Gerald McCoy Under Pressure
November 13th, 2010
Joe knows there are talking heads on local sports radio trying to whip Bucs fans into a frenzy saying 2010 first round pick Gerald McCoy is the next coming of the late Gaines Adams.
Joe thinks this is outrageous, that rookie defensive tackles struggle and to expect GMC to be the next Warren Sapp or even Booger McFarland his rookie year is simply over the top.
Peter King can sense the pressure building about GMC from his lofty condo in chilly Boston. But he believes that GMC will have a break out game this weekend.
Languishing in the shadow of the very famous rookie defensive-tackle twin Ndamukong Suh, McCoy trails Suh in sacks after half a season, 6.5 to 0. That could change when the Bucs host Carolina on Sunday. Sack-starved Tampa Bay, last in the NFL with six sacks, plans to start trying to free up McCoy so he’ll have a better chance and more freedom to rush the passer. McCoy was considered a strong interior pass-rush prospect when drafted out of Oklahoma, one slot behind Suh in Detroit, and while he’s been disruptive at times in the season’s first half, he hasn’t pressured the quarterback nearly as much as the Bucs had hoped. Look for some defensive calls to try to get McCoy isolated on one blocker against Carolina.
Joe’s not going to go over point-by-point why it’s insane to bury GMC already. Joe’s written why too many times.
Joe just asks Bucs fans to be patient.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:25 am
I put the failure of the D line on the shoulders of the D line coach. It’s not just McCoy that is not producing. Six sacks after 8 games is an embarrassement and someone needs to be accountable. I can’t believe this line cannot fall into at least one sack a game. Raheem needs to show he means business and fire this under achieving coach.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Almost pointless to explain it to them. If they dont understand what’s happening with McCoy, they really know nothing about football. McCoy is already getting treated as our most dangerous D-Lineman by the teams we’ve faced. He is subjected to constant double teams. And no other D-Lineman or LB has the talent to help him, or draw a double team! McCoys day will come. The guy is veeery talented. Just has to get at least a Lil talent around him
November 13th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Trying to free him up ? they should have did that to start. Mccoy I think has been playing better but we will never know until he gets better players around him more notebaly at the De spot. And lets talk baout Roy miller getting worse .I see why Price was drafted
November 13th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Again- what did you expect? Our two vets are Stylez” half the time”white, and Ryan” no time” Sims. Moore, Bennett, and Crowder are all really first year players. Price, McCoy, and now Woods are all rookies. How could could they be? The problem is, is that the line Raheem inherited was either too old, or talentless. He inherited nothing! You have to let the kids play to become good, but that takes them a year or so! This was going to be a rebuilding year, so no problem! Now it turns out we are winning alot, and could win more if the line played better. The line was always gonna suck this year, so it will be better next year. Anyone expecting anything from a group that young is clueless.next year will be better. This year we just gotta deal with. Raheem said that during preseason, said it again recently. The players don’t suck( well, Sims), the coach doest suck.it’s just a matter of letting them grow, and having patience. Don’t listen to any of the fools pretending to be sports figures. Not one of those idiots has a clue. Not one predicted more than 4 wins for the Bucs. They all said we would be horrible. None of them is knowledgeable. Or intelligent,for that matter.. Trust the Coach- or yer buddy Capt Tim( who is always right!) the rookies will be better next year, and monsters after that. Plus team is going improve DE and LB, which will be the biggest help!
November 13th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Seems like Todd Wash is playing sandlot football now. I can just hear it….
“Ok, GMC, they’ve been triple teaming you. Line up at MLB, take two steps back like you’re dropping in coverage. PeeWee, you start counting to three Mississippi like you’re going to rush. Tiny, don’t even go after the QB, just try to push all the blockers into a group, ya know, start on the right and push towards the middle. GMC, on three Mississippi, you run around the right end where Tiny cleared it out. PeeWee, you drop into coverage, coz you couldn’t rush anyway.”
