tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16026927869015763.post7074624252211695689..comments2021-05-04T16:10:12.739-04:00Comments on I Mashed In Little League: Dumpsville in Dallastalbuchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13119314235317540650noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16026927869015763.post-30292797487233063912010-11-22T19:37:42.288-05:002010-11-22T19:37:42.288-05:00Tell me about it. I’m barely able to spend any ti...Tell me about it. I’m barely able to spend any time doing this stuff nowadays with two of my own to keep track of.<br /><br />There are a few similarities between the strong Ravens and Bucs eras – dominant defenses, do enough not to mess up QBs, and offensive-minded head coaches who weren’t able to obtain/create franchise QBs are the first three things that stand out to me. The Cowboys are playing better football for Jason Garrett, but his two wins aren’t extremely impressive upon further review. The Giants looked horrible last night against the Eagles, and Detroit is still a bad football team led by a backup QB and a rookie RB with turf toe problems. Garrett may still earn the full time gig, but I wouldn’t base it on being 2-0 so far.<br /><br />Patrick Peterson is a beast who, like Suh, will make an instant impact as a rookie. Sadly, he’ll be long gone before the surging Bucs make their first pick.<br /><br />Ha ha to the FSU-QB thing. That theory will be put to the test this weekend as John “my gawd he’s awful” Brantley comes to town. I think very little of his abilities to improvise and elevate the play of those around him, so losing to a shoddy Gator offense led by him would be disappointing to say the least. Locker’s had a horrible year; extremely inconsistent and looks like he couldn’t give less of a damn about it. He’s nowhere near the top of the draft IMO and looks like he’ll be lucky to go in the first 32 picks.<br /><br />The Oklahoma boys – Trey Lewis and Jeremy Beal – are among the best LBs likely to declare, and while Mark Herzlich is a tremendous story, I don’t think he should necessarily be on the radar. You mention G/C, but I wouldn’t be shocked if a guy like Anthony Castonzo (OT, Herzlich’s BC teammate) gets consideration if the Bucs pick in the 20-25 range as it looks as if they will. A lot will depend on how they address Trueblood’s situation and whether or not Donald Penn has become too massive to remain at LT. Rodney Hudson, Mike Pouncey, and Stefan Wisniewski (C, Penn State) appear to be the top of the interior line class, and they’re on my radar given the Bucs’ situation there. At DE, Bowers, Quinn, Clayborn, and Kerrigan should be gone before the Bucs pick, so JJ Watt (Utah) is someone who might be in Tampa’s range. <br /><br />Aside from the unobtainable Peterson and Bowers, I’m not in love with any of the likely-to-be-drafted talent. <br /><br />The Suh/McCoy fallout (so far) has been a bitter pill to swallow. Imagine how much better this 7-3 team would be up front with the eventual defensive ROY lining up in the middle instead of Gerald “got my first sack 10 games in, woohoo!” McCoy. I’m not writing McCoy off, but it seems obvious that those who saw Suh the clear #1 were right. <br /><br />I love the possible talent pool of receivers (Green, Blackmon, Floyd, Jones, Broyles, Childs, Jernigan, Harris, etc.), but does anyone really expect them to spend an early pick on the position? Maybe next year if Alshon Jeffrey comes out. Wow! For what it’s worth, he’s my #3 receiver in all of college football, behind AJ Green and Justin Blackmon. Right now I’m looking for the Bucs to emerge from R1 with a pass rusher, MLB, FS, or offensive lineman. The problem, as I see it, is that the OL, as I project it, is the only area with real value where the Bucs are likely to be picking (20-25). <br /><br />I’ll try to get some more draft stuff up soon.talbuchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13119314235317540650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16026927869015763.post-18551510847716545132010-11-20T08:31:54.431-05:002010-11-20T08:31:54.431-05:00I like this entry, because with a five year old an...I like this entry, because with a five year old and a six year old, I could read each self contained blurb before they asked me to fetch them a juicebox or turn on Lazytown. <br /><br />‘So as I guesstimated, Wade Phillips is out in Dallas, and Jason Garrett gets the rest of the season to see if he’s the man for the future.’<br /><br />I cannot believe this is a good idea. Owner Jones needs to clean house and start anew. I never took them seriously as a contender; I thought they had a too many questions on the offensive line, and I’ve never been a believer that Tony Romo is a next level quarterback. My issue with Billick is that in the decade plus he was at Baltimore, he never did was his resume’ suggested he would do; develop a quarterback and put together a good offensive team. Much like our beloved Bucs, the Ravens probably left a second Super Bowl victory on the field between 1999-2004. <br /><br />‘Patrick Peterson is still my favorite college football prospect.’<br /><br />A couple of times this year, the networks have run replays of him isolated on a receiver. My goodness, he isn’t having to try very hard to blanket guys, and the guys are generally the big guns on solid teams in the best conference in the country. <br /><br />‘Andrew Luck (Stanford) is easily the NCAA's top QB prospect in my mind.’<br /><br />The best quarterback prospect in the country is whoever is playing FSU this week. They’re making everyone look like Philip Rivers right about now. On a scale of 1 – 10, the Jake Locker plummet ranks about an 8.5. Jevon Snead was a 13. <br /><br /><br />‘I still think Barrett Ruud needs to be replaced for this defense to take the necessary step to the next level, but I don’t foresee a ton of options for the job next year.’<br /><br />See, this is really depressing, because while I am happy to see the Bucs win games, we are situating ourselves somewhere between picks 14-18 in April, and that’s way too deep for Peterson or Bowers, but still where you can get a topnotch inside linebacker. AND NOW YOU TELL ME THERE IS NONE TO BE HAD! Mark my words: best available guard/center. <br /><br />Re the Bucs, I did my best to spin things as positively as I could because, well, I am a fan, when it developed that McCoy was there for us and Suh was not. Now, Mr. McCoy will probably end up being pretty good, but, we all will have to wait to find out. I do not think we have to wait to find out if Suh is going to be o.k. He already looks like the best defensive tackle in football and maybe one of the NFL’s ten best defensive players. Crikey! WE HAD TO WIN A FEW MEANINGLESS GAMES IN 2009??! FOR WHAT?!?! <br /><br />TPEAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com