Barber Says “D” Had Two Bad Quarters All Season

October 4th, 2012

The 2012 Bucs defense has played 16 quarters. And in only two of those the Bucs defense was poor, so said Bucs icon Ronde Barber speaking on WDAE-AM 620 this week.

One might find that to be great news except the Bucs are 1-3 and have two top-10 ranked offenses in the NFL coming at them in their next two games: Kansas City and New Orleans.

“In retrospect, we’ve really had two bad quarters of football on defense,” Barber said. “You know, we’ve given up some yards, but we’ve played great red zone defense throughout this entire year. I think that’ll be a strength for us; it’s gotta be a strength for us throughout the rest of season.

“But we’ve played two bad quarters, and one was the fourth quarter against the Giants and the other was the second quarter against Washingon. And there’s really no excusing it. I could give plenty of excuses and explanations, but those don’t suit me or you and just kind of adds fuel to the fire. We have to play better. We have to tackle better. I think the sense of urgency coming out of halftime has always been good for us and it was especially good on Sunday. And that was the biggest difference. Guys doing their job.”

Obviously, there have been significant improvements on all three levels of the Bucs’ defense, but tackling breakdowns and unsuccessful blitzes have killed them.

Joe’s hopeful, but things won’t get any easier with Adrian Clayborn gone, depth concerns and more and more film on Greg Schiano’s new-to-the-NFL defense.

9 Responses to “Barber Says “D” Had Two Bad Quarters All Season”

  1. SensibleBuc Says:

    Ronde, I love you big guy but we need to see a lot less of you. You’re getting roasted in coverage, you keep missing tackles and now to cover for you we’re playing Barron out of position in centerfield. After the bye I only wanna see you in big nickel or 4-2-5 role.

  2. Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Says:

    That film is a killer! Look at Carolina, they were torching the NFL, at one time.
    Looks like another losing season awaits Tampa, although I am trying to be hopeful.
    We should have stuck with Jon Gruden, IMHO.

  3. SteveK Says:

    Ronde is still serviceable.

    Freeman has had 13-14 bad quarters this year.

    When is it time for the 4th year pro, former 1st round pick to lead this team to victory.

    Dom needs to take a look at Ronde Barber and realize to himself that is what a 2nd round pick looks like.

  4. Miguel El Magnifico Says:

    I believe Ronde was a 3rd rounder out of Virginia. Some one has been spiking the koolaid that Ronde’s been drinking.

  5. Gackrider Says:

    The defense is playing better than I expected..I can’t say the same for the offense.

  6. OptimisTroll Says:

    It would be better if the offense didn’t have like 13 bad quarters.

  7. Eric Says:

    Barber is a team guy, trying to rally his troops.

    Got no problem with it at all. Or him. Let this buc icon play out his last year in peace. Hes surely earned that.

  8. OAR Says:

    Eric
    Amen brother!

  9. OAR Says:

    Jamael Oronde Barber was a 3rd round pick.