No Issues For Kwon
May 13th, 2016
Picking up new defense just fine.
So a main reason the Bucs kept Dirk Koetter and elevated him to head coach, tossing to the curb Coach My Scheme, was continuity for America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston.
The thought process was there no sense in having Jameis learn a totally new offense just weeks after mastering an offense in his first NFL season, and in the process, run the risk of blowing him up mentally. Besides, who knows if a prospective new offense would have been a good fit for Jameis?
So if this theory makes sense for a young quarterback — and it does make sense — then does the same hold true for a rookie defender?
Last year, middle linebacker Kwon Alexander came in as a rookie fourth-round pick and shocked the Bucs’ world winning a starting job over highly-paid free agent signee Bruce Carter, and Alexander not only dominated at times on the field but also called the defensive plays.
So now that Alexander has to learn a whole new defense, is he behind the eight-ball? Is there a learning curve? Is Mike Smith’s defense even a good fit for Alexander? Joe wondered if any of this was an issue.
So when Bucs linebackers coach Mark Duffner took his turn yesterday, as all defensive assistants met the press at One Buc Palace, Joe asked Duffner how Kwon was handling the transition.
In short, Duffner said Kwon is taking to the new defense really well.
“Well, there’s a lot of similarity actually to what we did last year and he did have a heck of a year, especially as a MIKE linebacker,” Duffner said. “I feel like he’ll be able to make that transition. He’s a football player and actually he made that transition from an outside linebacker to playing MIKE, so I think based on how well he did that a year ago in the scheme he was in, that he’ll be able to continue to play MIKE for us.”
Now Duffner’s words were the first Joe has heard about any similarities between Coach My Scheme’s defense and Mike Smith’s. Perhaps it was only Alexander’s responsibilities Duffner referred to? Duffner didn’t elaborate.
But Duffner did note how impressed he is with Alexander. Joe knows the suits at One Buc Palace love him and often refer to him as the “Jameis of the defense” for his intensity and will to win.
Joe forgot all about Alexander being an outside linebacker at LSU. If he was able to grasp Coach My Scheme’s defense so well learning a new position, then he should be just fine with Smith’s defense this fall.
May 13th, 2016 at 7:30 am
I think Kwon will be even better, in our new defense.
May 13th, 2016 at 7:46 am
If you watched any of the Jags defense when Coach Smitty the LB moved a bit!!! Daryl Smith played middle and outside back then, could we see Kwon do the same??? Also with The defense having played in coach my scheme last year, all of the Incompetent one’s play’s should cover the prevent lite plays from Coach Smitty’s playbook!!!!!
May 13th, 2016 at 7:51 am
I have no worries. He was one of the few players who excelled in that outdated scheme last season. He would fit well in any scheme imo. If he continues to play the way he did last season and continue to develop (Wich is scary considering how good he was as a rookie) he will probably be the greatest 4th rnd pick in franchise history. I can’t think of another player that compares to his talents, can you?
May 13th, 2016 at 8:01 am
If u asked coach Hayes who is the best 4th round pick in his time coaching I’m sure he would tell u “some fella named Geno Atkins” he turned out to be a pretty good day 3 selection.
May 13th, 2016 at 8:07 am
There is a new plan in place, Go BUCS!
May 13th, 2016 at 8:49 am
It wasn’t the defensive scheme that caused the defense to fail the last 2 years, it was the lack of talent. The defense only had three great players on it, and the rest were scrubs or below average.
With GMC, David and Alexander there, they were able to barely produce by doing most of the work. When Kwon got suspended, it just became too much for two players to deal with.
That’s what happens when you focus drafts on offense. The defense suffers.
Lovie Smith got a bum deal. The knock on him coming in was that he could not build an offense. When he did, everyone gave Licht all of the credit…when it was really BOTH OF THEM.
It was Jason Licht’s job to piece together the proper defensive free agents in order to buy the defense time while they built the offense thru the draft. While Lovie had a couple of targets, it was Jason Licht who filled out the roster. It was HIS responsibility. At the very least, he should have shared accountability with Lovie…but Licht got a complete pass on two straight years of free agency…even though the scouting department reported to him and he was responsible for negotiating the contracts and signing the players.
