Defense Embarrassing America
June 16th, 2018
Former Bucs guard scolds defense.
Don’t #BlameJameis, blame the Bucs defense.
If Bucs fans want to know why the Bucs stunk so bad last year, it’s simple. And it is because the defense cut America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, off at the knees.
That is the word from former Bucs guard Ian Beckles. The local radio personality took to his podcast, “In the Trenches,” and indirectly blasted the defense for not just dragging down the team, but potentially damaging Jameis’ long-term future with the Bucs.
Beckles used the cross-state Jags as an example.
“Either you are a Jameis Winston fan or you are not,” Beckles said. “If Jameis Winston doesn’t win this year, his status as a quarterback is going to change. If he doesn’t figure out a way to at least get this team to .500 this year, then they have to start to worry about if he is the right guy to build around.
“Now, sometimes quarterbacks get too much credit and not enough credit. There are some quarterbacks that make everybody around them better. I’m not sure if Jameis is that guy yet. …
“Blake Bortles made it to the playoffs last year. Now if I ask you if you would take Jameis Winston or Blake Bortles, who is going to take Blake Bortles? Not me. Jameis Winston is substantially better than Blake Bortles. Why did Blake Bortles take the Jaguars to the playoffs? I will tell you why.”
Beckles then recounted how the Jaguars had an absolutely dominant defense, comparing the Jags to the Bucs defense in their glory years. Beckles said any stiff could play quarterback for the Jags and win.
“If you don’t make turnovers and act the fool, you are going to the playoffs” with the Jags’ defense, Beckles said.
So the moral to the story is simple according to Beckles. The Bucs defense last year hung Jameis out to dry.
Beckles encourages feedback on his podcast and welcomes e-mails at IanBeckles@radioinfluence.com
June 16th, 2018 at 10:02 am
DUHHH!
June 16th, 2018 at 10:09 am
I’ve been saying that it was primarily our defense last year that would give up at the end of games. At times that attitude carried over into the next game throughout. Where I think Jameis really needs to improve is maturing in being a leader. He’s a really smart guy, but he’s got to earn the respect of his teammates and part of that is in how you communicate and lead. There were far too many of his pregame rallying speeches of his that made me cringe, like the eating W’s. The passion is there in spades, but it’s not necessarily all this hollering and yelling and saying “we’e going to win” that gets the guys going. He’s still such a young guy and I think that will continue to develop. Hopefully it’s better this year.
June 16th, 2018 at 10:17 am
What TBBF just said!!! DUH indeed!
June 16th, 2018 at 10:28 am
Uggggggh. I hate when there is this much time before players get back on the field.
June 16th, 2018 at 10:29 am
Yeah, cause it was the defense fault that Jameis turned the ball over and that the futile offense couldn’t score in the red zone. Running backs couldn’t run because of the defense too. I’m surprised he didn’t blame it all on GMC but we all know that’s where he wanted to go with his lame take.
The whole team played like crap for the most part.
June 16th, 2018 at 10:32 am
Beckles is only sayin what most of us already knew. I’ve repeatedly said there were 5..maybe 6 very winnable games last season. And we had enough points on the board. Our Defense just let teams waltz into our endzone. It was like watching repeating episodes of failure. Over and over again. So in order to keep our very sorry DC, we blamed it on..lack of talent and brought in a babysitter with a bark to do Smith’s work for him (That be the new D-line coach). Ok so you supposedly brought in upgrades. We wanna see. Cause if this coaching staff cannot finish at least 8-8, I say feed them to Nat Geo Wild on..Shark Week!!!!
June 16th, 2018 at 10:44 am
Breaking news bucs defense was not that good last year. It’s called a bucs life.
3 more months and we won’t have to hear about 2017 defense anyone. What team’s defense will be good with zero pass rush. Supposedly it has been addressed so honestly when you upgrade with veterans at positions that did not have them like d end then talking about how bad they were in 2017 doesn’t really apply. Even vh3 and Ryan Smith who I’ve heard nothing about will be replaced
June 16th, 2018 at 10:44 am
Ian is so right.
After all, America’s quarterback, ProBowler Jameis Winston had 5 TDs and only 5 INTs in the first half of his games last year. The Buc’s offense with JW3 averaged 18.96 ppm.
