Preseason wrap-up

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished the preseason campaign 1-3.
No biggie. As mentioned in earlier posts, preseason championships don't count for squat.

The loss to Houston underscored the questions brought into focus the previous week against Jacksonville: The defensive subs need to step up, and the offensive line play is shaky.
Houston was able to run very effectively against TB's best subs, though the Texans had trouble wringing points out of their offense.
The struggles of the defensive subs don't really play that significantly into the regular-season success of the Bucs, however.

The offensive line issue is a different matter.

The Bucs used the first-team offensive line for much of the first half and definitely had trouble running the ball, along with the expected difficulties in pass protection. Compounding the somewhat gloomy outlook, left guard Dan Buenning came out of the game with an injury (apparently an ankle sprain) and did not return.
The opening-day line, from left to right, figures to be Anthony Davis, Jeb Terry, John Wade, Davin Joseph, and Kenyatta Walker. That line will not be a significant upgrade over last year's group. Joseph should be better in run-blocking than was Sean Mahan last year--he's bigger and stronger--but he'll be more likely to make mistakes so that's a wash. Walker hasn't played well during the preseason, probably because his knees are bothering him.

The offense will probably be inconsistent until the line begins to gel (sorry for the cliche).

Rookie quarterback Bruce Gradkowski made some impressive plays. His numbers will look good after the game, but he made enough rookie mistakes that Coach Gruden was doing what he does in order to sound hoarse after the game.
Gradkowski's last play was the biggest stinker. On fourth down and about 17 yards to go, he threw to the fullback in the flat, where there was no realistic chance to pick up the critical first down. Gruden would obviously have preferred for Gradkowski to take his chances on the longer throw, so that there would at least be a chance to pick up the first down. My rudimentary lip-reading skills confirmed Gruden's opinion on that one.

Bring on the regular season.