Gruden's ire

LAKE BUENA VISTA - If Thursday's practice sessions are any indication, coach Jon Gruden is frustrated with the lack of production by his offense in drills against the league's reigning No.1 defense.

"We had some lack of concentration today," Gruden said after the morning session. "We're not good enough today to beat anybody on offense. We had four or five visible mental errors, four or five visible snap count violations. It was not acceptable and we're not going to be a very good team practicing like that."

The starters aren't expected to play more than one or two series in Friday night's preseason opener against the Jets at Raymond James Stadium, which meant young players took center stage at practice. The afternoon session, which featured a variety of situational drills, wasn't much better. At one point, Gruden grabbed rookie receiver Maurice Stovall by the jersey after he failed to properly execute a route.

Receiver Michael Clayton did not practice because of a bruised big toe, the result of being kicked on Wednesday. Clayton said it is not a recurrence of the turf toe injury that ended his 2005 season in December.

Also, the Bucs signed tight end Leonard Stephens and released receiver Terrence Stubbs.

Times photo by Bill Serne; click to enlarge.

Comments

[Jacques]

I think that it is good that the bucs are going through these setbacks on offense because it will allow them to get better when the regular season approaches. I want gruden to put the shotgun formation into the offense right away to give defenses something to look at. there is no excuse for why it is not in there.

[Terry Collier]

I have been a fan of Buccaneer Football from day one, and like many have spent most of those years in frustration. We have had some proud moments since the Glazier family took over and unearthed the truth in Buccaneer weakness. We turned the corner under new ownership and new leadership, now I have to ask; when will the sports writers and the Tampa Bay community raise the possibility we made a mistake in getting rid of Dungy and thinking Gruden is our future? Grudent won a superbowl with Dungy's team, then dismantled the team for God only knows what reason exept ego. I was not happy with the decision in giving Dungy up, especially after what he did to build a winning team and community spirit. However Gruden brought new energy and had fire in his belly, we thought we needed energy and fire, but lets face it we have gone back to the old days of Buccaneer chaos. I'm tired of seeing Gruden's "Chuckie" face in the paper every week, its time he take responsibility for moving this team backwards and stop blaming the players that don't know how to play as a team. Dungy was a leader and his leadership influenced his players to give their best.
It's time we look at the real problem and that just may be the one who must be a leader and not just make distorted faces when we loose.