I live near Tampa so I consider myself a Buc fan when they arent playing the Packers. Heres a breakdown as I see it, while I try to stay as impartial as possible.
Tampa Offense
QB - Garcia, Griese, McCown. Garcia was the starter, got injured / had a falling out with Gruden. Griese is the starter now.
-Griese is a tale of two quarterbacks. With time he can deliver a ball with great velocity and accuracy, can be pressured into horrendous decisions. Bucs threw 67 times last week.
RB - 95%+ of the carries will be taken by Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn. Dunn is a change of pace, stop Graham and youve basically stopped the run game. Graham doesnt have great speed, but he always falls forward.
WR's - I liked this matchup alot until we lost Al, now I wonder. Galloway was held out due to injury and may not play this week. If he does he is easily the top weapon on this offense. Michael Clayton or Antonio Bryant start opposite him, and neither should be a matchup problem. Ike Hilliard is the #3, and the most reliable target on this team. Ike may actually give us some problems.
TE's - Smith, Stevens. Smith shouldnt be a problem. Stevens made some good plays last week, and is 6'7''.
O-line - Penn, Sears, Faine, Joseph, Trueblood. Left side is above average, right side is weak. Faine and Trueblood play with a mean streak, will know the names of our O-lines wives and children. Trueblood threw 2 punches to a player on the ground last week vs bears, while he was on top of player on the ground. Bears player was called for penalty, which led to a score on that drive, in OT. We cant fall trap to that mind game.
I like a lot of the matchups here. I think our D-line matches up well and should create some pressure.
I think our LB's should contain the RB's, although the TE stevens worries me a bit. A large question will be how our secondary plays minus Al.
This ran a bit long, so Ill stop here and do the defense tomorrow.
I'll be at the game Sunday too, so Ill bring back some pics.
"Mazloum" wrote: