Learning From Success (Of Others)
December 15th, 2017
Stopping Julio Jones.
Look, Joe gave up trying to predict Team Glazer two years ago.
There is no telling if Bucs coach Dirk Koetter returns or not for 2018. Only Team Glazer knows.
And it wouldn’t surprise Joe if Team Glazer already made up its mind.
Joe heard through the grapevine that in Lovie Smith’s last year, Team Glazer was completely outraged by the Tennessee Ready game. They were further incensed at the Capitol Collapse and after that debacle, Lovie was pretty much a dead man walking. His inability to adjust his defense after Kwon Alexander was suspended, killing a wild card run was just icing on the cake.
So if Team Glazer follows the same pattern, they likely concluded their team needed new defensive leadership after the Julio Jones game last month in Atlanta, where the Bucs claimed they used 14 different coverages on Jones (which still seems dubious) to no avail. Jones went wild on the Bucs for 253 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Since, the Dixie Chicks played the Vikings and the Men of Skol shut down Jones. Bucs stud defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said he and his teammates took notice.
“Well if you go look at the Minnesota game, a lot of guys got out of their gaps, but guys were just making plays,” GMC said of the Vikings’ defense. “Guys stayed pushing, not giving up on the play and that’s how they were able to stop them. Atlanta would drive the ball, but Minnesota would hold them to a field goal, so they [weren’t] giving up a lot of points. You would see them give up yards, but not points and that’s what matters.”
What GMC didn’t say was how Minnesota took out Jones. They jammed him at the line and when he did get down field, he was hounded constantly, often in double coverage.
Yeah, sure. The Bucs don’t have Xavier Rhodes. This just in: Neither do the 12 other Atlanta opponents and Jones hasn’t had a great year. The Bucs don’t need a guy like Rhodes to jam a receiver at the line. And the Bucs sure as hell don’t have to let a poor kid like neophyte cornerback Ryan Smith twist in the wind covering one of the best receivers of his generation.
NFL Network recently did a piece with Marshall Faulk and Michael Irvin demonstrating how to slow Jones. Irvin noted Jones must be jammed at the line because if a defense lets Jones get a head of steam at the snap of the ball, it will get lit up.
Thankfully, Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith said yesterday he realizes whatever defense(s) he tried to defend Jones with last month, he cannot use again Monday night. Whew!
December 15th, 2017 at 11:05 am
Playing 10 to 12 yards off Any WR is a recipe for disaster
December 15th, 2017 at 11:09 am
Gonna be 27-3 at halftime Falcons winning and the chants of “bring back Gruden” will be heard nation wide. This team is killing my liver.
December 15th, 2017 at 11:16 am
Guys stayed pushing, not giving up on the play
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Hmmm what a concept?!
December 15th, 2017 at 11:23 am
Falcons need this game to stay competitive for the wildcard slot. Lots of incentive there. Their team is basically healthy … they’ve got only THREE players on IR, 7 Questionable & 1 Probable. Bucs on the other hand have SEVEN players on IR, 9 Questionable (all but 2 of them being starters), and 1 Probable. Only 1 reason in the world why the Bucs shouldn’t beat them like a drum … oops, make that 22 reasons.
December 15th, 2017 at 11:40 am
Another year and another year in the basement. no hope with glazers in charge.
another off season coming that will be filled with horrible decisions made by incompetent owners. of course these fluffy bad decisions on the surface will please the blind optimists but we all know it is just fraudulent excitement which will soon be followed by a kick to the balls no later than say mid October. But no it’s not over they will then quit a few games then make a limp / lame attempt at effort but give up second half leads to secure yet another season in the basement. the excuses will fly, blaming young quarterbacks will commence by the jameis fan club, of course the soft week defense will receive free passes especially the veteran captains with no heart nor desire to be great. let us not forget the revolving door of coaches but the end result is always the same 100% draft mode by Halloween.
and then the pc optimists cry we have all these great players and want to resurrect washed up bums like martin or vjax yet the end result is the same another year another year void of a meaningful win. 15 years and counting. i am sure some of you actually believe the glazers are magically going to get it and the bucs will go on a run… wake up… i know reality is not for everyone but it is simply not going to happen. people glazers have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt on two continents they have no clue what they are doing.
December 15th, 2017 at 11:42 am
Tmax….you are putting too much thought into your posts….yawn
December 15th, 2017 at 11:47 am
no thought put into it. it’s the yearly cycle of buc fan under the glazer clowns. simply stating reality. it’s never going to get fixed. they are going to make the Cubs championship drought look like a weekend getaway.
December 15th, 2017 at 11:48 am
Glad mike smith said that. Lets see what he actually does. He has said alot of things in the past that was just talk. I think the minds are definitely made up about smith being canned, hopefully dirk too. N hell no it doesnt take xavier to jam a wr at the line. It just takes a competitive person. The fact he didnt play press the whole game, not even try it in the 2nd half, is inexcusable. I will never understand how this years coaches are this stubborn and outcoached every week. Expecting different results yet doing the same thing. Hard not to come back to that saying every week.
December 15th, 2017 at 12:06 pm
Glazers own the team, if ya don’t like it find another team to rip apart. We’re all geniuses when we are criticizing and opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got one. So much for the haters. I agree with Defense Rules and his 22 reasons why we will probably loose. I have lowered my expectations over the years because the perennial winners for the most part retain the same owner, system, coaches, QB’s and philosophies over Time. They don’t Blow-up the team every 2 years. I enjoyed the Gruden era, but have very little confidence that he could stroll in and give us a repeat performance. Game has changed.
December 15th, 2017 at 12:16 pm
“Jones went wild on the Bucs for 253 receiving yards and two touchdowns.”
though last year the Bucs in two games held Jones to 177 yards and two touchdowns!!!! Seems like we just need to fix the D-line , but Joe is set on using Coach Smitty as the “fall guy” to protect some of the favorites!!!!!!!
#fix the “real” problems, the lines!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!
December 15th, 2017 at 12:19 pm
martinii
never lower your exceptions… championship teams and organization never settle.
what you call hate people who see clearly call Reality!
December 15th, 2017 at 1:26 pm
Put DeSean Jackson on him, why not ?
December 15th, 2017 at 3:39 pm
Right Smitty..so what ya gonna use? Binoculars!!
December 15th, 2017 at 4:00 pm
Maybe we can send a note to Mike Smith with this written on it….
December 15th, 2017 at 4:41 pm
This Just in, Mike Smith says, “We learned that we can prepare for games by watching the film.”
Holy crap what a joke.
December 15th, 2017 at 7:40 pm
I’VE BEEN DREAMING, SCREAMING, SHOUTING FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOPS, CRYING. RANTING, BEGGING, PLEADING, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE JAM THE WR’S AT THE LINE FOR THE LAST SEVEN SEASONS!!!!! ITS AS IF THE GLAZIERS WONT ALLOW ANY DC TO RUN ANYTHING OTHER THAN SOFT ZONE COVERAGE. WTF??????? I HATE THIS SCHEME SO MUCH!!!!!