“He Stops His Feet Way Too Often”
August 27th, 2015
Bucs rookie left tackle Donovan Smith
A former Buccaneers defensive end served up a mixed Xs-and-Os review of rookie left tackle Donovan Smith this morning.
Film guru Steve White, a Buccaneer from 1996 through 2001, hopped on Ronnie and TKras on WDAE-AM 620 and dove into the No. 34 overall pick in the draft.
Against the Bengals, White saw dominance in Smith– and a dangerous habit.
“He’s still has some things to work on. He stops his feet way too often. Even for a big guy with long arms, if you stop your feet, you’re going to get beat,” White said of Smith. “But when he’s on, you know there are some clips from this Bengals game where he is just crushing guys. He got a holding penalty, which to me wasn’t even holding, he just kind of pancaked the guy. So I see a lot to be encouraged about with Donovan Smith.”
White added that perception of Smith was “tainted” by the ugly sack he allowed by Vikings stud defensive end Everson Griffen, Smith’s first play in the preseason opener. White believed Smith settled down well after that.
The ugly mistakes by the rookies are fine and acceptable, White said. It’s all about what they do after that and whether the mistakes are corrected.
August 27th, 2015 at 11:38 am
The kid is a rookie and has a ways to learn!!! I hope that the Bucs fans will not be to hard on him.
@joe , I hope you heard the whole interview, As Mr. White said that the Bucs did come in with game plan against the Bengals. And the Bengals came in as a week 2 preseason game!!!
August 27th, 2015 at 11:41 am
If the Bucs did come in with a game plan then all this crap we are excited about shouldn’t excite us that much if at all- it’s like a tainted victory- I hope we didn’t and everything we’ve see is good
August 27th, 2015 at 11:55 am
Neither team game planned like they wood for a regular season game. They were both just familiar with each other since they recently played and took advantage of it.
August 27th, 2015 at 12:03 pm
White added that perception of Smith was “tainted” by the ugly sack he allowed by Vikings stud defensive end Everson Griffen
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I thought this was more of Simms than smith. If a RB is coming out the backfield he needs to chip the DE and help his oline. Simms moved out the way of griffin as he released. Simms is a horrible blocker.
August 27th, 2015 at 12:27 pm
@BigBucs1 … ‘tainted victory’?
Not hardly. At the start of the game, the Bucs OLine was literally mauling the Bengals DLine. That has much, much more to do with being the more physical team than anything else. Our DLine was just as hungry when they hit the field. And the great part is … they’ve only just begun. The chemistry for both lines will just keep getting better and better throughout 2015.
August 27th, 2015 at 12:28 pm
Sims is crap..no power run for sure and he dances at the handoff…hope the GM and coach have the balls to admit another mistake and let this dude go or trade. James is the #2, period….Happy as heck with D.Smith and Marpet! Finally, some day we might have a top OL AND a Franchise QB…
August 27th, 2015 at 12:34 pm
it’s like a tainted victory
BWAAHAAAHAAAAHAAA. You people are now making total fools of yourselves.
So a totally DOMINANT asss whipping is tainted. Jeebus people how do you paranoid people fall asleep at night.
I respect Realist, Dallas, Tmax and a few others who INSIST on holding down our enthusiasm with some valid concerns. But to ONLY view the concerns without the promise is ONE SIDED!!!
Again I’m an old dude. Here is something I have learned after 67 years. If you are disappointed or worried about being dissappointed BEFORE the disappointment even occurs that’s just crazy!!! If the 2015 Bucs disappoint us we’ll have plenty of time to cry in our beer. In the meantime they have done NOTHING to disappoint us. The rookies are playing like rookies…but they are clearly improving and the clearly have TALENT and they clearly have GREAT HEADS on their shoulders. We have no Talibs, Winslows or Williams with the possible exception of EDS and he’s getting shunned.
A freaking tainted victory? Yeah and that Super Bowl victory of ours is also
tainted because Chucky had coached the Raiders and knew their offense and players and had a huge advantage.
