“Nothing Has Changed”
September 18th, 2014
The NFL is laughing at the Falcons’ pass rush
Former Falcons offensive lineman and Florida State legend Jamie Dukes was screaming his lungs out this morning on WDAE-AM 620 about tonight’s Bucs-Falcons game in Atlanta.
Dukes, who also is an NFL Network analyst and a radio guy in Atlanta, was appalled at the suggestion the Bucs might not have a shot to win.
The sackless-in-2014 Falcons present a great opportunity for any team with offensive talent, Dukes explained, because they don’t have a pass rush.
“Nothing has changed,” Dukes bellowed, referring to Atlanta’s lousy rush last year.
Dukes expressed disbelief that the Falcons wouldn’t pay John Abraham a couple of years ago but kept the likes of edge rusher Kroy Biermann, who Dukes noted averages one sack roughly every 5 1/2 games.
Yes, the Bucs have a great chance to win tonight, if they can throw the ball down the field and put up points along with the Falcons. But the Bucs absolutely have not done that this season. In fact, they’re the worst team in the NFL at big plays. CBSSports.com pulled some stats geek data.
Through two weeks, Tampa is dead last in passing efficiency according to Football Outsiders. It shows in the box score. Josh McCown is completing a significant percentage of his passes (67.9%) but he’s not effectively moving the ball down the field (6.5 yards per attempt) and has three interceptions to just two touchdowns on the year. Last season McCown averaged 8.2 yards per attempt.
Dinking and dunking should not be this team’s go-to. Not when you have Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans, both over 6-foot-5. They have just 173 receiving yards combined through the first two weeks of the season.
Here’s the stat to know about all this: McCown is taking short drops and getting rid of the ball quickly. Pro Football Focus credits McCown with just five attempts of 20-plus yards this season, putting him at 26th among all quarterbacks.
Regardless, the Bucs have the talent in their big wide receivers, and in the backfield, and tight end Brandon Myers has proven reliable with good hands.
It’s time for Josh McCown to roll out the 2013 version of himself.
September 18th, 2014 at 10:10 am
Ditto to that from Dukes on his bully pulpit! And sour grapes for the Bucs coaching staff for the job performance to date. Granted, it’s not an easy job but neither is being a real fan tortured on game day.
September 18th, 2014 at 10:11 am
Conservative play calling sucks. Better be different tonight, really getting old .
September 18th, 2014 at 10:13 am
“It’s time for Josh McCown to roll out the 2013 version of himself.”
Everybody insisted all offseason that he is the guy that won a few games as a backup instead of the guy that can’t win a starting job or even stay in the league. Our starting QB is Josh McCown. How effing miserable is that? But hey, don’t blame Lovie!
September 18th, 2014 at 10:14 am
Dude looks like he is growing a tail!!
September 18th, 2014 at 10:15 am
Mathius Says:
September 18th, 2014 at 10:14 am
Dude looks like he is growing a tail!!
Hahahahhhh!!!!
September 18th, 2014 at 10:19 am
I’m hoping that the drinking and dunking was just the game plan against two teams with a fierce pass rush…they should be smart enough to know they’ll have more time to stretch the field tonight.
September 18th, 2014 at 10:27 am
@ DallasBuc,
McCown average 8.2 yards per attempt last year and only 6.5 this year? Do you really believe that is a McCown issue or a playcalling issue? You may not like McCown, but to blame him for the conservative play calling is just you being part of the Glennon Mob. You don’t think he wants to use Vjax and Evans like he did Marshall and Jeffrey? I mean it is documented that he was begging the bucs to draft Evans. Stop being such a Glennon Mob supporter and open your eyes. The bucs would dink and dunk if Glennon was the QB because the play calling is conservative.
September 18th, 2014 at 10:35 am
The short passes are working great if your on the other team. Same crap year after year.
September 18th, 2014 at 10:37 am
Conservative play calling = boring loss
September 18th, 2014 at 10:38 am
@tiny tim,
DallasBuc is much smarter than the rest of us as he would have hung his hopes on a Michael Vick or Johnnie Football (yes, the same one hat is currently backing up another career backup Brian Hoyer) thus guaranteeing us with a 2-0 start.
