Tunnel Vision For Moore
May 24th, 2014
Lovie Smith is awfully serious about his nickel cornerback position.
Back in Chicago, Lovie spent a season serving as head coach and nickel back coach. How often does that happen in the NFL?
Study data from Lovie’s Chicago defenses, and you’ll see the nickel corner is on the field more than half the time.
Lovie Smith’s nickelback in Chicago during his final season of 2012 was often D.J. Moore, who just so happens to be a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. Joe’s talked to Moore several times, and each time Joe’s asked Moore whether Lovie’s defense or Lovie himself have changed. The answer is always, “No.”
Speaking on 102.5 FM in Nashville recently, Moore even went so far to say, “Everything with the [Bucs] defense is exactly the same” as Lovie had in Chicago.
Moore told PewterReport.com this that Lovie plays his nickelback “about 70 percent of the plays” and explained that Lovie gives the nickel cornerback starter’s respect, as the top nickel gets to “run out of the tunnel.” He went on to say the nickel corner studies all the run fits of the strongside linebacker in order to fill that role.
Joe has to think Moore, 27, is the heavy favorite to win the nickel job. Lovie trusts him, otherwise he wouldn’t be here. Think Josh McCown. Throw in the guy who seems to be the top competition with Moore, Leonard Johnson, and Moore seems to be a lock.
During that Nashville radio interview (Moore’s a bit of a Vanderbilt hero), the sixth-year cornerback also talked about his film study habits.
Moore said he’s not big on studying receivers specifically, but he’ll intently study what teams do on “3rd and short and their money plays.” Moore said he also dives into how West Coast teams run their slant patters and, in some instances, how a receiver releases in case there’s a tell he can use.
May 24th, 2014 at 10:26 am
Lets just hope our free agents arent….. nickel and diming us!
May 24th, 2014 at 10:33 am
Our CB depth is terrible. Pablo wishes we still had Revis.
May 24th, 2014 at 10:45 am
Lol @ Leonard Johnson. Is he still on our team because we need depth or because Ronde endorsed him? #CutTheWeaklings
May 24th, 2014 at 11:07 am
I echo these sentiments… What happens when we have just a sigle injury at this position? Leonard Johnson? Really? The lack of depth at this position and virtslly every other position is frightening.
May 24th, 2014 at 11:08 am
Why did we cut revis? Certainly there were some acquisitions we could have done without and kept revis? O niel cousin? That miserable safety? Some of those Wrs? I mean there is a scenario where we have mostly the same starters and revis.
May 24th, 2014 at 11:14 am
Coaching and scheme. I’m more concerned about the secondary learning to play together than the personnel we have.
We just may have a consistent pass rush too.
Why does everybody think we need an all-pro at every roster spot to be a decent team? We blew at least a dozen high picks in the last few years and everyone is dumping on the new guys stuck with this mess. Temper the expectations.
May 24th, 2014 at 11:21 am
Matt B says:
“The lack of depth at this position and virtslly every other position is frightening.”
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Pablo feels the same ways, but don’t forget Jonathan Casillas said our 2s & 3s are just like the 1s … *rollseyes*
May 24th, 2014 at 11:21 am
At this point theoretically we could have Revis and Verner and all the same free agent signings. And still have enough space to lock up McCoy next year after the money saved by cutting Nicks.
May 24th, 2014 at 11:22 am
Because if we still had revis, we wouldn’t have Michael Johnson and Verner. Think about it. Its not realistic. And I don’t know about you. But I’d take them over revis. We were still 4-12 last year with revis. So clearly we needed more that just a “shutdown corner” WAY MORE. This team is a work in progress. Gonna take time. But were on the right path.
May 24th, 2014 at 11:27 am
@ Glenningrad
Nicks salary is guaranteed this season so you wouldn’t have saved anything only created dead money. Revis is gone now and not thinking about any one of us, get over it and move on
May 24th, 2014 at 11:28 am
Revis signed with the pats for 12 mil and we still have 13 mil in the bank including all the other signings.
May 24th, 2014 at 11:28 am
Sam says:
“Because if we still had revis, we wouldn’t have Michael Johnson and Verner. ”
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Wow does every like Micheal Johnson so much? This guy had only one double digit sack season playing next to Gene Atkins his whole career. He racked up a grand total of 3.5 sacks last year. He is averaging 5.5 sacks a season throughout his career. His former coach Mike Zimmer passed up on him in Free Agency. This guy will not amount t to anything in Tampa Bay. Lovie Smith has a track record of gambling on DEs.. He’s the guy who traded a 2nd rou d pick for Gaines Adams. .
May 24th, 2014 at 11:29 am
We cut Revis because we could replace him with anywhere from 3-10 players.
Sure Revis was a great player and we gave up picks for him….but, I’m excited about our new players…
May 24th, 2014 at 11:30 am
@ world I meant next year we could lock him up. Mccoy still has one year left so we cpuld have. Im also just exposing a hypothetical scenario.
May 24th, 2014 at 11:42 am
The only player I’m excited we signed is Clinton McDonald. I think K this guy is gonna be a beast in Lovie ‘s System.
