“He Loses Pass Rushers On A Kind Of Consistent Basis”
September 27th, 2015
If you listen to the savvy film gurus who follow the Buccaneers and study their offensive line, you hear a steady theme: Donovan Smith is struggling at left tackle.
It’s really no surprise for the No. 34 overall pick in 2015. Rookie duty at that position can be brutal.
And to be clear, Joe is not referring to the “F” grade given to Smith by the data nerds at Pro Football Focus.
Former Buccaneers defensive end Steve White (1996-2001) faced and studied many left tackles in his day, and White says Smith is struggling in all phases.
“He blocks well for most of the game, but, man, he loses pass rushers on a kind of consistent basis,” White said during his weekly visit on WDAE-AM 620. “He’s giving up a lot of pressure right now, and that kind of takes us out of our game.”
White said Smith has “a narrow base when he run blocks” and “stops his feet too many times on pass blocking,” in addition to explaining how Smith over commits on speed rushes and gets beat inside.
White suggests Smith focus on just improving on one phase of his game (“at least,” White laughed) in an effort to get better one step at a time.
September 27th, 2015 at 9:02 am
He’ll solidify his being drafted in the second round against the Texas clown today. My eyes will be glued on that match up. I’m waitin on it. I know you will be too tom E. Dancing Panda time
September 27th, 2015 at 9:02 am
So far, we are getting much better ROI on Marpet v compared to Smith. Donavan needs work for sure. The Texans’ is going to make him earn his draft position today. I hope he steps up to the challenge or Jameis could be looking up from the ground an awful lot.
Let’s go Bucs! 2-1. You guys can do it!
September 27th, 2015 at 9:03 am
It would be really interesting if someone who graded out Paul Gruber as a rookie, or really, any now-established Left Tackle, would grade out Smith’s film and compare the two. It’s easy (for White, or even for me) to bash Smith’s play at this point. I think I’d like to hear whether he’ll ever have a chance to develop into a competent LT, from a person who regularly grades these things.
September 27th, 2015 at 9:07 am
I’m guessing that with the restrictions on padded practices and contact, OL probably can’t use practices to improve. The kids have to play. Let’s be patient, folks. Free agency hasn’t worked. The draft requires patience.
September 27th, 2015 at 9:55 am
lots of season and lots of career to go. hope to see him trending up. it’s easier to hide the shortcomings of a guard, but steve white had some critiques on marpet too. apparently the kid is still unsure of his job on double teams and whatnot. neither of these kids looks physically overmatched, but the reason OL have some of the longest careers is because in the long term the mental game and your technique are what keep you competitive
September 27th, 2015 at 9:57 am
Joe do you know where I can find this audio of Stephen white? I know he does a show with Ron and Ian Thursday but I tried looking it up on the wdae website and couldn’t find it. I live his commentary and he’s a film junkie which is great
September 27th, 2015 at 9:58 am
Actually scratch that, now I see the link
September 27th, 2015 at 10:24 am
To be fair, smith is consistently going against the best rushers the other team has. I don’t know that the same can be said for marpet. I think that white’s advice is sound though. Mastering one element of your game at a time will go a lot further than doing a little bit of everything. Peyton Manning does a similar thing with his receivers. He doesn’t go out in after hours practice and run through the whole play book with them. He picks one route and practices for 30 minutes on just that so he knows exactly how to make that play work with that receiver. All of our guys should take a page out of that book. Rather than trying to improve everything a little bit at a time find something to master so Koetter can utilize that going forward.
September 27th, 2015 at 10:28 am
Nice perspective Patrick.
September 27th, 2015 at 10:36 am
I called it very early in training camp. Donovan Smith is not struggling because he is a rookie, he is struggling because he sucks at LT. When Dotson comes back we need to bench D. Smith, move him to LG and let him compete there next year
September 27th, 2015 at 11:52 am
Steve white hating. Blah blah blah. Nothing positive as expected.
September 27th, 2015 at 12:02 pm
I think Donovan Smith would make the Pro Bowl as a right tackle, and I even think it’s possible that if he doesn’t improve through this season a switch to RT next year may be exactly what happens.