Blake Bortles had ONLY 14 TDs int the first half of his games, and threw for THREE INTs! He also had 7 TDs vs. 3 INTs in the 3rd qtr of games. For the math-challenged, that is 21 TDs vs. 6 INTs thru the first three quarters of his games. His #1 WR, Allen Robinson, was lost in the first game last year. His #2 WR, Allen Hurns only started 8 games. But Ian is right, I am sure that those numbers did not help his defense to play aggressively with the lead…….at all.
tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 11:45 am
The Bucs had one of the worst defenses in NFL history, a bad running game and poor field goal kicking, but hack writers and commentators want to blame Jameis For the Bucs loosing last year.
Glad to see at least one local guy see the truth
June 16th, 2018 at 11:50 am
Dog bites man.
Shocking.
June 16th, 2018 at 11:56 am
Lmao… Im a jameis winston fan … and i can tell you this is true what beckles is saying …. however the defense even if it was playing at the jaguars level we still would be out of the playoffs because jameis keeps turning the damn ball over … fix the stupid turnovers and stop acting a fool and the defense needs to get on the same page and play freaking defense … they both act a fool last year
June 16th, 2018 at 11:58 am
Failure of Licht to build the trenches and obtain a top RB was the cause of our demise last year. Some good came out of it though: Licht found out to draft BPA on filling the team needs first. We got Vita Vea and three 2d round picks to turn us around this year that we would not have gotten otherwise. Jameis wasn’t the cause. He was running for his life due to turnstyle Smith and the rest of a weak OL coached by deficient WarFLOP. That weak OL failing to protect Jameis from injury was also a major factor. Jameis was rated the second most accurate NFL QB for hitting small windows. His failure to connect in the red zone is easily fixed by just bringing in Fitz during the red zone and giving Jameis a short rest. His slow starts can be remedied also simply by letting another player fire up the team at the first of the game so Jamis doesn’t sail his early passes because of over Adrenalin!
June 16th, 2018 at 1:03 pm
To be honest I can kinda see it both ways.
While the defense really did suck it up, with all the turnovers we didnt do them any favors. they ran out of steam late in games and were easy pickings.
The coaching didnt really help out as well, some of the playcalling and the lack of in game adjustments was shocking – then you can add the RB situation (again Koetters fault for sticking with Martin) and finally we had a BS kicker that piled on.
That my friends is how you get to 11-5
June 16th, 2018 at 1:14 pm
So the moral to the story is simple according to Beckles. The Bucs defense last year hung Jameis out to dry.
—————
I know of at least 3 games where this is true GB, Buff and Carolina. There may be a fourth but I can’t remember
June 16th, 2018 at 1:41 pm
That’s one nervous ass looking horse. Great photo, Joe.
June 16th, 2018 at 1:46 pm
@Joe … “So the moral to the story is simple according to Beckles. The Bucs defense last year hung Jameis out to dry.”
I can’t believe most of you are buying this crap. The defense HUNG JAMEIS OUT TO DRY? Horsepucky!!!! T-E-A-M-S win games and T-E-A-M-S lose games. Bucs’ offense, defense and STs ALL contributed to our losses. To pin our losses on 1 of the 3 elements is, let me say it again, horsepucky!!!!!
Did the Bucs defense suck? In most games (on the road especially) yes. But to say that the defense “hung Jameis out to dry” is pure crap. Last 4 games for instance. Jameis is healthy. Bucs’ OFFENSE turns the ball over TWELVE (12) times in 4 games. Our 3 losses in those 4 games were by 3 points each.
Take the Detroit loss (5 Bucs turnovers) as an example.
o OJ fumbles at the Lions 18 yd line (at least 3 pts LOST).
o Jameis intercepted; Lions get ball at Tampa 46 yd line & score
o Martin fumbles at the Lions’ 23 yd line (at least 3 pts LOST).
o Grimes intercepts Stafford at the Tampa 15 yd line (at least 3 pts SAVED). Bucs can’t do anything with the turnover & Anger punts.
o McClain intercepts Stafford at the Tampa 19 yd line (at least 3 pts SAVED).
And oh yes, THAT’S JUST THE FIRST HALF of the Lions’ game. For Beckles to say that the Bucs’ defense ‘hung Jameis out to dry’ on the season shows a bias on his part that’s pretty obvious. Imagine, an ex-Bucs OLineman saying the defense sucks. If anything, Jameis & the Bucs OFFENSE hung the defense out to dry with turnover after turnover last season. Maybe if they’d been able to hang onto the ball we might’ve scored more than the 19 or so PPG that the offense averaged.
