs as two top tier WR's will surely test our secondary. The Bucs flat out have to do two things better. 1) Generate a pass rush (yes, you Gaines Adams) and 2) maintain some sort of deep safety and not bite. The safety issues will come down to discipline. Can they maintain their responsibilities and not get caught free lancing. This was a huge issue last week obviously.

The front four generated zero sacks, a handful of pressures, and our best player, at least in terms of expectations (Adams) generated zero stats of any kind, unless you count the penalty. That can't happen again. Buffalo's OL was pretty average last year and ranked 25th in sacks given up and sack rate, so the opportunities are there. They ran a lot of screens, something the Bucs LB's will have to be all over. Barrett Ruud will have to lead on the defensive side and find a way to get involved.

I would imagine T.O. would draw Talib in coverage, but this is dicey. T.O. has size, speed and strength. Evans has speed. Where do you put Talib and where do you put Ronde? I expect either a ton of blitzes to limit the amount of coverage either has to do, or tons of LB/Safety help. After the Dallas debacle, this could be bad. Let's hope Bates and Morris got some things fixed as the Bucs should be tested often through the air.

When the Bucs have the ball

We saw how high the Tampa offense was ranked, how they performed, and how both the pass and run were above average. This will have to continue. Two heads of the three headed monster will need to be on point. Last week it was Caddy and Ward. This week? Could be the same, or maybe Graham gets involved. Either way, we have to run the ball successfully. Count it as a loss if Leftwich throws more than 35 times.

The offensive line did a fantastic job neutralizing the Dallas pass rush. Buffalo will need to be thwarted just the same. As Niko showed you, the OL did a great job in the run game. They opened holes, held blocks and got to the second level. This needs to continue, and I have no reason to believe it won't.

The question mark going into the game will be on Leftwich and the passing game. Can he and OL repeat their zero sack performance and will he avoid the turnover? The passing game has already seen a big loss in losing Jeff Faine. He is the captain of the line and did a fantastic job of pointing out coverage and blitzers.

The passing game may also be hurt if Bryant is 100% or doesn't play. This knee injury sounds like a season long aggravation. He either has to tough it (and who knows how successful he can be then) or call it a season and hang it up. Clayton performed well, but Winslow has to step up. He made a few grabs, but will need to be a solid #2 WR.

Terrance McGee was pretty successful in holding Moss in check until a late grab and run happened. Paul Posluzny is out with an arm injury, which should be good for the tight end passing game and running game. Aaron Schobel will look to apply pressure in the four man front the Bucs will face. The Bucs need to establish the line of scrimmage to have success in the ground and air game.

Special Teams

Both teams had severe special teams issues. Leodis McKelvin fumbled a kickoff late to set up the Pats for the winning score. The Bucs couldn't muster more than 40 yards in the air on punts and saw their kicker go 0-2 on field goals, including a block. Field position is always key, so look for Dirk Johnson to kick a bit deeper, if he's capable. Mike Nugent has to start making some field goals, if nothing else than for confidence of himself or the fans. Roscoe Parrish and Clifton Smith are two dynamic return guys, so there is the potential for a big play on any kick.

Key Matchups

Terrell Owens vs Aqib Talib - I'm guessing Talib draws T.O, on Sunday. Look for the second eyar corner to stay physical with T.O. and try to frustrate him. He should have some safety help over the top (should being the operative word). T.O. is a dynamic WR, but teams have shown they can win without him touching the ball. I'd like to see the Bucs pressure the Bills to do just that.

Sabby Piscitelli vs himself - Seriously. He has to go back out there and forget last week. Important things are depth, assignment and wrapping up. He has to be disciplined. The Bills WR's aren't slouches and will make him pay.

Gaines Adams vs Demetrius Bell & Brad Butler - Gaines has to win this battle. He is supposed to be on his way to becoming a premier pass rusher. This is a good time to start. Facing two unheralded tackles may be just what he needs.

Donald Penn vs Aaron Schobel - Give Penn his due. He put a stop to Demarcus Ware last week, and now we need the same performance against Schobel. He (Schobel) had a great pick and return for a score last week, let's hope he has no more playmaking in his future.

Antonio Bryant vs Terrence McGee - If Bryant plays, he's going to draw McGee in coverage. Bryant has to win this battle, at least enough to get targeted and free up other options. McGee did a pretty good job against Moss last week, hopefully Bryant will be 100% and give McGee some fits.

Jonathan Compas vs Buffalo DT's - Who the heck is Jonathan Compas? He's Jeff Faine's replacement, that's who. Faine and the OL did an excellent job. Now Compas must come in and guide the Buc's OL and help Leftwich in the passing game.

What to watch for

Will Antonio Bryant be 100%. A key factor in the Bucs passing game, he makes the deep plays go.

The Bucs kicking game. Deep or high punts (or both), and made field goals.

Under Pressure. The DL for the Bucs has to generate pressure and force Trent Edwards to make mistakes. The Bucs OL has to keep Leftwich upright.

Well, there you go, the breakdown on Sunday's game. My prediction will come on Saturday afternoon, but feel free to drop your thoughts and predictions in the comments section.

Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations

Ted Bartlett — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:30:13 -0000

More photos » by Tom Uhlman - AP

3 months ago: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer (9) is sacked by Denver Broncos linebacker Mario Haggan (57) in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009, in Cincinnati. Denver won the game 12-7. (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)

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Happy Tuesday, friends. It's a happy week in Broncoland, hopefully one of many to come this season. There was some good, some bad, some lucky, and some spectacular on Sunday. We'll discuss it all, like we always do, and we won't apologize for winning, because a win is a win. Ready.... BEGIN!!!

