Jared Allen Discusses Donovan Smith
February 4th, 2016
Stinking Panthers DE Jared Allen has praise for Bucs LT Donovan Smith.
Joe can smell it coming. Bucs fans always have to have a player to hate. Usually it is some stiff (Myron Lewis springs to mind).
In recent months, Bucs fans have turned on Gerald McCoy. When Joe talks to football people and asks what is wrong with GMC, these folks look at Joe like a pointer who hears a weird whistle and turns his head sideways.
Joe already can sense McCoy-like fan grumbling over left tackle Donovan Smith. Joe hears cries that Smith is a turnstile. Joe can’t see it, so he asks football people about Smith, and they look at Joe like he fell out of a tree.
Does Smith struggle with linebacker blitzes? Yeah. Does he do well stopping defensive ends? Sure does. If he did struggle against defensive ends, then America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, would have been sacked a helluva lot more than 27 times, which was the fourth-fewest sacks in the NFL last year.
One guy who thinks Smith will be a solid player for years to come is Stinking Panthers defensive end Jared Allen. Though he is in the sunset of his career, for a decade he was an outright terror against opposing quarterbacks.
Joe caught up with Allen at Super Bowl Opening Night in San Jose and asked him to analyze Smith.
“I only played one game against him, but [Smith] had a good game, Allen said. “He’s a good young player. He still has a lot of area to grow. I am partial to some of the old gray vets like Willie Roaf, but for a young kid he has a lot of talent and a lot of potential and he will be just fine.”
There you have it Bucs fans. You can chill with the hand-wringing over Smith. If one of the game’s best quarterback sackers the past 15 years or so thinks Smith will be a solid player, then you can relax.
February 4th, 2016 at 6:02 am
Joe sometimes your lack of balls surprises me. Only person I’ve heard critical of smith has been that hack radio host you let bully you on Wednesday’s. If anyone local said something bad about smith you know who put that idea in their head. Why not just say it? Why not grow a pair and call out his name? Only time I listen to that hacks show is when the jbf hour is on. Jp Peterson should’ve had his spot instead of being on with ron.
February 4th, 2016 at 6:27 am
@Evo
So, you monitor Joe’s twitter, facebook and all his other social networks?
February 4th, 2016 at 6:28 am
Joe, I have yet to hear any player trash any other player during an interview. What is Allen supposed to say? But thank’s again for any thing Buccaneer while other sites lay dormant.
February 4th, 2016 at 6:28 am
Should’ve asked him about that time Penn beat him up. Man that Thurs night game was entertaining all around unless you’re a Vikings fan.
February 4th, 2016 at 6:31 am
@ Evo
Air time equals clicks equals air time equals clicks. Upsetting He Who Shall Not Be Named might upset the circle of life.
February 4th, 2016 at 6:52 am
Outside of the penalties
I thought D.Smith held his own
Especially considering that he was a rookie
Biggest sign that he did not do that bad…
Jameis did not end up on IR due to a Blind Side hit
Hope his growth continues
February 4th, 2016 at 7:33 am
What Dewey said. Plays dont just say another player is garbage. Hearing what analysts think is more interesting
February 4th, 2016 at 8:02 am
I like Smith for the future, but I recall Bucs castoff Ryan Delaire (may have misspelled his name), gave our whole line the business, not Jared Allen,
February 4th, 2016 at 8:10 am
I also agree that players are reluctant to overly criticize other players….but that doesn’t mean that Smith won’t be good….I think watching him tells you that.
Also….If Jameis wants a new LT…..look for a new one to be there.
February 4th, 2016 at 8:14 am
At this point, I would classify D Smith as a solid ‘trustworthy’ left tackle with potential to be dominant. He really does remind me ALOT of Donald Penn. (Except for that little extra nastiness to Penn that I LOVED)
February 4th, 2016 at 8:27 am
Love d Smith but if Ronnie Stanley is still on the board, give him a long look
February 4th, 2016 at 8:37 am
Smith did fine in my opinion. He had his good moments with a few brain farts mixed in nothing to be too concerned about. For a rookie at lt not sure more could have been expected. Worst case scenario you move him to guard. I’m betting he will be a solid contributor for years to come. Smith certainly is not the biggest issue the bucs have that’s for sure.
February 4th, 2016 at 8:49 am
Would you guys rather Joe write nothing?
Obviously, someone has been down talking Donovan Smith or Joe would not have brought it up. Unless everyone here is privy to his private messages, saying it isn’t happening is stupid.
As to whether other players talk bad about one another…it has happened. Many times. It just isn’t common.
Donovan Smith critics, whoever you are, forget some key things. Donovan Smith was a rookie. Donovan Smith was playing a position that gets the most penalties by average on any team. Donovan Smith is still learning how to play against pros.
