Historic Defensive Performance
November 13th, 2017
Record-setting defensive game. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Joe has read comments by fans dismissing what the defense did yesterday, undermining its dominance with the “but it was the Jets” excuse.
Last Joe checked, that’s not the NFL team from New York that is spiraling out of control.
Most Bucs fans can agree that the 1999 and the 2002 versions of the mighty Bucs defense was legendary. Two of the best defenses the NFL has ever seen. Yet yesterday’s performance one-upped those two great defenses. Multimedia maven Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com has the goods.
@ScottSBucs: Great job by the Bucs’ defense Sunday forcing the Jets into 8 third-down tries of 11 or more yards. That’s the most in any one game by a Bucs opponent since at least 1998 (only have data through 1999).
So stop with the “it’s just the Jets” tripe. Give credit where credit is due. The defense was dominant yesterday, Joe doesn’t care if they were facing ASJackwagon or Greg Olsen, that was a helluva performance.
Now Mike Smith has to figure out why his defense goes into hiding on the road.
November 13th, 2017 at 2:47 pm
The Buc Realist Says:
November 13th, 2017 at 2:44 pm
The coaches did a great job yesterday!!!!!! And the Jets had 10 days to prepare against the Bucs!!!!!!!! Good to see that when the starters came back, how open the defensive playbook became!!!!!! Missing parts and Coach Smitty still makes it look so good!!!!!!!!! This team is lacking an the trenches and everyone knows that, But good game plans to minimize the glaring weaknesses of the team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great Job Bucs!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 13th, 2017 at 3:21 pm
joes’ opinions are not any more correct than anyone else’s.
November 13th, 2017 at 3:24 pm
gotta scrounge the bottom of the stat barrel to find anything relevant
and joes hate stats…unless it proves their point
it was a crap game by 2 crap teams. and i’ve seen josh mccown make better throws than jameis this year.
November 13th, 2017 at 3:28 pm
That’s what I thought we’d be seeing most the year (or at least something 1/2 as good as what they just did).
I can buy the Vikings implosion because of the insane amount of short term injuries / flu bug but still can’t understand the Cards / Bills gaffe’s or how we couldn’t get any pressure on Eli despite him having a line worse than the Jets. They did ok vs the Pats and we were a kicker away from winning that game.
Hell a competent Kicker vs the Pats and a competitive D vs the Bills, and this season would look a lot different at 5-4; even with the 2 losses on the back of our injured franchise QB.
November 13th, 2017 at 3:31 pm
Amazing what happens when the defensive line doesn’t completely embarrass themselves…..
November 13th, 2017 at 3:45 pm
lurker Says:
November 13th, 2017 at 3:21 pm
joes’ opinions are not any more correct than anyone else’s.
careful..it is his sandbox
November 13th, 2017 at 3:46 pm
Yeah it only took Mike Smith another entire half a season before making any kind of adjustments.
How long did we ask to stop the constant stunting and games that were clearly impotent?
How long have we been asking to blitz our talented Linebackers more frequently, or at all?
How long have we asked to stop the constants soft zone coverage?
Oh yeah, and we do it against the hapless Jets and Josh McClown.
Mike Smith needs the boot, I will not be fooled a 2nd time.
November 13th, 2017 at 3:47 pm
The D played well yesterday. The D also played well against N.E and CHI. Credit given where credit is due. Overall,though, our Defense is not good. The D got smashed by MIN,AZ,BUF,NO. Hiding behind stats with no context gets old, and it doesn’t get you anywhere. The simple fact of the matter is, our pass rush is awful. Our secondary has one consistently good player. (Brent Grimes, age 34, and will not be in Tampa for a long period of time). Who else would you say is a very good player in our secondary ? Hargreaves ? Smith ? Conte? Tandy? .. Our D can not be considered an overall good unit on a weekly basis because we have Grimes, Lavonte, and Kwon…. Here are some facts: The bucs D is not good. The bucs O is not good. The bucs will have a losing record this year. The bucs will miss the playoffs again this year. Koetter will have an overall losing record after this year. Winston will have an overall losing record after this year. Again, good performance yesterday.. but, the bucs are still bad ! The bucs are still irrelevant outside of Florida.
November 13th, 2017 at 3:50 pm
the joes sandbox is open. it is ok to have dissenting opinions, just don’t attack them.
they are wrong often enough to prove they are human and not infallible.
November 13th, 2017 at 3:51 pm
It was the Jets. Simple as that.
November 13th, 2017 at 3:52 pm
Yawn… stop polishing a turd Joe lol
November 13th, 2017 at 3:57 pm
It was Josh McClown so idk but it’s better than 2-7.