1. The Broncos on Sunday reminded me of the Patriots of about 2005, only operating at about 60% of potential. The defensive looks were varied, the tackling and coverage were solid, and the whole was generally greater than the sum of its parts. On offense, there was a lot of commitment to running the ball, some screening, and mostly lower-risk stuff when they did go downfield. The team played like they expected a close game, and did the sorts of things you have to do to win close.

Consider the following:

a. The Broncos committed no turnovers, and forced two. (I personally count the bad snap on the FG, which doesn't technically count, and don't count Scheffler's interception, which does.) I now reiterate my belief that turnovers are the number one determinant of winning and losing.

b. The Broncos committed few penalties, and they were minor ones, the obvious exception being the Casey Wiegmann holding call on the successful 4th-quarter Correll Buckhalter screen.

c. Brett Kern had one notable shank, but mostly punted very well, helping the Broncos in field position. (I now reiterate my belief that field position is the number two determinant of winning and losing.) The return work for the Broncos was very shaky all day, and I would say the Broncos lost the field position battle by a bit. It would have been a lot worse without Kern's solid work, and some good coverage on punts.

d. The clock management methodology at the end of the first half was right out of Bill Belichick's book, and we can expect to see it repeatedly over the coming years. I want to talk about this in some detail, because it's going to become a key part of the character of the Broncos football team.

The unsophisticated observer of football tends to think that a "2-minute drill" calls for clock conservation and a sense of urgency. You know, people like Dan Fouts. It's not that simple, though. You have to consider field position and how many timeouts you have, and do a mental calculation of the probability of your offense scoring, and failing that, the probability of pinning the opposing team deep, and giving them no good shot at scoring, should you have to punt.

The Belichick 2-minute ethos is simple. The number-one objective in a 2-minute situation is to prevent the opposition from scoring. The number-two objective is to score yourself. Deep in your own territory, you make the clock run, almost always by handing off from a spread-out shotgun look. The Patriots have been doing this with Kevin Faulk forever, and I knew that's what the Broncos were doing on first down on Sunday.

Eddie Royal returns the ball to the Denver 17, with 1:48 to go, and 2 timeouts.

DEN 1-10 own 17 yard line 1:48 Handoff to Correll Buckhalter for 7 yards

DEN 2-3 own 24 yard line 1:17 Handoff to Buckhalter for 6 yards

DEN 1-10 own 30 yard line 1:01 Screen pass to Buckhalter for 7 yards

DEN 2-3 own 37 yard line :40 Incomplete deep out to Jabar Gaffney

DEN 3-3 own 37 yard line :34 WR screen to Eddie Royal for 11 yards

Timeout Denver

DEN 1-10 own 48 yard line :26 Deep out to Jabar Gaffney for 21 yards, out-of bounds

DEN 1-10 CIN 31 yard line :20 Incomplete downfield pass to Tony Scheffler (near fumble)

DEN 2-10 CIN 31 yard line :14 Inside handoff to Buckhalter for no gain

Timeout Denver

DEN 3-10 CIN 31 yard line :05 Matt Prater makes 48 yard field goal, Denver leads 3-0 at halftime.

This is very good clock management. The likelihood of driving 83 yards in 1:48 with 2 timeouts, and getting a Touchdown is pretty low, particularly when the offense has struggled all half. The likelihood of getting close enough to try a field goal is much higher.

If you go 3-and-out really quickly on 3 incomplete passes, there is suddenly about 1:35 left, and it's 4th and 10 on your own 17. In 2008, over 2,293 punts in the NFL, the average net outcome was a change in field position of 39.53 yards. Add that to 17, and you just gave the ball to the other team at their own 43, with 1:20 or so to go. They only have to go 20-25 yards to get into field-goal range, which is really manageable. That is why your starting field position matters to your strategy in a compressed-time situation (I don't like the term 2-minute drill. This is the real thing, not a damn drill. It's the old Boatswain's Mate in me). When the Broncos have the ball inside their own 30 or so, expect them to always follow this strategy at the end of the first half.

2. Information from my eyes, from a second pass of the Broncos-Bengals game:

a. The Broncos have a terrific set of CBs. Champ Bailey showed his worth, and Andre' Goodman made one outstanding downfield play, deflecting a ball, and generally had good coverage, even when balls were completed near him. The guy who continued to flash star ability, though, was Alphonso Smith. The Broncos are never going to regret taking this guy.

b. Brett Kern really punted well Sunday, except for one shank. The pass rush bailed him out of that, which I will get into a bit later. For awhile, Kern was the best weapon the Broncos had.

c. Knowshon Moreno ran sideways way too much Sunday. Bobby Turner will certainly be on his back about that, and let's hope the lesson sinks in very quickly.

d. I am not the first person to say this, but I wanted to see more of Peyton Hillis carrying the ball. I wonder if Spencer Larsen's injury caused the staff to shy away from it, since Peyton is really now the only available FB for awhile.

e. Andra Davis had a fantastic game, with 9 tackles, 3 for losses, and 1 sack. He played downhill all day, and thumped some Bengals. That's exactly what we need from him.

f. We need Wesley Woodyard to come in for Davis in coverage situations too, and we got some return on that, with his interception.

g. Wrapping up in the tackling game needs to definitely be better.

