Re-Focused: Week 5, Buccaneers at Bengals

How the Buccaneers won this one is well beyond my meager comprehension. Take away one 61-yard scamper by Earnest Graham and they didn't run the ball well. They couldn't get much pressure on the opposing QB and they absolutely couldn't stop Cedric Benson. What they did have was a quarterback in Josh Freeman who is beginning to play with some authority and perhaps, even more importantly, a fair slice of the luck.

Then again, perhaps it's not luck that some of the opposition play below their abilities and well-paid wide receivers don't hang onto balls at important times (Chad Ochocinco) or find it necessary to make ridiculous push-offs in order to gain separation (Terrell Owens) . Carson Palmer will take most of the heat in Cincinnati for this, but the truth is this wasn't his worst game this year.

Buccaneers: Three performances of note

Let's start with the main reason for the win: Freeman (+4.6). Yes, he's still struggling a bit setting his protection, and all three of the sacks he took were unblocked (although one, a clever delayed blitz by Rey Maualuga, was very difficult to avoid), but otherwise he looks composed and made very few bad throws (I counted two). The throw to get into field goal range at the end wasn't brilliant — he needed a superb effort from Michael Spurlock and, in my opinion at least, a generous interpretation from the replay official for it to count, but the 22-yard laser to Kellen Winslow was a thing of beauty. There are a few guys in PFF who think Freeman may end up being the best of the 2009 draft class, and there's evidence here to say they may just be right.

Another guy who did little wrong was safety Cody Grimm (+4.6). Clearly the interception return for the TD was the highlight (and it wasn't a gift either — he had to work for it), but what impressed me was his overall work rate and decisiveness. When he made a decision in run support he made it quickly and then followed up with solid tackles. He led the defense in tackles (eight) and stops (four) and was one of the few not to miss any. He did get completely trucked once by Nate Livings, but perhaps he can put off the lesson about taking on guards at the second level until next week.

The other safety, Sabby Piscitelli (-3.2), also got an important interception himself but that play itself and his general performance were at a completely different level. While it's always great to be in the right place at the right time, catching a ball that bounces off the hands of a receiver suggests that perhaps you weren't. Tampa Bay fans may find little worthy in that argument, but there was little to argue about in a three-play segment of the game that summed up his day:

Fourth quarter, 8:51 left, first-and-10 at the Bengals' 6 — makes contact in backfield and the tackle but is dragged for 5 yards by Benson.

Fourth quarter,8:15 left, second-and-6 at the Bengals' 10 — misses tackle as is run through by Benson at the line of scrimmage.

Fourth quarter,7:35 left, third-and-1 at the Bengals' 15 — contacts Benson a yard in the backfield and makes the tackle — after being dragged for 8 yards.

Bengals: Three performances of note

With quality all-around running performances from offenses being so thin on the ground this year, let's have a bit of a change up and focus all our attention there.

Where better to start than with HB Benson (+4.6) himself? As alluded to above, he ran very hard and in total picked up 71 yards after contact, breaking seven tackles in the process. Even when his point of attack got stacked up, he was able to bounce outside and pick up first downs — and except for falling over his own feet once while in the middle of a big hole, he had a perfect day.

However, an “all-around” running display usually dictates some help, and he got it from a number of places. Not least his LT, Andrew Whitworth (+4.0) and his C, Kyle Cook (+4.6). Whitworth was particularly adept at widening his B gap to give Benson more room. Many tackles are content to simply turn their DE knowing they have contain and leave it at that, but time and again Whitworth not only turned Stylez G. White but also drove him off the ball — creating big holes and giving less-accomplished LG Nate Livings a much bigger margin for error. His pass protection was also very good, giving up a single, delayed hit.

Cook went one better by giving up nothing in pass protection and also blocking extremely well for the run. His work at the second level on Barrett Ruud was clinical and though Roy Miller squeezed the gap on him a couple of times he still came out on top overall with some high quality work in the third and fourth quarters.

Rookie report

In a tough day for the Buccaneers' front seven. Gerald McCoy just about held his own but Brian Price had a slightly harder day. The WR pairing of Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn started and did OK but, as mentioned above, Grimm was the pick of the bunch.

Jermaine Gresham had a mixed day as his emotions boiled over at times, but one of my lasting memories of this game was the hellacious hits he put on the Tampa Bay OLBs from the FB position. Geno Atkins continues to demand time in the DL rotation and this week picked up 36 percent of snaps.

Random note

Why do the worst performers in the Bemgals' front seven continue to get the largest proportion of the snaps? At DE, Robert Geathers (263) struggles while Frostee Rucker (127) looks on. Domata Peko (201) has never been a good run defender, but Pat Sims (91) could potentially plug that gap. At linebacker, surely only  Maualuga's naiveté in coverage is keeping Dhani Jones (324) on the field in nickel.

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