Bucs Defense Catching Eyes
August 24th, 2014
Peter King of theMMQB.com is impressed with Lovie’s defense, as he should be.
Joe had typed time after time after time this past summer he wasn’t worried about the defense. Sure, Joe groused that the Bucs let go of All-World corner Darrelle Revis, but Joe has pretty much let that water flow past the bridge.
Of course, if the Bucs are hurting for corners and Revis returns to his pre-surgery form, yes, let’s just say Joe has the memory of an elephant.
The Bucs’ defense, led by seemingly unstoppable Gerald McCoy, has caught the attention of eyeballs around the NFL. And few bigger are the eyeballs in the cranium of NPR-listening, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball box score-reading Peter King, of theMMQB.com and NBC Sports fame.
Last night, after watching the first team defense of the Bucs suffocate Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel and his offense, King took to Twitter to explain how NFL offenses should not sleep well the week prior to playing the Bucs.
I’m Just Saying Dept.: TB’s first-unit defense has played 14 series this month and allowed three points. #Lovieknowethhisstuff
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) August 24, 2014
Again, Joe has no concerns about how this Bucs defense will play. So long as the Bucs stay healthy, Joe has zero concerns.
Now if the Bucs lose another cornerback or two to injury, then Joe will start sweating. Just a hunch, so too will Bucs front office types.
August 24th, 2014 at 10:08 am
Any news on verner?
August 24th, 2014 at 10:24 am
Was Verner injured again? He played last night didn’t he?
August 24th, 2014 at 10:33 am
Verner played 17 snaps last night. He’s fine
August 24th, 2014 at 10:40 am
Tiquan Underwood was cut by the panthers.
August 24th, 2014 at 10:41 am
I was never worried the Defense would not be good under Defensive Genius, Lovie Smith, but was still surprised with how dominating they played against such a good Bill’s OL. The Special Teams looked stellar too. The Bucs now have a chance to be very competitive at the start of the season. The Offense hasn’t even opened up 80 per cent of their playbook yet, and the first two games are in our Florida heat which Lovie has prepared us for. Things are looking up!!! The only real downer was the poor play once again by Albatross Glennon. I don’t think he has even matched his stats from last year’s Preseason and then he never got protection from our first string OL like Lovie gave him this year. If he starts our next game, be prepared for another loss! Lovie needs to promote Kafka now or just cut our Albatross for his poor performances and hire Tebo!
August 24th, 2014 at 10:43 am
Joe, I love your site but would you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop with the redundant linking of Irah Kauffmanl. If you need filler Im sure you can find something better
August 24th, 2014 at 10:46 am
@gatrbuc17
I don’t think Joe takes requests. If he did, we would have heard less about Johnny Football in the off season.
August 24th, 2014 at 10:52 am
RB Michael Smith has been released. Interesting. I would not be surprised if Lovie wants to see him on returns.
August 24th, 2014 at 10:52 am
Ira is great 🙂
August 24th, 2014 at 11:05 am
Finally watching the game now. Just saw the sack fumble TD. So f*cking stoked for this defense!! And the offense!!
Every game almost every player has improved. I know it’s only preseason, and I’m over-reacting, but I donj’t care. It’s so fun to watch this team play this well. We haven’t had that very often lately.
August 24th, 2014 at 11:05 am
Owlykat… You use Glennon as a punching bag in the same manner Realist uses Clayborn as one. I get it you think he sucks. Strange how all the coaching staff like his potential and future. I guess your eye for talent is superior. You must of turned red when he slipped down on that banana peel laying on the slippery plastic.
August 24th, 2014 at 11:19 am
The story about defending the integrity of elevator ethics was awesome.
I can’t wait to read about the filthy hotel staying.
August 24th, 2014 at 11:23 am
Joe, memory of an elephant is great, and reminds me of the greatness of John Lennon’s music with the Elephant’s Memory Band.
