One for the record books

Yes, we're two days removed from Sunday's season opener, but I stumbled upon an eye-opening tidbit that you'll probably find amazing.

The Saints' Devery Henderson's 84-yard touchdown reception was the longest completion allowed by the Bucs since Dec. 23, 1995. That's when Detroit's Scott Mitchell hooked up with Brett Perriman for a 91-yard touchdown. Overall, the Drew Brees-to-Henderson play is the second longest pass allowed by the Bucs in franchise history, behind the aforementioned Detroit play.

Cornerback Ronde Barber tripped while pursuing Henderson, but it's questionable at best to say Barber would have caught him.

It's just one more unflattering moment from Sunday's loss.

Comments

[bobbyd]

Hard to believe that we were 25 yards from winning that game.

[aaron]

hard to believe gruden still has a job here.

[Tom]

C'mon Aaron! You were back on the bandwagon with your "Got Chucky?" t-shirt last year. Didn't take you long to jump off that bandwagon, huh?

[don perry]

My Goodness. We are one game into the season. We played in my opinion one of the NFL's most talented group of offensive players on Sunday. For the most part the defense did well with the exception of 2 or 3 plays. Give Monte a chance to correct it. Tampa's offense never will be a top 5 since ball control and good defense is Tampa's philosiphy for winning. If you are a true Buccaneers fan relax and let our outsatanding coaches do thier job. We will be fine and as long as we are playing good ball in November and December we will have a chance. Stay positive and GO BUCS!

[TDF]

One game, a season does not make...But I sure wish we would've spent some money/picks for Favre! Oh well, we still rule! GO BUCS!!!

[Yoshi]

Thank you Don atleast thare are still some true bucs fans left.

[aaron]

Tom you need to get your facts straight my friend. check back on all my posts, you wont find me saying a good thing about gruden. He lost me about 3 years ago. i am tired of his "high powered" offense. He is an awful head coach. and an even worse play caller. i dare you to find me saying something nice about gruden. Tom you have been on here long enough to know better. bandwagon, good stuff!

[Kevin]

yeah, i know we can pull off a play off birth this year. and the super bowl is freaking at our house! let's make it there too

[aaron]

don, are you crazy? our outstanding coaching? the only outstanding coaching on the bucs is on teh defensive side. look at the coaches we have and have had, Tomlin, lovie, herm, Rod, all head coaches now. it has always been that way. Defense. we have no outstanding coaches on offence. none. Look at the great job Richard mann has down with developing clayton...look at our 0-line coach, why do we pay Muir a dime. we have such a talented line but look at the protection given to garcia. and we have gruden will all of his offensive knowledge. did you see our offence on sunday? have you seen it in the past 6 years? when is his excellent system going to take hold?

[craig in sarasota]

I have defended Gruden many times since the SB win but I am begining to question my own arguements. He did do something Tony could not do with our team: get the big win. For whatever reason Tony couldn't get our players to execute and play their best in the biggest games...and Gruden did. That aside, Gruden has been the biggest obstacle to our success since. He & Allen's evaluation of talent is well documented, and his ego won't let him do what the game and situation dictates. Starting with not using Alstott solely (in my opinion) because he wasn't one of "his guys". Sunday was another example of Jon not reading the game and going with it, but insisting it be done HIS way. 10 carries for 91 yards. When was the last time we could say that? Give Ernest the ball until they stop us or he can't stand up. I know you have to keep a defense honest and I like that we stretched the field a couple times (again a rare sight) but if the running game is working GO WITH IT! It's easier for a young OLine to run block and we had an out of sync QB and #1 WR, why exactly was the mix 41 pass 20 run? I think it's because Gruden's ego won't take what the other team is giving him if it's not what he planned to do. All Jon talked about a couple years ago was commiting to the running game and staying with it. Is that because it was one of "his guys" in the backfeld? I just hope we start sticking with what's working, my guess is if we had stayed with the run long enough it would have kept working or there would have been tons of room in the passing game, but what do I know? Let's hope for the best. Go Bucs!

[jayduck]

In 2002, the Bucs lost a season-opening game to New Orleans 26-20 in OT.

I'm just saying....that season turned out pretty well. Eventually the coaching staff will realize that running the ball more than twenty times (for 146 yards!) might just be a good thing.

[aaron]

true bucs fans have already spoken and said enough is enough. true bucs fans have endured enough of this losing and want something fresh and new.i am a buc fan through and through but grudens time has run its course. thanks for the super bowl championship, i really do appreciate it. But it is time to move on in a different direction.