November 13th, 2017 at 4:28 pm
It was the Jets but did a helluva job against the Pats and Panthers too. Two blown wins by the Offense.
November 13th, 2017 at 4:42 pm
I am not that worried about the secondary personally. I will worry about the secondary when we actually have a good natural pass rush and they still look bad.
I just checked; and of the bottom 5 teams in total sacks this year; the best rankings for pass yards allowed are 18th and 20th; meaning a bottom 5 pass rush = you can’t even have an average secondary.
The top 5 teams right now in QB rating given up:
Jags/Ravens/Rams/Steelers/Seahawks
If you go by top 5 teams in passing yards per game given up:
Jags/Steelers/Ravens/Panthers/Bengals
Of those teams – only the Jags & Seahawks are thought of as having some elite secondary stacked with talent. And even then; they’re not as good as they used to be but have a great pass rush.
Meanwhile; teams like the Giants/Cardinals/etc have elite secondaries in terms of on paper talent; but get killed in the trenches on both sides of the ball; so it really doesn’t matter.
Basically f*ck the secondary imo. I mean don’t ignore it lol- upgrade if the deal is right. But we need to fix the trenches and see what we actually got
November 13th, 2017 at 4:56 pm
@mike n No Gronk for Brady that game and they were not playing well to begin with. Panthers offense could only muster 3 points the week before, so those are not very good gauges for the performance of this defense. Try again sir. The defense sucks bar none.
November 13th, 2017 at 5:13 pm
One bad team beat another bad team in a boring game. Nothing more, nothing less
November 13th, 2017 at 5:28 pm
Speaking of historic, I just made my son watch the 2000 Bucs vs Rams Week 16 game highlights. I had to search to find it but finally found it. I was thinking about the lateral play from Dunn to King and had to see it again. That remains my second favorite Bucs regular season game ever. Second only to the Bucs biggest comeback win again the Chiefs on 11-2-2008. I was at that game in Arrowhead. Thought I was going to get my rear end kicked after talking so much trash after we won.
November 13th, 2017 at 5:42 pm
@derrickbrooksfor gm… No gronk for pats??? LOL, gonk doesn’t play 50% of the time. Gronk didn’t play in the SB or playoffs last year. The D isn’t good but has done enough to win. We should of won those games and the Bills too. We didn’t and now the season is over.
November 13th, 2017 at 5:43 pm
The problem isn’t that it was just the Jets. The problem is what does this defense do against the rest of the league…..The answer is a whole lotta nuttin.
November 13th, 2017 at 6:00 pm
@mike n If I remember correctly someone else was out as well for the pats but regardless you’re right the d did enough against the Jets… barely! Bills I so agree with you. I’m still mad about that choke job 🙁
November 13th, 2017 at 6:11 pm
Blake_Bucsfan Says
“How long have we been asking to blitz our talented Linebackers more frequently, or at all?”
To be fair…we have not had all of them healthy at the same time in a while.
November 13th, 2017 at 6:11 pm
In 4 games, Bucs’ Defense gave up 30 or more points. Won’t win many games like that (and in fact we lost all 4, ALL of which were on the road). In the other 5 games (all of which were at home) Bucs’ Defense gave up 23 or less points. We won 3 of those 5, and could’ve won the 2 others IF we’d had a kicker (at the time) & IF our offense had scored their ‘average’ 21 pts. But alas we’re 3-6 instead of 5-4 (or better).
The $64,000 question is ‘Why does the Bucs defense give up so many points on the road?’ I’ve got a simple theory which says that the teams we’ve played (and lost to) on the road are significantly better than the ones we’ve beaten at home. Teams we’ve played here at RayJay (Bears, Giants, Pats, Panthers, Jets) have a combined 21-25 losing record (the 2 teams we lost to here … Pats & Panthers … have a 13-5 record, so the 3 teams we beat have a 8-20 record this year). Teams we played on the road (Vikings, Cards, Bills, Saints) have a combined 23-13 winning record.
Don’t think anyone wants to know the record of the teams we still have to play this year. But hint: this could get ugly. Correction: uglier. UNLESS … Bucs defense really has turned a corner AND our offense comes alive in these remaining 7 games. Only time will tell.
November 13th, 2017 at 6:14 pm
Here’s my opinion:
Hopefully, it is a start.
It was not a great game by any stretch of the imagination. It proves nothing…except that we got a win.
Yes, the defense played well. But consistency is always the issue. They will have to do the same thing for three games straight to prove it was not a fluke.
That said, I’m happy with any win, and I appreciate Joe trying his best to make things positive around here.
November 13th, 2017 at 6:15 pm
Bottom line is this…Tampa Bay is a Defensive town. It won’t matter if we get the top scoring offense in the league. If we don’t have a top defense, the team will go nowhere.
