The Buccaneers

For those of you who missed my column, I was away on an extended vacation in the Caribbean, and had a wonderful time.  The Bucs on the other hand, have had a miserable time with one exception — beating Washington.  I did manage to catch the debacle on Thanksgiving despite being in Cozumal Mexico.  I wasn’t sure if I should have thanked the cruise ship or cursed them for that one.   

I said last and this year that the Bucs age was going to catch up with them — and it has.  The Bucs D-Line is OLD!

Consider: In the last few years, how many D-Linesmen have the Bucs drafted?  One?  Two?  Gruden has been so into his “Offensive Offense” that he’s completely neglected the Defense.  And while not defensive players, the Bucs had on their roster over the summer Boston and Fonoti who IMO could have made a difference, yet were let go.  Fonoti is now in Miami making holes for Dolphins RBs to go through, something the Bucs STILL sorely need.

A good article from the Tampa Tribune, November 25, 2006: 

TAMPA — The hard part is done. It really is. It just doesn’t seem like it, because life doesn’t get a whole lot easier for the Bucs the next few weeks.

Though their grueling stretch of three games in 11 days is done, the next task for the Bucs (3-8) is a Dec. 3 game against the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers (4-6) in Pittsburgh.

Then, between a home game against the Falcons (5-5) and the season finale against the defending NFC champion Seahawks (6-4) at Raymond James Stadium, the Bucs have road games at Chicago (9-1) and Cleveland (3-7).

Sound brutal? It is - especially when you’ve already lost four starters to season-ending injuries and you’re facing the likelihood of playing the stretch run without a fifth.

Left guard Dan Buenning’s right knee is a wreck. Like Chris Simms, Brian Kelly, Kenyatta Walker and Simeon Rice before him, his season appears to be done - just when the Bucs were starting to run the ball well again.

Such has been the Bucs’ plight this year. It has been a season when all that seemingly could go wrong has gone wrong.

Take Thursday, when the Bucs lost 38-10 to the Cowboys.

They started off well, running the ball almost at will and producing two 10-play scoring drives in the first half. It wasn’t long, though, before the Bucs made first-year starting quarterback Tony Romo look like Troy Aikman.

That’s no exaggeration. By throwing five touchdown passes, Romo matched a Cowboys record that Aikman shared. It was a remarkable performance, but even Romo’s coach seemed to suggest Romo had help recording it.

“I could have thrown those first two [touchdown passes],” Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said, referring to plays in which the Bucs’ coverage in the deep secondary simply fell apart.

That’s what happens, though, when you’re decimated by injuries. And there’s no denying the Bucs are decimated. They went into the game missing four defensive starters, and one of the replacements, cornerback Juran Bolden, was playing hurt.

Now comes that game against Pittsburgh and those games at Chicago and Cleveland. The only good news is the Bucs have three days to rest before they have to start preparing for the stretch run. It’s time needed.

“I don’t want to make it sound like it’s all bleak, but we need a couple days here to get some men healthy enough to play,” said Bucs coach Jon Gruden, who plans to spend the time wisely.

Though he may put the Bucs through a light walk-through Monday, Gruden has no plans to run his team through a full-scale practice until Wednesday, hoping he’ll get some players healthy for that difficult stretch run.

Of course, even if players such as Bolden, under tackle Ellis Wyms and middle linebacker Shelton Quarles do regain their health, they’ll still be part of a lineup laden with young players.

On the offensive side, the Bucs still figure to have rookie Bruce Gradkowski at quarterback and rookies Jeremy Trueblood and Davin Joseph manning the right side of their line.

And on the defensive side, the Bucs still will have Dewayne White playing regularly in place of Simeon Rice at right end, Torrie Cox playing regularly at cornerback and Will Allen playing regularly at safety.

The latter two were among those who got torched by Romo on Thursday, but Gruden seems eager to see how they respond to the challenges that await them down the stretch.

“Every snap we line up for is a chance for somebody to get better,” Gruden said. “We need a lot of these young players to take advantage of this playing time.

“And we need them to never forget what they’re going through right now because, I’m telling you, this is a tough way to learn.”

Ronde Barber learned this way. And like the young players he’s surrounded by now, he struggled learning that way. But he also got better as a result of the difficult times. He expects the same to happen this time.

“A lot of young guys are going to benefit from the experience they’re going to get now,” Barber said. “It’s not going to be easy but it’s going to be interesting to see how these guys play the next five weeks.”

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979