June 16th, 2018 at 2:02 pm
Look, if you can win as a team, then you can lose as a team. To put the blame solely on the defense is shortsigted. Yes, there is no doubt that the defense was terrible, but the facts are that Jameis Winston and his offense couldn’t muster more points than the defense gave up. Barely 21 points a game. And let’s not forget with all Winston’s turnovers he put his defense in some pretty bad situations which lead to easy scores, ..and with his lack of ball security he forced his defense to spend more time on the field causing them to wear down by the second half of the game. It was a contributing factor for the excessive amount of injuries on an already talent-deficient defense..
This isn’t about criticizing on Jameis and his offense,
..but a proving fact that they lost as a team. This is a new season with a lot of new faces, so everything resets, and starts at zero. Go Bucs!
June 16th, 2018 at 2:11 pm
DR
That game was tied with 2:34 left in the 4th. Stafford drove from his 23yard line, 10 plays later they kicked a 46 yard fg to win the game.
Winston then had 15 sec for a miracle play but he got sacked cuz we can’t even protect him. Jameis also scores 14 points in the 4th art bc well he plays his best ball in the 4th unlike a certain 100mil $$$ ice cream man. Lol.
My point is stop Stafford from driving down the field in 2min situation and maybe you have a chance to win. Idk wtfdik.
June 16th, 2018 at 2:41 pm
@DB55:
I remember that you re-watch games sometimes. Re-watch that Detroit game, especially if you can watch the replay on GamePass on NFL.com. There is a play from about the 8 yard line, where every rusher is blocked, and Jameis throws incomplete to ME13. As I have commented before, Jameis was locked onto him from the snap (Rashad Greene Syndrome), and while admittedly he was single-covered, he was in fact COVERED. Look at the replay to see OJ Howard open right in front of Jameis, and an even more wide open Adam Humphries, totally uncovered in the right flat. That is just one of the “pitch and catch” TDs left on the field by Jameis IMHO.
Tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 3:02 pm
Absolutely we win and lose as a team but our defense was about as active as a rotting corpse so yeah I’ll put more of the blame on them.
June 16th, 2018 at 3:06 pm
DB55 & tickrdr, my only point was really that it’s a T-E-A-M sport, and all too often people forget that & start ‘blaming’ one element or another. I’m also not a believer that you win or lose in the 4th qtr. EVERY PLAY COUNTS, from the very first one to the very last one. Coached Little League for 15 years, and always told my players that if you get up 20-0 in the 1st inning, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll win the game. Why? #1 – your confidence as a T-E-A-M is up early; #2 – your opponent’s confidence as a T-E-A-M is down early; and (most importantly) #3 – it’s REALLY HARD to come back from a 20-run deficit.
I feel the same way about the Bucs’ games. This 4th qtr come-from-behind crap is for the birds. Jump on the other team early, stand on their throats, and bury them early. Makes it MUCH EASIER for our defense and MUCH TOUGHER for our opponent’s defense. Bucs’ defense will surely be better this season (please!) but our offense has to stop leaving points on the field, turning the ball over as much, and falling behind early. Hopefully we see improvement on BOTH sides of the ball this year (and oh ya, on STs).
June 16th, 2018 at 3:12 pm
Apparently it took the great Ian beckles to figure this one out. Next thing we know he’ll be adding to Einstein’s theory of relativity.
June 16th, 2018 at 3:13 pm
And I agree with those who are saying that Winston didn’t do himself any favors plenty of times.
June 16th, 2018 at 3:18 pm
Well said Defense Rules
June 16th, 2018 at 3:26 pm
Let’s see we were 4th in the league in passing and 32nd in total defense, I wonder which side should shoulder the most blame?
June 16th, 2018 at 3:32 pm
@ Defense Rules:
Most excellent post! The points count whether they are scored in the first drive of the game, or whether they are scored as time expires at the end of the game. The offense rarely, if ever (vs. Chicago), gave the defense a lead, let alone, a two score lead. Each team gets at most one more possession ( I suppose an onside kick recovery technically gives them an extra possession, but it could also be counted as a turnover) during a game than their opponent so EACH of them count. The Bucs were hopelessly behind in so many games, before mounting a 2nd half comeback which fell short. Haven’t you all seen furious comebacks against a big lead fail MOST of the time, as the trailing team loses gas, while the rested opponent finishes them off with a final flourish.
