Hey! Hey! Tampa Bay! - A Buccanners Tale (M13)

[TheBastard]

Breaking News!

Cornerback Terence Newman cut by the Bengals
signed by the Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers today signed veteran Cornerback Terence Newman to a 1 year deal worth $2.05M. Newman, 34, is one of the fastest cornerbacks in the NFL and has really good coverage skills. "We were in need of a number one cornerback to face those very good receivers out there, and Eric Wright or Alfonso Smith were not the solution." In order to make space on the roster for Newman, other cornerback Kevin Thomas, signed before the start of the preseason, was released. "The coaches believe in me" Newman said "And I don't want to let them down. I will make everything I can to help this secondary".

[TheBastard]

Cut Days #3: The Final Roster

Before entering the regular season, the Buccaneers have to cut 6 other players to come down to 53 active players. These are the most difficult cuts to make, but now lets view them.

C Cody Wallace(69): We are not planning to enter the season with 3 offensive lineman in the same position, and C Ted Larsen is better and younger than him.
RG Derek Hardman(63): Same as above. His contract was set to end at the end of the season.
DT Lazarius Levingston(67): 4th defensive tackle on the roster, didn't really show up in preseason.
CB E.J. Biggers(70): Not a bad cornerback at all, he as the speed and some skills. But his contract will expire at the end of the season, and I'd prefer having a better Myron Lewis who is going to stay for another season.
CB LeQuan Lewis(73): Even if he could be a good special teamer with his speed, he doesn't have enough skills to stay on the roster with our other talented cornerbacks.
FS Keith Tandy(70): I want to go with 3 quarterback on the roster, so the only thing possible to reach the 53 players limit is cut the 3rd free safety. I'm sorry for him, because he had the talent.

Other News
Michael Smith will have the backup job instead of LeGarrette Blount, who struggled in both the running and passing plays. Weber-Orlovsky war still open. Greg Schiano: "They will play one half each other this week".

[TheBastard]

Preseason Week 4 @Washington

1st Half
For the last preseason game, the Washington Redskins will have the ball first and, immediatly, roughing the passer on Gerald McCoy, but they can't do anything and they punt early. First quarterback on the field will be Adam Weber, who completes a long pass to Wide Receiver Arrelious Benn on the second play of the drive, but then he throws an interception to Cornerback DeAngelo Hall, Washington ball. RG3 and Alfred Morris put the team on their back and the drive will end with a touchdown run by Morris to give the Redskins the lead.
TB 0 - 7 WAS. Tampa Bay goes 3 and out, punting the ball back. The redskins are just destroying us on the run, bu after Quarterback Kirk Cousins enters the field, the Bucs stop the oppent offense and forces a field goal.
TB 0 - 10 WAS. The Buccaneers have the ball again and on 3rd and 16 Weber hits Doug Martin on the corner route and Martin takes it all the way for the touchdown!
TB 7 - 10 WAS. The defense forces a 3 and out, the Bucs get in field goal range, but Barth's kick is short. Next play, Cousins throws an inaccurate backward pass that turns into a fumble, Eric Foster picks it up and gets stopped on the 11 yards. 4th and 1 from the 2, Barth makes the field goal to tie the game.
TB 10 - 10 WAS. The tie didn't last long, as Cousins drives his team down the field and scoring a touchdown while in the redzone, passing to Wide Receiver Leonard Hankerson.
TB 10 - 17 WAS. Weber nearly compeltes a long pass to Naanee, but the reciver drops it, and on 3rd down the young quarterback throws another interception, this time to Cedric Griffin. The Redskins will settle for a field goal to end the half.
TB 10 - 20 WAS. END OF THE 1ST HALF