3. Information from my eyes, other games' version:

a. The Cardinals really struggled to protect Kurt Warner on Sunday, and it was the main reason they lost to the 49ers. The Niners sacked him 3 times, but hit him a lot of times more than that, 8 according to ESPN.com's box score. The 49ers also struggled in protection, but in key moments, they kept Shaun Hill upright.

b. Warner hasn't looked quite right to me, through the preseason, and into today's game. I haven't figured out what it is yet, but there's something wrong. It's almost like his personal sense of timing isn't there, like it is when he is going well. It will bear watching in the coming weeks, but if he falls off really sharply, the Cardinals will have something to worry about.

c. I really don't like Shaun Hill's skills, but he finds a way to win games. I can see why Mike Singletary likes him, because he is sort of similar to Jim McMahon from a skill-set perspective. I kind of feel bad for Mike, actually, because at no point in his career, as either a player or a coach, has he ever had a big-time QB to work with.

d. Cullen Jenkins is a beast, and he dominated against the Bears on Sunday night. Nobody on the Chicago line could handle him. I've said it before, but his injury almost single-handedly sunk the Packers season last year. When you have a guy like him, you have a really good chance to be stout against the run with 7 in the box, which is what their old Jim Bates-inspired (Bob Sanders-coached) defensive scheme is predicated upon. When they had to stack the box, they couldn't cover well enough anymore, and all of a sudden, they're a 6-10 team.

e. I believed it, and said it on Draft Day, and I believe it even more strongly now. The Packers messed up drafting B.J. Raji, despite the strong likelihood that he'll be a good player. They badly, badly needed help at Offensive Tackle, and they should have either traded up for Eugene Monroe or traded down a bit and taken Michael Oher. Chad Clifton is horrible on the left side, and Allen Barbre, the new RT, looks quite a bit worse than Mark Tauscher, the out-of-work, washed-up guy he replaced. This is a big enough problem to potentially make them struggle to make the playoffs, and it's otherwise a Super Bowl-caliber team.

f. Jay Cutler flat-out choked with that 4th pick. And like on the first three, Cris Collinsworth blamed the receiver. Guys, Cutler doesn't need enabling. That's the lesson from Denver that nobody seems to learn. (He needs to be coached with a foot in his hind parts, actually.) While it is true that the guy (Johnny Knox) needed to shield Al Harris from getting inside him, it was a terrible decision to go there anyway. KC Joyner's bad-decision metric would kill Cutler's game Sunday, because he threw the ball straight to the other team 6 times, with them only catching 4 of them.

g. There were a lot of dropped passes across the NFL this weekend, it wasn't just the Broncos and Bengals. I don't know if receivers were just rusty or what, but it was pretty bad.

h. I loved the call on third-and-one with 1:18 to go in the Packers-Bears game. Aaron Rodgers threw a great ball and hit Greg Jennings for a 51-yard TD pass. Jennings ran a textbook go-route on the play, widening out on Nathan Vasher, and then taking a great line to the catch spot. They exploited the hell out of the whole Bears secondary on that play, and it was an easy pitch and catch.

i. NBC criticism time. Bob Costas doesn't know what the hell he is talking about. (The Colts lost their outstanding receiver Anthony Gonzalez today! Really? Outstanding?) Rodney Harrison can barely get a clean sentence out, and reminds me of Emmitt Smith already, as a TV guy. Tony Dungy is going to get old quick, and the holdovers from the NBC studio still aren't that good either, though I'm glad to be rid of Jerome Bettis. Collinsworth is really hit or miss, but mostly missed Sunday night, and Al Michaels just seems like he doesn't care anymore. Twenty years ago, he was pretty good, but now, he's the worst play-by-play guy in the business. He blows more calls, and misspeaks more often than anybody. It's like a George W. Bush speech with him, every game. It makes me wish Madden 10 was real life, and Tom Hammond was in there instead. Michaels' toupee is atrocious too, but that isn't exactly new news.

j. I got beat up for this a couple weeks ago, but I still think Joe Flacco is better than Matt Ryan, and I want to reiterate it. He can do everything Ryan can do, but he has much more zip on his fastball, and he's significantly more mobile, too. It's kind of reminiscent of the Chris Paul/Deron Williams debate (now, non-debate) in the NBA. Both are really good, but the one who was drafted lower is a bit better.

Flacco was hurt by a lot of drops on Sunday, but he personally looked really good, and was the primary reason Baltimore beat Kansas City. The Chiefs tied the game at 24 with 5:21 to go, and Flacco went and won the game, beating a blitz with a great deep ball to Mark Clayton (who I should have started in the official MHR fantasy league).

k. Tamba Hali continues to look pretty good as a LB in the 3-4 for Kansas City, but Mike Vrabel alternately looked lazy and washed-up on the other side. Big things are allegedly expected from Vrabel this year, but I sure can't tell.

l. My brother Chris (a fellow Broncos fan, and sometimes MHR lurker) was stuck with the Jets-Texans game at home in Los Angeles on Sunday, but he said it was worth watching, so I took in the Short Cut. The Jets defensive front did a job on the Texans O-line, and I asked Chris if it was primarily schematic, or primarily a man beating a man. He said it was some of both, and I agree wholeheartedly, after watching the game. Rex Ryan is definitely still at it, sometimes lining up a three-man line as a 1-technique, 3-technique, and 5-technique, all to one side of the Center, having nothing but LBs on the other side. Nice evaluation, Chris, if you get around to reading this.

Vernon Gholston actually showed some flashes of being able to play, which was surprising, and the Jets clearly have a plan to overload blitz from a lot of fronts. Darrelle Revis did a great job on Andre Johnson, too, really taking Houston's best player out of the game.

m. The second-best defensive rookie I saw this weekend (behind Alphonso Smith) was Brian Cushing of the Texans. He was constantly around the ball, and looked like a better, more downhill-playing Chad Greenway.

n. I continue to be very impressed with Mark Sanchez. He looked poised and talented, which I expected. What I didn't necessarily expect was how well he would bounce back from throwing a TD pass to the other team (for Houston's only points of the game.)

o. So, you remember that thing about your objectives when getting the ball inside 2 minutes of the first half? Here's an example of the wrong way to do it. Tampa Bay started with 2 minutes to play, at their own 14-yard line. They led the game 7-6 at that point.

