Tackling On The Long List Of Concerns
October 22nd, 2010
The Bucs took off their underwear and put on their big boy pads many weeks ago, but lately they haven’t been putting their face on people.
No, Joe’s not tyring to conjure images of naked men, simply rehashing the legendary Raheem Morris quote about the meaning of training camp.
This week, defensive line coach Todd Wash told Tom Balog, of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, that the Bucs need more of their faces on people.
“There’s been some yards after contact. That’s a concern this week with Jackson coming in,” Wash said. “We’re going to have to play physical at the point and when we get an opportunity, we have to put our face on it.”
Joe watched a chunk of the Bucs-Saints game again last night, and Joe was surprised how truly ugly it looked through a more analytical view than on gameday.
Joe’s putting a lot of faith in the Bucs on Sunday based on how they emerged from several beatings over the past two seasons (3-3 and the losses by a combined 17 points), and the Rams aren’t anywhere near the Saints’ league. But Sunday’s horrendous tackling and overall lifeless defensive play is giving Joe serious second thoughts.
Joe’s not sure how a defense drops a total home stinker effort like that against the Super Bowl champs. Way too many slumped shoulders. That was not a young, angry, violent, hungry Bucs team on Sunday.
October 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 am
“some yards after contact” should read “SOME yards after contact”
October 22nd, 2010 at 11:27 am
Todd Wash is Chris Hovan in disguise!! Fire that guy!!
October 22nd, 2010 at 11:28 am
Agree Monkey. Wash needs to go, the D-line is garbage yet again with some supposed talent on there, unlike last year. He has no excuses left.
October 22nd, 2010 at 11:35 am
Joe, now maybe you understand better why I came home from the game last week so angry. It was awful to watch. I gave away my tickets for this week and probably won’t return until they actually play better and try someone besides Carnell at running back. And I surely will have to think a lot about keeping my season tickets next year if they don’t put a better product on the field.
October 22nd, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Black and Hayes have no excuse.
Ruud I just do not expect anything out of any more.
The D-Line HAS to shed blocks and make plays and that will happen with time as they stop thinking about scheme and just react.
The DB play should improve in this area as they get more experieinced as well.
The issue is, we know they are young and alot of mistakes will happen, but those mistakes should be over agressiveness and schematic issues, not tackling.
October 22nd, 2010 at 12:59 pm
You mean all 3 d-linemen should shed blocks againts 5 o-linemen, a TE and a FB?
OooooKAaaaaY, SURE!
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:11 pm
The Bucs linemen need to go back to school.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkKRLDkjwDU
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:14 pm
If Geno Hayes wasn’t so soft and little, he could do something like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFs840cfbqc&feature=related
Sure would be nice to have a big boy like Harrison on our defense. I’d like Bill Cowher to come in here and build a big, mean and nasty defense. Oh that would be sweet.
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Tell me how these men who grew up playing little league football then moved on to High School and College football and were scouted to be good enough at their respective positions to be in the NFL playing for big bucks, all of a sudden forget how to tackle, pressure the QB and maintain their gaps???? Unacceptable!!!!!!! I understand that the Offensive linemen who they are going up against are pros also, but they sure did not forget how to block. This teams line play on both sides of the ball short of pass protection for Freemen makes me want to vomit. It is flat out sickening. I played all of the way through semi-pro level and I guarantee you that if my body was equal to these guys, I would be far better than these chumps. when it comes to passion and desire to play great. I always played with the mindset that no one could block me but these guys stand up and play patty cake with the blockers. Sickening!!!
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Joe, did you see what Steve White said he saw: guys misreadings plays and fits, as opposed to being out muscled?
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:31 pm
@Buc You
We certainly have the right QB to biuld that D around…
GO BUCS!!
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Joe here,
JimBuc – Yes, Joe read it. …There’s still a lot of bad tackling going on. Sometimes you don’t get “outmuscled” when you take horrendous angles and your timing is off. Regardless, the tackling surely didn’t get any strong grades.
October 22nd, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Really, when you look at our linebackers, none of them are star players or even anything close too it. I feel like this is a position that must be addressed next year. We need a stud in the linebacking corps that will make huge plays and make a real impact on the defense. Black, Hayes, and Ruud aren’t that great. Have any of you guys ever expected anything great from them?? I mean Ruud has been good before, but his play so far this year isn’t going to get him a contract.
I sure wish they would’ve traded for a star like Shawn Merriman. You know, someone that would actually provide a spark to this team and make a huge difference. I read on the ESPN NFC South Blog about how the Bucs likely wouldn’t get him because they’re not looking for “short term” fixes. HELLO?!?! Look at our defense right now! It has shown ZERO improvement from last year. It’s not going to get better this season. Merriman is not a short term fix. How could he be?? I could see him being around here for quite awhile. Other than Barber, he’d be the only pro bowler on the defense.
As for our lineman, I think next year in free agency we need to pick up the best DE out there. I don’t want one in the draft. Our line is already WAY too young as it is with 2 rookies not getting people excited and Roy Miller, a second year guy who is not making an impact. Putting another rookie next to them isn’t going to help us. We need to start having IMMEDIATE impact pretty soon here because we’re already quite far into this rebuilding process. No excuse!
I also wish we could’ve traded for some help at DE. There has to be backups on other teams out there that would be better options than what we currently have. Kyle Moore has done nothing. Same goes for Bennett, who I never expected anything great from. Tim Crowder has actually done ok, but we still don’t know how good he is really. Even if he turns out to be a long term solution, we need to have someone that can rotate with him. Also if he gets injured, we’re screwed, as we have no depth anywhere on the roster.
So why exactly did they let go of Jimmy Wilkerson? He was actually pretty productive!
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Shawne Merriman sucks now. He’s a walking pile of injuries. Im assuming that he’s off the steroids now and so can’t bounce back. Seriously he did nothing last year and nothing so far this year. Do you think the Chargers would be wanting to get rid of him if he was still an elite player? Picking up Merriman would be a HUGE mistake. Didn’t we learn from Garner, Steussie, and Deese how smart it is to bank on injury riddled veterans?