Rams D Diary 3/16 - Tampa Bay Bucs (23 Sept.)

Coming off a second week division game against the 49ers, the Rams travel to Tampa to take on the Suckaneers.  It will be painful, but since I am committed to this diary series, we must take a look at TB's offense.  It is offensive.  If you open this diary, please, take the kids out of your room and wear the proper protection.  This is gonna get ugly.
I refuse to waste any time making analogies, humorous quips, or any other distractions.  Let's get this one over with and move on.

Tampa Bay's employees who line up on offense:

• QB - Well, they've got 5 here.  Jeff Garcia seems to have the job for now.  Chris Simms has lost the helm, Bruce Gradkowski is still seen as too rough, Jake Plummer is lurking in the background, and Luke McCown is, well, he has a contract.  Some may point to the Eagles as a suggestion that Garcia can succeed.  I disagree heartily.  The Eagles still have a great front 5, and Brian Westbrook provides a great passing threat from the backfield.  Tampa has a less-than-good OL and Carnell/Cadillac Williams averaged just more than 2 receptions per game for about 12 rec. yds. per game.  I don't think Garcia will hold this long just because there'no incentive for Gruden to keep rolling him out there once TB starts out 0-5.  I can't believe I spent so much time on Jeff Garcia.  Let's get through this.
  
• RB - Cadillac disappointed, to say the least, last season.  Just shy of 800 yds on the ground, 1 (yes, that is a one) TD, and an average 3.5 yds per carry.  Read that again and tell me if you're worried about this running game.  Truthfully, Cadillac isn't that bad.  The O-line is.  His TDs have to go up this year; it's hard to have the RB spot to yourself and only get 1 TD.  Still, Alstott will pound up the gut and Michael Pittman has the 2 spot in the depth chart, but outside of Cadillac's raw talent, this is hardly a dangerous ground game.
  
• WR/TE - Michael Clayton should display some serious talent at wideout.  He showed amazing potential at LSU and now in the superstitiously-productive 3rd year, he should be a solid WR.  Like Cadillac, it would be hard to do worse than last year - 356 yds, 1 TD.  Along with Clayton, Joey Galloway will play better than most 34-year-olds, but I don't expect him to match his solid line from last year (62 rec's, 1,057 yds, 7 td's).  Ike Hilliard, Maurice Stovall, Paris Warren, and David Boston round out the WR's.  I'm glad I'm a Rams fan and not a Bucs fan.  I should note that I think Boston can still be a solid WR if he gets a brain transplant.  I am yet to hear that he has undergone the procedure.  At tight end, Anthony Becht (blocking TE), Alex Smith (receiving TE), and Jerramy Stevens (former Seahawk) form a deep TE group.  This is as good as any position on the offense gets.  Too bad it's tight end.
  
• OL - These guys just aren't good.  The Bucs ranked 28th in rushing and 26th in passing.  Powerful offense.  Tampa spent their second round pick on G Arron Sears (ex-Tennessee Vol).   I think he could be a very good guard in the NFL and start for years to come, but he's still a rook.  ESPN's camp preview for the Bucs, here, lists the battle between Sears and Anthony Davis as their "camp battle to watch."  I will decline their offer to watch.  Scouts Inc.'s OL rankings, here, put them 26th out of 32.  I think that's generous.  Luke Petitgout was a good signing for them to play LT, but the inside is still shoddy.
  

Key matchups:

1.) TB WRs vs. St. Lou's CBs - This offense will rely heavily on the receivers creative abilities.  Garcia will not have much time, and when they're not running, they're not passing as much as they're hoping the receivers can pull something out of their pewter-covered asses.  Hill, Bartell, Walls, and Wade should all get playing time.  This would be a great game to see Wade in some man coverage to assess his level in his early rookie season.  I'm expecting at least 2 INTs.

2.) Bill Muir (off. coord.) vs. Jim Haslett (St. Louis' defensive savior) - TB will try to run their version of the West Coast offense.  Haslett will get a chance to try different methods of stopping it as this is one of the four worst offenses we play all season (with Baltimore, Cleveland, and Green Bay being the other three).  Expect some unorthodox efforts by TB to catch Haslett unaware.  Expect those efforts to fail.

3.) TB's O-line vs. STL's D-line - If TB wants to keep this game within three touchdowns, the O-line will need to play WAY above their talent level.  I'm hoping Adam Carriker, and Clifton Ryan will get alot of time early in this game to help our rookies develop.  Random unforeseen prediction: RE Victor Adeyanju has a monster game.

This game will be a great warm-up to go to Dallas.  If our heads are together, we should grab a nice lead by half and play some 2nd team guys heavily in the second half.  I'm glad we got this game as one of our away games.  Should be one of our easier wins.