They’ve taken their fair share of heat so far in 2010 as the lowest performing defensive line in all of football. Going into week 6 the Bucs as a team had only 4 sacks, three of them coming from the line itself. Then there is the matter of stopping the run, where they are near dead last. If it were a veteran line it would be judged everything from underachieving to poorly coached; but its not a veteran line. In fact, the words ‘veteran’ should not be used in the same sentence as the 2010 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. No, the D-line is a work in progress, with rookie defensive tackles who are trying to learn and grow into the position. DT Brian Price is having a tougher time as he is dealing with injuries that will keep him out of valuable learning time for several weeks. So far, the line has been gashed by running backs, both famous and not so well known; but on Sunday, with one of the better ones coming into town, the defense tightened up when it had to and limited Steven Jackson to a pedestrian 110 yards. Jackson had 74 yards on 12 carries, and the Rams as a team had 121 rushing yards at the half. But the next 30 minutes; that was an entirely different story. The Rams finished with 161 total rushing yards, only 40 more, and that was WITH an 11 point lead; Jackson having 36 of them. Coming up big with some key plays were defensive ends Kyle Moore and Tim Crowder, who both came up with plays at totally opposite ends of the game! Moore who had a tackle and fumble recovery at the beginning of the game set the Bucs up with their first FG, points that were obviously nessessary towards the outcome of the game.
fff Tim Crowder however deserves no less credit than Cadillac Williams for saving this game; without Crowder’s hustle, the game would have been over without the Bucs ever getting the ball back at the end when they did. His solo tackle of Steven Jackson as the Ram runner was heading for an obvious first down and that would have finished off the Bucs and put the Rams in the drivers seat to run the clock out and go home with a win.
This is not to say this defensive line has arrived; to say the least this line has not even sent back its rsvp! The limo hasn’t even gone out to pick them up….please. But the defense did play better when it had to, and the second half was a completely different story. Bucs fans in the stands deserve credit for making noise at the right time, with time left in the game winding down, the so called small crowd was as loud as any sold out Ray Jay game I’d ever been at. When this line starts to play a complete game this way, the wins will come a lot easier than the last 10 seconds.
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