“You Can See The Difference”
October 2nd, 2014
Mild-mannered Leslie Frazier was an enthusiastic guy (for him) at the One Buc Palace podium this afternoon.
It was clear that Bucs defensive coordinator is happy to have his stud horses back.
“To hold those guys to 85 yards and 3.1 yards a carry, the five sacks by our D-line, I mean, the strip-fumble, I mean you can see the difference having a Gerald McCoy, a Michael Johnson on the field, although they’re not 100 percent, but just their presence helped us to make some progress on defense,” Frazier said. “So that was encouraging.”
Frazier seemed most frustrated by how many times the Bucs put the Steelers in 3rd-and-long situations but failed.
Right now, the Bucs are tied for ninth in the NFL in sacks. That’s pretty stunning through four games, considering the injuries and the lousy start at breathing on quarterbacks.
As Joe wrote earlier this week, the Bucs still gave up the booty on defense alarmingly often against the Steelers. It was not a good defensive showing against the Steelers, but it was good enough, and great late in the fourth quarter.
On Sunday, Joe would love, absolutely love, to see the Bucs turn out their first strong defensive showing of 2014.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:10 pm
The Bucs are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:18 pm
^^true. Only thing giving me hope is what dallas did to Brees. Him and his noodle arm struggle against the cover 2. Other times they rip it apart. Can’t be worse than watching graham 40 yards downfield nobody lookin at him like the breakdown at home under Schiano
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:50 pm
Sorry Broy,but if u want to hate on Bree’s because he is on the Saints be my guest, hate away.
But to say he has a noodle arm leads me to believe your whiffing at a sock of glue when you watch him.
Wish he had been on our team for the last 8 years and oddly enough he could have been but we didn’t even look at him.
I believe we had the great Chris Simms at the time slotted to start.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:50 pm
Wonder if they’re going to play nickel most of the game without Fletcher on the field? I don’t think anyone is afraid of play action from the Saints, their run game still doesn’t strike fear into anybody.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:52 pm
* with Barron covering Graham, he did a decent job on him when they matched up in 2013. When they didn’t, Graham killed it (remembering the first half of the game in Tampa)
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Any updates on Mason Foster?
October 2nd, 2014 at 2:02 pm
D-Rome Says:
Any updates on Mason Foster?
___________________________
Yes. He still sucks!
October 2nd, 2014 at 2:04 pm
Same as yesterday.
October 2nd, 2014 at 2:18 pm
Leonard Johnson in the nickle slot against Brees and you don’t think that team is going to put up points at home? Jimmy Graham is gonna double what Miller did, cooks will probably have his first breakout game against Leonard Johnson, now if the pass rush is like last week I’ll change how I feel
October 2nd, 2014 at 2:28 pm
I’m guessing Foster won’t be back until after the bye week. From what I remember those types of injuries take about 4 weeks to return from.
October 2nd, 2014 at 2:58 pm
Yea i dont like lenard johnson. Need a better nickle back another good corner. And a plymaking saftey. Niether have impressed me
October 2nd, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Oh i forgot we need new linebackers. I like how hard fletcher plays but he hits the wrong gaps on the run and cant pass defend in the middle
October 2nd, 2014 at 3:59 pm
Tampa-2 always gave up 3rd and longs more than was comfortable. But it had a brutal pass rush and opportunistic playmakers to force turnovers. 5 sacks was great, but you have to get that pressure on the money downs even without registering the number. And the coverage isn’t comfortable enough with the defense yet to be ready to make picks. It’ll come.
October 2nd, 2014 at 7:16 pm
Dane Fletcher is killing us. If we can get Foster back the d will continue to slowly creep towards respectability.