How about just teaching all FOUR D-linemen how to run stunts and proper technique instead of this sandlot football of moving guys around and “finding” ways of getting more pressure.
November 13th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Josh Freeman is a great young man and q’back.The offence is much improved. The defense still need a few good men in order to excel. Head coach Raheem MORRIS is a great motivator for this team at this stage of their development but the true most valuable player so far this year is the BISACCIA GANG. These guys are the most consistent players on the BUCS.
November 13th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
BamBam- main reason is that The Bucs have been trying to feature Quincy Black as our main Pass rusher. It hasn’t worked at all. Quincy is big and fast, but O-Linemen have handled him EASILY. Shoulda worked- didn’t. Now we are going back to more traditional rush packages. With our youth and inexperience, that shouldn’t work well, Buuut, ya never know! So far this year, the theme has been that rookies suceed, and the Veterans have disappointed! So meybe our young line will rock, since our vet Lbs flopped. We’ll see if we notice any difference Sunday!
November 13th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
If you look at the games again and watch the D-line, McCoy always gets doubled or tripled teamed, while the other guys on the line get absolutely eaten up by one offensive lineman. There is no way you can compare Suh who has all the help in the world to McCoy who is arguably the only good player on that line.
November 13th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Also, I think the main thing, besides a DE, that we need in the draft is a linebacker who is relentless and will rake up the sacks and get pressure on the QB as well….
November 13th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
We may already have that guy on the roster, Hunter. Look for Dekoda Watson. He was really disruptive in all 3 phases of the game last week in limited time late. He pressured the QB, he stuffed the run, and he made a big hit that knocked the ball loose in pass coverage. If Dekoda can keep it up, we may have another draft steal on our hands. I’m looking forward to seeing more of him this week with Black hurting.
November 13th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
you beat me to it bambama. look for dekoda watson to start sharing snaps with black. gmc will be fine. stats may not show it but he is doing exactly what is asked of him by getting penetration but nobody is cleaning up the mess for him.
November 13th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
BamBam- yup, Watson looked really good in limited plays. He did what Black was supposed to be doing all season! Our LB’s have played soft and off the line all year in run support. I really don’t think any one of them has played well enough to keep getting a starters paycheck. May need to upgrade at all three spots this spring. That’ll help the Run Defense! Or, meybe have the right players hanging around( Watson and Rico McCoy).
November 13th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Stafford has been best and banged, over and over. How much more can he take? Their franchise QB and major investment has little protection or so it seems. They got Suh though, but at what expense?
November 13th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
beat not best. lol
November 14th, 2010 at 12:45 am
It’s not like our O-line is that much better than the Lions. The difference is Free being able to move and even take off and run. His size gives the Bucs the advantage. It’s been shown that Stafford hasn’t really taken a whole lot more sacks than Free or Sanchez, but he’s been getting hurt. I think that has to do more with him taking clean hits (not feeling the pressure and stepping to avoid the direct hit) than it does with the O-line being horrible. Don’t get me wrong, the O-line in Detroit needs a LOT of work, but Stafford is also not getting rid of the ball quick enough, not side-stepping big hits, not feeling the pressure, and he doesn’t have a Caddilac Williams type picking up the blitz. Jahvid Best is not going to take out that LB or DB like Caddy can.
November 14th, 2010 at 1:08 am
My friends and I argue about Tampa picking McCoy. Many of them feel Tampa should have traded down, since they felt there was so much talent difference between him and Suh.
All of us liked this guy Tyson Alualu – DT – Jaguars
* 23 combined tackles (6 assists), 2.5 sacks so far …. On a not so good team too!
They felt we might have got him, and another quality player, had we passed on McCoy, and traded down. I liked the USF Player Defensive End Jason Paul Pierre who went to the Giants and Tyson Alualu myself.’ I liked Price as well. My friends point out that perhaps even Mark Dominick was not entirely sold on McCoy, or he would not have also picked Price ?
