Fasheed Payne

[BusinessmanJ]

Gruden out, Payne in
In a press conference, Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden spontaneously announced his resignation from the team after receiving an offer to be an analyst for Monday Night Football. "I just couldn't deny such an offer. I felt my time as a coach was up and that I needed a change in employment. No biggie," Gruden said, with a smile across his face.

Gruden would not just leave owner John Barclay III and the Bucs in the dust though. He recommended they hire a good friend of his, a youngster by the name of Fasheed Payne, an Orlando native. With training camp fast approaching, Barclay took Gruden for his word and hired the aspiring head coach, leaving no regrets: "If Gruden says he's a good hire, he's probably a good hire," commented Barclay.

Gruden insists Payne is a lot like himself: ambitious, energetic, and optimistic. "He'll get Tampa some publicity, that's for sure. He is a headliner." is what Gruden had to say about his good friend. Gruden said the playbooks will be changed around but that Tampa will love him for it.

Gruden seems enthusiastic about the future of the Buccaneers and says he will continue to root for them. Fasheed was unable to be reached for comment but a multitude of players have supported the decision to hire him on Facebook and on their player websites.

[BusinessmanJ]

Tampa Bay's 2008 Draft Picks
Pick	Player	College	Pos	Ht	Wt
1-20	Aqib Talib		CB	6'2"	180
2-27	Dexter Jackson		WR	5'10"	183
3-20	Jeremy Zuttah		RG	6'4"	290
4-16	Dre Moore		DT	6'4"	312
5-25	Josh Johnson		QB	6'3"	218
6-9	Geno Hayes		ROLB	6'2"	210
7-31	Cory Boyd		HB	6'1"	200

The Bucs went with a balanced approach in the draft, picking up a mix of offensive and defensive players. They drafted mostly based on team need.

[BusinessmanJ]

Remind me to thank Jon Gruden for this job opportunity. Oh man...I'm a head coach in the NFL. What to do first?

I know. Establish my philosophy with the team. Make it very clear too.


Offensive Playbook Control: I'll let Bill Muir call the plays as long as my playbook is used. I just don't feel ready to call my own plays yet.

Offensive Scheme: They were a west coast team before and they're a west coast team now. It's just some things are a little different. I want to keep a balance between run and pass, just like things have always been for these guys.

Defensive Playbook Control: Monte Kiffin probably won't be defensive coordinator come next year, but he will call the plays for now.

Defensive Scheme: The team is still in a 4-3 but we will be blitzing A LOT.
QB: I cannot STAND statues in the pocket. I need some mobility. He needs to be pretty accurate and does not need some rocket arm. Just please be moderately fast.

HB: A balanced halfback is necessary. He should be able to run over guys or around them.

FB: A nice fullback that can truck through fellas is always nice but I prefer dominant lead blockers at this position

WR: Gruden seemed to like taller receivers but I like the small and shifty ones that run routes precisely.

TE: I like balance at TE: you should be able to catch and/or block in any given situation.

T: Big *** tackles have always been a fetish of mine, so to say. I love big engulfing linemen on the outside that overwhelm the opposition's best pass rushers.

G/C: On the inside, I prefer skill over anything, or more specifically, balance.

DE/DT: I need pass rushers on the line to put pressure on the QB but I still want them to be competent in the run. Maybe athletic freaks would work?

OLB: I need a balance of blitzing and coverage.

MLB: My middle linebacker needs to be the shark of the defense, all over the place. I need him to be very athletic.

CB: My corners will often be in man AND zone coverage so they need to do well at both.

FS: My free safety will be patrolling the deep parts of the field and making plays whenever possible.

SS: The strong safety should be balanced: able to lay that wood but also good enough to defend in coverage.

K/P: Accuracy and foot strength are both key here.

Eugene Wilson is a perfect SS in our system so he was moved to that position with Tanard Jackson staying at FS.

[BusinessmanJ]

Bucs make early cuts
The Bucs have taken the initiative and have already cut several players from the team. Fasheed Payne was reached for the first time to discuss the reasoning behind the cuts. He said, "We have a very specific philosophy here in Tampa Bay. If you don't fit the mold, you better be really good or else you might not make the squad. This was the case here."

I have made the decision to cut some guys. I've already talked to the press about it as well as the coaches.

Byron Leftwhich is something I hate: A STATUE. We have EIGHT quarterbacks on the roster, including Byron, so it needs to be cut down. He will not give us any penalty so it only makes sense to go ahead and get rid of him. He will not be starting with us.

Fullback Chris Hetherington was also released. We have two fullbacks already in B.J. Askew and Carl Stewart. One of them will be cut also.

Wide receivers Paris Warren and Michael Spurlock were cut too. I HIGHLY doubt these two can learn my playbook and they are not very good at all.

Defensive tackle Greg Peterson is 24 years old so I'm sure he'll find a new home someday. It just won't be with Tampa Bay.

The last of the cuts were outside linebackers Mike McCoy and Leon Joe. They're both relatively young and I hope they find new homes. We just had too many outside linebackers to keep track of.