September 18th, 2014 at 10:39 am
Time to see if McCown is worthy to be a starting QB in this league ( thus far he has not looked the part). If he plays well tonight, limits the stupid mistakes, and helps the Bucs get a win…then he should be given another chance to try to turn things around. BUT, if he continues to throw stupid pics, hangs onto the ball too long, and misses wide open receivers (and we lose the game)….then at 0-3 and no shot at a post season run, it’s time to scrap the failed McCown experiment and give Glennon the rest of the season to see if he is the guy to lead us next year!
September 18th, 2014 at 10:41 am
Yes nothing has changed and it won’t until the Glazers sell the team. They seem like they want to win but I don’t think they know how to.
September 18th, 2014 at 10:44 am
He won’t have anymore time today than he’s had all year.
Here my prediction for tonight.
38-13 falcons. I adjusted it from 41-13 bc I’m trying to be positive.
Let the “real fans” begin their disbelief n moaning.
September 18th, 2014 at 10:51 am
I’ll say it ONE MORE TIME for the record…the falcons have some of the shortest db’s in the NFL….if we don’t see our “dunkaneers” on display (FINALLY) tonight, and I was a season pass holder, I’d be SCREAMING for a refund for false advertising plain and simple. Hard to believe the Greg Schiano regime knew how to drive the ball down the field on offense with Vincent Jackson and a rookie tight end but the great and heralded “Lovie regime” can’t…oh and come in 4th in the league in takeaways…WHAT THE !@#$ HAS HAPPENED TO MY TEAM!!!!???!?!?!?!?!
September 18th, 2014 at 10:51 am
@tiny tim
Dallas Buc is just a realist, facts are facts and McClown has been sucking so far. Its only been 2 games yes but he lost us the 1st game againsnt the Panthers and threw an ugly interception agasint the Rams. He has his last chance tonight agaisnt a terrible Falcons defense to show wht he’s got. If not, its Glennon time!
September 18th, 2014 at 10:54 am
JBuc is back with more nonsense assumptions and logical fallacies..wooohooo. Everyone is smarter than you JBuc because you live in a fantasy world. You see, the existence of other bad QBs doesn’t make our bad QB any better.
Here’s hoping that McCown can show us what he’s got tonight and pull out a win so we can talk about something other than QB play.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:00 am
Yup its all Mccown’s fault he should be covering receivers on defense, kicking field goals, blocking and calling plays but he not. Time to put Glennon in he prove he was the guy last year. This teams problems go a bit further then Mccown but I know it takes time for a new coach to implement his system and gather all the tools/players to execute it. Judge this team on its last 8 games not the first.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:03 am
Actually, I would say DallasBuc is far from a realist. The fact is that good QB’s are hard to find. That’s why our options were so limited on the free agent market. We could sit here and argue all day over Vick vs McCown, however it doesn’t change the fact that their options were very limited in terms of securing a starting caliber QB. I know they looked at all the top QB’s in the draft and I think they weren’t all that impressed with what was out there. Bortles and Carr might be something but they weren’t going to trade up for Bortles or for Carr at the end of the 1st. Regardless, to sit here and continually rip the organization for taking the best available option at QB coming off a 4-12 season in far from realistic.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:05 am
No Bucfan4lyfe—tiny Tim is correct. If you don’t think McCown wants to throw downfield….: but with the o line vs our recent dline matchups: what do you expect. Of course not to mention conservative playcalling
September 18th, 2014 at 11:08 am
Throw the ball “down field”?
What does that mean?
Please clarify.
Aren’t those 5 yard passes technically “down field”?
September 18th, 2014 at 11:08 am
We will all soon find out tonight
September 18th, 2014 at 11:14 am
PFT just put up an article on Josh McCown’s terrible turnovers. Highest voted comments? The ones saying start Glennon.
