“55 Club”
August 11th, 2015
Time to join the club, Lavonte.
Joe never imagined seeing another Derrick Brooks prowling the sidelines for the Bucs.
Then along came the closest thing Joe has seen to Brooks. That man is Bucs linebacker Lavonte David.
Yesterday, the Bucs made David a very, very rich man. Deservedly so. The only thing missing from David’s resumé is wins.
So at the press conference to formally announce David’s new deal, Bucs coach Lovie Smith said it is time for David to join the “55 Club.”
You know, No. 55? Hint, hint.
“Five interceptions, five sacks, every year for a great linebacker,” Lovie said. “Lavonte will keep raising the standard. You see his ability on the field. He is as smart of a football player as you will be around. He is almost like a coach already. He knows what we should call in every situation. The sky is the limit for him.”
David said yesterday that linebackers, as well as all good players, are remembered for wins. It’s time to put that theory into practice. This area has had enough losing.
To hear the full news conference, click on the arrow below. Audio courtesy of Joe’s friends at WDAE-AM 620.
August 11th, 2015 at 7:07 am
What you just heard ladies and gentlemen is the best in the business, At Talk!!!! I have no idea why reporters even show up to listen and ask questions to Lovie anymore. I like that it has taken a year for Lovie to start realizing that he needed adjustments. Some coaches can do at half time or even during a quarter of football. Some coaches can install blitz packages can be installed in an off-season. But not Lovie!!! 1 year!!!!
I can not wait for next year when he will adjust to the 3 step drop that Baltimore used that the team had no answer for!!!!!!
August 11th, 2015 at 8:13 am
Realist even Monte Kiffin didn’t blitz that much and he had the best line in the league. Why do you think the 3 step worked so well? Because the receivers were open 3 steps off the line. McCoy & McDonald no matter how much get off they got are not going to get to the qb with that! How much adjusting could he really do when the corners & safeties were lost in space? How many blitzes did you expect him to put in when the secondary couldn’t even give the line 3 seconds???Kiffin at least had a good secondary to work with. You keep whining and beating the same dead horse it’s not even funny! What have you ever been a head coach? You think you could be a better head coach??? Negro please! You know nothing about what was going on inside that team other than what you and every other self proclaimed arm chair coach knew and that’s what you saw on tv or read on line. This year he has people who are familiar with T2 and has a REAL OC finally and a franchise qb. It’s looking like some of the draft picks might work out. The defense & offense should be much better so there will be no excuse, but I don’t see a repeat of last year happening.
August 11th, 2015 at 8:14 am
Can’t argue with “The Buc Realist” but I would like to add if Lovie is a defensive genius what happened to him last year?
I wonder who is running the defense this year, Joe do you know?
We know that Captain Kirk is running the offense.
LVD has GMC and probably Mr Banks as the nucleus of the defense.
August 11th, 2015 at 9:36 am
Just don’t let Anderson or Newton find a wide open Olsen over the middle every other play, it seemed.
August 11th, 2015 at 9:53 am
is lovie adjusting his scheme to take advantage of LVD’s insane blitzing ability? DB55 had maybe 5 sacks in his career from that position and he is the gold standard for what a T2 WLB needs to do for the system to go. One thing that player is not doing often is vacating the most active zone in the system to join the pass rush.
August 11th, 2015 at 9:57 am
derrick brooks – 13.5 career sacks (~1 per season avg), single season high of 3
August 11th, 2015 at 10:16 am
Out of Derrick Brooks 13.5 career sacks, 6 came between 2004-2005!! When Dungy left Kiffen started to Blitz more. But some refuse to look at the truth!!!
August 11th, 2015 at 10:31 am
Did Kifin blitz more, or did he blitz the same amount, it just worked more for some reason after Sapp left?
BTW realist, what adjustments should Lovie have made and in what instance? We would all like to know.
August 11th, 2015 at 10:39 am
“the truth” is lovie is the deciding the scheme and people’s roles within it, not dungy and not kiffin. lance briggs played under lovie for almost his whole career. he was the closest thing anybody had to derrick brooks. he, too, never got more than 3 sacks in a season. unless they are changing the role of the WLB in the scheme or plan to run fewer C2\T2 looks, the second 5 in the “55 Club” seems like a pretty arbitrary and unreasonable target. Urlacher was more of a sacker, but even he had about the same number of zero sack seasons as he did non-zero sack seasons under lovie.
the only point i’m making is sacks =\= greatness for LBs in this system. tackles, picks, PBUs come in by the boatload when you’re doing your job, but unless the job is changing it seems silly to expect David to sack the QB as much as he did when Schiano was charging him and Foster straight downhill at the LOS in the early years.
August 11th, 2015 at 5:09 pm
The Buc Realist will be selling us how he was in Lovie’s corner all the way a couple years from now. Your looking back at the baltimore game? Looks like the D found an answer by the Green Bay game, which Offense did you find more potent?