We are freaking Buc fans. There are NO tainted VICTORIES!!!!
August 27th, 2015 at 12:35 pm
Forgot to mention it Joe, but kudos for the great articles this morning. Smith, Marpet, Martin, Barth, Verner, Johnson, Jameis … Wow!
August 27th, 2015 at 1:00 pm
@StPeteBucsFan
“I respect Realist, Dallas, Tmax”
You start drinking a lil early today StPeteBucsFan!?!?! I don’t think you can expect ANYONE to take you seriously after a line like that…
“It’s as simple as that” – Lovie Smith
August 27th, 2015 at 1:27 pm
OneLove
I respect their football points…but certainly not their negative attitudes.
As I posted to realist on another thread. The 2015 Bucs look nothing like the 2014 Bucs. We have to forget about 2014 and move on.
The three I mentioned though at least try to use facts…even if they use 2014 facts far too frequently.
August 27th, 2015 at 1:48 pm
Donovan smith is outplaying all other rookie left tackles so far , even all the rookie right tackles. Glad we got him
August 27th, 2015 at 2:00 pm
The only thing tainted in that game was the refs just itching to throw those penalty flags. I bet they watch replays of themselves over and over to perfect their style.
August 27th, 2015 at 2:07 pm
I agree with Bucco that Sims is a wasted pick. Trade him.
August 27th, 2015 at 2:27 pm
who cares if we game planned for them or not..people are acting like we game planned for the bengals and lost..if we did game plan that makes me even more excited…excited for the fact that our team was able to execute a game plan and do it in dominating fashion..thats a sign of good coaching and players focused and buying into the system…GO BUCS!!!
August 27th, 2015 at 3:16 pm
Good job Dancing Panda,continue progressing big fella.
August 27th, 2015 at 4:42 pm
You guys have to be yanking my chain about preparing for a game and somehow marring the victory. The fact is the Bucs 1st teamers came out with a chip on their shoulder. The way Dougie ran, man, that was just sweet harmony. White is right about D Smith sometimes stopping his feet. I saw what he was talking about but Smith was absolutely dominant and his strength is superior. I love what I am seeing with him and Marpet. That was a terrible holding call. It wasn’t even remotely close to a hold. That was a referee fail. I’m starting to really like our draft selections. This is the first time in 5 years that I’ve really liked what we did in the draft.
August 27th, 2015 at 7:48 pm
Glad to hear that Steve White is excited and impressed with what he sees in D.Smith. I respect Steve’s opinion and ability to analyse tape properly – about as much as anyone I can think of when it comes to “media” types.
I keyed on the OLine watching every play of the 1st half (Bengals game)3 or 4 times in slow mo – man – Marpet is a mauler. He wasn’t perfect by any means – but his strength and overall effectiveness was very impressive for a D3 guy playing in his 2nd NFL game ever. The whole line played well for the most part. Mankins was quite solid – the Center looked fine. D. Smith held up fine for the most part. RT was the weakest spot but that’s to be expected with Dotson out and Cherilus barely knowing the playbook when he was in there. Friegel or whatever his name is – is not the answer at RT – that’s pretty obvious – but even he had some decent plays as well. I am pretty encouraged about our OLine after close examination of the Bengals game. Lets see if they progress or regress on Saturday against the Browns with more extensive play time.
August 27th, 2015 at 8:24 pm
No matter how good a win is for OUR Bucs the two words you will always see from him are however and but. All he ever wants to do is bring the mood down pretending he is the lone voice of reason on this board. Unfortunately you always have to have a Debbie Downer on every fan board.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:44 pm
I was pleasantly surprised by D. Smith against the Bengals, and im one of his critics. A couple more solid games and I will happily eat crow. I guess we’ll have to see how he does against some speed rushers.
Marpet only had one truly awful play that I saw and thta was against Geno, so it was bound to happen at some point.
Lets hope Gosder can at least hold his own out at right tackle because what I saw there wasnt pretty.