My friends called the Price pick up a CYA Pick for Mark Dominick, because everyone and his brother had McCoy and Suh rated 2 and 3. If Mark had not picked McCoy, and he went elsewhere and excelled, it would be his ass. So he picks Price, hoping at least one of them would turn out. Now, as luck would have it, Price is out for the season, McCoy has zero sacks, and few tackles. The bottom line is we have NO pass rush. Had we been able to draft both Alualu and Paul Pierre by trading down, we would have had both a stud defensive end AND a Stud Defensive Tackle on the field at the same time. Suh is double teamed, and so is Alualu, yet they still get tackles and sacks on average teams, none of which have the record we do. Price getting injured is very bad for us, since we really haven’t seen enough of him to know what we have, or don’t have yet!
Folks, if McCoy turns out to be the bust many think he is going to be, and Price don’t flash next year, what DO we do ? If the learning curve is “so steep” for defensive tackles, why are Suh and Alualu getting it done, and McCoy is not ? Perhaps Steve White is correct, and it IS the coaching ? But I think we can all agree something is very very wrong, with our pass rush ?
November 14th, 2010 at 1:52 am
Let’s compare Alualu’s stats with McCoys ?
2010 NFL Draft
Alualu was drafted as the tenth overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars, a move that was widely regarded as the biggest surprise of the draft, and according to ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. “A risky move for taking him this high”.[6][7][8]
Pre-draft measureables Ht Wt 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP Wonderlic
6 ft 2¼ in 295 lb 4.87 s 1.67 s 2.82 s 4.43 s 7.15 s 35½ in 9 ft 8 in 21 rep
All values from NFL Combine[9]
Now look at McCoys numbers ?
McCoy, having been considered one of the top prospects of the 2009 NFL Draft, chose to participate in the 2010 NFL combine, which could raise his status very highly. As of May 2009[update], he was assumed to be a top-3 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft and projects as either a 4-3 “three-technique” defensive tackle or a 3-4 defensive end at the professional level.[3][4]
Pre-draft measureables Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP Wonderlic
6 ft 4⅛ in 295 lb 33¾ in 10¼ in 5.04 s 1.68 s 2.85 s 4.48 s 7.32 s 30½ in 9 ft 6 in 23 rep
All values from NFL Combine[5]
Alualu runs a 4.8 40 vs 5.07 for McCoy, his vertical jump is 5 inches higher, and broad jump is 2 inches greater for Alualu. McCoy is 2 inches taller, with 2 more bench press reps. McCoy has zero sacks, 16 tackles. Aluala has 2.5 sacks, 25 tackles. Let’s look at Suh ?
Pre-draft measureables Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP Wonderlic
6 ft 3⅞ in 307 lb 33½ in 10¼ in 4.98 s 1.69 s 2.81 s 4.44 s 7.21 s 35½ in 8 ft 9 in 32 rep
All values from NFL Combine[27]
See anything in common ? Both Suh and Alualu have 35 inch vertical jumps vs 30 for McCoy. I wonder if this has anything to do with explosion off the line, and why both Suh and Alualu have sacks, and McCoy has none, so far ?
I was told broad jumping has a lot to do with coordination, but a vertical jump is all pure hip power, you either have it, or you don’t ?
Anyone know the answer to this ?
November 14th, 2010 at 8:25 am
Apple, they also have better more experienced linemen around them. It is just not realistic to judge McCoy yet. Suh is the exception to the rule, and Aluala’s numbers are slightly better with a more experienced defense. Not to mention, we have McCoy, not the other two guys so it is a moot point anyway. Not to mention, Tampa Bay has a better record than both of the other teams, the best stat of all.
November 14th, 2010 at 10:08 am
McBuc, you are right, it is a moot point, we have McCoy, and I think both him and Price will be just fine. I am going to the Tampa – Carolina Game today, perhaps McCoy will finally get his sack, and many more after that ! Go Bucs!