“The Challenging Part Is To Set Aside Your Ego”
August 1st, 2015
So what’s going to fix the Buccaneers defense?
Yes, it was broken last year, even after it stopped getting humiliated like it did against the Falcons and Ravens early in 2014.
A guy who spent six years in the Old School Tampa-2 and owns a Buccaneers Super Bowl ring, former linebacker Ryan Nece, has a good idea what will transform the Tampa Bay defense.
Nece hopped on the Ronnie & TKras show on WDAE-620 AM yesterday and explained that the much talked about learning curve in Lovie Smith’s defense is mostly mental.
“It’s not as much the scheme. The scheme is a relatively easy scheme. The challenging part is to set aside your ego and confidence and your willingness to try to be the playmaker,” Nece said. “Because in a system like this. Everyone is accountable for their own gaps. It is a family. It is a unit. And if you set aside that, and you come into this system thinking, ‘Hey, I’m the guy. I need to make all the plays. Or I’m going to try to do something outside of this system because I’m trying to be instinctual and trying to be a playmaker.’ The entire system breaks down. So that’s where the hardest part is, not necessarily so much learning the scheme, but understanding the underlying philosophy behind the scheme, which is an entire unit, a family, working together as one.”
Joe gets that harnessing one’s instincts can be brutally difficult. But we’re talking about basic football here, not passing on warm chocolate chip cookies because you’ve already had cake. By now, the Bucs should be well schooled in Lovie’s defense and playing fast and smart.
Ask Lovie what he looks for most in assistant coaches, and Lovie will say a guy has to be a “stern teacher” first and foremost. Joe’s going to assume Lovie’s gang of teachers graduated everyone from elementary school and will produce a real NFL defense on opening day.
August 1st, 2015 at 10:46 am
“Joe’s going to assume….” assumptions are like expectations, both lead to disappointment. It’s a straight line calculation.
August 1st, 2015 at 10:52 am
Lovie showed me he couldn’t fit his scheme to fit good players when he cut Revis. His defenses were not the same without Rivera and Marinelli calling the plays. Now it shows
August 1st, 2015 at 11:09 am
Maybe it’s the incompetent coaches ego that needs a reality check. Players win championships not systems. Lovie ego, stubbornness and inability to adapt to players strengths is why he will soon be a career under .500 coach and permanently back in the basement.
August 1st, 2015 at 11:15 am
Buc-A-New, choked on my breakfast when I read your comment…Jeff Demps for Blount
August 1st, 2015 at 11:23 am
Yeah seattle. Just another boneheaded personnel move.
Since you are up in Seattle why is it that RW doesn’t get the respect he deserves. Fans who think they know it all just say ” He rode his Defense to the SB” Yet he has 15 4th quarter comebacks since 2012. That is the most of ANY QB during that time span.
August 1st, 2015 at 11:24 am
Fixing the defense? Not until we get better players…
1) Our DEs are a joke. We have no pass rush
2) Our safeties are not very good. This defense demands solid safeties at worst.
3) Find a slot corner that doesn’t get lost in pass coverage.
4) Depth is weak across the board. We need to draft ALL defense this year.
I believe our defense played much better in the second half of the season. I think they have the ability to be an average defense this year… If they can address issues 1-4 they might become a good defense…
August 1st, 2015 at 11:33 am
As for Blount, he showed up for camp out of shape and is suspended for the first game. Lol
August 1st, 2015 at 11:51 am
This is why I was shocked Bucthis. They announced him as their starting RB already.
August 1st, 2015 at 12:15 pm
You mean they “gifted” Blount the starting spot?
August 1st, 2015 at 12:25 pm
Good Incompetent Lovie can start by teaching the D how to stop the opponent from converting 3rd and long against at will. That was the most painful thing to watch last year. Anyone and everyone converting 3rd and forever against us almost automatically.
August 1st, 2015 at 12:26 pm
After last year, this defense should have no ego left to put aside. Kinda like an alcoholic has to hit rock bottom before he can admit a problem, this team needed to find that bottom.
I remember GMC coming to camp last year in his robe and all giddy like a little school girl. Big change from last year. The first sign the wake up call was heard.
@tmaxcon,
FYI, the TEAM as a WHOLE wins championships. To think otherwise is just asinine. You have a right to be frustrated. At least try to do it smartly.
Thanks!
Nonya
August 1st, 2015 at 12:29 pm
@87,
There are a couple articles out on Blount’s latest. He is at the top of a list of crap RBs. Some articles claiming its the worst group of RBs the Patriots have gone to camp with in years.
I can see him being the best of the bad.
August 1st, 2015 at 12:43 pm
NonyaDamnBucsiness
your absolutely right an entire team is needed. That is why Lovie’s pathetic rants about all he needs is d and special teams to win was even more laughable. Oh and yes, Lovie screwed up the ENTIRE team last year not just defense… I’ll do a quick recap for you… 31 million in bad free agent signings, 29 million in dead money, blown up o-line without a plan, no help for an unqualified OC, horrible game day decisions, bad clock management and let’s not forget my favorite two Lovie statements… “We did not want points in that situation” and “football does not start until November…” every fan be bitter and not accept the crap they put on the field week in and week out.
August 1st, 2015 at 12:46 pm
@tmaxcon,
I didn’t say Lovie didn’t hold fault. I’m a multi time a day reader and am well aware of his transgressions. I was only responding to your comment that only players win. This is just not true, which you have acknowledged.
Thanks!
Nonya
August 1st, 2015 at 2:51 pm
I absolutely understand what Nece is saying. It’s instinctual for a player to abandon their assignment if they look and see a breakdown elsewhere. Corner sees a player coming free over the middle and the QB looks that way. The corner will most always be tempted to make a break to cover the open guy but unfortunately that leaves his guy open and the QB now pump fakes to the guy in the middle and hits the guy left open by the corner for a huge gain. In the Tampa 2 it’s about trust. You can’t be responsible for someone elses assignment. You live or die as a unit.
August 1st, 2015 at 8:21 pm
And so I have to get to the end of the thread for a post that gets it!!!
Bobby that is spot on.
Lots of new guys since training camp opening day I suspect. But Bobby and Nonya I enjoy your posts. Rational and absent all the hyperbole.
August 1st, 2015 at 9:04 pm
Tampa Tony don’t change the facts to fit your prejudice. Revis wasn’t cut because Love didn’t think he would fit the scheme, he was cut because he was eating up to much cap space. He got three players for his salary.
Unfortunately two of them turned out to be duds but everyone thought they were great signings when they happened.