May 24th, 2014 at 11:46 am
@pablo– do you ever have anything intelligent to add to this site? I would love to still have Revis, but think L&L did a great job rebuilding a team without him. Would much rather have a solid defense than one great corner!
May 24th, 2014 at 11:55 am
We got some very solid players, for just one very expensive luxuary player. I’m ok with that. We needed help on the D line plus we got verner, who actually was neck in neck with revis and sherman as the best coners in the NFL according too pro football focus. Plus he is younger and don’t have knee concerns
May 24th, 2014 at 11:59 am
Do you people realize that most secondaries, or any position grouping in the NFL, are an injury away from serious trouble? It’s called life in the NFL with a 53 man roster. It is for that reason that Revis had to be let go. 16 mil tied up in one player on a team that is several players away from being a contender allows you to build depth and the salary cap room for contingencies.
May 24th, 2014 at 12:02 pm
Revis had to go. That was a terrible trade and we replaced him with 10 players.
May 24th, 2014 at 12:03 pm
Drew says Pablo says that Simon says sit down.
May 24th, 2014 at 12:06 pm
I see people talking about depth at cb and what if they get hurt. Guys remember that’s why we have some bad ass safeties on this team. We also have some good linebackers that got invited to our rookie tryouts that will make the team. We need to trust lovie. Give us a decent year and next year Draft a crap ton of defensive players and our team will be solid. Revis was about done and next year there are gonna be some awesome cb’s out of college. Just wait guys. Pablo and others who are jumping up and down on Darrell revis’s D*** need to realize 16 mil is a lot for what he was giving us and Verner will be better in this system. Quit downing our defense and remember what lovie made the bears…. GREAT!!!! If you like revis so much go join the Patriot fans.
May 24th, 2014 at 12:07 pm
It’s nice to hear how motivated these guys are to get better. Moore is committed to film study and I read a couple days ago where Alterraun Verner was going to commit himself to a lot of film study between the end of OTAs and the start of training camp. If Lovie can get all of his guys to buy in like that, we could once again be proud of our defense!
May 24th, 2014 at 12:14 pm
Pablo, You need to face the fact that Darrelle Revis is gone & is not coming back. I was upset too at first when they released him, but I’ve gotten over it. If Lovie Smith can get this team to buy into his system, we’ll be an elite team.
May 24th, 2014 at 12:36 pm
I’m solo happy Revis is gone. Verner fits our defense better. We overpaid for him, lost draft picks, and paid for his rehab. True NFList know this. We will be ok if we can get to the quarterback. I think thats more important.
May 24th, 2014 at 12:48 pm
Am I the only person who loves the depth of our secondary? I mean look at it..
Safety:
Dashon Goldson
Mark Barron
Major Wright
Keith Tandy
Cornerback:
Alterraun Verner
Jonthan Banks
Mike Jenkins
D.J Moore
Leonard Johnson
Reshean Melvin
Danny Gorrer
Call me crazy or optimistic but that’s crazy depth for teams secondary. Our back ups were/could be starters on other teams.
May 24th, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Leonard Johnson can do it, dood can run stuff.
May 24th, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Doug says Pablo is a freakin idiot
May 24th, 2014 at 1:16 pm
Biff Barker.
Well said sir.
May 24th, 2014 at 2:21 pm
@ Andres well put my boy, well put! Even though he got used on some plays,the kid brings his lunch pail & hardhat to work everyday! Everyday,and it has been like that since day one!
May 24th, 2014 at 3:35 pm
Leonard Johnson can do more than just stuff the run. He is a good playmaker too. When he started he had three interceptions in no time, and in the Tampa Two there is even greater chance for interceptions because you are facing the QB. Now he is not a burner but our greatest CB of all time, Rhonde, was not any faster than Johnson. Johnson can do very well in Tampa Two, especially with expert coaching. Pablo and Chicken Little have a lot in common! The Buc’s D will be back in high cotton this year. The only question mark will be how tough they will be up the middle with Foster dropping his weight. Can they stop the Carolina big back running attack? It would have been better with the Urlacher Clone but I hope the back up MLB from the Patriots will be up to the task.
May 24th, 2014 at 4:53 pm
Actually, secondary is probably this team’s deepest spot. Many seem to be skipping over Mike Jenkins. Johnson is no. 5 — at best.
May 24th, 2014 at 4:57 pm
Revis was taking a lot of money of the cap.
Licht is doing an excellent job of acquiring talent at a fair price. I like the unit of players we have for this year. Lets not assume we don’t already have our future backups. Once, I remember Barber praising L. Johnson. Here’s the JBF article:
https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=77888
With our coaching the backups maybe in place and ready to do a decent job. I like Lovie’s coaching staff.
Remember the past does not equal the future. If that was the case we would be winning SBs since 2002… lol
May 24th, 2014 at 5:03 pm
I like our defensive backfield. Just sayin.
May 24th, 2014 at 5:09 pm
The depth is alright. Not terrible
May 25th, 2014 at 10:35 am
Leonard Johnson won a couple of games for us.Remember?Never heard of Dj Moore in my life.
May 25th, 2014 at 10:39 am
Its amazing how people just wanna get rid of people.This dude is from Largo and always dreamed of being a Buccaneer.He is a playmaker naturally but could always improve in coverage.Every corner gets beat even Revis believe it or not