The Mob is taking over the nation…
September 18th, 2014 at 11:15 am
@ Bucsfan4lyf
I would not say McCown has sucked this year. Last game he completed 80% of his passes. Did he make a bad play in the redzone? Yes, but that happens all the time. He threw that pick early in the 2nd quarter. The great Drew brees threw a redzone pick against the bucs last year and Foster turned it into a TD late in the third quarter. The difference is the saints stayed aggressive with playcalling and they won. The bucs ran the ball 10 times in the redzone after that and we lost. All while McCown was completing 80% of his passes. No I would not agree he sucked. We were conservative point blank.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:15 am
I do think a lack of confidence in the newly formed O-line facing two of the top D-lines in the Panthers and Rams factored significantly in the game planning, conservative play calling. I would admit Josh played poorly in game 1, however he was under constant pressure. If this line continues to progress I think tis offense will open up.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:24 am
How do you guys know the 10 point falcons from last week will not show up tonight? They are 1-1. And looked great against the 0-2 saints. The clear leader in the south is the panthers, I think this will be a good game tonight, and Dukes is right about the Bucs having a chance to win.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:33 am
Playing a conservative game can work if the defense manhandles the opposing offense. The Bucs don’t have that defense, at least not yet. A weak Falcons defense combined with an injury depleted Bucs defense should result in a more aggressive passing game for the Bucs. This s a good opportunity for Lovie to open up the offense. If he keeps it conservative again, there’s a good chance we’ll never see what the so called mystery offense can do. No point in drafting a WR in the top 10 if you don’t pass the ball.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:36 am
The Falcons lost to an elite (regular season) team on the road. Their loss was bad, but the Bucs would lose by even worse if they travelled to Cincy. So no point bringing that game up as something to suggest Atlanta can lose tonight.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:47 am
@Pewter_Power, It’s a business right, SELL THE TEAM TO CHUCKY..
September 18th, 2014 at 12:06 pm
@ Goodolebucfan
If we are to judge a coach by the last eight games, instead of the first eight, then Schiano at 4-4 was a better coach than expected?
@ tiny tim
You may not be aware of this, but most offensive pass plays have short, intermediate, and deep routes (and/or a ‘safety’ outlet). McCown can throw to the deep receiver whenever he wants. Once the ball is snapped, the coach cannot force him to throw short. In McCown’s defense, it is possible that the deep receiver is usually well covered and McCown isn’t yet comfortable enough to ‘throw it up for grabs’. The only thing ‘conservative’ about the play calling was the continuous ‘running’ plays. Even then, McCown can audible to a pass. McCown is the one ‘out there’ and needs to be a ‘leader’ by adjusting the plays to what he believes will work. If he is not doing that, it means that, either he doesn’t have any better idea of what play to call, or he is not allowed to change the play(highly doubtful).
September 18th, 2014 at 12:09 pm
JBuc and tiny tim have locked themselves in the unenviable position of defending the great Josh McCown! So it is understandable that they have to misrepresent my positions, lie and make sht up to bolster their defenseless arguments. Keep the dream alive fellas!!!
September 18th, 2014 at 12:10 pm
7 teams have rookie head coaches and only 1 team is winless.
Yes even the Houston Texans are 2-0. Every team has won at least 1 game except for your scrub ass McCown and Lovie Smith.
Spin that Hawaii
September 18th, 2014 at 12:14 pm
Hawk
U obviously don’t watch game film bc if you did you’d see that in a 4 rvc set everyone is running hitch routes. Everyone is going 6 yards and stopping. McCown completes arrows, slants (barely) and hitches. That’s it.
Tell you what if u can’t go to a game or watch it at least 5 times on your DVR (it’s like a VCR) then just stop commenting. It unbelievable what u guys come up with. STFU!!
September 18th, 2014 at 12:21 pm
Hey DallasBuc, I’ll take the unenviable position of defending Josh vs the easy route of being a dbag armchair QB who sits back and simply criticizes everything the organization does. Which part did I misrepresent? If they turn his team around during the course of this year, will we hear you saw you were wrong?
September 18th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Everyone is acting like Atlanta is elite as well, if it were true their elite offense would have scored on Cincinnati. Carolina had a better regular season record than Cincinnati and the Bucs were in the game. By the logic of last years records, Atlanta should have been beaten by the saints. All NFL teams are good, the margin is close. The Bucs can still come out of this streak as well, and Atlanta does not look scary, Cincinnati being elite or not.
September 18th, 2014 at 12:28 pm
Mcbuc
Derek Anderson n Austin Davis say hello.
September 18th, 2014 at 12:30 pm
dBSS…lol, you got me on that. I still don’t believe in Atlanta tho.
September 18th, 2014 at 12:32 pm
If we could carve these guys up tonight it would be a nice little booster for the Bucs. If we get in a shoot out though, we aren’t going to keep up. So hopefully our D and contain Julio and Roddy.
We face two stout Defenses in Carolina and the Rams. If we can’t score against this weak stuff then we are hosed.
September 18th, 2014 at 12:34 pm
Just throw the damn ball deeper, if McCown can accomplish that without being picked. Somebody Bucs will be open.
September 18th, 2014 at 12:50 pm
JBuc- “If they turn his team around during the course of this year, will we hear you saw you were wrong?”
