Defensive Line Showing Teeth

After spending both their first and second round picks on defensive linemen in 2010 and 2011, the youth movement up front is starting to show improvement.  Granted, it's preseason and it can be deceiving.

Nonetheless, during the 2010 preseason, Tampa Bay recorded a total of four quarterback sacks.

So far in the 2011 preseason, with one game to go, Tampa Bay has recorded thirteen quarterback sacks.  League wide, the Buccaneers stand alone in fourth place, with only the Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans, and Philadelphia Eagles ahead of them (tied for first with 14 sacks).

And it's not a matter of a weaker preseason slate:  Last year's preseason opponents (Miami, Kansas City, Jacksonville, and Houston) won a combined six preseason games.  This year's opponents (Kansas City, New England, Miami, and Washington) have already won six preseason games with one game each remaining.

Tampa Bay defensive end George Johnson (another member of the 2010 practice squad) is currently tied for the league lead in sacks with 3.0; he is tied with three other players.  Right behind the lead group is Buccaneer linebacker Dakota Watson with 2.5 sacks.  Other Buccanneer players with 2 or more sacks are DE Tim Crowder and DE Kyle Moore.

The draft focus of the past two years appears to be taking shape.  Based on the third preseason game against Miami, the likely starting four on the defensive line will be:
RE: Adrian Clayborn, 2011 First Round Draft Pick
DT: Frank Okam, 2010 Waiver Wire pickup
DT. Gerald McCoy, 2010 First Round Draft Pick
LE: Micheal Bennett, 2009 Waiver Wire pickup

And the depth:
RE: Tim Crowder, 2009 Waiver Wire pickup
DT: Roy Miller, 2009 Third Round Pick
DT: Brian Price, 2010 Second Round Pick
LE: Da'Quan Bowers, 2011 Second Round Pick

Miller, Price, and Bowers are currently working their way back from injury and appear to be ready for the regular season.

This is a group which will probably not reach their collective prime for another season or so.  Based on results so far, this could be the squad to watch in 2011.

Buccaneers On Course To Start Season With New Backfield

With the third preseason game in the books, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers appear to have settled on a completely new running back tandem to start 2011.

The 2010 season started with Cadillac Williams at tailback and Earnest Graham at fullback.  With Cadillac now with the Rams, the tailback job has fallen to 2010 undrafted free agent LeGarrette Blount.  And starting at fullback is the last player selected by the Buccaneers in the 2010 draft, Erik Lorig, a converted tight end.  In fact, Blount and Lorig were both inactive for the first game of 2010.

These are crazy days in Tampa.  With 75% of the roster having less than four years of experience, it just gets weird sometimes.

The writing was on the wall for Cadillac after Blount did not start the first three games of the season yet still managed to gather over 1,000 yards to lead all rookies last season.  Williams, who was also a dependable pass catcher, may have outlasted his value for the Buccaneers opting instead to sign a one-year contract with the Saint Louis Rams.

Lorig, on the other hand, has come out of nowhere to unseat the granddaddy of the Bucs backfield, the venerable Earnest Graham.  Graham will play, and play plenty, this season for Tampa Bay -- I do not doubt this for a moment.  But Lorig, who also spent practice time last season at tight end and defensive end, continues to impress with his 6'4", 275 lb frame (similar to 2011 2nd round pick DE Da'Quan Bowers).  This, in a nutshell, is the tradeoff the Buccaneers are making:  experience for power.

Cadillac Williams (5'11", 217 lbs) vs. LeGarette Blount (6'0", 247 lbs)
Earnest Graham (5'9", 225 lbs) vs. Erik Lorig (6'4", 275 lbs)

That's an increase of 80 pounds of running back, plus additional height at both positions (following a notable offensive trend of the past two years). GM Mark Dominik and Head Coach Raheem Morris have talked at great length about becoming a bigger, more powerful running team.

Apparently, the next step towards that goal has been taken.

Second Draft Just Two Games Away

The Second Draft is one week from Saturday.  It feels like 10 days until Christmas.

Tampa Bay's leadership group of GM Mark Dominik, Scouting Director Dennis Hickey, and Pro Personnel Director Shelton Quarles have given Buccaneers fans a second draft day each of the past two seasons.  When the other teams drop their roster count to 53 men, Dominik leads a feeding frenzy at One Buccaneer place, reeling in players like RB LeGarrette Blout and WR Desmon Briscoe.  Or OG Ted Larson and RB Kregg Lumpkin.  You get the picture.

Apparently nothing gets past One Buc place, or at least no player.  The rest of the NFL has taken notice as well.  The Buccaneers know for every good player which makes a roster, or every veteran who keeps his roster position, another player has to be let go.  

Tampa Bay keeps detailed notes on each NFL player.  Did they target them for the draft?  Was it a player who was graded to have the intangibles as well as the tangibles?  And they will move quickly on September 3rd to sweep up players not only for their practice squad (Ryan Purvis, Briscoe last year) but players for their regular season roster as well (Blount, Lumpkin, and Larson; all last year as well).

Will there be a similar haul this season?  Cetainly there will be talent out there, and Tampa Bay is certainly building a reputation for giving practice squad players playing time.  It was the quality on the practice squad which helped the team get to the end of the season with 10 wins while injuries piled up by the roadside.  Now those players are rising through the depth chart.  Wouldn't you call Tampa if you had a big, fat you-will-regret-cutting-me chip on your shoulder?

So, enjoy the last two preseason games.  And don't forget there is one more Buccaneer holiday before the season begins!