“Not Acceptable”
August 7th, 2017
Hard line
The Buccaneers run defense regressed significantly last season.
It was inconsistent at best, far worse than it was under Lovie Smith.
In fact, Tampa Bay allowed 4.4 yards per carry, tied for ninth-worst in the NFL. In Lovie’s final season, it was 3.4 yards per carry. That’s right, a full yard less.
During a friendly, post-practice radio interview today, defensive coordinator Mike Smith used firm language about the run defense. “Not acceptable.”
Fixing the run defense is Priority 1, Smith said.
The reality is the Bucs start the season against three teams with good running backs who win games pounding the football. When your quarterbacks are Jay Cutler (Miami), Mike Glennon (Chicago) and Sam Bradford (Minnesota), of course you have to pound the rock.
Miami and Bears do it very well behind Jay Ajayi and Jordan Howard, respectively. The Vikings are rolling out Latavius Murray and rookie stud Dalvin Cook at running back.
You better believe the Bucs are going to be focused on run defense.
Mike Smith talked today about using more balanced rotation on the defensive line this year because certain players took too many snaps last season. Some of that was because of injuries; some was because of need and desire.
Joe’s got an idea. Need more rest for your best linemen? Have a more successful offense and get in some games where those beasts can be benched late in the fourth quarter because the Bucs have a big lead.
August 7th, 2017 at 1:22 pm
If you watch tape it’s blatantly obvious where the holes are, I’m hoping the 3-4 look helps minimize this issue.
August 7th, 2017 at 1:23 pm
Cant wait for this season and Hard Knocks. Question, I know there’s a few Canadians on here. How do i watch Hard Knocks. I have contacted my service providers etc and no dice. All stupid Canadian HBO only. Ridiculous. I bought DAZN but that’s just the games. Anybody have a clue for Canadians how to reach it? 24 hours till I’m screwed. lol PS. JOE, been reading this site every hour or so for years lol Will be posting often here on out.
August 7th, 2017 at 1:25 pm
Can’t answer that but have you researched “HBO Now?”
At worst, NFL Network will re-air “Hard Knocks” in the summer of 2018.
August 7th, 2017 at 1:29 pm
haha thanks Joe. I thought the same thing. Issue here is in Canada hbo now must be an american address etc. Its frustrating. May need to drive over the old border to buffalo where we will be cruising to a W in October and see it there for every tuesday haha. I’m going to the bills game, and flying to Tampa twice for giants and week 17 saints. Traveling fan for life. Go bucs.
August 7th, 2017 at 1:29 pm
Geez…I guess that solves the mystery of signing an FA man beast Baker for the interior and drafting another in Stevie T. Let’s be honest…we have light fast heat seeking missles at LB…we need a DL that does not get pushed around.
As the old lady in the Wendy’s commercial used to say…”Where’s the beef”.
Baker was touted for his sacks but at 6-2 320 he should be able to hold his own in the trenches. If Stevie T develops and Gholston continues as a solid run stopper and either Beckwith or Bond become run crunching LB’s Smitty will be able to turn around our run defense.
First we have to stop getting physically abused on our DL.
August 7th, 2017 at 1:29 pm
@canada
It’s hbo go not hbo now.
August 7th, 2017 at 1:33 pm
oh ya? Ill look now and see what happens. I’ve seen both but get told I’m not able to either way. Its robbery. I’m willing to pay… and I live and breathe bucs ball, so it stings.
August 7th, 2017 at 1:38 pm
If they use more this supposed “three safety” technique at times, when it is used, maybe Kendall Beckwith will be able to be used more for run stopping since he’s originally a MLB not known for his coverage abilities. But I also don’t know what that “three safety” looks like and don’t know if Beckwith is gonna be the one on the field.
August 7th, 2017 at 2:05 pm
When the team is the worst pass defense in the history of football it makes sense the run defense is better than a team that can defend the pass
August 7th, 2017 at 2:57 pm
Canadabucsfan – our band is playing in red deer this year if you are randomly in that remote area haha
We had a show there last year and my NFL ticket wasn’t working because I wasn’t in the states. Was super bummed but it was the Arizona game so it was probably a good one to miss
August 7th, 2017 at 3:02 pm
Comparing the run defense under Lovie Smith to the run defense under Mike Smith is misleading.