TB 1-10 own 14 yard line 2:00 WR screen to Michael Clayton, loss of 1 yard

TB 2-11 own 13 yard line 1:21 Byron Leftwich runs out of bounds for a gain of 1 yard, rather than staying in the field of play and gaining a couple additional yards.

TB 3-10 own 14 yard line 1:14 Handoff to Clifton Smith for 4 yards, burning 6 seconds

Dallas Timeout

TB 4-6 own 18 yard line 1:08 Punt out of bounds, Dallas ball, own 44 yard line

DAL 1-10 own 44 yard line 1:01 Tony Romo passes to Jason Witten, 9 yard gain, out-of-bounds at TB 47

DAL 2-1 TB 47 Offsides by (disappointing) Gaines Adams, 5 yard penalty, first down Dallas

DAL 1-10 TB 42 :55 Romo passes to Miles Austin for a 42 yard TD

This is the exact scenario which I described above, that you're trying to avoid.

After Tampa hit on a long pass to Michael Clayton, and Mike Nugent missed his second field goal, Dallas led 13-7 at the half, and went in with all the momentum. In a compressed-time situation, (especially when you lead 7-6), the status quo is okay. Write that down, the status quo is okay. THE STATUS QUO IS OKAY. The dumb play was Leftwich running out of bounds, and it cost the Bucs bigtime.

p. You know who might be the comeback player of the year this year, if he can stay healthy, is Cadillac Williams. He ran with suddenness and violence on Saturday, and looked better than he has since his rookie season.

q. The Patriots offensive line probably makes them not a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Of course, I thought the same thing of the Steelers last year, so take that for what it's worth. It is very, very difficult to be a championship team with a bad offensive line, though, and both of those teams have bad offensive lines.

r. I still think Tennessee is the best all-around team in the AFC. They're really strong on both lines, and their rookie WR, Kenny Britt, is going to open up their running game even further as the season progresses. I picked them at the last minute against Pittsburgh, and though the Steelers won, I feel like I had the game right. The Steelers couldn't block Tennessee, and Tennessee mostly could block Pittsburgh.

s. A rookie CB who was impressive was Derek Cox from the Jaguars. He had a fantastic interception of Peyton Manning in the end zone, on a fade route, and recovered a fumble too. He was hurt by getting beat deep twice by Reggie Wayne, but all in all, I think he's a find at CB, as a 3rd-rounder from William & Mary.

t. The Patriots definitely deserved to lose on Monday night, and there are serious issues with their team. Their offensive line is bad, they lack much talent at RB, and their defense can be thrown on, if they don't get pressure on the QB. They're brilliantly coached, but talent-deficient in some key places. They don't need to apologize for winning, but they do need to remember that they got dominated all game.

u. How about the effort and discipline showed by the Raiders? They came to play football Monday night, and the Chargers mostly looked like they want to sleepwalk through the early part of the season again.

v. Speaking of the Raiders, they must be really happy with the acquisitions of Greg Ellis and Richard Seymour. Those two players really improved their defense, and both got sacks Monday night.

w. Marcus McNeill looked awful against Seymour, and don't underestimate the importance of a long-term Nick Hardwick injury (an assumption, since he left by cart). The Chargers have no quality offensive line depth, not even anybody as good as Russ Hochstein or Seth Olsen.

x. Great coverage by the Raiders, especially Tyvon Branch and Chris Johnson. Branch, especially, did a nice job on Antonio Gates for most of the game. Nnamdi Asomugha was his normal self, even if Vincent Jackson did get a TD on him in the 4th quarter.

y. The Chargers defense is not very good, and the Raiders' suddenly seems like it is. I am positive that the Broncos' defense is better than San Diego's, as I have been saying for a couple weeks now. Shawne Merriman is staying blocked, and they're less talented at DE and ILB than they've been in recent years.

z. You may recall that Louis Murphy was one of my Draft favorites. And, incidentally, he caught a great throw by JaMarcus Russell too, after he struggled for a lot of the game. He is coming along as a player, as I said a couple weeks ago. Russell did struggle with accuracy a lot of the night, but I can see a lot of improvement in his process and decisiveness over this time last year.

aa. Hopefully, Darren Sproles is still having trouble fielding kicks in about 5 weeks. He flubbed three of them Monday night.

4. Between The Lines, Week 1: (Big up bchiper for suggesting the name about a month ago, when I solicited input from the community.)

a. Denver at Cincinnati

Denver Offense vs. Cincinnati Defense:

i. The Broncos offensive tackles were both outstanding, in both pass protection and the running game. Ryan Harris technically gave up a sack, although after 5 seconds and a trip on a shoestring tackle as Ryan rode the player deep and outside; it was totally on Kyle Orton. Antwan Odom got that sack, and another on Russ Hochstein later, and Robert Geathers was a total non-factor in the passing game, mostly against Ryan Clady.

ii. The interior of the Broncos offensive line was much more of a mixed bag. Ben Hamilton was called for holding and a false start, on the key 4th-quarter drive where the Broncos didn't score. He mostly carried out his assignments beyond that, but those lapses are very troubling. Hochstein gave up two sacks, and didn't look good. He really made me miss Chris Kuper. Casey Wiegmann had maybe his worst game as a Bronco, and got pushed backward a few times in the running game. The holding call on the successful Correll Buckhalter screen pass in the 4th quarter was really not much of a hold, but you can't be taking that penalty in that spot.

