Stifling Rush Defense Not Uncommon
September 19th, 2017
“Hey Joe, don’t you forget my defenses!”
Man, the Bucs shutting down the run game of the Bears still has Joe jacked up this morning.
Last night Joe had a chance to do a little research, and while holding a strong ground game like the Bears have to 20 yards rushing is nothing to sneeze about whatsoever, this has occurred a few times in recent Bucs history.
In the post-Chucky era, the Bucs have held an opponent to 20-yards rushing or less three times prior to Sunday. All three came with the Fighting Schianos.
In Bucs commander Greg Schiano’s first game as head coach, a 16-10 win against the Stinking Panthers, the Bucs held Carolina to an unthinkable 10 yards rushing, per Pro-Football-Reference.com. (Later that year, Schiano’s squad held the Raiders to 22 yards rushing in a 42-32 Bucs win.)
In 2013, the Bucs held the Dixie Chicks and Dolphins to 18 and 2 (yes, two!) yards rushing, respectively. Joe did a double-take on the yards allowed on the ground to Miami and checked the box score just to make sure. Yup, on a Monday night at the Den of Depression, Miami only ran the ball 12 times, instead having Ryan Tannehill air the ball out 42 times!
The Bucs beat the Dolphins 22-19. But in the Atlanta game at the Georgia Dome, the Bucs lost 31-23.
Believe it or not, a Lovie Smith defense held Frank Gore and the Colts to 27-yards rushing in a 25-12 loss to Matt Hasselbeck in 2015.
So while the Bucs holding an opponent to 20 or fewer yards on the ground is hardly commonplace, it’s not as rare as one might think.
September 19th, 2017 at 5:37 am
“the fighting Schianos” (LOL) may have been good at defending the run -but were the worst in the league at pass defense.
They could have been contenders…… in 1947
September 19th, 2017 at 5:54 am
Yeah, why bother handling the ball off when you can pass at a 70% rate?
September 19th, 2017 at 5:58 am
Joe, time to move on from Chicago…….pretty decent team on tap this Sunday……
OBW, loved seeing Schiano’s defense get beat-down by the Sooners!
September 19th, 2017 at 6:44 am
1sparkybuc, I would imagine that it’s hard to defend the quick short pass at the NFL level. But with the speed of our LBs, Bucs seem to do a pretty good job of limiting not only how much is gained on each play but also areas on the field where the QB can throw to. Sunday our defense effectively took away the run, the deep pass and limited where the Bears could throw to. Those 3 turnovers by Glennon weren’t flukes; they’ll happen more & more if we can make opponents one-dimensional like we did the Bears.
September 19th, 2017 at 6:54 am
This will not be uncommon as long as offense puts points on the board and force the other team to score td.
September 19th, 2017 at 7:02 am
“Hey Joe, Please forget his defense”!
September 19th, 2017 at 7:07 am
I always wondered why anyone would bother running on Lovie’s D with the huge inviting holes in that charmin soft zone .
September 19th, 2017 at 7:15 am
N what is uncommon is the great rush defense And the lopsided win. Plenty of Forced turnovers made a Huge difference. Glennon had some garbage yards but otherwise it was pretty dominant. The way they were looking to take the ball away was impressive. Great play on the strip of cohen on punt team by smith. The way they bottled up cohen was impressive too. That guy is quick and shifty. Great defensive effort. Lets go whoop bradford or keenun. Go Bucs
September 19th, 2017 at 7:45 am
Shouldn’t come as a surprise Mike Smith along a number of players stated in training camp stopping the run was a major emphasis over the off season. Early returns one word.. POSITIVE. Did anyone see those overthrows by stafford last night??? I ask because he’s the nfl’s highest paid player,EVER!
September 19th, 2017 at 7:50 am
Listen man the days of losing to backup level QBs are over. If you don’t have at a minimum a pro bowler under center yo team can forget about beating the Bucs.
September 19th, 2017 at 8:06 am
If I never saw that X-coach/f*ck tard on this site it would be too soon. What a waste of time that idiot was.
September 19th, 2017 at 8:07 am
Most are because in those years the pass defense was historically horrible and there was absolutely no pass rush. Teams passed a ton.
This year is different. This is a damn good defense
September 19th, 2017 at 8:17 am
Right on Dave.
September 19th, 2017 at 8:28 am
Please Tom…. you couldn’t really expect Schiano to build a good defense, considering where he is, could you? It isn’t as if he has a job at a great football school or somewhere they constantly draft a group of five, four and three star talent players….LOL.
September 19th, 2017 at 9:05 am
The defense looked in midseason form but Jameis and the offense looked a little rusty to me. I hope JW can get it cranked up in the next couple of games. We will probably have to score 30+ to beat the Patriots and I don’t expect 4 turnovers (or even 2). When is Winston going to look like he did in the first game last season? I want that QB! Go BUCS!
September 19th, 2017 at 9:08 am
To be fair to Lovie he never did figure out how to defend a slant pass.
September 19th, 2017 at 9:33 am
@Mark2001:
Love it! Schiano and Urb deserve each other
September 19th, 2017 at 11:37 am
Take away the robbery of Miami in the 2002/3 season on multiple bogus calls and non-offensive pass interference call to win the “Championship”, and their record during the last forty years isn’t particularly impressive. But oh yeah…I forget..they are THE Ohio State…LOL.
September 19th, 2017 at 11:58 am
On Wednesdays Joe moves on to the next opponent. Today is Tuesday. Let Bucs fans wallow in the glow of victory.