Gutless Defense
December 14th, 2017
Sad third-and-long numbers.
It’s enough for Joe to chug Prestone.
Joe is convinced this sieve the Bucs call a defense has cost the team a wild card chase. In three of his last five starts, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, has given the Bucs a fourth quarter lead or tied the game in the fourth quarter, only to watch the polar opposite of a clutch defense yack away the game.
Yes, Joe knows the Bucs have no pass rush and that’s a crutch to hide from inferior coaching.
But one reason the defense is such a folding tent is opposing quarterbacks have so much time to throw, they can order Jimmy John’s, wolf down a Vito and make sure receivers can run deep patterns… and hit them in the numbers.
(Yes, Joe gave a free plug there as Joe went to college with Jimmy John and dined several times as his original store.)
The good people of BSPN NFL Matchup ran some numbers and upon reading them, Bucs fans will want to ram their head through a drywall. When it comes to third downs and offenses needing seven or more yards to convert, the Bucs defense has allowed a ghastly 33 percent of those situations to be first down conversions. That’s just appalling.
Only one NFL team is worse, and that is the Chiefs.
Bucs coach Dirk Koetter told Joe a few weeks ago that the average for third-and-long conversions is in the mid-20 percent range. So clearly the Bucs are horribly below the NFL average.
December 14th, 2017 at 5:48 am
Sad just sad! Any way you look at it personal needs to be changed.
December 14th, 2017 at 6:02 am
Yet again, another totally predictable piece Joe spouting the evils of Mike Smith. And yet, not a single mention of Jason Licht or the Glazer Boys, the architects of this disastrous season. Hmmm, go figure.
Smitty, why did you sign Fatty Baker to anchor this DLine with GMC instead of Calais Campbell or even Dontari Poe? Say what, that was Jason Licht job, not yours? And Smitty, why didn’t you draft a DE knowing that your 2 speed rushers, Jack Smith & Noah Spence, were coming off major injuries? Say what Smitty, that was on Jason Licht also? Well how about the CB situation Smitty, surely you’re responsible for that lack of talent, aren’t you? What, Jason Licht is behind that too? Good thing you’re not in charge of the offense too Smitty, because you’d probably try to tell us that Jason Licht was responsible for this OLine fiasco AND for not beefing up our running game.
You should be ashamed of yourself Smitty. Now just quiet down and take your beatdown like a man. Joe didn’t say our 4-9 record was ALL your fault. He just decided to blame you. Somebody has to take the fall, and Joe likes Jason more than you.
December 14th, 2017 at 6:15 am
The corners are playing 10 yards behind first down markers on 3rd and 3
December 14th, 2017 at 6:42 am
How many fans when watching the game don’t get excited when it’s 3rd and long against any team, you don’t, because there is a strong possibility that the first will get picked up. Give me a 3rd and short and the team decides to run, better chance of stopping them, because if it’s 3rd and 5 ytg, corners are 8 yards off the los.
December 14th, 2017 at 6:51 am
Defense Rules makes a Great Point Joe!!
What would the line look like with Campbell and GMC? The DB could press because of a shorter window to throw
December 14th, 2017 at 7:06 am
Really Joes? It’s all on the defence? I know they have SUCKED this year but what about all the 3 and outs in clutch time or the yacked up balls by “Americas Quarterback” or the horrible play calling and execution by the offense. How many times do we run a 4 yard post on 3rd and 14 or run a naked screen in the same situation with the opposing D in a prevent? What happened to all the shimmy new “Weapons for Winston”? My point is there is enough blame to go around. With all the draft choices spent on offence since the Lovie era began they should be able and expect to have to outplay the D. I don’t want to get rid of Jameis but either Dirk has to go or give up the offence to someone elseelse
December 14th, 2017 at 7:17 am
The same play calling was the same when Fitz was playing and he won 2 of 3 games, so does that backfire your point?
December 14th, 2017 at 7:33 am
3rd and 20 doesn’t matter to our defense.
December 14th, 2017 at 7:34 am
Despite all the problems and how horrible the defense is ( according to Joe) Coach Smitty still pulls this defense into a 22nd rank Points allowed!!!!!!! And when you think of how the offense hands the ball off to opposing teams for scores, that ranking is quite impressive!!!!!!!!!!
The Defense last year was the reason for the streak!!!! There have been games that we all can look at and say that the defense played its azz off for the whole game!!!! I can’t name one game where the offense carried the team thru a game!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 8:01 am
While I whole-heartedly agree with you Defense Rules, Coach Smitty has done nothing to work with the pieces he does have.
