40 Dropbacks, One Coverage Sack
September 27th, 2015
Lovie Smith was grousing about Tampa Bay’s dreadful run defense today, but the pass rush was equally as horrid.
The Texans’ offensive line was playing backups and second-rate starters.
Quarterback Ryan Mallett, less mobile than Mike Glennon, officially dropped back to pass 40 times. The Bucs managed only one sack by Henry Melton, a coverage sack when Mallett found nobody open and attempted to scramble.
Where was the legendary inside pass rush that Jason Licht and Lovie have raved about? Edge rushers were M.I.A., too. Jacquies Smith did a fantastic Daniel Te’o-Nesheim impression.
Mallett completed 62 percent of his throws against the Bucs. He was under 50 percent last week.
Lovie, the Bucs’ defensive guru, didn’t adjust much. But hats off to Lovie for blitzing Danny Lansanah. He tipped a Mallett pass that was caught by linebacker Kwon Alexander. Yes, Coach, good things happen when you blitz an inexperienced quarterback that runs like a hippopotamus.
Joe believes Lovie should have thrown a lot more pressure at Mallett.
Joe sure hopes Tampa Bay rediscovers a pass rush against hot Cam Newton and the undefeated Panthers next week.
September 27th, 2015 at 9:31 pm
With no pass rush, that weak secondary is just waiting to be picked apart. Greg Olson could tear up the middle of the field.
September 27th, 2015 at 9:33 pm
QBs are getting off quick short passes over the middle on us….and have been for about 40 years……
Yes…absolutley, with out speed, we need to blitz more often…..if we can’t cover…we may as well rush the passer.
September 27th, 2015 at 9:34 pm
No pass rush is takes the fangs right out of the Tampa Two.
September 27th, 2015 at 9:34 pm
With our speed….we need to blitz…
September 27th, 2015 at 9:36 pm
15 yard passes have been wide open since the day he got here. It’s a flucking pattern, Lovie! Exactly why “one game” was the most asinine thing a coach has said since Schiano said receivers can’t catch Glennon’s passes because they are too accurate!
September 27th, 2015 at 9:36 pm
Talent is a issue and this teams practices are the easiest in the nfl.
But hey the players like that so I guess that’s good
September 27th, 2015 at 9:37 pm
We need to draft the dt out of ole miss
Best tackle since fat boy 99
September 27th, 2015 at 9:44 pm
Lovie’s defense is just sloppy and passive, it is as simple as that!!!!!
But if the Refs had allowed Lovie’s new “Tampa 12” defense, maybe thing would have been different!!!!
September 27th, 2015 at 9:45 pm
Lesson 1. How to beat Tampa Bay. Start your Backup QB. Well, the Panthers already know that quit well.
September 27th, 2015 at 9:53 pm
Racists…wait on it
September 27th, 2015 at 9:59 pm
Defense didn’t show up today. Plain and simple.
Defensive game plan stinks. Much too predictable. Cover guys are all playing way too far off and making it way too easy for the QBs to complete passes. Seems to be a continuing problem with this coaching staff.
Add in a continuing penalties problem and lousy tackling, and voila … the losses mount yet again.
Hint: If what you’re doing isn’t working, try something else.
September 27th, 2015 at 10:01 pm
How Lovie Smith rose to the ranks of HC?? In todays NFL???
That simple ass coach is just a glorified 2005 DC, trying to pass as a 2015 NFL HC… get the fcuk outta here..
September 27th, 2015 at 10:05 pm
LovieTampa 12. Priceless
September 27th, 2015 at 10:17 pm
The Lovie Tampa 12 is awesome… josh mcdaniel, jon gruden or nick saban welcome to Tampa
September 27th, 2015 at 10:27 pm
#FireLovieNow
September 27th, 2015 at 10:28 pm
Having a sack/fumble negated by one of our numerous penalties sure didn’t help.
Hippos can run 30mph, I’ve just learned.
September 27th, 2015 at 10:52 pm
Winston missed several short passes
Ball placement still an issue (touch)
…..these are still known issues that he did all the time at FSU
….
