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Plenty of blame to go around for Bucs

Staff photo by CLIFF McBRIDE

Josh Johnson isn't totally at fault for the team's passer rating that ranks 28th in the league.

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By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2009

Updated: 11/04/2009 12:37 pm

TAMPA - The Bucs' losing streak stands at 11. The list of quarterbacks who have tried to snap it stands at four. A fifth now gets his chance to turn the team's fortunes.

But rookie Josh Freeman will need help.

Though Bucs quarterbacks have combined to produce a passer rating that ranks 28th in the league, it often has been the players around them who have done in the Bucs.

In London, for example, the Bucs were victimized as much by missed tackles, dropped passes and missed blocking assignments as by quarterback Josh Johnson's untimely interceptions.

It has been that way all season, so it stands to reason that Freeman won't fare much better if the players around him don't start playing better.

"Nobody in this locker room or in this organization is blaming any of this on the quarterback," Pro Bowl right guard Davin Joseph said. "It's been a collective effort."

In the 35-7 loss to New England, a missed tackle by Barrett Ruud led to one Patriots touchdown, while a dropped pass by receiver Antonio Bryant killed an early drive.

If those were the only problems besetting the Bucs, the issue might not be as grave. One look at the league's stat sheet, however, suggests the problems plaguing the Bucs are chronic.

After seven games, the offense ranks 27th in the league in points per game (13.7), 28th in yards per game (272.3) and 25th in third-down conversion percentage (32).

The defense ranks 27th in the league in yards allowed per game (376.4), 27th in total points allowed (203) and 28th in third-down conversion percentage (44).

The Bucs are also last in the league in field goal percentage and 25th in kick return average.

"It's across the board," first-year starting linebacker Geno Hayes said. "It's all phases of the game. In terms of fixing it, that's a matter of everybody coming together and making their own individual plays."

The fix has to start somewhere, though, and because the offense is where the Bucs are most experienced, Coach Raheem Morris has challenged the players on that side of the ball to take the lead.

"They have to be the lifeline right now," Morris said. "They've got the seniority. They've got the veterans on that side of the ball, so it's their turn to stand up; it's their turn to lead us."

Center Jeff Faine was quick to take Morris up on his challenge. He did so by issuing a somewhat different challenge to all the players around him and his quarterback inside the Bucs' locker room.

"Regardless of who's at that (quarterback) position, there has to be a sense of urgency around here to get better around him," Faine said. "And we have to do that as a team. We have to clean things up. It's really the self-inflicted things that are holding this team back right now. It's the little stuff that we have to improve upon.

"It's definitely been discussed. But it's one of those things where we have to stop discussing it and start putting it into action. That's the only way this team is going to get better."

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979.

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