[Kurt]

"Cornerback Ronde Barber tripped while pursuing Henderson, but it's questionable at best to say Barber would have caught him." That's got to be the dumbest, most unprovable statement ever out of your posts Stephen. You should be ashamed to speak of a future HOF like that!

[bobbyd]

I wonder how everyone would be evaluating the team and the coach if Garcia makes the touchdown throw at the end of the game.

[Stephen_Holder]

Kurt, not sure why you feel so strongly about that. I have no issues with Ronde. The reason I say that isn't to question his speed, though everyone knows he's no track star, but because Henderson was in full stride and had a step on Ronde. It would have been a tough assignment for him to run him down. I'm not trying to call Ronde out. The only stuff you read about him around here are glowing puff pieces. I dare anyone to find a time any of us around here have ripped Ronde.

[Yoshi]

Me personally, i couldnt care less who our coach was (unless it was bill belichick)as long as we win games. Like aaron said if its time for jon to go than so be it but we need to win games. Dont get me wrong i still stand by my other comment in the article before this one where i said that we were the better team but we need to produce all the time not just sometime. Any way i still think we're taking this division and goin on to the superbowl at home. Go Bucs

[craig in sarasota]

fair question bobbyd but I still wouldn't understand going away from the run when it's that successful especially in that situaution.

[Jeff]

Didnt we lose the Week 1 game last year? Also the first game in 2002 (To the Saints)? I doubt anyone thought we would go 16-0....

[eric]

Gruden currently has a sub .500 record coaching the Bucs in his seventh year.
e

[keith]

I'll say this about aaron. He's an IDIOT!!

[bobbyd]

I totally agree craig. The tone would be dramatically different around here though. I doubt anyone would be calling for people's heads.

Jeff, exactly. I think we looked worse in last season's opener. We still won the division.

There's no reason for everyone to get panicky yet. We should just be at DEFCON 5. If we lose again this weekend (especially since it's another division game), I would definitely understand dialing up the rhetoric. We drop 3 in a row, then it's time for some rage.

[bobbyd]

"...true bucs fans have endured enough of this losing and want something fresh and new....

Posted by: aaron"

aaron, you do realize we won our division last year and we've only lost one game so far this season right?

[George]

I usually try to refrain from commenting on these posts, but the fairweatherness of Bucs fans never ceases to amaze me.

It was obviously Grudens fault that McCoy missed a tackle on Bush's TD, and Talib's miss timed jump, as well as Ronde tripping. Gruden also definitely told Trueblood to get a personal foul that killed a drive, and purposely used Brooks so much to tweak his hammy. This season's over. Fire Gruden and Allen immediately.

[Jay]

Stephen,

What coverage were the Bucs in on that play? Because Ronde looked like he was in man to man to get burned that way, but if it was cover 2, where was the safety help? Can you put that one on Flip too?

[OAR]

STEPHEN, DID YOU WATCH THE GAME? BARBER TRIPPED ON HENDERSON'S FEET (DONT KNOW HOW THIS COULD BE IF HE WAS A STEP AHEAD OF BARBER..HMM)
ARRON, HAD GRACIA(SHOULD HAVE HAD GRIESE START IN MY OPINION)MADE ANY OF THOSE AWFUL THROWS WE WOULD HAVE WON. NOT TO MENTION THE PENALTIES THAT WEREN'T CALLED ON THE SAINTS. LIKE PULLING ADAMS DOWN AND SITTING ON HIM.

[Tgoody]

If you noticed after Ronde tripped phillops came into the picture from center I will bet he was late getting over. But Ronde knows if your going to trip take the reciever with you. Also when you have 2:10 left on the clock on 2nd down call a free run or screen the clock will stop for you.

[Tom]

Aaron, what I'm saying is that you and other fans chatter about getting rid of Gruden when things go south but don't say a whole lot when we win the division three times and a Super Bowl. Doesn't that take a pretty good coach to accomplish?

This is the same talk that we heard last year after the Seattle game. Then, all of sudden the bandwagon fans were right back on after the next three games. Little old ladies were sporting their "Got Chucky?" shirts again.

Now we lost ONE game (a very close one) on the road against a pretty good team, all hell breaks loose and everyone wants Gruden's head. This type of snap judgement is the reason why bloggers are behind the computer and not on the sidelines.

If we have a less than 8-8 season this year, I'll be in favor of Gruden's dismissal. Raheem Morris would be on the top of my list.