2nd Half
Dan Orlovsky will now lead the Buccaneers offense. The quarterback does just what he has to to, driving his team from the 20 yards, completing medium-long passes, helped by the run of Smith and Blount, and finally completing a touchdown pass to Doug Martin.
TB 17 - 20 WAS. The team is hot now, and the defense forces the Redskins to go 3 and out. The Bucs get to the redzone, where Orlovsky is sacked by Ryan Kerrigan and then overthrows Sammie Stroughter, so they settle for a field goal to tie the game again.
TB 20 - 20 WAS. The Redskins have the ball again. Kirk Cousins completes a long bass to Brandon Banks to put the offense in enemy territory, managing to get to the 2 yard line, but a holdin penality takes Royster's touchdown back, but it doesn't matter, as Cousins throws a perfect pass to Morris who incredibly makes the catch while covered perfectly by Free Safety Ahmad Black, giving the Redskins the lead again in the 4th quarter.
TB 20 - 27 WAS. First play of the Bucs, Smith gets drilled and fumbles the ball, recovered by Washington. Aaron Morgan sacks cousins on 1st down for a 7 yards loss, but on 3rd down the quarterback completes the long pass to a completely wide open Brandon Banks, giving the offense a fresh set of downs. However, the defense stops them, forcing a field goal.
TB 20 - 30 WAS. Tampa Bay goes 3 and out. Then, Cousins throws a bomb to a wide open Leonard Hankerson, who just walks into the endzone, putting the game out of reach.
TB 20 - 37 WAS. 4th and inches, the Bucs go for it with a QB Sneak and Orlovsky gets it. Then again, 4th down and 2, but this time the pass is incomplete, Redskins ball, the game is over.
TB 20 - 37 WAS. END OF THE GAME.

Statistics
Passing
Adam Weber, 67.7 rating, 8/15, 139 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Dan Orlovsky, 77.3 rating, 6/15, 71 yards, 1 TD

Rushing
LeGarrette Blount, 3 attempts, 16 yards
Michael Smith, 15 attempts, 69 yards, 1 fumble

Receiving (only WR/TE)
WR Legedu Naanee, 3 receptions, 42 yards
WR Arrelious Benn, 2 receptions, 28 yards
TE Luke Stocker, 2 receptions, 11 yards

Defensive
MLB Jovan Belcher, 7 tackles
DT Eric Foster, 4 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
LE Aaron Morgan, 2 tackles, 1 sack
LOLB Adam Hayward, 5 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss

Kicking
Connor Barth 2/3 FG

Coach thoughts
This is so far the worst game we had all preseason. We couldn't stop the run or the pass. Receivers were always wide open. We had 1 sack all game and we hade 3 turnovers. I have nothing more to say.

Next Week: Week 1 vs Carolina

[TheBastard]

Regular Season Begins!

Current Roster

QB: Josh Freeman(85), Dan Orlovsky(70), Adam Weber(70)
Comments: Freeman was going to be our starting quarterback from the beginning. Dan Orlovsky played a beautiful preseason, while Adam Weber finished with 3 TD and 4 INT, against the 2 TD and 0 INT of Dan, who also led a comeback victory against the Dolphins.

HB: Doug Martin(86), Michael Smith(65), LeGarrette Blount(79)
Comments: Doug Martin had a great preseason, helping in both the running and passing game, proving he is the best option for the starting spot. Michael Smith beat LeGarrette Blount for the backup role, rushing for 226 yards and 2 TD and showing some great speed. Blount, instead, is really slow, he didn't produced a lot in these 4 games and there are some doubts he will be back at the end of the season, if he doesn't get traded earlier.

FB: Eric Lorig(85)
Comments: Don't have much to say. He is the only fullback on the roster and it's pretty good doing is job. He's also really young.

WR: Vincent Jackson(94), Mike Williams(85), Arrelious Benn(79), Legedu Naanee(78), Tiquan Underwood(67), Sammie Stroughter(67), Chris Owusu(66)
Comments: Despite having a really good preseason, Legedu Naanee still didn't impressed us enough to gain the role of 3rd receiver. He still has difficulties against press coverage and doesn't have the speed to play as a slot. Tiquan Underwood performance, and some drops by Stroughter, helped him gaining the 5th receiver spot. Owusu will probably just play on special teams because of his speed.

TE: Dallas Clark(81), Luke Stocker(69), Drake Dunsmore(64)
Comments: An injury in the game against the Titans took away Dunsmore from the competition, but we have confidence in Luke in case Clark gets hurt.

LT: Donald Penn(89)
LG: Carl Nicks(93), Roger Allen(63)
C: Jeremy Zuttah(78), Ted Larsen(72)
RG: David Joseph(83), Jamon Meredith(73)
RT: Demar Dotson(82), Jeremy Trueblood(81)
Comments: I just hope that no one here gets hurt, or we are going to be in trouble.

