Seriously, Pittman And Graham Will Be Fine

Adam Schefter says he has heard from some in the Bucs front office that Cadillac Williams's injury will be harder to overcome than Luke Petitgout's.

But ever since Tampa Bay signed [Donald] Penn off Minnesota’s practice squad last year when the Buccaneers lost Kenyatta Walker to injury, the team has been pleased and impressed with Penn. In fact, team officials think that replacing Petitgout will be less challenging than replacing injured running back Cadillac Williams.

I'm not sure how true that is. Petitgout wasn't giving up a lot over on that left side. Neither did Penn when he came in for Petitgout last week, but then again Carolina hasn't gotten a lot of pressure on anyone this year and Penn is still kind of an unknown. He really impressed everyone in camp, but real games are completely different.. On the other hand, Michael Pittman and Earnest Graham both have nice rushing averages filling in for Cadillac who is perpetually banged up. I'll be honest with you... I'm not really worried about either position right now. But am I the only person in America who has any faith in the Tampa Bay backup running backs?

It may seem strange, but the guy that concerns me most is Barrett Ruud. Peyton Manning is a master of adjustments and it will be up to Ruud to compensate and get everyone lined up where they need to be. He's performing at a Pro Bowl level right now, but he's still learning on the job. If he misses a read or Manning catches a mistake in coverage, Ruud is going to pay for it big time. Probably more than any other player, this is a huge test for Ruud.