We've also placed SS Sabby Piscitelli on the trade block. He has loads of potential but just isn't the type of strong safety we desire AND we already have Eugene Wilson.

[BusinessmanJ]

Bucs make big trades
In a press conference, it was announced that Bucs QB Jeff Garcia and WR Joey Galloway have been traded to the Falcons & Texans respectively. Both teams gave up a 2009 3rd round pick and 2010 5th round pick to obtain these players. The Falcons now have a mentor and backup for rookie quarterback Matt Ryan; the Texans have a potential #2 option next to Andre Johnson.


Both of these guys are old and injury-prone. I just felt it was time to move on from them and maybe let some youth get their chance.

[BusinessmanJ]

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Miami Dolphins
Sep 9, 2008	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Tampa Bay Buccaneers ()	0	0	14	10	24
Miami Dolphins ()	3	7	0	7	17

Team Stats Comparison
	TAM	MIA
Total Offense	244	236
Rushing Yards	124	71
Passing Yards	120	165
First Downs	12	14
Punt Return Yards	52	55
Kick Return Yards	90	126
Total Yards	386	417
Turnovers	1	3
3rd Down Converstion	2-16	4-13
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	3/1	2/0
Penalties	12/111	5/45
Posession Time	29:42	29:52

Tampa Bay Buccaneers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT B. Griese 10/12 120 1 B. Gradkowski 0/2 J. Johnson 0/6 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD C. Williams 10 56 5.6 2 E. Graham 6 27 4.5 D. Savage 4 18 4.5 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD M. Stovall 3 72 24.0 D. Jackson 2 16 8.0 0 A. Bryant 2 15 7.5 1 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK D. Penn 3 J. Zuttah 2 1 A. Sears 2 A. Smith 2 J. Trueblood 1 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD D. Brooks 10 C. Hovan 4 2 S. Davis 3 1 R. Nece 3 1 E. Wilson 2 1 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG J. Bidwell 1/2 3/3 6 31 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 M. Bryant 5 188 37.6 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD A. Talib 2 54 27.0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD A. Talib 4 43 10.7

Miami Dolphins PASSING C/A YDS TD INT C. Henne 7/14 83 1 2 T. Dilfer 4/12 66 1 J. Beck 1/6 16 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD R. Brown 9 52 5.7 R. Williams 2 18 9.0 J. Parmele 7 -8 -1.1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD E. Wilford 3 33 11.0 G. Camarillo 2 40 20.0 1 D. Hagan 2 34 17.0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK R. Mauia 2 S. Satele 2 S. McKinney 1 S. Murphy 1 1 J. Smiley 1 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD J. Taylor 4 2 E. Miles 4 W. Allen 4 R. Godfrey 4 R. Ninkovich 3 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG J. Feely 1/1 3 42 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 B. Fields 4 189 47.2 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD K. Davis 3 75 25.0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD T. Perry 5 38 7.6

Bad opponent or not, this was a good game for us. We have progressed with learning the playbooks and have unlocked the potential of two of our rookies, Aqib Talib and Dexter Jackson. Talib may just be a bust; Jackson was worth the 2nd round pick apparently but will need time to develop.

Our next game is against New England in our stadium.

[BusinessmanJ]

Just realized I had the date wrong on that last boxscore. I think I just won't do dates. I mean, who really cares?

Also, I might just sim through preseason and start posting boxscores for regular season when I start actually playing the games.

[BusinessmanJ]

After going 2-2 in the preseason, I made the promise to Mr. Barclay, the team, AND the media that we'd make the playoffs. Even though I wasn't impressed during the preseason, it'd be harder for us NOT to make the playoffs, considering the competition (or lack thereof) in our division.

The depth chart for this year will be as followed:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Depth Chart -
Regular Offense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
WR	Ike Hilliard	Michael Clayton
TE	Ben Troupe	Alex Smith	John Gilmore
LT	Luke Petitgout	Donald Penn
LG	Arron Sears	Anthony Davis
C	Jeff Faine	Dan Buenning
RG	Davin Joseph	Jeremy Zuttah
RT	Jeremy Trueblood	Donald Penn
WR	Dexter Jackson	Maurice Stovall
QB	Josh Johnson	Brad Gradkowski	Luke McCown
FB	Carl Stewart
HB	Earnest Graham	Warrick Dunn	Carnell Williams
Base 4-3 Defense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LDE	Kevin Carter	Marques Douglas
LDT	Rob Sims	Jovan Haye
RDT	Dre Moore	Chris Hovan
RDE	Gaines Adams	Greg White
WLB	Cato June	Ryan Nece
MLB	Barrett Ruud	Jay Jay Neysmith
SLB	Derrick Brooks	Geno Hayes
CB	Ronde Barber	Aqib Talib	Sammy Davis
SS	Eugene Wilson	Jermaine Phillips
FS	Tanard Jackson	Jonathan Hefney
CB	Phillip Buchanon	Torrie Cox
Special Teams
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
K	Matt Bryant
P	Josh Bidwell
PR	Aqib Talib
KR	Phillip Buchanon
LS	Jeff Faine