“Cut Out The Mistakes”
July 27th, 2017
Priorities
Responding this morning to the Custodian of Canton, Ira Kaufman, linebacker Kwon Alexander, the soul of the Bucs’ defense, had an interesting response to a question about the Bucs defense.
eye-RAH! asked Kwon about the next key improvement for the Tampa Bay defense. Kwon didn’t talk about tackling or speed or stuffing the run or sacks, he went right to something else.
“Cut out the mistakes,” Kwon replied.
“We do that, we’re going to have a pretty great defense.”
Interesting pick.
That might a peek at a Dirk Koetter theme pulsing through the team.
Mike Evans asked a similar question about the offense, and his first and fast response was “not beating ourselves, penalties.”
Make a mental note. That’s probably an especially big key for training camp.
July 27th, 2017 at 12:15 pm
Attitude….this team has crossed the threshold to becoming a force to be reconned with. They have an urgency in their mindset, and the competition knows it. We are now on our way to creating the badass team that coach K thirsts for. Let the dogs loose!
July 27th, 2017 at 12:23 pm
Mistakes will happen…can’t be afraid of them, but rather, embrace and grow from them…..
July 27th, 2017 at 1:36 pm
The team is getting accustomed to the routine and comfortable with each other. Now is the time they stop thinking and start playing instinctively. It’s their team now, no more guessing or wondering what coach wants. We know our jobs and just need to go out and execute.
That’s a huge step for any team and one that has me very excited.
July 27th, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Amen ’55! Teams are scary when they’re playing instinctively. Oh, and this is OUR team! Watch out!
July 27th, 2017 at 3:23 pm
Hope the starting offensive tackles are paying attention to this message….
July 27th, 2017 at 4:05 pm
The team is now ready physically and talent wise…we’re taking the next step…mental toughness. Nobody has accused the Bucs of being mentally tough over the past decade…in fact when we remember LVD’s quote after that opening day thrashing at the hands of rookie QB and Tennessee it’s quite clear this team has been anything BUT mentally tough.
DK has identified the problem and is addressing it. Love our coach!!!
July 27th, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Someone’s ready to play with their ‘hair on fire’… chuckle
July 27th, 2017 at 4:15 pm
Yo Kwon looks huge.
July 27th, 2017 at 4:20 pm
If our pass rush doesnt come thru,….still think our pass defense in the short middle zone will be exposed….
Mike smith has to comeup big again because we really have the same defense as last year…not sure if the new defensive players are better than those they replaced
Kobe no fake news Faker
July 27th, 2017 at 4:47 pm
Cutting out mistakes and eliminating penalties is more of a Mike Smith thing than from anyone else.
July 27th, 2017 at 4:48 pm
I keep saying this. Maintaining the coaching staff is so huge. We took it for granted, especially on the defense with Kiffin coaching for so long. Mike Smith was probably the biggest signing this off season. These guys being able to learn a system so that they can just react rather than read, think then react is so huge.
One area that I want to see improvement on is team tackling. We were 30th in tackle assists, third in solo tackles. I surmise this is attributed to being pretty good individual tackling technique (good thing) and not consistently getting enough hats around the football. Kwon has a bunch of “missed tackles” but he also led the league in solo tackles. Get more hats around the ball and sure he gives up some solo tackles but his missed tackles should drop as well.