[Tex Mex]

The question is why were we burned on so many (3 TD passes of 40 yards or more) in our defensive model? Was this a safety issue, or people playing their positions correctly. Its hardto get a view of the entire field so its hard to pinpoint where the breakdowns were.

The second question is why can't our offense convert when we get within 30 yards?

[Tex Mex]

Kurt, Chill! Barber is great stopping passes, tackling, rushing the QB and almost everything he does, but when someone is ahead of him he does not out run them often. I took no offense to the statement Stephen made, in fact I thought the same thing.

[Tom]

Tex Mex, my opinion is that Jermaine Philips is the weak link in the secondary. He is consistently out of position, takes poor angles and lacks lateral agility. He is like one way wrecking ball. Just step to the side and watch him go right by you. Stephen Holder disagreed with me but watch the tape and you'll see that the closest person that Philips was covering was the water boy.

If you were to grade Philips on the "Awareness" scale in Madden 08', he would rank in the same level as Luke McCown and Sammy Davis. Somewhere near the "bonehead" range.

[Kurt]

I think it's pretty obvious that the part of the statement "...but it's questionable at best to say Barber would have caught him." sounded like a stab at Barber. I think Stephen is probably the best writer in town (and no bashing on you Stephen, but that's not saying much,) but since he hadn't been burned for a TD that long since 1995, I felt it was shallow to say he wouldn't have stopped him if on his feet, that's all. I apologize if I have taken your words out of context Stephen; it just looks that way on "paper." I have to agree with OAR and George. Everyone should chill out and be thankful we have one of the best coaches in football!

[Kurt]

I agree with you here Tom; it's time to give Piscatelli a little more playing time. When he was in there, he made an impact! I like Phillips OK, but I have to agree with you as he was slow to his assignments yesterday although sometimes he plays very well. We need another Lynch and Piscatelli seems to fill the bill, but also adds speed to the position.

[Adam]

A very win-able game that was handed to the Saints because of poor coaching, and that's the worst way to lose. I am not a Gruden-hater, but it's been said Cato June will replace Brooks in the future, and when Brooks gets hurt, you don't use your "game plan back-up?" Further, you're gashing the Saints with your running game and you throw over 40 times? Keep running and running and the Saints never get the ball. They pass rushed all day... BECAUSE THE BUCS WERE PASSING!!!

[Valrico Rick]

I have been ripping pretty hard, but I have decided at this point all this ripping serves little other than to get my blood pressure up. The Glazers saw fit to give Gruden, and Allen for that matter, another chance. The contract extension was only to make it a fair chance because a lame duck coach won't have the confidence of his players if the owners down believe in him. We are going to have to live with him for the remainder of this season no matter how much we rant about his faults and inabilities, so I am going to step back and watch and see. Who knows maybe there is an argument to be made for the possibilites, and perhaps Gruden can show all us doubters that he can coach a professional football team to a champship, without having the playbook of his Superbowl opponent. I want to enjoy this football season, win or lose, so that is it for me until the jello starts to harden! 'Nuff said and I'm Out!

[Dave]

Let's see Falcons, Bears and Packers.

The way NO ran the ball on this D and the fact Brees had a week to throw to anybody he wanted to.....

Falcons - Bucs Win

Bears - Bucs lose. We'll get gorundced to death by the Bears.

Packers - Bucs lose. Not enough time to set a D to stop the Pack's new offense.

I think we're all going to be crying - the Saints showed how weak and old this team is.

[BILL H]

WE LOST THE FIRST GAME LAST YEAR ALMOST THE SAME WAY......WE DID HAVE A DISTINCT OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMANT THOUGH.....WE HOPEFULLY WILL BE FINE! I WILL START TO WORRY IF WE LOSS TO ATLANTA THIS WK....GO BUCS

[BILL H]

DAVE...LOOK BACK IN TIME BUDDY, THE BUCS NEVER HAVE A GOOD DEFFENSIVE GAME WK 1.....

[Vince]

Everyone is saying "the defense just made a few mistakes", well I don't care about that, the defense always gets their stuff together, my concern is with the offense! The defense could be playing like a band of Samurai, and I wouldn't care because the offense has a responsibility to carry their part as well! The talent is limited, I don't even think we can make that claim, not until Gruden opens up the play book and starts letting it fly around a bit! STOP BEING SO PREDICTABLE ON OFFENSE! GIVE THEM A FAIR CHANCE AT CONTRIBUTING TO A WIN! P.s I BELIEVE IN YOU GRUDEN!! I

[BILL H]

Tex Mex, my opinion is that Jermaine Philips is the weak link in the secondary. He is consistently out of position, takes poor angles and lacks lateral agility. He is like one way wrecking ball. Just step to the side and watch him go right by you. Stephen Holder disagreed with me but watch the tape and you'll see that the closest person that Philips was covering was the water boy.