LE: Michael Bennet(83), Aaron Morgan(71)
RE: Adrian Clayborn(81), Da'Quan Bowers(76), Daniel Te'o-Nesheim(73)
Comments: Aaron Morgan had an unexpected really good preseason, with 5 sacks, with a 3 sack game against the Titans. None of the right ends had a sack in the preseason (Te'o never really touched the field), but they did a nice job against the run.

DT: Gerald McCoy(86), Eric(77), Roy Miller(72)
Comments: I can't say anything against these guys. All three made a wonderful job against the run and rushing the quarterback on passing plays.

LOLB: Quincy Black(76), Adam Hayward(76), Dekoda Watson(70)
MLB: Jovan Belcher(77), Mason Foster(75), Najee Goode(65)
ROLB: Lavonte David(80), Jacob Cutrera(69)
Comments: This is a young and talented group of linebakers, with a lot of speed and pass rushing abilities, but they need to step up against the run, or they could be in trouble against Michael Turner, Darren Sproles and DeAngelo Williams.

CB: Terence Newman(81), Eric Wright(81), Alfonso Smith(76), Leonard Johnson(73), Myron Lewis(70)
FS: Ronde Barber(87), Ahmad Black(74)
SS: Mark Barron(77), Cody Grimm(71)
Comments: This is a secondary that lacks speed and struggles against formation with a lot of receivers. Hopefully the aquisition of Terence Newman will help, but we must start scouting some defensive backs, because we don't known when Ronde Barber will leave us.

K: Connor Barth(78)
P: Michael Koenen(86)

Spoiler

From this point, I will need the help of the people who are following this. Let me know what do you think about the team, who should be signed, who should start, and coach Greg Schiano will answer you! Thanks!
Also, the game report will no longer be "live", because it takes me too much time and the report becomes really boring.

[TheBastard]

Bucs dominate the Panthers, 34-13

Doug Martin had 2 TD's today

The Buccaneers started the season in a great way, with a big win against one of their division opponents, the Carolina Panthers. The game started with an early 3 point lead by Carolina, with Cam Newton passing, running and gaining first downs (and throwing an interception tu Myron Lewis) , until Michael Bennet said "That's enough!" and turned off Cam's lights with a huge sack, injuring the quarterback that will not see the field until the middle of the 4th quarter. Veteran Derek Anderson took the place of Newton, helped by the runs of the new runningback in Carolina, Brandon Jacobs, but under his lead the Panthers will only put up 3 other points. Meanwhile, Doug Martin gets on fire, starting to grind up some yards little by little, finally getting in the endzone. After a 3 and out by the Panthers, Chris Owusu thanks the coaches for leaving him on the roster by returning a punt all the way to the house, thanks to some great blocks. In the 4th quarter, Martin rushed for another touchdown, while Josh Freeman was slowly making some accurate passes to all of his receivers, gaining first downs and, for the last touchdown of the Bucs, finding tigh end Drake Dunsmore in the endzone. Cam tried to make a comeback, but all he could manage to do was a short touchdown to Steve Smith with 67 seconds on the clock. "We played really good" said coach Greg Schiano "We stayed with the running game and it payed off great. Martin and Fullback Lorig are a great combination and we don't want to waste them. As for Freeman, he managed the game perfectly, making the right decisions at the right time." The Buccaneers are now 1-0 and are already preparing for the next week.

Injuries
Eric Wright is out for 8 weeks with an Hamstring Tear
Gerald McCoy is out for 4 weeks with a Broken Collarbone

Carolina Panthers @Tampa Bay Buccaneers
	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Carolina Panthers (0-0)	3	0	3	0	13
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-0)	0	17	3	14	34

Team Stats Comparison
	CAR	TB
Total Offense	276	299
Rushing Yards	107	142
Passing Yards	169	157
First Downs	16	13
Punt Return Yards	4	110
Kick Return Yards	27	75
Total Yards	307	484
Turnovers	1	0
3rd Down Converstion	8-17	6-12
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	1-0	3-1
Penalties	4-30	1-10
Posession Time	21:18	30:42

Carolina Panthers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Cam Newton 15/25 129 1 1 Derek Anderson 6/15 61 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Brandon Jacobs 12 36 3.0 0 Cam Newton 5 57 11.4 0 Isaac Redman 2 3 1.5 0 Mike Tolbert 2 12 6.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Wes Welker 5 74 14.8 0 Steve Smith 4 23 5.7 1 Brandon Jacobs 4 41 10.2 0 Greg Olsen 3 23 7.6 0 Louis Murphy 3 47 15.6 0 Armanti Edwards 2 9 4.5 0 Gary Barnidge 2 25 12.5 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Charles Godfrey 9 0 0 0 James Farrior 6 0 0 0 Sherrod Martin 6 0 0 0 Jon Beason 5 0 0 0 Charles Johnson 3 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Graham Gano 2/2 1/1 7 52 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Daniel Sepulveda 5 205 41.0 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Chris Gamble 1 27 27.0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Joe Adams 1 4 4.0 0

