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.

Great win Sunday by the Bucs. Our defense went out there and played their best game of the year against a team that we have had a hard time beating at their place.

 The first half was kind of shaky, but in the second half the whole team dominated en route to our second victory of the season in decisive fashion.  Our offense got the running game going and possessed the ball, and our defense hit them in the mouth and got off on third downs.

That was Buc Ball!

As a unit, the defensive line played well. Good, but not great. As happy as I was that we won, I still see areas of improvement. Areas that will need to improve if we want to have a chance in hell of beating the Saints on Sunday. I don’t want to rain on our second win of the season, but I do want to make note of several points where we can get better.

The Seahawks were able to double team our nose tackle and then have the guard come off up to the linebacker and run in the nose tackle’s expanded A-gap. The guy who had the biggest problem with this — and for most of this year — was Ryan Sims. That’s not to call him out because otherwise he played a pretty good game, but you had better believe that the Saints will try the same thing.

The problem as I see it is when Sims feels the double team he plays heavy into the center, which makes it easier for the guard to push him inside. If he could instead put pressure back into the guard, then when the guard comes off he would be in better position to make a play.

That would also make it easier for him to split those double teams and keep the O-lineman from going up to the linebacker. Now believe me, I know it’s easier said than done. That’s over 600 pounds of pressure hitting Sims all at once. Still, its what he and the rest of the defensive tackles are going to have to do going up against this week to keep the Saints from trying to hit the run up inside the A-gaps.

Oh, and someone should get to Dre Moore and tell him to change his stance when he is the weak tackle. If he continues to line up straight ahead instead of cocking his stance, the Saints are going to maul him on double teams because he is giving them too much of a surface to hit.

The second thing that has to get better in a hurry is our pass rush on play-action pass. Now when we are in an over defense, shifted strong to the tight end side, it’s harder to get a rush on play-action pass because of our run fits, but when we are in an under defense, shifted away from the tight end, we should be getting more out of our 3-technique and weak defensive end.

In our under defense, the defensive tackle away from the tight end side is in a 3-technique in the B-gap between the guard and offensive tackle. The defensive end to that side is in a wide-5 technique outside of the offensive tackle. Because there is no tight end there, and because the gap inside of him is covered by the defensive tackle, the defensive end should be getting upfield hard at the snap of the ball. If it is a running play, then this will help him keep everything contained inside of him. But if it is a pass play then getting upfield should help him get into a pass rush move almost immediately.

In fact, when playing under defense, I would tell the defensive end to that side to play pass first and think about pass rush moves pre-snap and then adjust if it is a run. The defensive tackle can also get up field hard, although they have to be more prepared to play the run because the guard and offensive tackle could still combo block him. But if it is a pass, then the D-tackle should be getting into a move on his second step and getting upfield also. Those two guys should be getting after the quarterback on every play action pass.

One of the things I think all of our defensive linemen could improve is getting off on the ball in early downs.

Too many times Sunday I saw the ball being snapped and guys still being in their stance for half a count. I think some of that probably goes back to how we were playing Jim Bates’ scheme earlier in the year which was more of a read and react. Well, those days are over. And it’s time for guys to get off the ball and put pressure on the offensive linemen rather than allowing them to kick-step back and wait on them.

In conclusion, there are two other specific pass rush issues I want to address.

The first deals with our defensive tackles. Our guys are giving up their chest too much and aren’t making enough moves.

The reason for this is that most of them, but especially Roy Miller, are starting off their rushes by reaching out wide for the offensive guards. When they do this, they end up giving up their chest for the offensive linemen to punch.

Even on a bull rush the guy with inside hands wins. So what Miller and the other guys need to do is work on keeping their hands closer together and when they want to work a move, instead of reaching out for the offensive lineman’s shoulder pads, anticipate where their hands are going and knock them down right in front of them.

An offensive lineman is usually taught to punch with both hands to a defensive lineman’s chest. Because of that, if a defensive lineman anticipates this and targets those hands and wrists where they know they are going to be, right in front of their chest, then they have a greater chance of knocking them down than if they are reaching out for them. Chris Hovan is usually really good at this but even he has started reaching out a little too much.

The other issue is with the TEX game (tackle penetrates, defensive end loops inside to A gap). Now if it seems like I am obsessed with this pass rush game, then perhaps I am a little.

Back in the day we made this game one of the most successful around the league and we put fear in the opposing offensive linemen with it. It got to the point where we could fake the game and have the offensive linemen looking like fools. But there is a right way to run a TEX game and a wrong way, and our defensive ends still haven’t figured that out.

Here is the deal: you can’t be late looping inside if you are a defensive end running a TEX game. No matter how far you get upfield and how late you wait, if the defensive tackle gets to the offensive tackle’s back, you win. The ONLY way to screw this game up is if the defensive end loops inside too fast. When you do that then you ruin not only your own rush, but also that of the defensive tackle.

And the result is you have a quarterback back there with time to bake cookies before he throws while both of our guys are blocked up. So please, pretty please somebody get Greg (Stylez) White, Jimmy Wilkerson, and Tim Crowder to get their asses upfield to set up the TEX game and give themselves and their defensive tackles a chance to make a play.

Again, I want to congratulate our guys on a great game and a hard fought victory. But it’s a fact of life in the NFL that you have to go out and prove it every week. Nobody is going to give a damn about this game if we go out and get embarrassed in New Orleans next week.

So celebrate the win and the victory Monday, and then let’s get better this week before we take the Saints to war on Sunday.