Can The Bucs Match The ’07 Defense?
June 30th, 2013
One unsung accomplishment in Bucs history was Tampa Bay’s No. 1 ranked pass defense in 2007. Yes, under defensive backs coach Raheem Morris, the Bucs’ secondary was the best in the NFL — and sent nobody to the Pro Bowl.
Jermaine Phillips, rookie Tanard Jackson, Phillip Buchanon and Ronde Barber were the main men, as once-great cornerback Brian Kelly got old and faded away.
And, the Bucs accomplished this with a pass rush led by Stylez White, Gaines Adams and Jovan Haye, not exactly a scary crew.
Joe points this out to illustrate how much talent the Bucs have now at defense line and defensive back, versus six seasons ago. The current Bucs are loaded at those positions by comparison.
Obviously, the Bucs must stay healthy, but a lot falls on Greg Schiano and his New Schiano Order defense, one defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan made very clear is crafted by Schiano.
June 30th, 2013 at 10:10 am
wow
June 30th, 2013 at 10:14 am
Its very difficult to compare the two seasons…for example, the 2007 Bucs were competing against Jake Delhomme at Carolina and Mike Vick was ranked 28th that year.
I don’t have the interest to look deeper into the competition that year but I suspect it will be tougher in 2013.
The real question is will we be substantially better than last year and that question has been answered.
June 30th, 2013 at 11:08 am
Pro bowls are way over rated. I for one could careless how many pro bowl players we have. The Pro Bowl is usually a popularity contest, to get there you already have to be popular or you have to win lots of games to get popular. Bottom line is, if we win more games than we lose more than likely we will have a few more pro bowl players. I really dont care about the pass defense rankings either. I am more worried about can they create turnovers? and can they make big stops in key moments. Thats how you critique a defense in my opinion.
June 30th, 2013 at 11:12 am
“And, the Bucs accomplished this with a pass rush led by Stylez White, Gaines Adams and Jovan Haye, not exactly a scary crew.”
Wow, that’s an awesome point.
June 30th, 2013 at 11:14 am
@tbbf
I agree, plus it was only Bree’s second year on the Saints and they lost to the Bucs twice that year. The Bucs were the best team defense in the NFC and they held all their opponents combined to 270 total points. Carolina was 347, New Orleans 388, and Atlanta 414. Seattle (291), Green Bay (291), and Philadelphia (300) were the only teams at or below 300 in the NFC. And believe it or not we actually scored more points than we allowed. (334)
June 30th, 2013 at 11:21 am
No excuses. Schiano has all the groceries.
June 30th, 2013 at 11:32 am
Yeah, I see people who love to blame Bill Sheridan, when it is Schiano’s Defense.
A Fish stinks, from the head down.
But we will be a LOT better, this year. Go Bucs!
June 30th, 2013 at 11:40 am
Meet the 2007 defense
http://www.bucpower.com/defense07.html
June 30th, 2013 at 11:47 am
Drew Brees, Vick, jake the snake.
As I recall they won the division beating the saints in NO. Went for it on 4th and two.
Peace of cake.
That team would have freeman begging for mercy after first quarter. Imagine what Monte could do to confuse him? Ronde on the blitz? Brooks might have 3 picks himself.
June 30th, 2013 at 11:51 am
After a horrible start trying to replace John Lynch, I always felt Jermaine developed into a pro bowl level safety. I think injuries got in the way of a nice career.
June 30th, 2013 at 11:56 am
Yeah well we might have been #1 against the pass but… HORRIBLE against the run!!!
Still have nightmares of that Monday night game in Carolina!
Wrong year. You’re thinking of 2008. –Joe
June 30th, 2013 at 4:15 pm
^How do Bucs fans that claim to be die hard fans, etc. not remember such smal trivia as such in the comments above? Mind blown.
June 30th, 2013 at 4:27 pm
That finish in 08 was heartbreaking. Especially since it led to the Raheem Morris total fiasco.
But amazingly, 7, 10, and 5 game losing streaks are acceptable!
Kinda like winning the division and losing in the first round is a disgrace, but no playoffs at all is fine and dandy.
Bucs fans are an interesting breed, IMO. What few remain anyway.
June 30th, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Shut it Eric. You are obviously not a true Bucs fan, just a sniveling little punk. The Bucs have been rebuilding under Shiano and will clearly be stronger this year. We don’t need fake fans like you. Go back to Boston or New York.
June 30th, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Weren’t they dead last against the run? They had the best pass defense because no one had to THROW against them.
June 30th, 2013 at 10:04 pm
“Amar Says:
June 30th, 2013 at 4:15 pm
^How do Bucs fans that claim to be die hard fans, etc. not remember such smal trivia as such in the comments above? Mind blown.”
Perhaps….fans with 30 years of games watched, or maybe fans who could give a s–t about statistics, or maybe fans who prefer to just watch a game & not over analyze it, or last , but not least, fans , like me who are just old . All of which make us no less passionate than you. Perhaps your mind is blown cause it’s too small to conceive that a fan can be one in any way different than. You are.
July 1st, 2013 at 4:28 am
Amazing level of ignorance…..
July 1st, 2013 at 6:25 am
I used to be able to remember all of those specific game facts when I was younger; but after 36 seasons my brain is cluttered with a lot of useless information. But as Fritz50 says, remembering how the Panthers ran all over us, but not remembering the exact year doesn’t make us any less passionate.