Secret weapon? (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)

A pass rusher may have been born last week.

The Bucs have had a woeful pass rush this year. Horrid beyond words. And Joe had been banging the drum for defensive coordinator Mike Smith to use Lavonte David as an extra pass rusher.

Hey, it worked for Greg Schiano!

But Smith one-upped Joe. He began using rookie linebacker Kendell Beckwith as an extra pass rusher. And it showed last Sunday when Beckwith finally got his first sack and also had a quarterback pressure.

Smith said that for the past five games, the Bucs had been using Beckwith as a pass rusher but he had limited chances. That’s because opponents were often in third-and-short situations.

Last Sunday, the defense finally came to play and forced the Jets into many must-pass situations, which gave Beckwith the opportunities to get to the quarterback.

Smith noted Beckwith had pass rushing skills to begin with as he was a defensive end in high school. Beckwith, who was also a quarterback in high school, talked to Joe about this last week.

“In college my first year, I was moved from linebacker to defensive end,” Beckwith said. “But I wanted to play linebacker because I didn’t like the idea of playing with my hand in the dirt. Coaches gave me the opportunity to move back to linebacker my sophomore year at LSU and I won the starting job.”

While Beckwith reached back to his high school days for some moves to rush the quarterback last week, he also channeled his brother Wendell Beckwith, who played defensive end at Tulane.

“I took some of his pass rush moves and just watching other guys pass rush,” Beckwith said. “I try to use different things.”

Beckwith noted he studies defensive ends to copy some of their moves. He has yet to look at any film of former Bucs great Simeon Rice but that is on his to-do list, Beckwith told Joe.

And, no, Beckwith was not rushing the passer out of a 34 formation. Gerald McCoy mentioned on the Buccaneers Radio Network on Monday that Beckwith was strictly rushing from the edge from the Bucs’ normal 43 front.

If the Bucs are having success pressuring quarterbacks because of Beckwith, Joe suggests that Smith should pour it on.