Greetings from Tennessee

I do have some questions regarding Bucs moves.  However, with my limited knowledge inside the team, I will have to have some trust.  One thing I do notice is that the “writers” at Mother Trib have a decided grudge against Gruden/Allen/Glazers.  Nothing impartial in their writing.

The only way I can understand the 4 quarterbacks is… well, I don’t.  Simms can be a starting and effective (if not very good) quarterback in this league.  Perhaps he does not respond well to direct and profane attacks.  This is not the Nice Football League.  Maybe they are holding out hope that another team will trade something of value for one of them.

D Brooks is a leader, by example and effort.  He was not in position, due to age or whatever, on that touchdown pass.  I still believe he is a starter!  I think that Trotter will add a leadership role in the locker room.  Like our d-draft this year a lot.  I hope that Monte is making the decisons on the defense more than Gruden.  Is it true that Rice took less $$ from Denver than Tampa offered? 

Concerning Boston… Remember Steve Howe.  Hope I got that name right.  I believe that he came up positive 7 times for drugs (cocaine?).  With the Dodgers, Twins and Yankees.  Others who have came up positive multiple times.  How can someone come up positive for drugs and not face jaill time.  “I’m sorry your honor, I don’t know how GHB got into my system” does not cut it.  Society needs to get tougher.  Pampering the players because of a gift is not a good message.

I do believe this team is lacking discipline.  Whether that be coaching or the players....  How much blame can coaches take though when a player does not perform?  You teach, stress fundamentals, encourage, curse (Gruden) and still they cannot tackle, maintain their lanes, ...  Perhaps they are trying to develop some of these players rather than give up.

Thanks for the insight and opportunity to contribute…

Paul M. - 09 September 2007 11:42 AM

Gulf Shore Steve - 03 September 2007 09:02 PM

You’ve got to be kidding about Rattay.

I agree about Rattay. Like many other people I knew Rattay was not the answer at the QB position. But Rattay is a perfect example of what’s wrong with the current regime. Let’s explore Rattay’s time in Tampa.

First we traded for him This means we gave up a draft pick that could have been used for another player. I know the draft pick was low, but those are the special team players and the surprise players that help build a team (see Colston from Saints).

The reason Rattay was traded for was because Griese got hurt in ‘05. At the time the Bucs needed another QB.

Simms gets hurt and Gradowski is put into the starting line up instead of Rattay. Gradowski struggles and our team slides to the bottom of the standings. Gruden continues to talk up Gradowski and shows the young QB that he supports him. Then at the very end of the year he switches to Rattay.

This switch did two things. First it showed Gradowski that he didn’t have the coach’s confidence and Gradowski lost a start that could have helped him. Second it showed us that Rattay could perform better than Gradowski and opened up the question of “why didn’t he play earlier?”. If Rattay would have started more games how much better would our record have been?

We can debate how much better the Bucs record would be with Rattay in the lineup. It’s probable it wouldn’t have been any better. It might have been one game better. As to the confidence thing with Grads.....I don’t know very many people who felt he belonged in an NFL game at the point he was pulled. He had no further confidence to lose.

Then during this offseason the Bucs let Rattay walk for nothing. So what the Bucs did was trade a draft pick for a QB that did nothing but cause a little controversy (not his fault) at the end of the year.

What controversey did Tim Rattay cause?

This player worthy of a trade was not worthy of a start until the season was completely down the toilet. There are far too many examples of situations where Gruden/Allen makes a trade that has little or no value added, but either delays another player’s development or causes controversy or bad press. And before you ask for other examples here are three of them: Stevens (bad press), Carter (delaying development of younger players), Plummer (controversy/bad press).

The Rattay trade did not cause controversey, it did not further delay any other players development and most likely didn’t prevent the Bucs from drafting anyone of any value anyway. The Marques Colsten’s of the world are few and far between.

Tim Rattay was brought in to do exactly as he did....be a backup to Chris Simms in 2005 and then be the third QB after McCown got hurt in ‘06.