Lovie was willing to focus the draft on the offense. He sacrificed defense the first two years on the assumption that the Glazers would then allow him time to then focus on the defense.
The Cover 2 is NOT outdated…it just lacked the personnel to pull it off properly, and the existing players outside of David, GMC and Kwon lacked the ability to disguise it.
If it were outdated, most of the defensive teams to win the superbowl in the last decade would not have succeeded…since MOST of them used the cover 2.
May 13th, 2016 at 8:57 am
“Well, there’s a lot of similarity actually to what we did last year and he did have a heck of a year, especially as a MIKE linebacker,” Duffner said.
Cover 2.
The difference will be the talent and attitude. Now, instead of just Kwon, GMC and David, the burden will be shared by Vernon Hargreaves at CB, Noah Spence at DE and Ryan Smith at Safety. Double the number of players sharing the burden.
If we won with Kwon being a third person, we’ll win a lot more with the three added players.
May 13th, 2016 at 8:58 am
That’s a whole boatload of BS you just wrote there Bonzai. SMH
May 13th, 2016 at 9:18 am
That’s easy to write Pickgrin when you have blinders on. The truth is somewhere in between. It was NOT all Lovie’s scheme (AND he did not ALWAYS employ the cover 2!). Once again, he made his bed BUT, players have to make plays. I don’t know how many more ways to put it. COVER 2 DOES NOT PRECLUDE THE DB FROM DIAGNOSING AND JUMPING A ROUTE TO MAKE A PLAY. Think about it! Everyone with a remote control in their hand KNEW the opposing team was going to throw the slant. Are you telling me that Lovie told his DBs NOT to make a play? That is utterly absurd! Also, if it was completely a scheme error, would there have been a NEED to draft DB after Mike Smith’s evaluation? Maybe, but if there was talent there, probably not.
Look, it’s easy to blame one guy for the pathetic seasons we’ve had since….forever. Don’t let everyone else off the hook, football is not a one man show.
May 13th, 2016 at 9:20 am
@Pickgrin
Prove it.
May 13th, 2016 at 9:22 am
@Bucsfanman
well said.
May 13th, 2016 at 9:24 am
Kwon is a good football player. Good football players make plays in ANY scheme. If there is a transition, I suspect that it won’t take long for him to adapt.
May 13th, 2016 at 9:39 am
The Incompetent one was trying to run in outdated system. For all those teams that employ the 4/3 have all kinds of wrinkles in them. Coach my scheme has not changed his from years ago!!! Other teams players were asking our defense why they were not adjusting and laughing how they knew everything they were doing!!! It would take the Incompetent one months if not a year to make an adjustment!!! If he got one more year, it would have been 4 wins, lots of penalties and Buc Bonzai pleading that all the rookies need another year in the system!!!!!
May 13th, 2016 at 9:45 am
Interesting how all these articles end up being a referendum on Lovie Smith….It will be great when we will have moved on and can talk about our players and our future without dwelling on Lovie.
May 13th, 2016 at 9:53 am
Pop warner teams had more challenging defensive schemes than LOVIES defenses
May 13th, 2016 at 9:54 am
@Tampabaybucfan
Well, they have to hit the field in preseason game before that will happen!!! that is when I basically close the chapter!!!! Until then, I am going to pick up that dead horse and ride it around the neighborhood a couple of times!!!!!!
And we have just began at the hints and players slamming the Incompetent one’s outdated system!!! Wait until training camp when they really start to realize how the defensive coaches have been upgraded!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!
May 13th, 2016 at 9:57 am
The truth lies somewhere in between. There was a lack of talent, especially in the secondary. But Lovie didn’t put those players in positions to succeed. No adjustments were made. Slants beat us on the reg, yet no real bump and run tactics were attempted, and very little man was played. In any position of leadership, you have to adjust your plan to the strengths and weaknesses of your people, not just beg for the perfect people to do what you need. You have to work with what you got, and to me, that was Lovie big downfall.