iii. The interior line for Cincinnati did a much better job than I thought they would, and mostly maintained their gaps in the running game. Hochstein and Wiegmann struggled some with Pat Sims and Domata Peko. I was impressed with their play for the Bengals, and they played a key part in the Broncos running game never really getting going.

iv. Among 20 running plays, I counted 11 zone-blocked plays and 9 man-blocked plays. Buckhalter had good success both ways, and LaMont Jordan had a nice run on a zone play. Peyton Hillis had his only carry behind man-blocking, which I think suits him best, and Knowshon Moreno ran both ways, having more success in man-blocking, which didn't have him running sideways, which was largely his downfall in his underwhelming debut.

v. I would call this battle pretty much a draw, which means the Broncos underachieved. Both sides had some success at times, in a battle that most would have expected the Broncos to win going away. The Broncos have some work to do on the offensive line. Statistically, the Broncos rushed 20 times for 75 yards, 3.8 yard per carry average. Orton was sacked 3 times, and hit 5 more, but really never faced significant pressure from a 4-man rush. Cincinnati really only got there by blitzing.

Cincinnati Offense vs. Denver Defense:

i. The good for Cincinnati: Andrew Whitworth did a pretty nice job at Left Tackle. He showed the ability to be fine there this season. The bad: Anthony Collins had a pretty rough time on the Right side, and looked like a guy who needs to be a backup. Collins never handled Elvis Dumervil well when he rushed from that side, and he got pushed backward a lot in the running game.

ii. As a general statement, the Broncos defensive line did an outstanding job of maintaining the line of scrimmage, and often resetting it a yard behind the blue line on the screen. It was a very encouraging sign against a big offensive line. I was very pleased with the interior performance of both Ronald Fields and Marcus Thomas. They didn't get their names called much, but both played with excellent leverage and physicality.

iii. I felt like the Denver DE/OLBs could have done a much better job in setting the edge in the running game. That is their number-one job, and several times, the interior successfully strung running plays out to the sideline, only to see Cedric Benson get some room out there. They're going to have to get better there.

iv. Of the Broncos' 3 sacks, all came from players who are classified as linebackers. Andra Davis and Mario Haggan both just barely beat Dumervil to the QB. Darrell Reid rushed with his hand down from a DE position on 3rd down, right after Haggan's sack, and beat Collins like he stole something on the play. Those two sacks were really important, incidentally, because both came right after Brett Kern shanked a punt and gave Cincinnati outstanding field position.

v. The Broncos won this battle, no question about it. They wore down a little at the end, but the defensive line was terrific in this game. They allowed 86 yards rushing on 27 carries, with 1 TD. That's a 3.2 yard average, which is very good, especially against a really talented guy like Benson. The pass rush was okay, but can get better. They hit Carson Palmer 4 times, in addition to the 3 sacks, and hurried him several other times.

b. Jacksonville at Indianapolis

Jacksonville Offense vs. Indianapolis Defense:

i. The key matchup featured Dwight Freeney against Eugene Monroe, who was making his NFL debut. Freeney dominated Monroe early in the game, notching a sack, and barely missing another, when David Garrard pulled out of his tackle. Monroe did better as the game went on, and the Jaguars took advantage of Freeney's constant proclivity to rush upfield by running several successful draws to his vacated spot. Monroe did have the key block on Jacksonville's only TD play, impressively hitting Antoine Bethea in space, a la Ryan Clady. On the negative side, Freeney had a neutral-zone infraction in the game, giving Jacksonville a first down.

ii. The Jaguars' other rookie Tackle, second-rounder Eben Britton, also was a mixed bag, mostly against Robert Mathis. He stoned Mathis a few times, got pantsed by him a couple more, but mostly they played close to even. Mathis did have a few impressive plays in the running game as the backside DE, crashing down the line.

iii. I was impressed by the job done by the inside guys for the Jags, including Maurice Williams, Brad Meester, and Vince Manuwai. They opened a lot of holes for Maurice Jones-Drew and anchored very well in the passing game. I only saw one very impressive defensive play by a Colts interior player, and that was a pursuit play by Ed Johnson. I was more impressed with his effort in hustling for 25 yards than anything, really.

iv. The Colts D-line looked the same as ever, with speed from the edges, not much anchoring power, and averageness inside. The Jaguars are much better up front than last season, and I would venture to speculate that they'll be a good offensive line 8-10 weeks from now, when Monroe and Britton have a bit more experience.

v. Statistically, the Jaguars rushed 26 times for 114 yards and 1 TD, a 4.4 yard average. David Garrard was sacked once and hit 6 more times. The numbers tend to support my conclusion that Jacksonville had a slight overall edge in this area.