Do something, do ANYTHING! It’s not working and we play soft. “SOFT” is not an adjective that should ever be associated with playing defense.
December 14th, 2017 at 8:11 am
Of course the defense is gutless… the degense has taken on the personality of its SOFT GUTLESS CAPTAIN CANCER93….
It would not matter who you put at DE thats just BS the face of the basement years cancer93 would of sucked the lifev out of them.
December 14th, 2017 at 8:18 am
An amazing 180 as before the season he was declared our most important offseason acquisition.
Thank goodness we snagged him from the stampede who desired him for a head coaching job.
December 14th, 2017 at 8:31 am
It does not matter who the bucs draft or the free agents they bring in as long as cancer93 is on roster bucs will not win a game that matters and the defense will be soft and mentally weak.. no one captains a blowout better than the crying clown cancer93
December 14th, 2017 at 8:43 am
Licht left the cupboard bare on defense. He reached on Aguayo and Hargreaves
and neither played up to expectations. A good number of our D line free agent signings are rotational players.Too much free agent money spent on part time
players. Time to purge the one or two year players, and get some players that will give us three or four good to great years.
December 14th, 2017 at 8:45 am
Bucsfanman My Man!!! Smith will make no changes at this point. If he did and the defense played better he would PROBABLY GET FIRED for being so stubborn to not make changes all season. That is why you won’t get an invite to become a member to my Tandyman Club. He’s not gonna play him because he was one of the reasons the Bucs defense was so successful at the end of last season!!!! He’s trying to get a Head Coaching job…..
December 14th, 2017 at 8:58 am
Should have hired Wade Phillips and went to an attacking 3-4
December 14th, 2017 at 9:11 am
@realist
22nd in points allowed?…..that’s horrible….we’re not even top 20 with 32 teams in the league….lol…what a joke…this defense is worse than lovie and it aint up for debate…..
that streak last year was a complete fluke!!!!!…..that 9-7 is no different than 10-6 under rah….its a straight fluke….you and this staff have been exposed for the frauds that you are….
01/01/2018 cant come fast enough so this incompetent clown can be handed his bags….GO BUCS!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 9:17 am
the blame needs to go on the coach who has been claimed to be an offensive guru and the coach that was hired to “fix” not destroy the defense…..
we have a coach who cant score and a coach who cant stop anyone…..we have a coach that is predictable and a coach that cant adjust…..
this staff is incompetent….GO BUCS!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 9:20 am
So you have the fire and passion of lvd and kwon and you try to make the defense and bring in…
Malcontent lazy pathetic chris baker?
Known lazyboy baker runs over soft hc like koetter. We had the softest training camp in our history and …..
People question how we are 4-12??
Son of Kobe Faker
December 14th, 2017 at 9:45 am
@813bucboi
You are right!!!! Its not up for debate!!!!!!!!! Despite lovie having a much easier schedule, And Coach Smitty having devastating injuries on the defensive roster!!!! lovie defense was ranked 26th in points allowed with almost 3 points more avg despite opposing team shutting down in the 3rd quarter because the games were out of hand and they were killing the clock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 9:45 am
You suggesting Joe hasn’t written about the Bucs and Campbell before?
December 14th, 2017 at 10:12 am
“What would the line look like with Campbell and GMC?”
it would look similar to the defense of last year!!!! Teams would use C/G combo to nullify GMC like always, which leaves team with a Tackle and RB or TE combo to nullify Campbell, which would make a bltiz of LB more effective, but the D-line would still have some problems!!!!!! making most question why NFL GM licht gave up over 33 million dollar contract to a DE that will be 32 before the 2018 regular season!!!!!!!
Do not mistake that the Jags just brought in a free agent DE and fixed everything!!!! They have been allocating resources to the defense for years with drafting and free-agency!!!!!! especially on the D-line!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 10:18 am
AGAIN….we stink in the trenches..can’t run block and can’t rush the passer.
Subtract the ability to run the ball or rush the passer and what can you expect?
Why a 4-12 season!
We need to invest our next draft in the trenches on BOTH sides of the ball. Some have suggested even trading GMC to get extra draft picks to facilitate this. If the picks are high enough I’d certainly be open to that move.
We NEED to totally revamp our horrible trench players.
Goal for next year…..be able to rush the passer…be able to run the ball.
If we reached those two simple goals…#3 and his receivers will look like stars…our LB’s and DB’s will look a lot better on D. It’s the old cliche…it starts up front and that’s the worst part of our team!