If you were to grade Philips on the "Awareness" scale in Madden 08', he would rank in the same level as Luke McCown and Sammy Davis. Somewhere near the "bonehead" range.

Posted by: Tom | September 09, 2008 at 05:02 PM

IS SABBY THE ANSWER???

[Kurt]

Thank God VR. Now would you take DR with you too! j/k...about VR that is. The coach put the players in position to win this game and they let him down. As stated by George earlier; McCoy and Phillips missed Bush, Garcia couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and Trueblood didn't draw any! The gameplan was there for a win, so stop blaming the coaching staff, although the best coach in the NFL (Kiffin) did put in McCoy for Brooks which was odd.

[BILL H]

VINCE THEY DID MAKE MISTAKES...LOOK FOR THE DEF TO BE BAD AZZ THIS WK...AND OFF... I HOPE THEY IMPROVE A BIT MORE...AFTER ALL A LITTLE IS BETTER THEN NONE

[BILL H]

AHHHHH

[Spankton]

The bucs will be fine. Gotta give it up to Phillips for talking smack to Bush and then got juked like....well, like a clown ON.THE NEXT.PLAY. That's got to be a top ten award. Oh yeah, Stephen I got you by 1 game in the pickem pool.

[bucs fan 4 life]

Well for starters the D played a good game with the exception of the first drive of the game and then the fourth quarter. On a side note though for those that say Brooks is over the hill or has lost a step, needs to be watch Mcoy missing that takle on R. Bush. Is that not a prime example of a play that Brooks would have stoped right there. Secondly the D gave the O good feild position most of the game and they did nothing with it. It's the first game and the season is a marathon and not a track meet. In six games from now if things haven't gotten better then it's time to panic. Oh and on one more side note. I think we should try to talk Culpepper out of retirement next year and let him lead his local team to a Super Bowl. (no disrespect to Garcia, but you'll be done at the end of this year).

[BigBucFan]

It looked to me like Ronde tripped over his own 2 feet. We had players falling all over the place. They had real trouble with the artificial turf in the Dome. Big difference from grass, but I haven't heard Gruden comment on the number of Bucs that tripped and fell for no reason. Buchanon fell trying to defend the pass when the Saints were on their own 1 yd line. That play went for about 15 yds. Sabby should have Flip's job sewn up by Week 3 or 4, maybe sooner. It will be hard to keep "John Lynch Jr." off the field. Sorry, but Gruden Stays. Get used to it. Go Bucs!!!

[DV]

I'm tired of you people bitching about Gruden. You know what? He is a good coach for realizing his players strengths and weaknesses and game planning with that in mind. And you know what that gives you? Low scoring, ball control offense and solid D and special teams, which gives you close games and a chance to win each one of them. It comes down to a few big plays either made or given up to swing the balance. I really do believe the refs aided the Saints, intentionally or not, but it was obvious that they did in fact benefit from the bad calls. Regardless, Gruden is doing what anyone with a clue would do in his situation. When he was with Oakland, their D sucked and their special teams were average, so he HAD TO go for the big plays consistently on offense to stay competitive. Billick was an offensive mind in Baltimore when they won the super bowl... with their D, much like Tampa's super bowl victory, but he coached to the strength of his players, like Gruden is doing now. And yes, I wish he gave Graham more carries, but when you're playing from behind in the score and in the down and distance, your options are pretty limited.

[Justin M]

Why do we dwell on opponent record breaking TDs vs. the Bucs? It was long, but why are we talking about it on Tuesday?
By the way, if Barber didnt fall down he most likely would have made the tackle, but it still would have been a huge gain. Dont give Henderson too much credit. He is a weak WR who plays alot slower than his timed speed.

[BigBucFan]

Again, need to commend Brian Billick on his most excellent performance in the Booth. I hope to see a lot of him. He beats the heck out of Chris Meyers. He was a good coach and better than many still out there. He'll be back. And last I want to say 2 words, Knowshawn Moreno.

[hhpace]

You all sound like a bunch a cry babies!!! It doesn't matter if you won the superbowl in 2002, this is 2008. The game is called football, and on any given day, any team can win or lose. All of the stats in the world can not change that fact. Oh and by the way.....WHO DAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mark]

It's just one week everyone! last year we faced seattle and looked weak and lost. this game against the saints was very competitive and we almost won at the end.