Indianapolis Offense vs. Jacksonville Defense:

i. Indianapolis' Left Tackle, Charlie Johnson struggled somewhat, mostly against Derrick Harvey. Harvey didn't do a lot in the pass-rushing game, but he made his presence felt in stopping the run. Some were surprised that Johnson ended up as the starter, with Tony Ugoh on the bench, but I was a charter member of the Ugoh-Is-Soft-And-Lousy club a year ago, when the BMIA's of the world were still loving on him. Harvey is improved from his rookie year, but is still a better run player than pass rusher, and probably always will be. He's just not a fast-twitch guy, and smartly tries to play with power rather than quickness.

ii. I've never been the biggest Jeff Saturday fan, and Sunday's game was a good example of the reasons why. He really, really struggles when you ask him to anchor against a power player in pass protection or move a defensive lineman vertically in the running game. This has always been the case to some degree, but he's declined somewhat since his best years, from the looks of things. Saturday's strength is getting out to the second level and hitting pursuers. His quickness is an asset there, and his lack of power is minimized as a liability. He did look good several times in that tasking. I don't think he's a good Center anymore, overall, though - he's more like an average one.

iii. John Henderson had kind of an underwhelming game for the Jags from a playmaking perspective, but he generally was stout inside in the running game. He spent a good amount of time pushing Mike Pollak and Saturday backwards in the running game. Really, the Colts' whole O-line spent a lot of their day a step into their own backfield.

iv. Jacksonville's pass rush was marginal, and they got only one sack, from Reggie Hayward, who subsequently broke his shin and went down for the season. Ryan Lilja got beat for the sack, but the blocking scheme put him in a tough spot, coming from the inside to block an outside rusher.

v. The numbers tell two stories. The Jags were stout against the run, allowing 71 yards on 31 carries, a 2.3 yard average, with 1 TD. Peyton Manning had his way in the passing game though, taking one sack, and only getting hit two additional times. Give the slight edge to the Colts for volume, and if you're the Jaguars, you know you've now gone two offseasons needing pass rush help, and not satisfied the need.

5. The following is the schedule for the regular season for the Between The Lines feature.

Week
1	Jacksonville at Indianapolis
1	Denver at Cincinnati
2	Houston at Tennessee
2	Cleveland at Denver
3	Green Bay at St. Louis
3	Denver at Oakland
4	New York Jets at New Orleans
4	Dallas at Denver
5	Atlanta at San Francisco
5	New England at Denver
6	Baltimore at Minnesota
6	Denver at San Diego
7	Arizona at New York Giants
8	Denver at Baltimore
8	Cleveland at Chicago
9	Green Bay at Tampa Bay
9	Pittsburgh at Denver
10	Chicago at San Francisco
10	Denver at Washington
11	Miami at Carolina
11	San Diego at Denver
12	New York Giants at Denver
12	Pittsburgh at Baltimore
13	Houston at Jacksonville
13	Denver at Kansas City
14	Green Bay at Chicago
14	Denver at Indianapolis
14	Philadelphia at New York Giants
15	New England at Buffalo
15	Oakland at Denver
16	Seattle at Green Bay
16	Denver at Philadelphia
17	Chicago at Detroit
17	Kansas City at Denver

All 32 teams will be evaluated at least once. I'll evaluate the Broncos 17 times, obviously, and the next most frequent subjects will be Chicago and Green Bay with 4 appearances, Baltimore and the Giants with 3, and Cleveland, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, New England, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego and San Francisco twice each. All other teams will appear once.

6. My apologies for the lack of Lighting Up The Scoreboard Friday. I was having software problems on the recording from the Madden end, and I don't even know if it will work this week, when i try again. I will at least shoot to have an audio podcast this week, even if I can't get the Madden content in there.

7. Retired for John Elway.

8. Man-cavery:

I have been fighting the urge to spend $1,000 on another living-room TV, and I have managed to keep that beast at bay, for now at least. I brought the TV on the right (a 32" job), in from my bedroom for gameday, and I think I will continue to do so for awhile. I had the Red Zone channel on the bigger laptop, the main game I wanted to see on the bigger TV, and another interesting game on the smaller, moved-in TV. I was keeping notes on the smaller laptop, on the couch. My only problem was changing channels, because the remote wanted to change the channels on both DirecTV receivers, when I only wanted one to move. Does anybody know any solutions to that?

That's all I have after taking up a lot of your time. Have a great week, and let's hope I can get my software issues worked out this week. It's Browns week, which means a lot of grief for me from the locals here in Cleveland, but it's the kind of grief I am happy to absorb if the Broncos win. In any case, we'll be back next Tuesday with more Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Grading out the offense - Week 1

Buc Wild — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:00:52 -0000

It's that special time of the week again. Time to look back on the prior week's game and see how players and units played. We'll be player specific when possible and will grade out the players/units based on that week's performance. Also, without having the ability to watch tape at this point, I'll be grading them out based on what I saw at the game and on the replay at home.

Let's jump on in.

Quarterbacks

Byron Leftwich - It's nice to only have to look at one quarterback here. Leftwich provided a pretty efficient day going 25 of 41 for 276 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT's, 1 fumble (recovered by offense) and 0 sacks. Except for the 41 attempts, I'll take that every week. Leftwich showed good poise in the pocket, hung in there and delivered strikes. He didn't show much touch on the ball, particularly on a play where he missed AB in the end zone. Threw several strong passes over the middle. Missed high on a few attempts. I liked what I saw. We were able to stretch the field a little bit, use the middle and sidelines and spread the ball around. Would like to see him not get hit as much and tone down that overthrow. Grade: B+

Running Backs

Cadillac Williams - Hope you guys are ready for some Caddy praise. I said it once, I'll say it again, he looked like a feature back, like the guy we drafted. Stat line was 13 carries, 97 yards, 1 TD. Thats 7.46 YPC. He routinely hit the hole and fell forward at the end. Showed good vision and good reads. Picked up the pass rush good minus one occassion that had no bearing on the play. The fact that he stayed on the field and produced goes a long way. Hope there are more of these to come. Grade: A

Derrick Ward - Not the showstopping performance we may have envisioned, but a good day nonetheless. 12 carries for 62 yards and 1 TD. 5.16 YPC. Also caught 2 passes for 21 yards. Showed his affinity for hurdling players again. Was able to hit the hole and showed some good speed outside. Formed a good duo with Cadillac Grade: B+

