Buc 'Em: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Sports blogs for fans, by fans.
New Blog: Sounder At Heart for Seattle Sounders Fans!

Bucs Ready For Saints

Obviously we had some tough decisions but we’re excited to get the season going,” Gruden said. “New Orleans is going to be a great challenge in itself, but we feel like we’ve got 53 quality football players and now we’ve just got to prove it.”

Some of the most difficult calls for the Buc management involved familiar faces that have done a lot for the franchise, both on and off the field. Veteran players such as Chris Simms and Ryan Nece were hard to let go, Gruden said, but making such moves is in the nature of the business.

“We had some tough decisions,” Gruden reiterated. “It’s hard to say goodbye to Chris. He laid it on the line here and did some great things for us and I’m confident that he’ll get another opportunity. I can’t really speak on every single player, but we had some tough decisions. With that being said, it was emotional, to a degree, and hard. But it is every year. Ryan Nece is a guy that played a lot of football here. I wish all those players the very best. Unfortunately we’re only allowed to keep 53 guys.”

Those 53 players are now preparing for the New Orleans Saints. Although the Saints are a familiar NFC South foe, they also have some new faces on their 53-man roster, and Gruden said the Bucs have been preparing for the opener for some time now.

“You have to look at New Orleans,” Gruden said. “They’ve made multiple changes. They have some new players in key positions — Jonathan Vilma, Sedrick Ellis; they’ve added some corners; Jeremy Shockey; they’ve got a great quarterback; and they’re well-coached. We tried to moonlight a little bit and see what’s going on. There have been some changes in there structure, and I’m sure they’ll have some changes they haven’t shown waiting for us.”

Content provided by a member of Buc 'Em.

0 recs  |  Comment 0 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to Buc 'Em, SBNation's home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Your one stop for Buccaneers info, videos, opinions and more.
Start posting about the Buccaneers »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Bucco_bruce_small
Week 9 Preview: Green Bay Packers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Recent FanPosts

Stairs_small
History Says our Win will come in.....
Buclogo_small
Marcus Jones on TUF
Small
Bucs of Days Gone By
Small
Freeman's First Season?
Small
Draft 2010
Tampa_bay_buccaneers_primary_logo_small
Funny story about Michael Clayton
Small
My introduction!
Buclogo_small
Freeman's Future
Zorilla_small
A Historical Look at Kickers Drafted in Rds 1-3

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

Latest NFL Headlines from SB Nation

Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs Release WR Bobby Engram; RB Kolby Smith to Active Roster
Stampede Blue
Dear Bill Polian: Please sign Jack Williams ASAP
Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs RB Kolby Smith Travels with the Team to Jacksonville

Twitter Feed


Editor & Lead Writers

1001_large_small Niko Houllis

Nfl_tampa_bay_buccaneers_1_small Buc Wild

Tampa_bay_buccaneers_primary_logo_small Paul Mueller

Assistant Writers

Bucco_bruce_small Craig T

Stairs_small UNFNOLE

Buclogo_small LeeCaz

218px-tampa_bay_buccaneers_logo bucsfandave