May 13th, 2016 at 10:36 am
the tricky thing about lovie is that he was the head coach, the de facto head of pro personnel (he handpicked 100% of the 2014 free agents and most of the 2015 pickups were players who had started and in many cases played at or near a pro bowl level in his scheme), the D Coordinator, and the stubbornly loyal protector of underperforming position coaches. if you had an issue with his effectiveness in any of these areas, you had to fire him from all of those areas. it’s not all lovie’s fault but he got everything he asked for and still couldn’t get this rosteror this city behind him after 2 years
May 13th, 2016 at 10:56 am
Im not saying lovie did not desrve to be fired, but i remember double nickle telling the bay area almost every week on his show that the bucs do not play a lot of cover 2 or tampa 2 for that matter. I believe its easy to just say lovie had them playing cover 2 but i believe it was more like 30% of the time according to brooks. I will take brooks words over many on here. So i definitely understand those who say players have to make plays. I did not like lovie’s game mangement. That was my biggest gripe but i would have understood if the bucs brought him back for continuity sake.
May 13th, 2016 at 11:52 am
bonzai that is crazy talk you posted…..lovie stayed in either an over or under front then ran cover 2 or 3 all game long, you can tell when the corners are in man they take the inside routes away because that is an easy pitch and catch the bucs obviously rarely played man nor played it well last year…….when a rookie qb can light you up with below average line and recivers then it is the crappy dont adjust scheme that lovie ran…..that defense was created or employed consistently by Jimmy Johnson and the U to stop Oklahoma’s option attack 30 years ago…the nfl is a passing league and lovie missed that memo, now he will get lit up in the big 10 and urban meyer and harbaugh will hang half a hundred on him each year
May 13th, 2016 at 12:01 pm
@Dusthty Rhothdes
Saying that bonzai is crazy is redundant!!!! Its too bad he does not understand that it was the schedule just saw better teams that had their starting QB’s that sliced and diced the Incompetent one’s fiasco of an outdated scheme!!! He choices to believe that KA58 who was due to hit the rookie wall ( maybe not with his energy drink!!!) would not have made much of a difference!!
May 13th, 2016 at 1:30 pm
@Realist- I give you credit man, you’re consistent. I’m holding you to your word once the season starts.
I still say that not enough has been put on the shoulders of the players. Did the scheme work? No. Did the players do enough? No.
This story is about Kwon. As posted above, good players make plays in any scheme. He’ll be fine.
May 13th, 2016 at 2:57 pm
@bonzai&@bucsfann…i agree…couldn’t have said it better….we’ll see who to blame if things go sour….I sure wont be lovie….GO BUCS!!!
May 13th, 2016 at 5:39 pm
It’s not the fact that the Cover 2, Tampa 2, whatever you want to call it, scheme is outdated that led to Lovies downfall. It’s the fact that he never adjusted the scheme when it was obvious that it wasn’t working. I’m just hoping Banks and Verner have bounce-back seasons.
May 13th, 2016 at 6:14 pm
@ Realist
I’ll wait and see if you can re
May 13th, 2016 at 6:18 pm
@Realist
I’ll wait and see if you can restrain yourself when it comes to Lovie…..you weren’t able to do that with the “Pop Star”……lets see if Joe can do the same…..I am no Lovie apologist…..I simply prefer to look forward and have more interest in the current and future Buc players, coaches…GMs.
May 13th, 2016 at 7:01 pm
@Tampabaybucfan
Once the current season starts, then I will only be to happy to talk about football and the current Bucs!!!!! There will be a jab here and there when a lovie article comes up but that should be very infrequent!!! But most posts will pertain to current roster and staff!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!
May 13th, 2016 at 7:04 pm
@Tampabaybucfan
Was it you that told me that the picture of Kwon looks like Black Abe Lincoln???? I can’t remember????
May 13th, 2016 at 7:44 pm
@Realist
Not me….but needs to grow that beard a bit….and take out the earring….then he would be the spitting image!!!