He’ll improve each year. The penalties will be there…always. No way around that. He might reduce them, but they will always be there…no matter who plays the position.
The penalties by the other players are what are hurting this team. And there are plenty of them.
I would be interested in seeing penalty types and numbers vs each position.
February 4th, 2016 at 8:51 am
@Tnew
That would be a wasted pick considering the needs on defense.
February 4th, 2016 at 9:03 am
I don’t feel as if people so much talk down Smith as simply lack the proper amount of appreciation for what he put on video his rookie year. And as Joe points out the stats clearly show it.
And LT who plays on an OL that gives up the 4th fewest sacks…and has a rusher challenge for the league lead right up until the last game has been EFFECTIVE!
Isn’t that what counts.
As far as players not saying bad things I agree. But there are ways to NOT say good things….remember yesterday…you simply say I think he looks “promising” but time will tell.
Allen didn’t do that. To pull out Willie Roaf’s name is a little extreme in fact.
If Smith gets anywhere near Roaf’s career we’ll be fine…and right now there is no reason to believe if he continues to improve that he won’t.
And I agree with Joe and Tmax about Smith’s “brain farts”. Yes he was a rookie trying to figure out blitzes…some of them pretty exotic…and yes he jumped offside a fair amount….but all of that is mental not physical…he can clean that up by next year. He clearly has enough physical skill to play in the league.
February 4th, 2016 at 9:09 am
Everyone is so hyped about our draft class, and it could be great, but to me year 2 is where you find out what you got. Does the player continue to grow or does he remain the same or drop off a bit? You want to see that big jump in year 2 and 3. Donavan shows promise and has all the talents needed so I hope he grinds all offseason and grows.We have had tons of Barrons, Kenyatta, Clayton, Freeman, Sears, Stroughter, Foster, ect ect ect how just never dramatically improved from their intial 1st or 2nd year. I hope our 4 from last year and continue and go on to a pro bowl level.
February 4th, 2016 at 9:11 am
best left tackle in last years draft
February 4th, 2016 at 9:38 am
Evo, why would he be replaced by jp? His ratings are strong. He’s their go to personality on 620. He is to them what Cowhead is to 102.5 the bone. And sure, I dont agree with everything on the show, but its hands down better than any other show they got.
February 4th, 2016 at 9:40 am
ANYWAY D Smith did great. How much more could you expect from a rookie left tqckle.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:10 am
Why you always creating sides joe? Your views can go down just as fast as they go up. In my eyes your website is getting lame cause you just are to cocky. Maybe like 12% of bucs fans think d smith is bad so you group us all? Group your own obese self man. That 3pm Jameis Americas QB question was sooooooo big of a update I almost shat myself in excitement, Jameis look like he was in the same boat lmao
February 4th, 2016 at 10:37 am
Dylan…that’s just pure disrespect.
Other Bucs sites ARE practically dormant, but Joe keeps going.
Joe….you need to bring out the ban stick for this one.
February 4th, 2016 at 11:17 am
Donovan smith was decent. no reason to love or hate him. He was part of an o line that gave up only a few sacks, but also allowed the second most hits on his QB. So there was certainly good things, but also some bad things that happened. He is probably a bottom half LT right now in the league, but he was only a rookie, plenty of room to improve.
In the 1 mil interviews taken this year i haven’t heard 1 player talk poorly about another player. Jared allen saying something kinda neutral about an opposing ayer is not really news worthy. You keep bringing up these interviews of players speakin highly of bucs players, or of lovie smith, or of their past playing for the Bucs. And not a single person could say a bad thing. Thta is no coincidence. They are coached up not to bad mouth anyone or anything. Stay positive and move on to the next question without stirring the pot.
February 4th, 2016 at 11:22 am
D. smith is an absolute beast child. Couple of stand out moments include when he chucked Geno Atkins about 5 yards (in the air) through the sidelines. Hilarious.
The redskins game he completed owned their LBs. he completely owned Jared Allen in the last game.
I think he’s gonna be a great player and he does remind me of Penn 2.0 the real question is can he catch tds.
February 4th, 2016 at 11:38 am
Joe – for not being a stats guy you seem to cherry pick stats when they work in your favor.
“If he did struggle against defensive ends, then America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, would have been sacked a helluva lot more than 27 times, which was the fourth-fewest sacks in the NFL last year.”
While the Bucs offensive line allowed the 4th fewest sacks they allowed the 4th most QB hits (same link you posted above).
Not saying I think Smith is a bust but the sack stat doesn’t tell the whole picture….
February 4th, 2016 at 1:02 pm
I don’t get it either I think the “fans” that have a problem with GMac and D smith are just looking for something to hate on. its a damn shame!