December 14th, 2017 at 10:28 am
Tandyman, what’s up?! The other night I tried to invoke the ghost of Tandy by saying “Tandyman” in my mirror 3 times!
All I got was my dog looking at me funny and my wife preparing the couch for me to stay on!!!
It’s a shame because if it were me, my pride would get in the way. They’d think the Steel Curtain had been resurrected I would send so many blitzes. I would think that putting something good on your resume would be the right thing to do if he wanted to head coach again.
Don’t give up the fight Tandyman! You never know what’s around the corner!
December 14th, 2017 at 10:42 am
Bucsfanman My Man. Don’t get put on the Couch and lose the best friend you got in your Dog!!! I got it all figured out. The Bucs just need to hire Smith as the Head Coah and replace the Glazers with Koetter!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 11:09 am
@813Bucboi … “22nd in points allowed?…..that’s horrible….we’re not even top 20 with 32 teams in the league….lol…what a joke…this defense is worse than lovie and it aint up for debate.” Actually Bucboi, it IS up for debate. Lovie’s defense was #25 in 2014 and #26 in 2015 in POINTS ALLOWED. Smitty’s defense was #15 in 2016 and is presently #22 in 2017 in POINTS ALLOWED. Been a long time since I took math in school, but as I remember, 15 & 22 are less than 25 & 26, which would seem to indicate that Smitty’s defenses are actually performing BETTER than Lovie’s. They’re BOTH bad; one’s just worse.
One of the things that I have been impressed with about Smitty’s 2016 & 2017 defenses is that they haven’t quit. This defense lacks talent in some critical areas (thank you Jason Licht), and yet they’ve played hard for the most part. I see that especially in the turnovers that they’ve caused. The 2016 Bucs DEFENSE ranked #3 in the NFL in terms of TURNOVERS RECOVERED. The 2017 Bucs defense also ranks #3 in the same category. That to me is a key indicator that this defense hasn’t quit.
Oh and just for the record, the Bucs OFFENSE currently ranks #23 in TURNOVERS LOST. They ranked #24 in that category in 2016, #22 in 2015 and #31 in 2014. Each one of those turnovers by the offense costs us points, puts the Bucs defense back out onto the field (usually in poor field position), and reduces our TOP. But hey, it’s surely a LOT more fun I know to just call the defense ‘a joke’ isn’t it.
December 14th, 2017 at 11:28 am
@REALIST
@DEFENSE
and lovie had:
ayers
grimes
spence
baker
j.evans
oh wait a minute……this staff is doing less with more…..you can try and spin stats as much as you like but smittys defense is far worse than lovies…joe has written multiple time about that….lol….GO BUCS!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 11:37 am
@REALIST
@DR
LOL….do you read the title?…..its called gutless defense for a reason…..this defense is a complete joke….yall claiming that it aint that bad is even funnier!!!!….GO BUCS!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 11:40 am
@813bucboi
your saying with some rookies, injured, band-aids and bridge gaps are more????
If even so, that is lovie fault because he was in charge!!!! Just another reason he should have been fired sooner!!!!!! We are still fixing all the mistakes from those 2 lovie loser years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 11:43 am
We don’t have a pass rush because of coaching. Other teams suffer injuries s well, yet still find guys to produce on a weekly basis. I’ve see so many games this year where a guy just removed from the street comes in for another team late in the game and applies pressure or gets a sack. Why? Scheme and coaching.
December 14th, 2017 at 12:04 pm
Coaching is an issue. But who hired those coaches? Who assembles the team?
No doubt the defense has been neglected come draft time / free agency versus our offense. And our offense is grossly under-performing. The Buc’s should be winning 42-35 every week. Maybe if we lobby the league to add a 5th quarter ???
The Bucs will continue to be in big trouble if control of the team isn’t taken away from Licht soon. The key is to balance both sides of the ball and quite honestly Licht has been successful in doing that…if you consider the fact that both sides suck!
He , and a number of others have to go!
December 14th, 2017 at 12:46 pm
“We have a coach who cant score and a coach who cant stop anyone…..we have a coach that is predictable and a coach that cant adjust…..
this staff is incompetent….GO BUCS!!!!” 813…..That is the most realist post I have seen on JoeBucsFan since I came on here. I commend you for this POST!!!!!!!
December 14th, 2017 at 3:05 pm
^^^Talk about “in a nutshell”!!! Well done!
December 14th, 2017 at 3:23 pm
Pass rushers are gold…thats why chubby will be very wealthy in a few months
Its all talent and skills….