BUT…the defense will come.
November 13th, 2017 at 6:16 pm
derrickbrooksforGM Says
“…the d did enough against the Jets… barely!”
Six sacks and a pick is barely????
November 13th, 2017 at 6:23 pm
Ok lets play along this week and act like we are impressed with the defense. Dont worry Jay Cutler will smoke us like a blunt come Saturday
November 13th, 2017 at 6:35 pm
He might smoke us like a blunt on Saturday but he ain’t doing shat on Sunday.
November 13th, 2017 at 7:10 pm
Yep! Glad the guys played lights out…..need to see more of that kind of effort. Is it because JW and ME13 werent out there? Curious minds…..
November 13th, 2017 at 7:14 pm
The Jets were horrible on offense. We were slightly less horrible on offense. Fitz can’t hit a parked bus. We are doomed
November 13th, 2017 at 7:22 pm
@Max. Do you mean we only scored 15 points because ME and JW weren’t out there? I mean, I could see the comments against JW even if I disagree but against M.E? Seriously?
November 13th, 2017 at 7:33 pm
^ Certain players, removed from the “TEAM” field of play affects the way others play. Ever played a team sport? $hhit happens like that, especially when its high profile players.
November 13th, 2017 at 8:36 pm
Yea I was told it was the Jets playing poorly not our defense playing dominant that was the case.
People will always find some way to bitch
November 13th, 2017 at 8:53 pm
Fair enough Max. Yes I have and I get it but I just don’t see that in a million years with Evans not being in there.
November 13th, 2017 at 9:05 pm
Been here a while….not popular and dont care to be but know my stuff and know some busts…..shouldve traded jw and me when we had the chance a few weeks ago.
November 13th, 2017 at 9:09 pm
@MadMax
The fact that you want to trade away a guy who has broken numerous records at the ripe old age of 23, because he had a couple bad games while hurt, is absolutely ridiculous.
And suggests that you in fact do NOT, know your stuff.
November 13th, 2017 at 9:21 pm
Smutty warned them, play like crap and it’s a week at the Ramada listening to Freddie Martino sing the entire Sinatra songbook.
November 13th, 2017 at 9:47 pm
Trade jw???
That’s great and we waste a pick on another qb in the draft. Truly laughing stock material. I can play it for u:
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers trade Jameis Winston for 3 1st round picks and 3 2nd round picks to Cardinals” The Bucs just traded thier best qb on their franchise after 3 years. Haha look for the Bucs to be bottom for ANOTHER 10 years
November 13th, 2017 at 10:05 pm
It doesnt take much to be called “the best QB in franchise history” in TB lol
November 13th, 2017 at 10:06 pm
just sayin
November 13th, 2017 at 10:46 pm
you’ll see…..
btw i was the first here spotting josh F falling off and pointing at it while a joe or two was calling for paying him more $$. Weird it happens this way, but it does
November 13th, 2017 at 11:02 pm
You’re joking with the 3 1st round and 3 2nd round, right?
November 13th, 2017 at 11:05 pm
Do it a couple weeks in a row and I will start listening!
November 14th, 2017 at 12:15 am
Even weirder, Joe for three months referred to Josh Freeman when he was drafted as “Bust in Waiting.”
Joe’s archives are free to browse, as always.
November 14th, 2017 at 12:41 am
Yea or something like that
For what I know is that jw was a winner before he got here. Bucs are yearly losers. The leadership was so bad it led to his botched finger Licking pregame speech It seems Baker and djx are stepping up tho cuz jw needs to be around the right ppl. This is a losing culture franchise.
November 14th, 2017 at 12:47 am
Josh freeman was like only player drafted in the first round that had B+ grade. Freeman was a huge reach at 17
November 14th, 2017 at 1:36 am
Lamarcus Said:
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers trade Jameis Winston for 3 1st round picks and 3 2nd round picks to Cardinals” The Bucs just traded thier best qb on their franchise after 3 years. Haha look for the Bucs to be bottom for ANOTHER 10 years
I’m dumbfounded at all the trade Jameis BS, but if someone actually offered those picks, HELL YEAH!!
Comparing Jameis to the amphetamine-addled Josh Slacks Alot, who straggled in to One Buc late every day is ridiculous.
November 14th, 2017 at 5:15 am
Max have you forgotten how vocal I was along with Couch about good ole Free Free?
I don’t think you were the first lol, maybe one of but not the first and you were definitely not the first Joe lol.
November 14th, 2017 at 8:33 am
Yes you were PR….it was a very small group of us. I might not have been the very first, but I was early.
And Joes, its all good. Just keep posting about me wanting Eric Dungey with a 2nd or 3rd rounder when he comes out (hopefully healthy)