My point is that Blake Bortles and his offense gave his defense numerous two score leads in the first three quarters, while JW3 and the Buc’s offense scored poorly in the first half of games and seemed to ALWAYS play from behind. Please look at the box scores, and NOT just the stats/yards gained.
tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Tick
Man what’s up? Been far too long brother. I’m still waiting for you to invite to watch the game in one of your suites. I promise to behave, ha, who am I kidding.
June 16th, 2018 at 3:38 pm
Seriously though how many leads have we given up in the last two years? I might be wrong but didn’t we give up the booty to the raiders in a must win game that could have taken us to the playoffs?
I see the 3 games I listed above were conveniently ignored. Idgaf but the pressure on JW what’s the difference. Obviously the jolly green giant can do no wrong.
June 16th, 2018 at 3:39 pm
In the regular season, Jacksonville had 30 more possession or chances to create a drive and score than the Bucs, 192-162. That’s almost 2 more chances every game
June 16th, 2018 at 3:42 pm
And people wonder why we have such good numbers on things like yards per drive and drive success rate, but have mediocre to poor points per game stats.
June 16th, 2018 at 3:44 pm
@Ndog:
4th in the league on offense by what criteria??? It is obviously YARDS GAINED, and not POINTS SCORED. JW3 and the Buc’s offense scored ONLY 18.96 ppg, and that is crediting them with any defensive scores during those games.
32nd and last in the league on defense, but by what criteria??? It is obviously by YARDS ALLOWED, and not POINTS ALLOWED.
Do the math, and see that even Mike Glennon, as bad as he was, and the Bucs offense scored 19.5 ppg during his ROOKIE year! They averaged 21 ppg during his five starts in 2014, and that was with the team that was the WORST in the league and earned the #1 pick in the draft. JW3 and all of the “weapons for Winston” could not even score 10 points on average during the first half of games this past year. HOW is that possible?? During his THIRD year in the same offense?
tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 3:57 pm
@DB55:
I hate to play word games, but how many TWO SCORE LEADS has the Bucs offense given the Bucs defense to work with. Answer, ……. almost none.
Sorry, DB, but I have never had a suite, and I did not renew my club seats this year, mainly because my kids could not go with me anymore, but also because it was so frustrating to see more opponents’ jerseys take over our stadium, while the product on the field does not seem to be getting any better.
Tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 4:11 pm
Tick
JW gave the def 2 games with a 14 point lead ( bears and giants) won both, barely won the giants game.
And the def gave JW a 14 point deficit in 6 games. One of which (saint week 17) JW won the game anyway by ignoring Koetter and hitting Godwin for the TD.
June 16th, 2018 at 4:16 pm
Yes it is defenses fault Winston turned the ball over because he had to try and make something happen and the offense was on the field all game
Why blame the leader who is on Offense
Blame the LEADER ON DEFENSE
Oh No can’t do that GMC Lovers will jump on you
June 16th, 2018 at 4:46 pm
Atrain, blame the leader on defense? Why would we blame Kwon?
June 16th, 2018 at 6:06 pm
@DB55:
Nice rebuttal, but that is precisely the point I have been making.
In the Giants game, the offense supplied a 13-0 lead. Great!
But Eli Manning and the G-men took the lead at the 3:16 mark to lead 23-22. Did the Giants defense let Eli down by allowing the Bucs to score a game-winning field goal? Of course not! Each team had exactly 12 possessions during the game. The Giants scored 3TDs and a FG, while the Bucs scored 3 TDs and TWO FGs to win the game. That is precisely the point I have been making. All of the points scored on each drive are important, NOT just the 4th quarter points, even IF those points give your team the TEMPORARY lead.
tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 6:12 pm
@DB55:
You correctly mentioned two games that the offense gave a two score lead to the defense. Look at the box scores of the Jax Jaguars, and see how often that Bortles and the Jags’ offense gave them a two score lead. Of course these facts are complementary (not complimentary BTW), but the offense of the Bucs did NOT give similar leads to the defense. As you mentioned, the Bucs managed to win BOTH of those games when they did give them such a lead, out of FIVE total wins for the year. Maybe there is some sort of correlation, but as you say: wtfdik?
tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 6:16 pm
One oft overlooked fact is that the Bucs had the 4th best passing offense in the NFL last year, ahead of everyone except the Chargers, Patriots, and Steelers. Jameis passed for more yards than Manning, Carr, Prescott, Dalton, and others, DESPITE being injured and out a few games.
