Sacks = Wins
October 13th, 2015
Bucs DE Howard Jones takes down Jags QB Blake Bortles for one of the Bucs six sacks Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
Bucs coach Lovie Smith always preaches sacks and how quarterback pressure is essential for his defense to work.
He may have a point, but it is also a bit misleading.
In his 21 games as the Bucs coach, and now also acting as defensive shot-caller, when Lovie’s Bucs get sacks — and that isn’t too often — a win is involved.
Consider the Bucs had six sacks Sunday against the jughead Jags. That is tied for the most sacks by a Lovie-guided Bucs team since last year at Washington. The common denominator? A win.
Before that Washington game, the most sacks by a Lovie-led Bucs team was at Pittsburgh (where Ghost Johnson had two sacks, if you can imagine). That day the Bucs had five sacks and upset the Steelers.
(In case you are wondering, the record for sacks in a game by a Bucs squad came in 1979. Playing the Colts in Baltimore, the Bucs racked up 10.)
Here is the thing about Sunday, despite getting massive pass rush on a mobile quarterback in Blake Bortles, the Bucs’ secondary still got blowtorched for 303 yards and four touchdowns. And that was with a one-armed quarterback!
But that’s what happens when your head coach has a bromance with Mike Jenkins and banks on Loaf Jennings.
This secondary — Lovie’s secondary — is a trainwreck right now. Johnthan Banks cannot come back soon enough.
October 13th, 2015 at 7:27 am
Banks, Verner & Sterling Moore….
And…..lets blitz some more!!!
October 13th, 2015 at 7:57 am
I agree, should have blitzed more, there were prime opportunities to put heat on Bortles that went unblitzed.
October 13th, 2015 at 8:05 am
Why sign Sterling Moore, if he is just gonna sit? Lovie, you are awful at your job
October 13th, 2015 at 8:21 am
Our LB’s stink in coverage as well. Lansana has 2 consecutive plays were he does not get back in his drops. Our LB are always running downhill and not getting back into coverage.
October 13th, 2015 at 8:38 am
Give it up Joe. Lovie is here to stay. Land have a plan. They’ve had two excellent drafts andnow have a tallent ed offense and excellent offensive coordinator. Next two drafts will concentrate on defense especially secondary and pass rushing defensive ends. Then Buccaneers will be contenders for years. One just has to l ook at New Orleans to see what happens when the cupboard goes bare.
October 13th, 2015 at 8:49 am
Despite the sacks, Bortles had his best day as a pro against this defense.
October 13th, 2015 at 9:58 am
Hey Joe: one other common denominator: the 2015 Jags and the 2014 Deadskins are/were below average franchises. Lovie got lucky Sunday when his D tried to let the Jags back in and the Deadskins were actually worse than Tampa last year but did not intentionally lose games down the stretch and thus got to 4-12 instead of 2-14….. Two wins over bottom feeders via sacks just makes our 2015 Bucs kind of like the ray Perkins 1988/1989 Bucs: better than the Pack or Detroit (5-11 over 3-13/4-12) but who else? The Bears, DC after the Bye, The Aints? Who else can Tampa beat this year if LOVIE’s D gives up 30 points a game on average????? Not many teams Joe…. No matter how improved the OL, Winston and the running game is; Tampa will not win more than 4 or 5 games this year unless the D improves and that is directly on LOVIE!
October 13th, 2015 at 10:05 am
Nice piece of Bucs history. Good stuff, thank you.
October 13th, 2015 at 10:34 am
Rewatch the game. We blitzed plenty, esp with Lavonte. Everyone can thank Bortles big day mostly on Jennings and McDougald. Both had horrendous games.
October 13th, 2015 at 10:37 am
@FortMyersDave – The Bucs have a realistic shot of beating Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, and New Orleans. It’s possible they may upset the NY Giants or Carolina while splitting with Atlanta. They probably drop the games to the Colts and the Rams. They could win as many as 7 or 8 games this year, as long as they keep the Rookie QB neutered to a game manager role.
October 13th, 2015 at 10:47 am
Bucs need to trade Glenon and get a db.
October 13th, 2015 at 11:09 am
Fort Meyers dave is on point today. Preach broda
October 13th, 2015 at 11:49 am
@Johnny
I’m a firm believer in “any given Sunday.” Our team is capable of beating any other, no matter the odds. Same goes for any other team.
October 13th, 2015 at 12:24 pm
Joe I think you need to give the whole 1-armed QB thing a rest with Bortles. It happened at the end of the game. He was making throws downfield the whole time. It was nothing like how Brees looked in week 2. Our current cornerbacks just aren’t any good. Bortles getting injured at the end doesn’t make it any better or worse.
October 13th, 2015 at 2:41 pm
@rjhurst813 Says: “Our LB’s stink in coverage as well. Our LB are always running downhill and not getting back into coverage.”
Agree – Not only do the LB struggle in coverage, they need to wrap-up and tackle. Kwon had three more missed tackles Sunday giving him 12 on the year. The MIKE LB in the Tampa2 must be able to tackle! All I keep hearing about is how fast Kwon is and how well he can cover. He has had 18 passes thrown at him with 13 receptions (72.2%). Heck, Mason Foster was at 72% last year and he can tackle. Lavonte David 85.7% with 6 MT, Danny Lansanah 80% with 3 MT and Bruce Carter 66.7% and 0 MT? Who should be playing MIKE? The defense blitzed a lot and needs to continue. Mike Jenkins is actually our best CB based on percentage of passes completed in his coverage at 43.8%, Verner at 57.3%, Moore at 83.3% and “crust” Jennings at 62.5%.
October 13th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
Unbelievable is correct. The bucswe’re also the reason breeze was injured, it is part of the game. A win in the NFL is a win.
October 13th, 2015 at 9:59 pm
Jonathan Banks= Bucs next pro bowler