The biggest fear I had last year before the season started was that a good 2009 Bucs team would lay an egg on throwback day and set back the Orange uniform thing for decades to come. Instead, the Bucs played their best game of the year and WON their first game of the year over the Packers on throwback day. So here we are in 2010 and the Bucs will don their Don Juan uniforms again, and the music will once again blast us from the past with tunes of the 70s blaring over the loudspeaker! The entire Stadium is decked out with Orange, making Ray Jay as close to looking like Tampa Stadium as it ever will. SOME KEY STATS- This year, the Bucs are playing winning football, and to distinguish whether or not that is a fluke, check out the stats of some key features. How good is the defense playing? how bad ? Going back to the heyday of this Bucs defense, it was always about the other teams QB rating being in the pits. Well that is BACK again, but this time WITHOUT a great pass rush. Now that pressure is getting turned up on the QB, will this stat get the Bucs even higher now? 2010 NFL Opponent Passer Rating Rank – Team- Opponent- QB Rating 1 Chicago -69.3 2 Green Bay- 70.0 3 San Diego – 74.8 4 NY Jets – 75.8 5 NY Giants- 76.6 6 Philadelphia- 76.6 7 Tampa Bay- 76.7 all time youngest coaches (modern era) Coach Name- Team- Age when hired Lane Kiffin Raiders 31 yrs 8 months Harland Svare Rams 31 yrs 11 months John Michelosen Steelers 32 yrs 2 months Raheem Morris BUCS 32 years 4 months 2010 NFL Fewest Second half Points allowed Rank -Team – Points allowed 1 Tampa Bay 72 2 Chicago 74 3 San Diego 76 4 Green Bay 79 5 Baltimore 92 2010 NFL Most Interceptions Rank – team – ints 1 Philadelphia 19 2 Tampa Bay 16 2 Chicago 16 4 5 teams 15 HISTORY- Atlanta is one of the few teams the Bucs have a series lead over, with an 18-16 advantage going all the way back to 1977. This past week we have put up video clips of the 5 best Bucs / Falcons games, and yesterday some clips of Older games when the Bucs wore the Orange normally. At home, the Bucs are 11-7. In 1978, the 14-9 win over Atlanta gave the Bucs the first ever .500 record in their history! Also, the win 48-10 over the Falcons in 1987 set the still present record for most points scored by the Bucsl One of those ties was the Bucs Superbowl win. So far, the Bucs are in the middle of a 4 game losing streak to Atlanta that started with the away game in 2008 the Bucs needed to win to make the playoffs. WHERE ARE THESE TEAMS?- Tampa Bay is 23rd in offense, 13th rushing, 24th passing. Atlanta is 10th in offense, 8 rushing and 13th passing. On defense, the Bucs are 15th with a 27th rushing Defense, and a 9th pass Defense. If the Bucs have a place to take advantage of Atlanta, its their pass defense which is 27th. The Run D is 6th however for the Falcons, and that is a total of 20th in Defense for those dirty birds from the south. Michael Turner is the Falcons leading rusher with 974 yards, while LeGarrette Blount has 496 even though he didnt get consistent action until week 6. Mike Williams has 701 yards and is on pace for a 1,000 yard season, while Roddy White is having a pro bowl year with 1066 yards already. John Abraham has 9 sacks while Stylez G White has the most for the Bucs with 4.5- But so far Tampa Bay is just now coming alive on the D line with Gerald McCoy. Kellen Winslow Jr has 47 catches, most on the team. Aqib Talib has 6 interceptions so far this season. Keep an eye on Ronde Barber and Cadillac Williams who have good games against these guys on a regular basis. TEAM CONNECTION!– From time to time, teams and players/coaches have ties to other teams; here is a list of Bucs/Falcon ties….
- Falcons President Rich McKay and his family were associated with the Buccaneers for nearly three decades. McKay was general manager of the Buccaneers from November 1994 through December of 2003, when he was named President and General Manager with the Falcons. His father, the late John McKay, served as the first head coach of the Buccaneers from 1976-84, and is being inducted into the Buccaneers Ring of Honor during halftime of the the game.
- Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith is a native of Daytona Beach, Florida.
- Falcons Offensive Coordinator Mike Mularkey served as Tampa Bay’s quality control coach in 1994 and tight ends coach in 1995.
- Buccaneers Offensive Line Coach Pete Mangurian served as an offensive assistant coach for the Atlanta Falcons in 1997, and as the offensive line coach in 2001-02, before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2003.
- Falcons Defensive Line Coach Ray Hamilton served as the Buccaneers defensive line coach in 1991.
- Falcons Defensive Coordinator Brian Van Gorder served as the assistant head coach/defensive coordinator for the University of Central Florida in 1997 and the linebackers/special teams coordinator from 1995-96.
- Falcons Special Teams Coordinator Keith Armstrong served as the defensive backs and special teams coach for the University of Miami (FL).
- Buccaneers College Scout Brian Hudspeth was with the Falcons in their player personnel department from 2001-04. He was a scouting intern in 2001, scouting assistant in 2002 and player personnel/football systems analyst from 2003-04.
- Falcons K Matt Bryant played for the Buccaneers from 2005-08 and holds the Buccaneers all-time record for longest field goal made (62 yards).
- Buccaneers DE Kyle Moore is from Warner Robins, Georgia and attended Houston County High School.
- Buccaneers LS Andrew Economos is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and played collegiately at Georgia Tech.
- Falcons WR Michael Jenkins is a native of Tampa, Florida, and lettered in three sports while attending Leto High School.
RECORD BREAKERS??- The following players are close to breaking some records.. – QB Josh Freeman • Freeman has 25 passing touchdowns with the Buccaneers and needs two more to pass Shaun King (26 from 1999-03) for the eighth-most passing touch- downs in team history. – RB Earnest Graham • Graham has 15 rushing touchdowns with the Buccaneers and needs one more to pass Lars Tate (15 from 1988-89) and tie Ricky Bell (16 from 1977-81) for the seventh-most rushing touchdowns in team history. • Graham has 1,840 career rushing yards with the Buccaneers and needs six more yards to pass Jerry Eckwood (1,845 rushing yards) for ninth-most rushing yards in team history. – RB Carnell Williams • Williams has 20 rushing touchdowns with the Buc- caneers and needs one more to tie Reggie Cobb (21 from 1990-93) for the fourth-most rushing touchdowns in team history. – WR Mike Williams • Williams has 45 receptions this season and needs four more to pass James Wilder (48 receptions in 1990 and 1997, respectively) for fourth-most receptions by a rookie in a single season in franchise his- tory. • Williams has 701 receiving yards and needs 118 more to surpass Lawrence Dawsey (818 yards in 1991) for second-most receiving yards by a rookie in a single season in franchise history. • With one more touchdown reception, Williams will tie Michael Clayton (seven in 1980) for the most touchdowns by a rookie in a single season in franchise history. – TE Kellen Winslow • Winslow has 124 receptions with the Buccaneers and needs six more to pass Alex Smith (129 from 2005-08) for the fifth-most receptions by a tight end in team history. • Winslow has 1,364 receiving yards with the Bucca- neers and needs 18 more yards to pass Calvin Magee (1,379 receiving yards from 1985-88) for the fifth- most receiving yards by a tight end in team history. • Winslow has seven receiving touchdowns with the Buccaneers and needs three more to tie Ron Hall (10 touchdowns from 1987-93) for the fifth-most receiv- ing touchdowns by a tight end in team history. Note: if your into the old format PDF download, just click the photo at the top! Enjoy!
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