Call it a major cosmic coincidence, but the next three guys up in our 2010 Tampa Bay Buccaneers LookBack feature are three interior linemen! And not just any three, THE Three! At the start of the season, it would be Keydrick Vincent, Davin Joseph and Jeremy Trueblood, but that line did not really Gel like the line would become later in the year thanks unfortunately for those involved, to injuries.
Vincent was ineffective and was replaced not by Jeremy Zuttah, his back up, but by newcomer Ted Larsen. Zuttah was busy replacing Jeff Faine at Center, which he did quite admirably to say the least. Then when Trueblood went down, newcomer James Lee stepped in and the line really started to get the job done.
How much so? With The original line of Penn, Vincent, Faine, Joseph and Trueblood intact for the first five weeks, the Bucs offense averaged 64.8 yards per game from the running backs (not counting any Freeman runs).
Two weeks later with the line of Penn, Larsen, Zuttah, Joseph and Lee manning the front five, the next five weeks looked completely different. Now the Bucs averaged 111.6 yards per game, a 46.8 yards per game or almost 70% improved!
Granted the beginning of the season was with Cadillac Williams at Tailback, while LeGarrette Blount would take over right around the time the new Oline would creep into the mix.
Perhaps we’ll never know, but lets take a look at what we do know about these three;
Davin Joseph joined the Bucs as a rookie in 2006 from the University of Oklahoma where he was an outstanding O lineman where he was all Big-12. Joseph started almost immediately supplanting Bucs trouble child Kenyatta Walker. Joseph has been there ever since, and has even been made a Pro Bowl as an alternate in 2008.
Ted Larsen is living the dream, playing Pro Football only 40 minutes away from where he played High School ball! Larsen is a product of Palm Harbor University High School, where he played defensive lineman! He went from there to NC State where he played Defensive Tackle. He was then moved to Center at North Carolina before getting drafted by the New England Patriots in 2010. Of course he was waived by the Pats on Sept.4th, and signed by the Bucs on Sept 5th, another Mark Dominik bargain hunting deal! He started in week 6.
James Lee has been on the team since 2008, inactive for all of that year, and on the practice squad for most of the beginning of ’09. He played in 2010 but then became the starter when Jeremy Trueblood went down.
All three of these linemen have a significant role to play in 2011.
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