Earnest Graham/Clifton Smith - Not enough tape here to make any assessments. Graham had one carry, which you can't read into. WIth Caddy and Ward going strong, Morris stuck with them. Grade: Incomplete

Wide Receivers

Michael Clayton - We knew he was a beast in the run game, and did nothing to deter us from that assessment. On the receiving side, he did drop two tough passes but had 5 catches for 93 yards, including a tough catch on a 47 yard bomb just before half. Truly a tough guy after going over the middle and getting lit up, only to see the safety be the one who went down. His blocking combined with his receiving makes him worth the money at this point. Would like to see more of this type of performance. Grade: B+

Antonio Bryant - 2 catches 29 yards. As an interesting side note, if you take his pay and evenly distribute it over his 16 games he plays (hopefully), it equates into $617,750 per game. So each catch in that game cost the Bucs $308,875. Bryant and Leftwich may not have been in sync with the whole preseason being a waste. Bryant also tweaked his knee and was removed from the game. No word on severity, although Im guessing it's not bad. A big performance wasn't necessarily needed as other guys stepped up. Still, we need our #1 guy. Grade: C

Sammy Stroughter - 3 catches for 25 yards and his first heartbreak in the NFL with his TD being called back. Welcome to the NFL little guy. Wasn't a big factor in the game, but showed he can get open and play. Had a drop, but made some tough catches. Grade: C+

Kellen Winslow - Was more involved in offense at start and end of game, but vanished during the middle. Did score a TD late in the game, but had a crucial 4th down drop that would have extended a drive. Morris threw praise at K2 for not "riding the emotional roller coaster" after his 4th down drop. Sorry, no praise here. Catch the ball. Finished with 5 catches for 30 yards. Not quite the game changer we imagined. Yet. Grade: C-

The rest - Jerramy Stevens led the way with 4 catches for 41 yards, and Clark and Stovall had some contributions, but nothing major. Stovall looks lackluster in the regular season. Same as prior years. These guys performed at an average clip for backups Grade: C

Offensive Line

First Team - Looked very solid against both the run and pass. Zero sacks given up with a good pass rush and a cinder block at QB. Rush did break through at times, but Leftwich had time to deliver the ball. 5.6 YPC in the running game. Were able to open and hold holes and finish blocks. I'm very itnerested to look at some advanced stats once they are available to see how this unit did. Looked promising. Anytime Leftwich drops back 41 times and is kept clean (no sacks), that seems like a win. Did allow Leftwich to get hit, but could be a product of his propensity to hold the ball. Gave up 8 QB hits. Grade: B+

Overall

450 total yards. 276 passing. 174 rushing. 0 turnovers. 3 TD's. A HUGE change from the past. The Bucs were able to move the ball more times than not. Drives were sustained and involved a good mix of run and pass (42 pass plays, 31 rush plays). The switch in schemes came together in Week one. The OC being fired, at least for now, did not cause any disturbance on the offensive side of the ball. The worst part of the offensive day was the playcalling on the 2 minute drive that left too much time on the clock resulting in a Dallas score. Hopefully we can chalk that up to youth or a rookie mistake. This was a performance to be encouraged about. Grade: B+

Grading out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Special Teams

Buc Wild — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:00:12 -0000

Special Teams always accounts for what the talking heads like to call "hidden yards." Thursday night's game didn't feature many big special teams plays either for or against us. Let's hop on over and look at the grades

Kick/Punt Return

No one took one all the way back, but Clifton Smith still showed he can move with the ball and create some plays. He had two nice returns where he displayed his shiftiness and made guys miss. You make one guy miss on a punt return, it could equal big yards. Sammy Stroughter came back down to Earth, but as long as positive yards are taken on punt returns and we hit the 20 on kickoff returns, I can't argue. Not a stellar night, but average. Grade: C

Punter

I will continue to harp on Dirk Johnson until I see some consistency. He's never had a regular season punt blocked, but that didn't stop him from getting a preseason punt blocked. Granted, the line didn't protect, but ultimately, it falls on him. I won't knock him too much for that. He averaged 32 yards per punt. That looks like an awful number but when you look at where he was punting (inside the 50), it's hard to achieve any distance. He did generate one fair catch inside the 20, but I want to see some inside the 10. He also half shanked a punt that went end over end. We need consistency here. Grade: C

Kicker

I'm almost tired of talking about this at this point. Mike Nugent came on, displayed a little bit better power on kickoffs, getting a few to the endzone, but no touchbacks. He was 2 out of 3 on field goals, with his miss coming on a 51 yard attempt. This was after he made a 46 yarder whistled dead due to a penalty. His misses have been from 46,51,51 so it at least he isn't missing chip shots, but right now he is 4 for 7 on the preseason. Not all that impressive. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he has no competition at this point. Makes me wonder if Nugent will be the guy, or if they are just saving Bryant's leg at this point. Grade: C+

Coverage Units

Kickoff returns were consistently taken outside the 30. Punt returns were pretty well shut down. Just no big plays and maintain field position. That seems to be the MO here. Grade: B

Grading out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Offense

Buc Wild — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:00:14 -0000

More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP

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It's game like this that give me a love/hate relationship with this column. It's hard to be a fan and to be objective at the same time, and after a frustrating game like last night's it makes it difficult to put the "writer" hat on and be fair and balanced. This week we're gonna run through position by position in some cases, not player by player as we saw mostly starters, and I'll be honest, when in the seats at a game, it's nto always easy to tell who is who, particularly on the offensive or defensive lines.

