Zuttah replaces Larsen at left guard

September 16, 2011

Raheem Morris announced that Jeremy Zuttah has cracked the starting lineup for Sunday’s game.  It’ll mark the fourth time in four seasons that Zuttah’s been called upon to either fill in for an injured teammate or pick up the slack for an under-performer. The move sends second-year left guard Ted Larsen to the bench in …

Bucs Rank 4th In Stats, Inc. “Protection index”

September 16, 2011

While pursuing the internet this morning. I came across an interesting cumulative measure of an offensive line’s ability to protect the passer called “Protection Index”. The index, which uses a proprietary formula, was created by sports information leader STATS to provide a composite gauge for an offensive line’s ability to protect the quarterback. The fundamentals …

Personnel Groupings: Week 1

September 16, 2011

After an atrocious offensive game plan against the Detroit Lions, in which offensive coordinator Greg Olson used just four different personnel groupings on offense. Here is the breakdown of the personnel groupings used on the 64 plays run by the Bucs offense. 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE & 3 WR) 52 (5 runs, 2 …

Brian Price to start Sunday at Vikings

September 15, 2011

Says head coach Raheem Morris: “We’ll still use our normal rotation because I want to keep those guys fresh, and I want those guys to have the ability to be strong and be tough and fight as a unit. But [Price has] certainly earned the ability to go out there and play first.” Rick Stroud …

Quick Look: Bucs @ Vikings

September 15, 2011

BUCCANEERS: Aim for 5th consecutive win vs. Vikings…In 5 career starts indoors, QB Josh Freeman has completed 91 of 133 (68.4 pct.) for 1,243 yards with 7 TDs vs. 4 INTs for 103.1 rating. In career, when Freeman starts & has 100+ rating, Bucs are 7-1. Since start of 2009, Freeman is 1 of 4 …

“The Filthy Five” – The 5 Hardest Hits in Buccaneer History (that I could find on YouTube)

September 14, 2011

Initially, I set out to catalog the five hardest hitters in the history of the franchise — something I still might pursue later in the season.  But thanks to John Lynch, the prompt lacked surprise; he was the only eligible candidate for the list’s premier entry, setting standards that no other Buccaneer has come close …

Buc Central’s POW-R’-ANKINGS: 2011 Week 1

September 14, 2011

Buc Central’s POW-R’-ANKINGS; The power rankings are the product of a simple mathematical formula, using points for and points against. The rankings have predicted 10 of the last 21 Super Bowl winners. Further, 15 of the last 21 Super Bowl winners finished the regular season No. 1 or No. 2 in the POW-R’-ANKINGS system. Unlike …

Early Downs Problematic For Young Defense

September 12, 2011

Sure the Bucs young defense gave up 431 total yards to the Detroit Lions. But did you know they held the Lions to just 2-of-11 for an 18% conversion rate on third downs. The Bucs defense was consistently off balance on early downs allowing the Lions to rack up 210-yards on 1st down and 112-yards …

Good, Bad, & The Ugly: Lions

September 11, 2011

Thank God that’s over with. Week one, the team we all had so many expectations for just got demolished by the Detroit Lions. The score doesn’t do the game justice, not at one point beyond the first quarter did I think we actually stood a chance. That was one of the toughest things I’ve ever …

Bucs To Be Fined For Impermissible Contact

September 11, 2011

During CBS Television Network’s NFL pre-game show, The NFL Today, host James Brown and analysts Charley Casserly broke the news that the Bucs are one of five teams the league office has found to have had impermissible contact with players during the lockout. It’s unclear, whether or not the team will be penalized for the …