But he is progressing….which is encouraging
September 27th, 2015 at 11:25 pm
Lovie is just bound and determined to rush 4. All. Day. Long. Even if it ends up getting him fired – which could honestly end up being the best thing to come out of all this when everything is said and done.
September 27th, 2015 at 11:50 pm
2016 – welcome to Tampa Joey Bosa!!!
September 28th, 2015 at 12:35 am
40 drawbacks and no ints is a bigger concern to me.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:42 am
Mallet was throwing the ball in under 3sec. That’s been the pattern to beat the Lovie-2 all year. It negates the rush and gives quick WR’s a chance for B.I.G.-YAC (Titans?) on our slow DB’s.
We have a bunch of lead-footed, hard hitting LB’s starting at DB. And, it’s no secret around the league that we’ll give away 5-7yd cushions on most plays. The problem is you can’t play 5-7yds off the LOS and expect to get inside position on a 2-step quick slant.
That my friends is why a 2-step drop and a 2-step slant will de-pants a Cover-2, all day. The answer to that coaching mystery is for our DB’s to make solid tackles (bone-crushing?) within 5yds of the LOS on those quick slants.
Cover-2 is designed to “MAKE” an offense throw the very (dink n’ dunk) passes they are getting huge YAC on because our DB’s aren’t making the tackles, BECAUSE they’re TOOOOOO SLOOOOOOW.
THAT, is EXACTLY “WHY oh WHY???” Verner isn’t starting. Remember that pick play TD vs NO. Verner, All-Pro/millionaire veteran DB, should have put their WR on his butt. The WR’s pick play isn’t legal beyond 1yd of the LOS. A DB bump is legal within 5yds of the LOS.
Hey Verner, DO THE MATH..EINSTEIN..!!
Better still, GRAB SOME BENCH and play ST.
Jennings is our “ONLY” CB fast/quick enough to cover the 2-step slants. Sadly, Conte is our only safety quick/fast enough to cover a WR/RB/TE. Jennings should have bumped the WR on the GL and that pass would have been early or Mallet would have had to look elsewhere. I assume that was an option route by the WR who could have gone outside if Jennings was leaning inside. No bump, no problem…TD.
Oh, BROTHER…!!!
So, 1 mistake for Jennings, the veteran, who should have known better and put their WR on his butt at the snap.
But, Jennings isn’t strong enough to do that. Banks, Verner, and all the rest of our DB’s “are” strong enough to play Bump & Run. But, they aren’t fast/quick enough to stay with WR’s/RB’s or TE’s if they miss the bump or play bigger WR’s. And, to compound matters, they aren’t quick enough to recover and tackle on short slant passes.
MERCY..!!
BTW, Conte, YEAH…”CONTE”, led the team with 7 solo tackles & 2 assists.
Kwonzilla: 5 & 5 with an INT
LVD: 3(?) & 11 (pile-jumping?)
McCoy: 1 & 1 (Dude, WTF..??)
JJ Watts-is-Name: 2 & 3
DA Clown: 1 & 1
Soooo, “THESE” are the big ole scary guys who beat US..????
I am not amused..!!
Lastly, our LB’s should concentrate on better angles and wrap-up tackles rather than trying to make a Sports Center “kill-shot” or force a fumble on every play.
Note to Jameis: Take the entire group of WR’s TE’s and RB’s to your after practice Wood Shed. It might help if you are timed-up with more than 3 guys…
Jus Sayin’
September 28th, 2015 at 1:13 am
Maybe we should recruit from the same UPS location the Texans used to put together their OL.
Look, honestly we got out-coached again and I’ll explain. We would have 7-8 guys in the box and they’d just run past em going off the tackles. They had no answer.
And even if we dropped back into coverage we’d get picked apart. The D line had gashes, Blue found easily. But McCoy had no idea what was going on (that’s bad). And Lovie’s handpicked corners got burned. Who saw Jenning singled on Hopkins at the goal line? haha – that made me laugh (maybe Lovie should have made time for (Hardknocks).