Quarterbacks

I feel like we've said all we can say at this point. But let's dive in player by player here since this seems to be the hot topic around the Bay area

Byron Leftwich - We know who he is. Us expecting more is a pipe dream. He has a slow windup that will result in fumbles and sacks, as we saw last night. He has a cannon of an arm, which is a belssing and a curse. He rifles everything, which is great in places, but caused him to miss several open receivers. He felt pressure in the pocket and delivered the dump offs at correct times. Led our (only) two scoring drives. Not as accurate as I'd hoped, but kept the chains moving. Grade: C+

Luke McCown - Again, we know what we have, but we keep expecting more. Maybe he needs more experience, but i disagree with that notion because in probably 75% of his games, he has looked the same. He has a problem staying in the pocket. He makes reads and decisions in slow motion. He scrambles into too many sacks. He can deliver a nice ball, as we saw him hook up with Jerramy Stevens (though Stevens dropped it). Has a habit of rolling back and right on most plays. His mobility does help in places where players are covered, but just like Leftwich's cannon, it's a good and bad thing. Must learn to read and react faster. Allow wide receivers to make plays. Grade: C-

Josh Freeman - This is what I expected of him all along, to look like a rookie. When he wasn't running for his life, he was off on his throws and stared down receivers. I'm still encouraged in the long run with what I've seen of him, but this performance pretty much sealed his opportunity to play early. See you in Week 8-10 rookie (unless we are gunning for a playoff berth). Grade: C-

Josh Johnson - So much for him getting a chance to show his stuff. This leads me to believe that either he is cut material, or his position as 3rd QB is safe. I'd like to give him a chance (which I'm sure he and Freeman will get in the next game) to see what he can do. Too bad we can't see him with starters. He may not be great, but give the guy some snaps. Grade: B for being on the bench (in reality he's a definite INC)

Running Backs

Cadillac Williams - A great performance from this guy. No he didn't shatter any records (or body parts) but he didn't miss a beat. He ran with authority, found holes, made guys miss. Remove my obvious bias for the guy, and I like what I see as a Buc fan. Three strong, solid backs, and thats not counting Clifton Smith. This was a great (beginning of a) comeback for Caddy. Keep it up. Grade: A-

Everyone Else - Our running game has to be relied on this year. I know we were trying to evaluate three QB's last night, which is why we didnt run as much, but we've got a stable of very good running backs. Ward had a bit of an off night, but I'm not worried. Graham and Askew looked strong. I like it. Grade: B+

Wide Receivers

It's so hard to grade these guys because they aren't starters. We know that. Stovall had a atypical Stovall preseason game. He looked good. I want to see that in Octoboer. Clark was jsut average. Stroughter looks like a definite playmaker. This guy will be a weapon. Cortez Hankton caught a ball! Now please catch a bus out of here. Jerramy Stevens dropped a nice pass from McCown and though Winslow did some other things well (fumble recovery), where is his receiving threat? Paid alot of money for a blocker to this point. Hard for the WR's to make an impact when the QB's either deliver the ball high, check down, or get sacked Grade: B-

Offensive Line

I heard Davin Joseph say the line still has a long way to go. If thats the case, Im pretty dang excited. The line looked pretty good for most of the night. Both Leftwich and McCown had some time to throw, though there were some break downs on blitzes. The running game had some great blocking going on with both Caddy and Graham finding space to run. Again, progress was made. Grade: B

Overall

The Bucs had some good stuff happen on offense. The good news is we ran the ball well, we were able to move the ball through the air, no interceptions were thrown, and no fumbles were lost. The bad news? We put up 6 points, all in the first half. That isn't acceptable. For all this talk about red zone efficiency, we put up a huge goose egg on Thursday night. It seems we can have Wyche, Dungy, Gruden, or Morris as the head honcho, we still settle for field goals. We have to put a touchdown up on the board. Our defense played pretty darn good and to give them 6 points to work with isn't a good thing. The execution was off at times, but there was enough good stuff there that it wasn't a total failure. Grade: C+ (B- for execution, and moving the ball, D+ for scoring)

Grading out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Special Teams

Buc Wild — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:30:10 -0000

Last piece of the "Grading out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers" columns. This one focuses on special teams and their performance.

Short intro, short piece. Hit the Jump for more.

Special Teams

Kicker

Mike Nugent - Can't continue to go 1 for 2 and make team. No competition at this point. For someone with a strong leg, again, he didn't reach end zone once on kickoffs. His field goal tries have sufficient distance, and until I see Bryant kick from the same spots, I'm still not willing to say Bryant's leg is weaker. Grade: C

Punter

Dirk Johnson - Has been overwhelmingly average. Punting from Jax 45 yard line, he dropped a kick at the 20. Not acceptable. That ball has to be on the 10 or give the coverage teams a chance to down it inside the 5. Other kciks were decent, but not changing field position. Grade: C-

Return Units

Sammy Stroughter - We've got several options at KR/PR thanks to SS. Showed good agility, good vision and ability to hit the seam quickly. Danced too much at times. Good ball security and good speed. If he can learn that sometimes its best to take the 5-7 yards and not dance, he will be VERY good at this role. Grade: A-

Clifton Smith - Is a great asset on special teams. Still had good vision and ability to get upfield. Delivered a good hit on coverage team. Grade: B

Maurice Stovall - I'll chalk this up to being a preseason game, but that was an idiotic move he made by not downing punt. Not going to help his cause any, though I'm 99% sure he is one of the gunners on opening day. Grade D-------

Overall the special teams unit was above average, thanks to a few returns. Funny after all these years our return game may be the better part of special teams with the way the kicker/punter are performing. Grade: B