February 4th, 2016 at 1:27 pm
@Trubucfan22 and asdf, those qb hit numbers, 4th most allowed, are you saying those are all the fault of the o-line and Donovan Smith in particular. Because if you watch the games there were plenty of times Jameis held on to the ball way too long out of necessity because receivers couldn’t get seperation. Jameis will do a better job of throwing the ball away instead of taking those hits.
February 4th, 2016 at 1:34 pm
Again I only participate on two blogs…here and one political.
What I find amusing on both of them are poster who come and rant how horrible the blog is or how biased the hosts are….do they not understand they are actually slamming themselves!!!
What kind of a moron goes to a place he doesn’t like just to tell them he doesn’t like the place. Would you go to a bar that served warm draft beer…drink the beer just so you could beotch about the place?
Then again maybe there are some internet kidnappers who just force these people here.
February 4th, 2016 at 3:34 pm
Remember when Allen and Donald Penn got into a scuffle, and were trash talking. The next play, Allen blew past Penn to sack… some half azz QB we had back there.
February 4th, 2016 at 3:51 pm
Joe got enough feedback from fans about Donovan Smith that when he was at Indianapolis, he focused on Smith the entire game to try to see what Joe was missing. In that game, Joe did notice Smith struggled against blitzing linebackers but did fine against defensive ends.
February 4th, 2016 at 4:49 pm
@ SPBF
Perfect analogy, sir
February 4th, 2016 at 9:35 pm
First off I don’t have a problem with Donovan Smith and I am not trying to hate on him. I am simply recognizing that if we want to keep our QB in good health and give him time to throw, maybe there is a better option? Even Donovan Smith has come out and said that he could improve on his play from last year. The point about QB hits is dead on. Winston took 109 hits (not including the 27 sacks). 4th most in the league. I am sure a small minority were the fault of RB or TE or Winston holding on to the ball to long but I would bet money the majority came from our two tackles Donovan Smith and Gosder Cherilus. It is imperative we protect Winston. It was clear at the end of the season that teams had figured out if you pressured Winston, he would struggle and you could beat us and they did. For a rookie Donovan played extremely well and was a road grater in the run game. He struggles with speed rushers mostly because of his footwork. The problem with footwork is you either have it or you don’t. Sure if you put in the time you can improve it, just not to the point of having great or elite footwork for an OT. I hope Donovan proves me wrong and puts in the work and shows improvement? I also hope he shows up to camp this year in better shape. Just think no further back than the Rams game and how they dominated our OL. If OT Ronnie Stanley is there when we pick at nine we should draft him and move Donovan to Guard to replace Logan Mankins. Players like Stanley don’t come around often.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:12 pm
No I don’t follow joe anywhere else. I have no Facebook or Twitter or anything else.
And to answer the other question. I do think Jp should replace him. When both shows were on at the same time. I constantly listened to jps show over his. I don’t always agree with him and nor do I want a show host that kisses every callers ass. But he repeatedly hangs up or blocks the people who can respectfully disagree with him yet keep the idiots on the line to belittle them. I’m not a fan of that type of radio. If you are intelligent and disagree with he gets you off the line quick. Now call to kiss his ass he will listen to you all day. Jp would at least banter with you and would be open to other views. It’s big dogs way or the daIL tone. Yes it’s his show. But I don’t have to listen nor do i. Unless jbf is on. I used to get pretty much every text I sent read on air. I disagreed with him about Winston now I can’t text the station because he blocked me cause he didn’t like what I said. That’s a not good radio imo.
But again this is all just my opinion. Not right or wrong. Just my opinion. Please forgive typos. Typing on a cell phone sucks lol
February 4th, 2016 at 10:16 pm
As far as smith goes I would rather see him at guard. And draft/trade for or pick up a FA tackle. I think smith could be a great gaurd. Strong at point of attack in the run game and the small box (phone booth as some call it) would allow him to deal with blitzing lb’s better.
February 5th, 2016 at 2:03 am
John, no i don’t think every hit is because of the o line performing poorly. But it isn’t the only reason it gave up a small number of sacks either. Many things play into those stats. Cherry picking 1 side and saying “look, he was amazing” is going to get some push back when there is the same type of evidence to say he stunk. That’s really my only point. I believe Donovan to be a middle of the pack kind of LT right now. He has room to grow into a good LT. I’m not trying to hate of him at all. I was very pleased with how well he did last season. For a second round rookie to come in and play the way he did was awesome. I’ve seen top 10 pick LTs perform much worse than Donovan did. So I’m loving him. But I’m not going to call him the best thing since Willie Roaf. That’s just silly.
February 5th, 2016 at 11:12 am
For a rookie LT in the league to do as well as he did was amazing. He will learn in time more about picking up the LB blitz. But his main job this past season was to stop DEs. He did a great job at that!