We had no answer – and Lovie still says we were so close.
Joe, can you please ask Lovie which brand of football he expects? When you lose to the teams we lose to, the ways we find to lose, it’s really not close by any stretch.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:04 am
Its amazing when a once-a-week football watcher like myself can see the same offensive plays being run over and over vs Bucs defense and they don’t change things up. That handoff to Blue going to his left side and cutting back for 5 yards per carry was repeated over and over and still gained yardage. How come the defensive line kept over pursuing the play and allowing the cutback. Where is the adjustment to make him go horizontally and not take it downhill?
Then there is the old 2 step slant pass that makes Ryan Mallet and Mariota able to complete over 90% of those passes and get easy 10-15 yard chunks. Physical corners don’t let those receivers get that easy release.
If I can see it on the TV, why don’t the coaches upstairs call down and tell the players how to adjust?
How about the basics, catch the friggin’ ball. Bobby Rainey drops 2 punts. Winston to Evans, wide open passing lane, Evans back to defender, ball perfectly thrown, he drops one of the easiest catches a receiver can. He was targeted nearly 20 times, what about spreading it around?
He was clearly playing poorly yesterday, Murphy was a much better target and Jackson needs to get those feet down and finish off a catch! Evans is a physical guy, he needs to play that way. The offensive pass interference call continues to be called on him, although yesterday it should have been a no call.
Two very bad teams in Houston yesterday and the Bucs were worse. The offense had the right reads and there is some fight in them, Evans let the team down, Winston was too high on a couple of easy throws.
The defense on the other hand showed very little fight. A weak effort. Tampa Bay Bucs are one of the softest teams in the NFL. They used to be known as a hard hitting team, don’t see it anymore.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:10 am
Shtcan Lovie at the end and draft Bosa!
September 28th, 2015 at 9:17 am
Everybody knows the Tampa 2 doesn’t work without pressure from the front 4 linemen. The Bucs defensive line should have torn up that patchwork offensive line and lit up the QB.
Bringing blitzes forces man coverage in the secondary, and the Bucs don’t have any man-coverage skills back there. They have to play the base defense most of the time, switching between different zone coverages to mix things up, so there won’t be much blitzing on Lovie’s watch.
If you look back at the Dungy era, there wasn’t much blitzing until Gruden came to town and told Kiffin to bring the heat. Back then, the Bucs had the secondary to play man-coverage when they wanted to, and the ability to play both styles is what made that defense special.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:19 am
Welcome to Tampa, Florida Coach Sean Payton.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:38 am
Lovie doesn’t like blitzing,
September 28th, 2015 at 12:34 pm
Nice to see that Koetter finally figured out that RB Sim III is a better WR than RB. If the offense ever gets a chance to run more than 3 plays per possession, we might see Sims play from the slot more. But, that might not be next Sunday. Pleeeeeeese, Dirk. Unleash the SIMS..!! What would the opposition think about Sims AND Martin in the backfield.
Hey Dirk, telegraph much?
I hope Dye learns how to run routes AND catch while being tutored on the
practice squad. I’m still baffled by the release of Hall, a certified slot speedster, and the retention of Humphries, not a speedster.
Oh, Brother..!!!
At this pace we’re going to be in “rebuilding mode” quite a while. Our current crop of Cover-2 DB’s can’t even Cover-1. The DL will never get a chance at sacks because of 2-step drops and 2-step slants.
While our WR’s have a height and weight advantage, they’re lacking in speed and agility. Let’s be clear, Evans can only get open deep via OPI, not speed and agility.
That is a lot of strategic waste when you’re getting your butt kicked on tactics.
September 29th, 2015 at 4:06 pm
Whats up with this still porous 2ndary? The short passes killed us again as with Titans. The D is leaving receivers wide open. They looked confused, lost like they just don’t know. I felt they improved against the run. I hope we have more creative plays for us other than Martin, Martin, no 3rd down conversion pass, off the field. As in previous years offense does not stay on field enough to give the D a good break. Yes we should be 2-1. Lets get wit-it Bucs