Absolutely! I want nothing more than to be wrong and see this team win football games and I have said this consistently all offseason.
September 18th, 2014 at 1:19 pm
DallasBuc- Mighty noble of you. So I guess it’s just bitch as much as you can until that point? By the way, which part did we misrepresent?
September 18th, 2014 at 1:29 pm
And JBuc- classic misrepresentation “a dbag armchair QB who sits back and simply criticizes everything the organization does”. First of all, I do not simply criticize everything they do. I specifically criticize only the things I do not agree with and explain myself. Where there are things I like or things I may have been wrong about I say so too. Second, what is easy is to sit back and be all rah rah saying “in Lovie we trust” while he is making glaring mistakes that are hurting my favorite football team. Third, you or your McCown fanclub budfies calling me a Glennon mob guy is completely ridiculous. Stop making sht up.
When either one of these guys proves they can play QB in this league and win football games then I will be on board. You have to do something before you can be known as something!
September 18th, 2014 at 1:37 pm
JBuc- “Mighty noble of you. So I guess it’s just bitch as much as you can until that point?” I wouldn’t call it mighty noble. I just want the bucs to win. So when I see them do sht that I don’t think will lead to winning football games I am going to say so. Isn’t this the place to do that? Stop bitching at me for not supporting the bad decisions of Lovie Smith or our terrible QB.
September 18th, 2014 at 1:48 pm
@DallasBuc, I did not call you a Glennon Mob guy. Maybe that was tiny Tim but not not me. However, I do you think you are again unrealistic regarding Lovie and this team. I am not a Lovie or Josh “rah rah” guy. Instead, is like to think I am trusting and patient enough to let them work their plan and let it play out a bit. My God, you have an N of 2 to judge. How about a year or 9 games? They have totally changed the face of a shitty football team. I, for one, was glad to see it. Almost all new players, new system, and new coaches (one of which is dealing with health issues) and your not willing to give any benefit of the doubt? That is completely unrealistic. But I am sure you started out perfect.
September 18th, 2014 at 2:33 pm
kroy bierman, who looked completely helpless in training camp on “hard knocks” and so far in the season, will notch a sack vs us. it’s just been that kind of year for this team.
September 18th, 2014 at 2:39 pm
@ Hawk,
A three step drop has no deep routes hence the three step drop. The play is designed for the ball to come out quickly and if it does not then it usually means the play is busted. You will even see on such plays an offensive tackle chop blocking an end in order to give the QB a clean look. If the ball does not come out, you run the risk of getting sack ala Jared Allen against Penn who was able to sack Josh Freeman. Good try though.
September 18th, 2014 at 2:49 pm
@ Dallas Buc
No sir I am not all rah rah for McCown, but I am not going to bash him and say its all his fault just because I want Vick or Glennon in the game. I know too much football to know that all the bucs ills do not lie at the feet of a guy who made one mistake in a 60 minutes game. Oh yea, he completed 80% of his passes also. I saw the game. We had two special team blunders which by the way is more than the one mistake McCown made. We had many defensive plays where there was no pressure and many 3rd and long conversions which is more than the one mistake McCown made. We had 3 trips into the redzone where we did not attempt a pass which is more than the one mistake mccown made. But you are bias anyway because you never wanted to give him a chance to begin with. He can go 25-25 for 300 yrds and 3 tds and you will still blame the lost on him some how. When will some people on this site realize it is a team game.
September 18th, 2014 at 4:58 pm
DB55 seems to have reading comprehension issues. I said “most” pass plays, and I stand by it. The Bucs DO NOT run your ‘rvc’ sets on every pass play AND if “everyone” went six yards and stopped, there’d be no way to throw the ball into the crowd with any hope of completion (except to a defender, maybe). BTW, since when do receivers, on a slant pattern, stop? Maybe you mean ‘post pattern’? Take your own advice or quit giving it out.
Tiny Tim and I might just be suffering from ‘semantics breakdown’. A three-step drop still has a ‘deep’ route, it’s just not as deep as on a seven-step drop.
BTW, the difference between McCown’s INT and Bree’s INT, isn’t just play calling. Brees has a long history of great plays/games and McCown does not. Therefore, McCown will have a harder time getting the benefit of the doubt. It may not be fair, but it is reality. If Lovie hadn’t built McCown up so much, there might not be so much disappointment in him. Of course, the Joes had a hand in that also, by giving us countless posts about what a great ‘leader’ McCown is, and so on.