No scheme, coaching, gmc prayers …will create a pass rush
December 14th, 2017 at 3:40 pm
Reall? We got rid of Lovie for this?! Honestly, a PE coach could do a better job at coaching this defense. Find someone who is under the radar. He doesn’t have to have 12 Super Bowl rings, just as long as he loves and knows the game. Picture if Ray Lewis had a twin brother, let’s hire that guy!!! Bucs for life! Screw Gruden! New slogan, Argh, you read? Or, Bucs Argh here. Note: Argh is the sound that pirates make… yeah. Goodbye.
December 14th, 2017 at 4:31 pm
@Defense Rules:
Thank you very much for the brief respite of intelligent writing and discussion that is so rare on JBF these days. It is quite refreshing.
tickrdr
December 14th, 2017 at 5:10 pm
This is just stupid. You guys are arguing about Mike Smith’s defense being better or worse then Lovies. Spare yourselves the time because nobody cares.
The fact is this defense sucks badly. Mike Smith was the wrong hire for the players we have. It’s obvious because his scheme has a lot of similarities to the one that Lovie ran.
Mike was hired because he was a trusted friend, that was a poor reason to hire somebody. I’d like to also mention that Dirk was hired for poor reasoning too which was for the sake of not changing playbooks……….Neither Smith nor Koetter has been the right guy for the job. If you need evidence you shouldn’t because you must have blinders on.
We are not a competitive team in this league. We can’t even compete with any team in our own division and that is just pathetic. There is too much talent within this team for there to be any reasonable excuse for this team to not even have a chance of winning most Sunday’s.
December 14th, 2017 at 5:53 pm
Can anyone who truly follows or pays attention to the Buccaneers honestly say it is this person’s fault, or that person’s fault? Top down there have been failures that have gotten us to where we are today. Failure to replenish the offensive and defensive lines over the years have cost us dearly; we have felt/seen this failure on the field on an annual then weekly basis and no change. We haven’t secured a sure fire pass rush since days of S. Rice; seriously? Complaints in this room and in others about McCoy are in most cases laughable. Doesn’t matter how many times that man collapses the center of the pocket if our DEs are no where to be found when the QB flushes right or left only to find wide open lanes and wide open receivers. We can complain about the Corner and Safety play all day, but honestly ask yourself if we had nothing but Pro Bowl Corners and Safeties…..but still gave QBs all that time would the outcome be that much different? Remember, you aren’t only betting against the ridiculous amount of time they have to cover their man or zone, you have to remember the absolute ASININE scheme that seemingly ALWAYS has our Corners playing 7-10 yards off the line…..and even when LESS than that is needed for the 1st down!! So, from players drafted or not…..to Free Agents hired or not…..to the WTF are you doing type schemes….all the way down to the complete lack of ability for those we did draft/hire to do their job on field we have COMPLETE SYSTEM FAILURE. Oh….offense? Weapons for Winston…..why? You have at least two glaring holes in this line and really only one that would be starting on any of the other 31 teams. We have the reverse problem on offense that we do defense. We allow the opposing QBs all day to read the field and find an open receiver……but we rarely allow our own QB time to drop back and read field for a blink of an eye. Dont get me started on the lack of actual running lanes. Barber should be getting MUCH more credit and playing time as he is making holes and making line look better in process. Sit Martin and thank him for his services but start him? Cmon. That is dumb. Scheme is NOT any better here folks that it is on defense. We dont have a line that can protect for 2 seconds yet we keep calling for long routes and bombs. Few if any slants or screens to open anything…..we just keep chucking the ball down the field….usually aimlessly due to 3s lack of ability to find the deep ball or the fact that he is under CONSTANT duress each time he takes a snap he has to rush the pass.
Sorry for long post…its my first so figured to start with a bang…but as much as I want to yell and scream (and actually do) at the coaches or the GM or the players…..when you look at all the evidence…they are ALL guilty and have ALL added to the failures of this season and likely more to come. Any GM and coach should know that it ALL starts on the line. Control the lines, control the game. And can we PLEASE draft or bring in a player with some attitude and grit? An in your face put it all out on the field and dare you not to type of player? Defenders that actually pop the ball carriers and make them not want to carry/catch again cause they are aftraid of what comes next. We have this arm tackling and complete whifs down to a science……if we could just lay some wood! Top down….changes are needed. Blame one person….sure, then honestly defend that. Our GM lacks understanding of what this team has to what it needs. Our coaches are out coached on a weekly basis. And our players are outplayed on a weekly basis. Face it…..we are becoming the Browns.