Interesting PFW Take on Tampa Bay

Based on Pro Football Weekly's observations, I would look for a heavy dose of Portis this week:
Despite those occasional lapses in football judgment, the Bucs are one of the few consistent teams in the NFC this season — they almost always stop the pass on defense and squeeze just enough out of an average offense to win.

Tampa Bay, however, has a hard time beating teams that commit to the run and pound the ball at them on the ground for 60 minutes, as evidenced in losses to the Colts, Lions, and Jaguars. This week’s matchup with the Redskins poses a great challenge as they take on RB Clinton Portis, who could expose one of the Bucs’ few weaknesses.

If June, MLB Barrett Ruud, and WLB Derrick Brooks are interested in establishing their crew as a defense that can shut down a strong run offense, they have a perfect opportunity to do so at Raymond James Stadium against Washington.

Not to mention starting LB Cato June just got picked up for DUI for driving while hammered on his birthday. These guys never cease to amaze me. All that money, and they get behind the wheel drunk. I mean, a millionaire is out celebrating his birthday and he can't spring for a limo or at least a cab?? Come on.

We're certainly not gonna throw 54 times against Tampa. Portis should get double the 12 carries he had against Dallas. It's a must win IMO.

Not to mention starting LB Cato June just got picked up for DUI for driving while hammered on his birthday. These guys never cease to amaze me. All that money, and they get behind the wheel drunk. I mean, a millionaire is out celebrating his birthday and he can't spring for a limo or at least a cab?? Come on.

We're certainly not gonna throw 54 times against Tampa. Portis should get double the 12 carries he had against Dallas. It's a must win IMO.That would be huge if June is disciplined and misses the game, but I wouldn't count on that. TB is a small, very fast defense traditionally, so we need to be very physical with them to try to break their will.

I doubt that he misses the game. Brandon marshall WR Denver also got popped for DUI and is still playing, then look at Travis Henry, etc. Discipline is slow.

Yeah, it is probably the best idea to pound the ball this weekend. I just got done saying in another thread, however, that I would hate to lose this spark in our passing game. I guess the best solution to that problem may be to attack on the ground and then once you've tired them out a bit start the gun slinging.

I think we will definately pound the ball. Im actually interested to see though how the Bucs attack our defense and if we make any improvements in that area. I'm not at all worried about our offense. Joey Galloway poses a huge deep threat and may have the same result as what T.O. did to us unless signifigant improvements are made in the secondary.

I think we will definately pound the ball. Im actually interested to see though how the Bucs attack our defense and if we make any improvements in that area. I'm not at all worried about our offense. Joey Galloway poses a huge deep threat and may have the same result as what T.O. did to us unless signifigant improvements are made in the secondary.

I was thinking early that it seemed as if when Springs was on TO in man coverage he did a pretty decent job. TO caught that first TD on him, and caught a few first downs, but he didn't give up any big plays. I wonder why GW didn't just keep Springs manned up on TO all game. I am sure he had his reasons, but it seemed odd after TO's 3rd TD they didn't go back to that...oh well.

Anyways, perhaps we can put Springs on Galloway all game, and abandon the 2-deep zone because it doesn't seem to be working w/o Taylor. But I dont know, is it even plausible to shadow a man all game? It seems to me that if it were we would have done that on TO, so maybe the rookies just have to learn to make better reads.

Taking a page from Gruden... Pound the rock! Pound the rock!

Seriously when is Tampa Bay moving to the NFC East? We play them every year in Tampa it feels like. I am sick of playing them. UGH!!!!

Tampa's offense is based around the big play. If we play boring defense with them and force them to long drive we should be successful. I've watched a couple of TB games this year and I'm really not impressed. Except for the highlight catches that they seem to get every game their offense is pretty bad. I don't think that any of their receivers will take the short pass and the poundings that go with them the way other teams have against us this year. IMO, part of TO's 2nd half success last week was the short routes he was running all first half and the SKins made adjustments to stop them. So, of course, he ran down the center and scored from long distance. I just don't think Galloway will be able to withstand the hitting of the short stuff to open up the long.