And if you add Fitzpatrick’s passing yards to Jameis’ he would have lead the NFL in passing yardage.
Meanwhile on the defensive side of the ball…
32nd in sacks
32nd in YPG allowed
22nd in PPG allowed
23rd in rushing yards allowed
32nd in passing yards allowed
June 16th, 2018 at 6:35 pm
Tick
Great but how about the 6 games with a 2 TD deficit?
June 16th, 2018 at 7:39 pm
Really Steven
Way to through up a smoke screen
GMC IS THE ALL PRO DEFENSIVE PLAYER
June 16th, 2018 at 9:56 pm
@DB55:
Were those two score deficits ONLY on the defense, or did the offense produce a big fat zero to lead to those deficits?
Honest question: How do the failures of the defense affect the inability of the offense to score points? Approximately 8 ppg in the first half, and only 18.96 ppg??? As noted above, those numbers are even LESS than the mighty Mike Glennon could do as a rookie.
tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 9:59 pm
@Josh:
Please scroll up to read my post @3:44PM.
tickrdr
June 16th, 2018 at 10:21 pm
I said this would happen as soon as Smith was hired, I’m just not obsessed enough to go back and find something I posted years ago but I promise….its there.
This defense is extinct….as soon as the Bucs just let it die!!!!!!
June 16th, 2018 at 11:31 pm
Are you sleeping with this guy or something else?????
June 16th, 2018 at 11:47 pm
Joe writes what Joe finds interesting and Joe finds what Ian Beckles has to say often compelling.
As always, if you don’t like the subject of a post, no one is forcing you to read it. If you don’t like Beckles for some reason, there are literally thousands of other posts to read in Joe’s (free) archives that have no connection to Beckles.
June 17th, 2018 at 7:45 am
For once i agree with Beckles that a good defense can help less than stellar play by the QB. Bortles did help himself by taking care of the ball better than Jameis last year. Its tough to win if you have nearly the same amount of turnovers as
TD’s.
Saying the defense hung Jameis out to dry ,is twisting the facts,Joe. Just as
Jameis”s turnovers were not solely responsible for the all problems with the defense anymore than the lack of good players and injuries.
June 17th, 2018 at 10:19 am
Bob that’s the point, if Jameis didn’t know in the back of his mind before every game even started that the defense would be horrible and allow the largest margin of cushion and completions to.recievers of any team in the league…..if Jameis wasn’t thinking about that then this young qb would not have to try and.force things to happen.
I can guarantee two things. One, if Blake Bortles was playing with a defense as bad as the Bucs his ints and turnovers would go through the roof.
Two, if Jacksonvilles corners played 12 yards off the line for 95 percent of.its seasons snaps they would have had a crap ass secondary.
Mike Smith is the equivenalnt to Lovie, out dated, stubborn and unwilling to change. Soft predictable coverage will RUIN jameis , Dirk,…..EVERYONE!!!!
June 17th, 2018 at 1:09 pm
Buc Em Up
Sorry Bro,but you getting in Jameis head and making excuses for him is unproductive. Jameis owns his mistakes and would not throw his defense under the bus.I have watched at least 8 games in the last two years where Jameis
put the defense in bad positions with turnovers and we were down by 14 points.
So both offense and defense collapsed at times.
That said , until this year,Jason Licht has has focussed mostly on getting offensive weapons..So Mike Smith did not have enough quality
players to field a quality defense. BAker, and Ward were bad fits for this team.
Gholston and Vh3 had poor years. Spence got injured again.
So I am keeping an open mind on Smith because its clear that a lot of needs
on defense have finally been addressed.
June 17th, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Well I don’t need to mention the obvious everyone’s doing a good job but I’d like to shine a different Licht on things a good bit of failure is on him and the Glazers as well if the kicker last year was to be let’s say i don’t know cough, “Matt Bryant, who’s been how good with the dirty birds ever since? Glazers suck for letting him go” and if not for the last two dunces totally different outcome but I digress
June 17th, 2018 at 9:38 pm
How many games did Jameis walk off the field in the 4th quarter with a lead, tied, or within a FG and Defense and special teams blew it for him?