Former Bucs DE Steve White

By STEVE WHITE
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Steve White spent every season of the Tony Dungy era playing defensive end for the Bucs. He’s spent countless hours in the film room with the likes of Warren Sapp, Rod Marinelli and more. Joe is humbled to now have White, also a published author and blogger, as part of the JoeBucsFan.com team. Below is White’s weekly Bull Rush column that breaks down all things defensive line. It’s simply a can’t-miss read for the hardcore Bucs fan.

I, for one, am proud of the way the defense performed against the New York Jets. Could we have done some things better? Yes. But in a game where our defense was on the field way too much and put in some pretty bad positions, our guys stood up and fought their asses off.

The stat sheet boasts some pretty impressive numbers on defense. We gave up 310 yards in total offense which is decent. We held the Jets quarterback to a 52% completion percentage and just 111 yards passing with no touchdowns. We did give up 175 yards rushing, but if you take away two plays, the Jets ran 40 times for 117 yards for less than a three-yard per carry average. And one of those long runs ended in a fumble and would have been called back for holding.

We got off the field on third downs also, limiting the Jets to 27 percent conversion on third down. That, to me, is winning football.

Up front we played pretty well. Greg (Stylez) White had another sack, and all of our guys including the backups were good on the run. In particular, it was good to see some young guys like Roy Miller and Kyle Moore go out there and make some plays.

Maybe my only criticism of the defensive line is that we didn’t get enough pressure on play-action pass. But even with that criticism we did get guys flying around to the ball, especially on several bootleg passes. If you only watched the defense play, you would swear there is no way we could lose that game. And especially not 26-3.

I wish I had a magical answer today to how to fix the team, but I don’t. Our defense played winning football. Our offense decidedly did not, and really it was as simple as that. I can tell you that as a fan, like everyone else, it’s hard for me to watch the Bucs nowadays.

A few areas for improvement:

In the run game the Jets invited our defensive linemen upfield and then reached their outside shoulder. Because of this, a few times our guys weren’t in their gaps as well as they could have been. This is something that everyone should have picked up on film. And when you see that, what you have to do is fight pressure laterally rather than continuing upfield.

Instead, at times we just got up the field and then slipped inside allowing the Jets running backs to find a hole. You never want to take the path of least resistance when you are a defensive lineman because generally that means you are helping out their blocking scheme.

On pass rush, we ran one true game all day and we ended up with a sack on that play. It was actually a double game with a TEX (tackle penetrate, end loop inside to A-gap) on the left side with Tim Crowder and Jimmy Wilkerson which was poorly executed, and an EX game (end penetrates B-gap, tackle loops around for contain) on the right with Chris Hovan and White, with Hovan flushing Clemens and White catching him behind for the sack.

Now maybe its just me, but I just can’t understand why we don’t run pass rush games more in definite passing situations. We have had plenty of success this year running them and getting pressure or a sack on the opposing quarterbacks. But instead I see us going with straight rushes on 3rd-and-long or continuing to try that bullshit alignment with three guys on one side of the center. How about we go with what works and throw that other crap out for a change?

As for the TEX game with Crowder and Wilkerson, there is a recurring them as to why they aren’t coming home with this stunt.

Someone needs to tell Crowder to get up the field more and quit being in such a rush to loop inside. He is so quick to loop that he never sets up his tackle, which makes it hard for Wilkerson to penetrate.

If Wilkerson can’t penetrate into the B-gap, then the game will never work. If Crowder can wait until he is at the level of the quarterback before he loops inside, they will have a lot more success running that game and getting good pressure on the passer. It will make it even better, if he could fake a hands move to really give the appearance of a speed rush.

I know that guys want to work their one-on-one moves, and I think that that’s a good thing. But if we don’t run pass rush games, too, then you don’t keep the offensive linemen honest and you make their job easier.

On a coaching level, for the love of God can we please cut out the three-man rush?

Our success rate rushing only three guys is low, and even when we convert we still end up giving up yards that change field position. Getting pressure on the quarterback creates opportunities for both sacks and turnovers. If we are going to be aggressive on defense, then dammit let’s be aggressive.

I wish that I had some kind of special insight into how we could have beatend the Jets on defense. But the truth is with the positions we were put in, the results were probably the best-case scenario.

It takes a team to win a game and Sunday was just more proof of that. There is really just not a whole lot more to say.