When Pressure Matters
December 2nd, 2013
Joe always got a kick out of the little people who would ravage Bucs stud Gerald McCoy for not getting sacks but mock him for disrupting an offense.
These same simple minds apparently believe the lone job of a defensive lineman is to get sacks and nothing else matters.
Well, Joe is here to show you how much nonsense that is.
Below is the handiwork of NFL Network worker bee Ben Fennell, who produces NFL Network’s “Playbook,” a show devoted to the hidden Xs and Os behind the game. You can follow Fennell and his solid breakdowns on Twitter @TheXOsOfLife.
Now Joe has noted GMC laid a goose egg yesterday. He did. Stats, as always, can lie and hide facts, as Fennell documents. In screengrabs from NFL Films and GameRewind of yesterday’s loss to the Stinking Panthers, it is pressure, not sacks, that led to two Cam Newton picks yesterday.
In the first picture, you see GMC is about to bat the ball out of Newton’s hand.
In the second Newton pic, Joe isn’t sure who that is in Newton’s face (T’eo?) but more than anything else, it illustrates another stupid stunt. You have Adrian Clayborn, the right defensive end, trying to go up the middle and you have tackle Akeem Spence trying to go round the right side. WHY???!!!
At any rate, let this demonstrate that pressure and being disruptive very much matters. While sacks are cool, forcing picks and the Bucs have the ball, while not as sexy, maybe means more.
Remember that the next time you hear someone trying to belittle GMC.
December 2nd, 2013 at 2:57 pm
You are probably referring to one Ian Beckles who has been riding GMC forever. I completly agree with you and wish that Beckles would end this ridiculous vendetta he has against McCoy as it is way beyond stupid.
December 2nd, 2013 at 3:41 pm
@Rick – Sports talk and media personalities have a hard time letting go of something when they’ve taken a strong stance on a particular side of it. Once they’ve planted their flag on one side of the argument then it becomes a desperate grasp at whatever they can find to support their narrative. It’s been entertaining listening to Duemig support his opinions sometimes when he’s been wrong about various topics but tries to find ways to spin an issue to support his take. I like Duemig’s coverage and listen when I can but he’s as guilty of not admitting when he’s wrong as Beckles and even Joe sometimes (Johnny Football)
December 2nd, 2013 at 3:51 pm
Every football game is won and lost on the line of scrimmage. A key piece of the buccaneer line of scrimmage is Gerald McKoy(defensively). He had a bad game verses a good line of scrimmage therefore with my UT(University of Tampa) education I can only conclude GMC isn’t that great, or can be great vs. lesser talent either way thats not good. Especially if Sapp says his talent level is higher than his. I don’t think it takes genius to see that, or maybe it does. SMH!!!
December 2nd, 2013 at 3:51 pm
Using stats to measure the value of a player is a lazy way to do things. If you are going to do that, don’t even watch the game and just rank players by their stats. Doing that would place Barrett Ruud as one of our best LB’s of all time. In the case of McCoy, he is double (and often triple) teamed on every single snap. And to make matters worse, we stunt so much that nobody has a chance to collapse the pocket so that he can get sacks. Just watch our line (versus following the ball) and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. It’s ridiculous beyond words, and it’s amazing McCoy even has 6 sacks.
December 2nd, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Thank you.
December 2nd, 2013 at 4:10 pm
Agreed. I have thought about half a dozen times about calling in and asking Ian, why is it that just about every credible football mind in the country seems to believe GMC is in the top couple DT in the league yet HE seems to think he’s no good. Is everyone else just crazy or has Ian developed some vendetta against him for some reason.
Stop comparing Sapp’s production to GMC. It was a different team with a different scheme and unlike GMC, Sapp had talent on that line. We have potential but not much else yet…..
December 2nd, 2013 at 4:13 pm
Women lie, men lie but the numbers don’t. If “joe” doesn’t get a certain “number” of web hits buh bye joebucsfan.com. You can’t look at all qb stats under one umbrella but on defense its about TFL’s period. We didn’t do anything with the GMC pressured INT but a couple sacks puts you in great field position that could change the game. I’m just not buying pressure over sacks. That’s like saying masturbation over actual sex. Now what sense does that make???
December 2nd, 2013 at 4:27 pm
” We didn’t do anything with the GMC pressured INT but a couple sacks puts you in great field position that could change the game.”
———-
So you believe that getting a couple sacks is better than an INT? Uh, ok buddy, whatever you say.
December 2nd, 2013 at 4:36 pm
-Hawaiian Buc
“Buddy” You act like our D is up to 1999 standards when a pressure resulted in a pick six. “Buddy” those days are long gone, with a team as inconsistent as ours the QB must go down and go down hard. Especially in the NFC South. So your the guy that would take masturbation over sex… Don’t shake his hand yall…
December 2nd, 2013 at 4:56 pm
@skelly
Exactly, I like Spence as a rookie but that’s all the help McCoy gets. Give him Simeon instead of Adrian C and a real scheme then compare or hate on him.
December 2nd, 2013 at 5:49 pm
@Eastsidebuc,
Where did you ever see that I think our defense is up to 99 standards? I sure as hell never wrote that, nor do I think that. The defense in our glory years had a great DL, not just one great player on the D-line. Put a Simeon Rice on this team and see what McCoy does. Clayborne is no Rice.
My point to you was how can you believe that a pressured INT is not as good as a sack and changing field position? So how exactly is changing field position better than actually taking the ball away from the other team? Your tangent about masturbation makes no sense in that regard. The fact that we can’t score after a TD is not the fault of the defense. That’s on the offense.
December 2nd, 2013 at 7:11 pm
@Eastsidebuc
What’s with all the masturbation comments? Have you checked your palms lately to see if the hair in them needs to be trimmed?
December 2nd, 2013 at 10:00 pm
Thank you Joe! That’s what I’ve been tryin’ to say!
December 3rd, 2013 at 1:32 pm
People, drink the kool-aid all day. This man is not worth a $60 million contract, plain and simple. Defending an inconsistent player with when he has all but 2 pressures in the entire game, a divisional game against a big opponent at that, is hardly justification that he’s the god-send you all make him out to be.
Congrats Gerald, you pressured the QB once or twice and got washed out the other 59 minutes, typical Sunday for him when we play a half decent team.
“You don’t watch the games if you don’t like GMC.” is the weakest line I’ve heard since that cheesy, awful nickname for Peter King.
Ride the high horse of smashing weak teams but don’t let it fool you. Big players show up against big teams, 2 pressures does not cut it.