Tampa Bay Buccaneers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Josh Freeman 14/17 172 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Doug Martin 35 142 4.0 2 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Dallas Clark 5 64 12.8 0 Doug Martin 3 18 6.0 0 Mike Williams 2 14 7.0 0 Drake Dunsmore 1 6 6.0 1 Vincent Jackson 1 9 9.0 0 Arrelious Benn 1 55 55.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Mark Barron 7 0 0 0 Terence Newman 6 0 0 0 Michael Bennet 5 3 0 0 Myron Lewis 0 0 1 0 Jovan Belcher 5 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Connor Barth 2/3 4/4 10 45 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Michael Koenen 2 85 42.5 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Chris Owusu 3 75 25.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Chris Owusu 5 110 22.0 1

Next week: Week 2 @New York (Giants)

[TheBastard]

Week 1 Awards

NFC Offensive Player of the Week
HB Michael Turner (ATL), 20 carries, 47 yards, 1 TD | 5 receptions, 2 TD

NFC Defensive Players of the Week
CB Cortland Finnegan (STL), 2 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

AFC Offensive Player of the Week
QB Ben Roethlisberger (PIT), 24/34, 359 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT

AFC Defensive Player of the Week
CB Kyle Wilson (NYJ), 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Other

• Two teams scored more than 50 points this week: The Pittsburg Steelers (50 - 21 against against the Denver Broncos) and...the Cleveland Browns (55 - 24 against the Philadelphia Eagles).
• 8 Players are already out for the season, and in those 8 there's Vikings DE Jared Allen. Jaguars TE Marcedes Lewis, Redskins C Jeff Faine and Jets RB Shonn Greene are also out for the season.
• RB Matt Forte and MLB Brian Urlacher both signed contract extensions with the Bears. TE Tony Gonzales signed a 6 year extension worth $45M with the Falcons. RB Ray Rice also signed a 6 year deal, worth $48M, with the Ravens.
• Seminoles QB Carl Elliott is consideret the top pick in this year's draft, but Notre Dame CB Michael Jones is close on this heels.

[TheBastard]

Tampa struggles on the road,
loses 20-31 in New York

The Buccaneers failed to stop Ahmad Bradshaw in the game aagainst the Giants

A bad day for the Buccaneers, as they fall 1-1 after this bad loss to the New York Giants. In the middle of the 2nd quarter, the Giants were already up 17-0, after a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Hakeem Nicks in their second drive, the a field goal by Lawrence Tynes and a touchdown run by Ahman Bradshaw, who finished the game with 145 yards and 2 touchdowns, helped by a defense that struggled stopping the run all preseason. Even if the Bucs forced him to fumble the ball three times, only one time linebaker Lavonte David was able to recover it. Near the end of the half, Josh Freeman found Doug Martin on a screen pass, scoring the first points for the Bucs, who then forced the previously anticipated fumble, forced by strong safety Mark Barron and recovered by David, and settle for another 3 points, thanks to a long pass to Vincent Jackson who made a long sideline catch stopping the clock, cutting the deficit to 7 points. In the 3rd quarter there were no points scored, because neither of them could reach not even the redzone, except one time were Tampa Bay got near the goal line, but then a sure touchdown pass by Freeman (who also threw an interception at the beginning of the game, trying to force a pass) got tipped by linebaker Chase Blackburn at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Corey Webster. At the begining of the 4th quarter the Bucs settled for another field goal and finally, on their next drive, Freeman hit Vincent Jackson for a 69 yards touchdown pass, giving Tampa bay the lead. Just 90 seconds later, the Giants drove down the field and re-took the lead with a second touchdown run by Bradshaw. The Bucs, down by 4, tried to make the comeback, but on 4th down Freeman had to force an impossible pass, easily intercepted by Webster. The defense wasn't able to stop New York explosive offense, and Manning threw another touchdown on 3rd down to Cruz, who made an incredible catch while perfectly covered by Barron, who just missed the interception, giving Tampa Bay no more possibilities to comeback. "We tried to use our powerful running game" coach Schiano said "but they obviously knew we were gonna do that, and they did a great job stopping us." Martin, in fact, gained only 36 yards on the ground on more than 20 carries. "I tried to do my best" he said "I had at least 2 defenders in fron of me every time, and most of the time I wasn't able to break their tackles". Freeman didn't have a too bad game, even if the numbers could lie, as he was forced to force long passes all day long, trying to keep the drive alive. Next week things aren't supposed to be any softer, as the Bucs are scheduled to play on the road against the Cowboys, who also have a very good runningback in DeMarco Murray, and Dez Bryant with Miles Austin on the outside. "We are going to see what are the problems and try to fix them in time".

