Columns

Gimme 5

By JOHN ROMANO, Times Columnist
Published September 10, 2007

Talk of the town

Five topics suitable for inane debate on talk radio.

1. Deja doo doo: Wow, for a minute, I thought I was stuck in some weird time warp. The only way I could tell it wasn't 2006 again was by checking the price of my homeowner's policy.

2. Not to belabor the point, but ... : The offense still reeks. This was the seventh time in the past 17 games that the Bucs have failed to score an offensive touchdown. Which means, every other weekend, you'd see more action watching a canasta tournament.

3. Obligatory cheap shot: Davin Joseph was called for two holding penalties, a false start and a chop block. And who said Kenyatta Walker was irreplaceable?

4. Pop gun: Don't get too excited about the way the Bucs moved with the shotgun in the fourth quarter. At that point, the Seahawks were happy to give up anything underneath and in the middle of the field. Before that drive, Tampa Bay had one completion, one sack, two rushing plays and a net total of 9 yards on five plays from the shotgun. The most effective call from the shotgun? Those crafty roughing-the-passer penalties.

5. Best performance in a nonsupporting role: The defense was sharper, but it was still a broken rib shy of vicious. Not enough pressure on the quarterback and incapable of getting Seattle off the field in the fourth quarter. You may recall, those are two very familiar problems.

A list of five

Five reasons the offense is struggling.

5. Getting all their new plays from Madden NFL 07.

4. Game plan designed for Tim Rattay.

3. What are you talking about? They scored six points.

2. Put Alberto Gonzalez in charge of huddle security.

1. Latest motto: Nudge the rock.

Five signs for the optimists

1. Barrett Ruud did not make you cry for Shelton Quarles. Ruud caused one fumble, recovered another and led the team with 13 tackles.

2. Brian Kelly and Ronde Barber, above, looked strong on the corners, and that's important because the defense may need to blitz more to put pressure on quarterbacks.

3. Jeff Garcia hit Joey Galloway for 49 yards on his fourth pass. Bruce Gradkowski threw 328 passes last season and had only two completions longer than 49 yards.

4. With his two field goals, Matt Bryant became the most accurate kicker in Tampa Bay history at 81.6 percent.

5. The game took less than three hours.

Five super picks

Checking out the best bets for Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz.

1. Patriots: Time for Tom Brady to celebrate. (Also time for Tom Brady to be celibate.)

2. Ravens: Unless they choke tonight, and then I wash my feathers of them.

3. Panthers: The other three NFC South teams lost 85-19.

4. Packers: Not really, but it's my only excuse for typing F-a-v-r-e.

28. Bucs: Groundhog Day. Another 15 weeks without offense.

Final five words

Dibs on Bruce Allen's office.

[Last modified September 9, 2007, 23:43:45]