Buccaneers First Preseason Game 2010: The Good and The Bad

There was no sun in Sun Life Stadium down in Miami Saturday night. There was rain, a lot of it early-on, and there was mud on the field that is also used for baseball.

There was a preseason game, an exhibition game or just a "practice" game, if you wish, between the Buccaneers and the Miami Dolphins, an alleged playoff contention team this season.

When all was said and done the final score was 10-7, Dolphins. No big deal, could have been an easy win for the Bucs, but wins don't matter right now. This is a rehearsal, a tryout for some and a chance to see what is or isn't happening for this 2010 version of your Buccaneers.

Let's get straight to the good stuff, here's the good and the bad from the 60 minutes of football:

THE GOOD:

Josh Freeman:  The big guy showed he's been working his behind off all preseason. He was poised, polished and in command of the first team. He went 4/4, 53 yards a beauty of a touchdown pass to Sammie Stroughter giving him a perfect QB rating of 158. Oh my, not to mention elusive. Linebacker Channing Crowder struggled to chase him and could only push him out of bounds. He was looking down field and his best pass of the night was an audible where he saw press coverage on rookie Mike Williams and hit him 30 yards down field on a beautiful fade route. He didn't play much with those nasty field conditions, but no sense to tempt fate. We all saw what we needed to see. If the season started tomorrow, Freeman appears ready to go.

Mike Williams: See above, Josh Freeman. Great catch, great control to stay in bounds. More reps for this guy and he could make a difference this fall.

Sammie Stroughter: Three catches, 33 yards and a TD. Perhaps the greatest seventh-round pick in franchise history. Sammie's ready to go.

Cadillac Williams:  He ran hard, didn't he? No doubt who the No. 1 back is on this team. Four carries, 21 yards. Save Caddy for the regular season when it counts.

Kareem Huggins: Perhaps the standout player of the game, save Josh Freeman. Eight carries, 55 yards, the kid ran hard, broke one for 35 yards and makes us wonder why they'd even want to keep Derrick Ward on this team (more on that later).

E.J. Biggers: Made his point, didn't he. Made himself known out there. You couldn't miss him. It was one of those "watch me" nights for E.J. Four tackles and a great case for him to be the nickel back.

Corey Lynch: Block punt, five tackles, Mr. Hustle. Need more guys like him.

Brent Bowden: You can begin to see why they don't need another punter in camp.

THE BAD:

Derrick Ward: Worst of the worst. Lousy attitude, kept blaming the offensive line for his lack of production. Horrible -- 12 carries, 20 yards, two fumbles, lost one. Tried to blame it on the field conditions, looked like he just didn't want to run. You can begin to understand that he's an attitude problem. If this keeps up, time to cut him loose.

Sabby Piscitelli: Late hit on Ronnie Brown led to a Miami field goal. Bucs lost by how many? Three points. Nice job Sabby. When former Buc turned television analyst John Lynch was asked if Sean Jones will beat out Sabby for one of the starting safety positions, Lynch responded:  "I would think so..."  We think so too Johnny!

Josh Johnson: If something WERE to happen to Josh Freeman, you can just write off the season. JJ didn't look like he's progressed that much, looks lost out there except when he takes off running. Mark Dominik should really consider a veteran backup. But JJ will get more work in the next three games and we'll see how he responds.

The backups: It is so painfully evident that no only is this a young football team, it has very little depth. Injuries to the wrong people could really hurt the season.

Penalties:  Too many. Seven for 58 yards.

Overall, Raheem Morris was pleased with his starters and he should be. The Buc starters dominated Miami on offense and defense, although it was just a short time.

He wasn't pleased with the penalties and not pleased with one particular runner:

"We have to learn to play smart. Too many penalties. We can't use mud as an excuse!"

Are you listening, Derrick Ward.