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @New York Giants
	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0)	0	10	0	10	20
New York Giants (0-1)	7	10	0	14	31

Team Stats Comparison
	TB	NYG
Total Offense	214	413
Rushing Yards	50	158
Passing Yards	224	255
First Downs	11	15
Punt Return Yards	30	53
Kick Return Yards	166	0
Total Yards	470	466
Turnovers	3	2
3rd Down Converstion	5-13	5-12
4th Down Conversion	0-1	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	0-0	2-1
Penalties	1-10	2-12
Posession Time	20:46	31:14

Tampa Bay Buccaneers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Josh Freeman 14/29 238 2 3 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Doug Martin 21 34 1.6 0 Michael Smith 2 12 6.0 0 Erik Lorig 1 4 4 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Doug Martin 5 50 10.0 1 Arrelious Benn 3 39 13.0 0 Vincent Jackson 2 96 48.0 1 Mike Williams 2 38 19.0 0 Legedu Naanee 1 6 6.0 0 Luke Stocker 1 9 9.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Lavonte David 10 0 0 0 Jovan Belcher 7 0 0 0 Michael Bennet 7 1 0 0 Mark Barron 5 0 0 0 Alphonso Smith 4 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Connor Barth 2/2 2/2 8 48 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Daniel Sepulveda 6 287 47.8 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Chris Owusu 4 120 30.0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Chris Owusu 4 30 7.5 0

New York Giants PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Eli Manning 17/24 263 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Ahmad Bradshaw 33 145 4.3 2 David Wilson 2 8 4.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Victor Cruz 4 71 17.7 1 Hakeem Nicks 4 46 11.5 1 Rueben Randle 3 57 19.0 0 Jerrel Jernigan 2 60 30.0 0 Martellus Bennet 2 27 13.5 0 Ahmad Bradshaw 2 2 1.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Kenny Phillips 6 0 1 0 Chase Blackburn 5 0 0 0 Corey Webster 1 0 2 0 Osi Umenyiora 1 1 0 0 Linval Joseph 2 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Lawrence Tynes 1/1 4/4 7 25 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Steve Weatherford 5 240 48.0 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD David Wilson 0 0 0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Chris Owusu 4 53 13.2 0

Next week: Week 3 @Dallas

[TheBastard]

Week 2 Awards

NFC Offensive Player of the Week
HB Marshawn Lynch (SEA), 14 carries, 210 yards, 2 TD

NFC Defensive Players of the Week
CB Orland Scandrick (DAL), 2 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 1 TD

AFC Offensive Player of the Week
HB Maurice Jones-Drew (JAX), 20 carries, 172 yards, 2 TD | 1 reception, 55 yards, 1 TD

AFC Defensive Player of the Week
CB Jalil Brown (KC), 4 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Other

• The Cleveland Browns won 45 to 24 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Maybe this could REALLY be their year. QB David Garrard and RB Trent Richardson are definetly leading their team to huge victories.
• T Michael Otto (TEN) and OLB Nigel Bradham (BUF) are both out for the season.
• OLB Daryl Smith (JAX), DT Radyn Starks (MIA) and OLB Robert Mathis (IND) all agreed to contract extensions. In particular, Smith's contract will be worth $54M, for 6 years.
• QB Drew Brees and the Saints couldn't agree on a contract extension.
• NFC South: Falcons and Saints are both 2-0. The Saints will be facing the Kansas City Chiefs this week (1-1), while the Falcons are on the road against the San Diego Chargers, also 2-0. The Panthers, instead, are 0-2 and will prepare for a home game against the Giants (1-1).