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Trueblood Needs To Clean Up Act

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By ANWAR S. RICHARDSON

arichardson@tampatrib.com

Published: October 11, 2008

TAMPA - Bucs right tackle Jeremy Trueblood does not mind being pushed.

He just has a problem with shoves.

Tampa Bay's "bad boy" has been fined by the NFL six times in his career, including $5,000 for his involvement in a fracas against Chicago this season. If there is an unsportsmanlike penalty on the offense, Trueblood is often involved.

"You don't want to immediately walk away from every single thing. It's a fine line," Trueblood said. "You don't want to walk away because you don't want to lose that intimidation factor."

The only fear Tampa Bay's coaches have about Trueblood entering Sunday's home game against Carolina is a repeat performance of last week.

Trueblood was flagged three times - two false starts and one holding - during the 16-13 loss at Denver, contributing to Tampa Bay's season total of 321 penalty yards, third-most in the NFL. Trueblood also missed Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey on a blitz, which resulted in quarterback Brian Griese's elbow injury and the return of Jeff Garcia as this week's starting quarterback.

"Offsides is inexcusable," Trueblood said. "I want to say it was a lack of concentration, but it wasn't like I wasn't concentrating. As far as the game goes, I felt like I got beat twice the whole game. Unfortunately, one of them was magnified because it was a sack.

"I can't do anything about that. If you get me, you get me. He did. What you have to do is go back to square one and start doing everything the right way."

Bucs coach Jon Gruden suggested that if all of his offensive players do not make mental corrections soon, they might not see any playing time.

"The last two games we've had seven or eight false-start penalties, which is uncharacteristic, inexcusable and unacceptable," Gruden said. "It's a lack of concentration. We get enough plays. We get enough practice time. It has to be cleaned up or we'll have to make some changes in our lineup."

Trueblood was pretty disciplined before last week's game.

He was penalized only three times this season before facing Denver - one false start, one personal foul and once for being downfield illegally - and was part of an offensive line that allowed Griese to successfully drop back 101 consecutive times without being sacked.

"It's inexcusable to have false starts. That's an area where early in his career there were some issues, but there hadn't been lately, and it crept up in the game last week," Bucs offensive line coach Bill Muir said. "Was it a difficult situation? Do you want to make excuses? It's unacceptable.

"You go to Chicago and play in Soldier Field and you throw the ball 67 times and didn't have a false start. You go to New Orleans and you don't have a false start. You go to Denver and you shouldn't have a false start."

Coaches have been more accepting of Trueblood's hot temper than his false starts.

They all understand Trueblood's desire to defend himself, when necessary, but have tried to channel his aggression.

"Basically the coaches are saying be smart at what you do," Trueblood said. "If you're going to retaliate, don't do it on that play after the whistle was blown because the second guy is who gets noticed.

"There have been a few times that I could have definitely gone after someone, but I've waited until a few plays later. Sometimes you don't get an opportunity until the end of the game, and by that time you're not mad anymore."

Trueblood is pushing himself to shake off last week's performance.

He just does not want to be shoved.

"You cannot find a guy who plays any better, any harder, or any more consistent than Jeremy," Bucs guard Davin Joseph said. "He does more good than 95 percent of the tackles in this league, and when he does make a mistake, it's a common mistake that can happen to any tackle."

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