Let’s not forget that the defense under Lovie Smith couldn’t stop a slant route if their life depended on it.
As such, teams Lovie Smith’s defense didn’t have to run. The quick passing game was simply the easier route to go.
August 7th, 2017 at 3:02 pm
teams *facing Lovie’s Smith’s defense
August 7th, 2017 at 3:04 pm
Canadabucsfan – just go sign-up for a VPN, then you can put you location as being in the US and you should then be able to get a free trial. There are two services, the main one is HBO Go – then the newer HBO Now, I still have no idea what the difference is but I ran into both when looking for a free trial. Anywho for the VPN, very briefly what it does is encrypt all you internet traffic making it much more secure, but most good services will have a list of servers all over the world – you normally just select which one you want to use and then when you browse the web, if you’re connected, the host you’re connecting too only knows the location of the VPN server you connected to. It’s completely legal, nothing underground or illegal about it. You can surely find a place that has a free trial or is very cheap for a month (like less than $5) – but you’llbe limited to watching it on your phone or tablet most likely since I don’t think HBO Go or Now support desktops or notebook PCs.
August 7th, 2017 at 3:12 pm
^ Yea I paid for the digital sunday ticket and was pretty upset I could not use while down in Mexico last year. Of course it was the Cardinals game, so in the end I was okay missing that one lol
August 7th, 2017 at 3:14 pm
Also, you can definitely watch HBO GO from a computer, not just a device…
https://help.hbogo.com/hc/en-us/articles/206950967-What-are-the-requirements-for-watching-HBO-GO-on-a-computer-
August 7th, 2017 at 3:26 pm
@Canadabucsfan Have you tried going to google and looking for an HBO live stream? Like here for example http://www.tgo-tv.net/watch/live-tv/hbo-live-stream.php If you can’t manage to find go stream then I’d suggest waiting a day or 2 and searching for the Bucs Hard Knocks episode 1 and I’m sure someone will have uploaded it online.
August 7th, 2017 at 3:44 pm
hey unbelievable , thanks for the heads up. Only issue is because im in Canada any hbo websites or anything only show Canadian content and since im on a canadian ip address I cant wait anything from American HBO. Ill give that a shot though. Thanks a bunch guys. Good call onebuc. appreciate it.
August 7th, 2017 at 4:31 pm
Every defender brought in this offseason makes the Bucs defense bigger and “tougher”.
Baker, Wilcox, J. Evans, Beckwith, Stevie T. – every one is either a wide load and/or or brings the wood with every tackle.
August 7th, 2017 at 4:57 pm
@Canadabucsfan, yea I hear ya on that. I would check out the VPN like rod suggested. (It also prevents your ISP from spying on you if you’re worried about that kind of stuff).
This is a really great list of different VPNs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17jUKBzxTGovOyyQ6kFJloAzHgCocsd47ydS62PosTwU/edit#gid=0
Since your concern is only changing the country of your IP so you can access the US content, you could prob opt for a free, or very cheap one.
August 7th, 2017 at 5:09 pm
Thanks everybody for all of your help. It means alot. unbelievable, thats alot of great info thanks so much. Lord Cornelius I’m seriously down to go to that if I am out that way haha whats your band called?
August 7th, 2017 at 6:07 pm
Sweet lol Canada is a big place and I know it’s pretty random but figured I’d throw it out there
We are called Too Many Humans and you can find our stuff online through any music store or youtube. It’s like heavy indie rock I guess (not really sure how to label). We have a new 7 song EP coming out this year so I’ll try to link something from it some day if Joe is cool with it
August 7th, 2017 at 6:46 pm
@ Canadabucsfan,
while I was overseas I used a site called Hotspot Shield and it let me make my address in the US and could watch anything I wanted . you may try it now to see if you can download HBO now then watch you can turn it on and off just before watching. I used it to live stream NFL sunday ticket from overseas.
August 7th, 2017 at 9:34 pm
Nice Lord C. I’ll look into that for sure. Awesome man. @gracelivin thanks for your insight. You guys have all been very helpful thanks. Anything for bucs fans right! Best in the world. #gobucs