August 24th, 2014 at 11:35 am
The defense has looked good, but let’s not overreact until they can play against a high quality offense and QB like Brees. I’m very worried about the depth. The backups look terrible so they are one wrong injury away from being mediocre.
August 24th, 2014 at 11:38 am
Johnny football…is he still in the league?
But seriously, Glennon didn’t exactly light it up last night.
But considering our guard play, good thing we have a starting QB that is experienced big and athletic. A statue or a scrambling munchkin would be easy prey for any good defense facing our current O line performance.
August 24th, 2014 at 11:40 am
Gatrbuc:
eye-RAH Kaufman is an icon. It would be a sad day around these parts if Joe was to ignore him. For crying out loud he is the “Custidan on Canton!”
August 24th, 2014 at 11:42 am
The Glennon situation is this: He will be a solid performer in any situation where he’s inserted into the 1st-string lineup; for whatever reason, at any given moment. IMO, McCown is just on another level right now. He’s a wiser & more fiery leader, and he has more overall athletecism, which means that he’s more physically capable in a wider variety of game situations. I think that Glennon will always have a shot at winning the starting job over this next year or 2, but if McCown stays healthy, I think he will be our for the next couple years. I think Glennon will be battling it out 2 seasons from now with a rookie or 2nd-year guy (who we draft next year or the year after) for the right to be our Franchise Qb.
P.S. There’s an ever-so-slight possibility that McCown ends up being our Franchise Qb for the next 5 years…. and that we’ve won 3-4 Superbowls at that point. Scientifically speaking…
August 24th, 2014 at 11:43 am
could you imagine Revis on this defense? OMG, that would be fun. Coverage+Bull Rush sackssssss GALORE!
August 24th, 2014 at 11:53 am
*Typo….. ‘If McCown stays healthy, I think he will be our *guy for the next couple years.’
August 24th, 2014 at 12:01 pm
Anyone stating “Hire Tebow” should be banned from this website!
August 24th, 2014 at 12:27 pm
The corners will be fine no matter who goes down because it’s really as important as say Gerald McCoy going down then there’s no pressure on opposing quarterbacks
August 24th, 2014 at 12:28 pm
Mike Williams though, just saying.
August 24th, 2014 at 12:35 pm
Our back ups were playing against thier ones and when they took their one out the scoring stopped. We have good depth all over the defense.
August 24th, 2014 at 1:07 pm
No thanks on Revis, I like Brainer.
I would have liked to have gotten Derek Carr, a more athletic QB into this system ready behind McCown.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bucs pick up a scat back with great hands before the season starts. I think Tedford’s system requires it and I was not impressed by Demps (no Sims) and as good as Martin is he just isn’t that type of a player.
August 24th, 2014 at 1:30 pm
Thank you SeanyMac!!!
August 24th, 2014 at 4:21 pm
LaVonte David is creating his own David island in this cover 2 D.
He is not letting anything happen in his area of the zone.
I am worried about the middle of the field.
I love Mason on first and second down.
But he should come off the field in nickel situations.
i would like to see Mark Barron as the second LB in our nickle package and let one of our other, faster safteies take over the SS spot in obvious passing situations.
Mark Barron would be great alongside LaVonte David as our linebackers!
Think about it!
August 24th, 2014 at 6:29 pm
The Defense as a whole looked great but I am still focused on Mr. Michael Johnson though. I have yet to see him put any kind of pressure on a QB, going against subpar LT’s at that. I mean come on, even Adrian Clayborn has been regularly producing a consistent rush. Johnson was the premier off season signing, the savior of our pass rush, the final piece to the puzzle, the man who would help take this front four to the top and the dude has been doing is his best impersonation of Casper the friendly ghost.
I’m just saying for all the players actually doing fairly well to end up in Lovie’s “Dog House” Why does Michael get a free pass. I say soon as Gholston is healthy stick him on the Right side and let him nip at the heels of Johnson for playing time.
August 24th, 2014 at 11:37 pm
What the hell is a “Custidan”???