Jon Gruden: 'We wanted that game desperately'

Effort was not the problem in the Bucs' 38-23 loss to the Carolina Panthers, coach Jon Gruden said during his news conference Tuesday at One Buc Place.

"We were aggressive,'' Gruden said. "I'm not gonna fault that. The effort was good.''

A Bucs defense ranked fourth overall entering the game was dominated physically in allowing 464 yards, including 299 on the ground.

After allowing just one 100-yard rushing game all season, Tampa Bay permitted two Monday in Charlotte. DeAngelo Williams rushed for 186 yards and two touchdowns, and rookie Jonathan Stewart added 115 yards and two scores.

The Bucs allowed the Panthers to convert 8 of 10 third down opportunities and missed more tackles than in any game this season, Gruden said.

"We missed a couple on fits, no doubt about that,'' he said. "We missed a few tackles. A lot of that has to be with those two backs. They were outstanding.''

The Bucs have a short week before facing another physical running team Sunday in Atlanta, with Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood.

"We have a lot of resolve,'' Gruden said. ''We have a lot of character. Obviously we wanted that game desperately last night, but we use it as motivation.''

Comments

[DR]

The Ronde Barber haters better go hide somewhere. He's making plays, a great INT yesterday, and Buchanan has been getting embarrassed. Someone should let Tanard jackson know that he's not knocking a RB down by hitting up top. Hasn't he seen the Landry clip, getting run over by Brandon Jacobs? Yesterday's game was a fundamental nightmare. I predicted a Carolina win but never expected 300 yards rushing.
The offense played better, but yet again, can only muster 3 points with a first and goal at the 3 yard line. Bryant had a great game, obviously, but has no chance to make the pro bowl.

[Dave]

DR you must have been listening on the radio, because in the game I watched, it was Barber missing tackles, trying to take down RB's by tapping them on the shoulder. For the record, Barber is the guy wearing #20 and getting burned all game long by half backs. My 12 year old tackles better than the poor display we saw last night. It's a shame that Antonio Bryant's efforts went to waste, it was the best game I've ever seen by a Bucs WR. He did what no WR since Keyshawn has done here, make plays regardless of how well or poor the passes were thrown. I thought Monte Kiffen was leaving at the END of the season... it seems he didn't get it done last night. It's his responsibility to pull guys off the field when they aren't getting it done... like Barber. The first n goal at the 3 was a joke too... that ball should have been spotted inside the 1 yard line.

[Dave]

Bench Barber!

[DR]

I did watch the game and Barber did miss tackels but Jackson is a safety and he missed a lot of tackels. Jackson has higher expectations as a tackler and he sucked last night. Buchanan was getting beat by everyone.
The ball should have been spotted at the one but good ol' Gruden just had to waste a challenge on an obvious catch that wasn't worth challenging at that point of the game. That spot wouldn't be worth the challenge with a good offense. I played the QB1 challenge at a bar last night and I predicted 87% of the Bucs plays correctly.
I don't want to hear anymore crying about the refs. The Bucs had a lot of favorable calls last night, including the missed offensive pass interference by Bryant (the one TD) which they called illegal contact against the Panthers. The unbiased Bucs fans I was sitting with agreed that the Bucs were fortunate on that. I'm sure you guys won't.

[Jay]

Ronde got victimized by the stiff arm last night, so give props to the RB's. But remember, he's a corner, and while he's usually a solid tackler, if it's up to him, he has to make the open field stop - which is what led to the big gashes in yards. What concerns me the most is the poor tackling (throwing shoulders into the runner's hips, and not wrapping up the outside legs), and the total failure of gap discipline. Jackson was out of position on SEVERAL big plays, as was Piscatelli. I don't know if Flip got hurt but he was invisible most of the time. Ruud took bad angles and got caught arm tackling, as did the great Derrick Brooks. Basically, the defense looked sloppy.

Props to Bryant for one hell of a performance, albeit in a losing game. I didn't care for the "playing from behind" attitude that abandoned the run and favored screen passes, because Garcia looked on edge towards the end. I think DT is major concern now. I would have LOVED to see Kris Jenkins or Albert Haynesworth acquired during the offseason, but that simply wasn't in the cards. Hopefully, Sims will bounce back and we'll see Haye back in the rotation next week.

[Dave]

Well at least I got you to contradict yourself regarding Barber. You are a tool!

[Halim]

1st off I apologize for taking up so much space but man am I disappointed...
What a pathetic spineless performance by the the defense lastnight...I use to hate on those that wanted Barber benched but after last night I have seen the light, Bench Barber!!!Yes he may have gotten an INT, but he got smoked on three of the Panthers TDs lastnight. He blew his coverage assingment on Steve Smith when he went to triple team the Panthers' "gamebreaking" TE, which resulted in Steve Smith being wide open, and on two occasions he was stiff armed to the ground by the panthers' running backs which opened up their path to the endzone...Jermaine Phillips and Tanard Jackson did a pathetic job of plugging the gaps, both missed tackles that led to big panther plays...The D line showed how mediocre they are...What was up with the decision to kick an onside? The coaching staff still had faith in the defense even after it had all ready been thoroughly exposed?...Over all lastnight I feel that the Bucs were exposed for who they are...In this copy cat league the remaining teams will watch the tape of how the Panthers man handled the Bucs, use the same tactics and destroy us...If we were to make the playoffs we would be doing it just to fill a void that another team couldn't and then we would be eliminated immediately...damn I wish this could have happened at the beginning of the season so at least we could have seen what was in store for us and maybe lost a few more to get a high draft pick...the only actual way that this team can win it all is through Divine Intervention...Mad props to those who are still blindly optimistic, I wish I was with you all but I have seen the light.

