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Bucs LB Ruud Is Rested, Ready For A Challenge

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 3, 2008

Updated: 01/03/2008 01:30 am

TAMPA - We should clear something up. While Barrett Ruud has hit a lot of things this season, "the wall" isn't one of them.

When the Bucs play the New York Giants on Sunday in the first round of the playoffs, they expect their middle linebacker to hold his ground in the gap against opposing linemen and meet Giants moose-sized running back Brandon Jacobs head on.

He has been doing this since the start of the season, so it's reasonable to ask why we're bringing this up now. That's because there is an undercurrent - probably water-cooler stuff - that Ruud ran down physically toward the end of the season. He was inactive in the regular-season finale against Carolina and he has had a grouchy knee for a little while.

He is also in his first season as a full-time starter. It's natural to wonder how that has affected him.

Early in the season his numbers were spectacular. He had 16 tackles against New Orleans, 15 against the Rams. He had 18 against Tennessee. He was NFC Defensive Player of the Week against the Saints. Those tackles haven't been as numerous down the stretch.

We now turn the forum over to defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin on the whole "wall" thing.

"No, no, no," Kiffin said Wednesday after the Bucs wrapped up practice. "Somebody mentioned that last week, but no, no. He has had a heck of a year. Sometimes you go a couple of games where the opportunities aren't there, but no, no.

"He's really good. He is so instinctive. Derrick Brooks has it - some guys just have it. They just see a play. You coach them, but they see the play before it happens. He's a natural. He's faster than people think. And he's fine. Really."

Feeling Just Fine

Ruud sure looked and sounded OK during a locker room session with an audience of scribbling scribes earlier in the day. Someone asked him if he felt a little, um, fresher after taking the last game off. It was a discreet way of tiptoeing up to the more direct query.

"It was nice to get a little rest. I guess that's a little bit different than most people are used to going into the playoffs," he said pleasantly. "A lot of times you have to win a few to get in, but we were fortunate to wrap up the division early so we got a chance to rest. My body feels a lot better this Wednesday than it does most Wednesdays."

Well then, er ... uh ... have you hit the wall?

He laughed.

"My rookie year I did, but this year I'm having fun," he said. "It feels like the year is not even winding down, honestly."

That's good news. The Giants have the league's fourth-best ground game - and 21st passing attack - so stopping the run becomes vital to the Bucs' chances of winning. That's where Ruud comes in. A lot of the runs figure to go right at him, particularly with the 264-pound Jacobs.

"He's not just a big guy - he's got good feet and he can break away, too. It's a little bit overrated that he's just a grinder back there. He's a complete back," Ruud said. "He looks like a defensive end - like Gaines being a running back or something."

He was talking about defensive end Gaines Adams. Getting an idea about the size of the challenge?

"I faced a bigger one in college," Ruud volunteered. "There was a guy in Kansas State about 310 pounds - Joe Hall. I've got a picture of him running me over."

Everybody laughed.

Great Expectations

The Bucs thought they had their middle linebacker of the future when they drafted Ruud three years ago out of Nebraska, but you never know for sure how good somebody will be until you give him the job. That happened last spring when the Bucs released mainstay Shelton Quarles.

It worked out just fine.

"I think everybody had high expectations with their fingers crossed when it came to Barrett," linebackers coach Gus Bradley said.

And then he said something else. Something about that whole "wall" matter.

"He probably played as well at the end as he did in the beginning," Bradley said. "We continued to play well as a unit and our defensive line made some of the tackles at the line, so he didn't get an opportunity to make a play."

His teammates just made more plays, which meant he didn't have to make 18 tackles a game and the numbers fell.

If that's hitting a wall, everyone can live with it.

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