A View from the Other Side: A national writer's look at the Bucs

When New Orleans travels to Tampa, Fla., on Sunday, you’ve likely read as much about the Saints as you possibly can.

But what do you know about the Buccaneers?

That’s where A View From the Other Side comes in. Every Friday during the Saints' season, WWL-TV.com will ask five questions to at least one beat writer covering the Saints’ opponent that week.

Today, friend Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com is kind enough to help us out. Yasinskas is in his second season of covering the NFC South for ESPN.com. Prior to that he covered the Carolina Panthers for The Charlotte Observer for nine seasons. Prior to that, he covered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NFL for The Tampa Tribune from 1993 until 1999.

WWL-TV: Josh Freeman is now starting his third game as the Bucs quarterback. He hasn't played poorly in the first two. After watching film, safety Darren Sharper said the rookie has a quick release. What can the Saints defense do to make him uncomfortable?

Pat Yasinskas: "Freeman has done some good things in his first two starts, but he also still makes some rookie mistakes. He's still a rookie and that means he can struggle if he's pressured. The Saints have to get after him and I suspect Gregg Williams will throw in some blitzes and different looks to complicate things for Freeman. The Bucs have done a pretty good job so far of keeping the pressure off Freeman and one way they've done that is by lining him up in the shotgun formation frequently. Freeman's been very effective in that formation and has the league's second-best passer rating out of the shotgun."

WWL-TV: If Aqib Talib can't go in the secondary (his participation was limited on Wednesday), how big of a loss would that be for the Bucs defense?

PY: "It would be very big and would be intensified against a strong passing team like the Saints. Talib has had some off-field issues this season and hasn't endeared himself to the coaching staff. But, on the field, he's easily the best player in the secondary. If he doesn't play, the Bucs will have major problems covering the New Orleans army of receivers. Ronde Barber is aging and isn't what he once was and Elbert Mack would be a big drop off from Talib.

WWL-TV: Raheem Morris basically said he blew up the team to start anew with a younger crowd. Looking back, was this a mistake? Which veteran does Morris miss and wish he had back?

PY: "I understand them deciding to go with the youth movement and I think, in theory, it was a good move. Jon Gruden had just been patching things up with veterans in recent years and the Bucs had gotten in a rut of being average and not having a long-term plan. They realized they had to take two steps back to eventually take a step forward.

"But I think they took about 437 steps back and went too far in gutting this team. I think they could have rebuilt a little more gradually and it would have been a good idea to keep linebacker Derrick Brooks around for one more yeart to ease the transition. Brooks might have been slowing down, but he was a positive influence in the locker room. The Bucs really miss his leadership because they don't have much, if any, in their locker room right now.

WWL-TV: The Saints have been strafed by the run game in the past four contests. With Carnell Williams banged up, does Tampa Bay have anyone who can do that to New Orleans?

PY: "That's doubtful. Derrick Ward was signed as a free agent to be the future back. But he's been a major disappointment. He lost the starting job to Williams in the preseason and hasn't done much of anything in a backup role. Ironically, Tampa Bay's second-best runner is probably Earnest Graham, but he had to move to fullback when B.J. Askew went down with a season-ending injury.

WWL-TV: The Bucs are playing much better the past few weeks. What is Tampa Bay doing better in the past two games than in the first seven?

PY: "The biggest thing is the presence of Freeman. Yes, he's a rookie and makes mistakes. But he also has the ability to make some big plays and he's shown some of that in his first two starts. Byron Leftwich and Josh Johnson, who were playing quarterback earlier in the season, didn't have big-play ability. The rest of the offense got a boost when Freeman was inserted because players knew the rookie at least gave them hope of making some positive things happen.

Defensively, the Bucs are struggling and look nothing like the Tampa Bay defenses of old. You can run at the middle of Tampa Bay's defensive line all day and there are holes in the secondary. But the Bucs are looking for guys to step up as they go through their youth movement and the bright spot on defense has been the play of ends Jimmy Wilkerson and Stylez G. White. They're getting pressure on quarterbacks and that can help the entire defense.