[Nick]

Don't you think its about time we get a run stuffing huge defensive lineman? Haynesworth will be available in the offseason.

[DR]

Contradict myself? How? I don't expect CBs to do the tackling that other players didn't do by any means. You guys want to fry Barber for whatever reason and refuse to acknowledge the fact that the good ol' boys, Ruud, Jackson, Philips, Buchanan, and even Brooks all sucked last night. Barber has never been a solid man to man coverage guy and Buchanan isn't half of Barber. The Tampa 2 has always been great when the line play is great. The line play has been inconsistent and they don't have a solid rusher. They got whooped last night in every part of the game. No CB can guard Steve Smith man to man in this league, especially with a weak pass rush.
We'll see how it goes in Atlanta next week. Matt Ryan is no longer a rookie so will the Bucs defense be able to get him to make mistakes again? After last night's game, I have to say no to that.

[G. Michael Reynolds]

Uh, step away from the ledge folks. It was a bad performance by the D, not an indictment of their true character. You don't shut the entire league down for 12 games and then change your stripes on the 13th. They got outplayed. It happens. Look what Cleveland and Philly did to the giants. No one is crying that the Giants have been exposed and will now be blitzed to death for the rest of the season and be bounced out of the playoffs in the first run. Why? Because we assume it was an aberration. Same here. Remember the beating Grudens Raiders put on the Dungy Bucs en route to the NFC title game once upon a time? That was with our full complement of future hall of famers too. These things happen. Now get a hold of yourselves.

[Jon]

2002 is still calling.
(Steelers raked us like this in a 4th quarter collapse on MNF)
Let's hope this was a wake up call - an infuriating frustration so rude that they can do nothing but get up and respond. I've only seen the Defense play like that twice in the past decade prior, nothing should suggest it continue. They don't play well on the road in December, that's just a fact. Expect a 12-4 record and the #2 seed despite this loss.

[Stephen Holder]

Ronde certainly took his share of abuse last night, but let's not act like he was the only one. At least he offset that by making a couple of noteworthy plays, including a very difficult interception. He also had a hell of an open-field tackle against Steve Smith at one point. I fault him less for his deficiencies on an island against a prolific receiver like Steve Smith -- a very tough assignment -- than I do the ENTIRE defense's inability to make tackles in the hole against a backfield that was running the same four or five plays ALL NIGHT.

[Yoshi]

Everyone who has seen me post knows that i am a diehard buc fan but even i must admit that we got worked yesterday. I cant remember the last time our defense played that poorly. All the barber haters need to calm down because as much as he sucked J-phil, Ruud, TJ and Brooks sucked just as bad and they know it. I think atleast one person was either out of position or missing a tackle in every play. Even though antonio had spectacular game, the rest of them were playing scared. We could have had so many more yards and first downs had we not dropped so many passes (Warrick Dunn). With exclusion of the tremendous but wasted performance by Antonio Bryant and the two INT's, the team as a whole just flopped on the big stage. However this game is no reason to panic or abandon ship. We will finish 12-4 and win this division. The panthers will not beat the Giants and NO is another tough road game. Even if we do see them in the playoffs they will not beat us again. I think this game has served as a wake-up call and brought us back to earth after beating some sorry teams. The defense is goin to be playing angry from now on. The road to the superbowl is going to be a hard one and i think this loss will inspire the team to take it to the next level just like the panthers did after a embarassing loss to us. Although there are still many adjustments that are necessary, i still beleive that we have what it takes to play the superbowl at home.

[Mack Da Fan]

Yep, the defense let us down on this one, just like the 38-0 beating in Oakland and Pittsburg game the year after Joey Porter call us paper champions. But I think the defense will recover and like someone said above, this is a blessing in disguise and a wake up call to get us ready for the stretch run and playoffs. Amazingly, until late 4th quarter I actually thought we had a chance to come back until that poor decsion to onside kick. Other than the first drive, I can't really complain about the play calling - Garcia's arm is still weak although. By the way I think I saw cadillac check his knee cap after that TD but he had great leg movement and strenght to push that defender into the endzone. One of my biggest letdown is that I would expect the coaches to tell the upbacks on kicks to pitch the ball to Clifton Smith no matter what. I don't know if Carolina were intentionally kicking away from him since, afterall, he was NFC Special teams player of the month. That was 100-150 yards of field position that did no come through for us. We'll be okay...I hope. GO BUCS.

[P Money]

Why is everyone acting as if the season is over. Truth is... they are 6-1 over the last 7. While last nights game was disappointing, they were tied going into the 4th quarter.

Further, if they beat Atlanta next week they are right back in the division race. Carolina still plays at the Giants while the Bucs are home for their last two. I still like the bucs to win the division. Everyone should settle down!!!

[Mike]

When we really need a win Gruden gets out coached again. Hopefully this is his last season here. We should win the division despite Gruden. Go Bucs!

[TriplePlay]

I agree it's only one game but holy sheet - our response in the 2nd half was horrible. What adjustments were made or discussed? It's almost like they said we're toast get this game over with asap.

Yeah we were tied going into the 4th but we went through a 3rd quarter where it was obvious were we couldn't stop their offense. That tells me we never can punt the ball because they will score again.

I hav faith they will respond and we will see a different team in Atlanta. I hope the film on Monday nights game isn't released until next week.