“It’s Scary Once We Can Get Our Communication Level Correct”
September 14th, 2018
“Nassib, there’s this guy called a quarterback and we can’t seem to take him down.”
The importance of communication — spoken and unspoken — along a defensive line had Joe scratching his head this week.
Things aren’t adding up.
Before the Saints game, Tampa Bay claimed defensive end Carl Nassib off waivers after the Browns deemed him useless to them. Nassib arrived in Tampa, had little practice time and then played 41 percent of the defensive snaps in New Orleans. Will Gholston played fewer. And Nassib had 26 total snaps to just four for Noah Spence.
All that came days after the Bucs cut defensive end Will Clarke — who tied for the team sack lead at the position in 2017 — to presumably make room for Nassib. And now Clarke has been re-signed.
Meanwhile, Jason Pierre-Paul was interviewed for WDAE-AM 620 this week and talked about how great the Bucs defensive line will be once they all get on the same page.
“It’s scary once we can get our communication level correct,” Pierre-Paul said.
Joe has to believe communication would be better if the Bucs didn’t drag a guy off the street and toss him into the Superdome for opening day. Also, Joe’s gently wagging a finger at JPP talking about communication. C’mon, man. You skipped months of spring practices.
And what did the roster moves and playing time say about Clarke and Spence, two guys the Bucs might count on in the extreme Sunday heat against the Eagles? What happens when Vita Vea steps in and he has scant experience communicating along the line?
Joe hopes the Bucs can get their communication level to where JPP wants it in a hurry. This D-line was built for immediate high-performance.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:24 pm
“This D-line was built for immediate high-performance.”
Was it?????? 2 salary cut casualties and 3rd round draft pick trade and some expect “immediate high-performance”???????? We “real” fans think while it was upgraded, this is not a finish product!!!!! Its a work in progress!!!!!! And to think other wise is foolish!!!!!!!!!! or has an agenda against a certain coach??????
The “real” fans are excited to see what the defense “is” in the back half of the season!!!!!!!!
#trust the coaches!!!!!!!!! Fix the “real” problem, the roster!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 14th, 2018 at 4:24 pm
You make it sound like a bit of a mess. And you may be right. Hope they get most things ironed out soon. Need a decent pass rush one of these days.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:26 pm
JPP says, “Gerald, you go left and I”ll go right. We’ll meet a the QB”!
Gerald, “OK”
September 14th, 2018 at 4:29 pm
Do you really believe a GM who (was then) on his final year of his contract was going to trade a second-day draft pick to start producing two years down the road?
Do you believe the same GM drafted a guy in the first round not to get on the field for a couple of years?
Can promise you Licht, Koetter, Smitty and Buckner sure as hell didn’t. If you want until the second half to produce, it easily could be too late.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:31 pm
is smitty teaching the defense in German?…..lol….
this is year 3 and we’re still hearing about “communication issues”…..lol…..
let the excuses pour in for smitty!!!!!
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!…#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
September 14th, 2018 at 4:32 pm
🙂
Joe is pretty sure you don’t know how close you came to hitting the target. 🙂
The term these guys use “communication” is not wrong but it is as broad and vague as can be to the root of the issue.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:34 pm
I just want to see improvement, and hope that by week 4 they are all on the same page, communication and otherwise.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:40 pm
fire smitty, promote buckner, get koetter on their ass, and then you will see improvement, not going to be good under mike smiths direction he sucks period who cares, i do
September 14th, 2018 at 4:45 pm
I think the issue is Smitty is teaching the language of Farmer Fran in The Waterboy.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:48 pm
Ich verstehe nicht.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:54 pm
Blumagic00. The current Bucs defense makes a Farmer Fran led squad look like the 02-03 Bucs D, even without Bobby Boucher.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:55 pm
Nassib actually got good pressure. He nearly had brees twice.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:56 pm
I suspect Joe is reading too much into a benign, cliched statement.
September 14th, 2018 at 4:58 pm
Police and soldiers communicate with their attack dogs in German.
813BucBoi may be on to something there.
Achtung! Fass! Brummen! Anhalten! Voran!
Who let the dogs out, Herr Schimdt!!
September 14th, 2018 at 5:09 pm
My dog knows english, and if it didn’t, well I’d have to put her down. 🙁
September 14th, 2018 at 5:25 pm
Mike Smith has been the DC for 3 years and they’re still talking about communication. Watching the Saints game i saw players in the secondary having trouble lining up, at this point one has to look at the coaching as the problem. If the defense has anothers poor performance against the likes of Nick Foles, Mike Smith should go.
September 14th, 2018 at 5:30 pm
@Realist
We have one of the highest paid DL’s in the league. It should be expected to be better than average or average at worst; or we don’t know what we’re doing with our resources there.
The Vea / Unrein injuries really suck. Spence is a mystery man I duno wtf to think anymore with him. I swore I saw him get pressure in that Saints game even though he was only in on a few plays.
But in general – McCoy/JPP/Curry/Allen should be enough to do some work. I like the Nassib pickup too. He flashed on a few plays where I was wondering who the hell the new guy was
September 14th, 2018 at 5:47 pm
Tasmpa Bay’s Defense has not been built for high perfoamace since the days of Sapp/Brooks/Lynch types. And at the rate we are going? Its gonna take us another 3 to 4 yrs to get there. This defense is truly quite soft. Just hope and pray the few victories we get will be because we outscore our oppoments in a rat race. Cause I don’t see us stoppin to many people under the genius..DC Smitty.
September 14th, 2018 at 6:20 pm
I get it, players are coming up with all the excuses in the world for sorry coaching. I remember LVD being angry for Lovie being fired but why is no one upset that they suck as a unit. Step up or blow it up, there is too much salary on that side of the ball to be this sorry including the defensive coordinator who got the fat payday not to leave for a head coaching job. There a first time signal callers all over the NFL doing ten times better than Smitty
September 14th, 2018 at 6:36 pm
They haven’t been able to communicate for years now- they figured out the language for one five game stretch a few years back- played lights out- did they forget? Did the language change?
It’s absurd!
September 14th, 2018 at 8:59 pm
D is sh** and its clear it a coaching issue. Please fire Mike Smith. He is terrible!!
September 14th, 2018 at 10:05 pm
I love the Bucs and I try to always stay positive. So if Buckner is such a great coach why didn’t he have his line prepared for effective communication? It just seems to me Mike Smith is not holding players accountable for there bad play if in fact it is not his system.
September 14th, 2018 at 10:10 pm
I love the Bucs and I tried to stay as positive as possible. If Buckner was such a great coach he would he have had his D line prepared for effective communication? It seems to me that Mike Smith is not holding his players accountable for any sense of urgency.
September 14th, 2018 at 10:13 pm
*Wouldn’t *
September 14th, 2018 at 11:37 pm
Jmarkbuc= “anonymous”
September 14th, 2018 at 11:56 pm
Rod Munch Says:
“My dog knows english, and if it didn’t, well I’d have to put her down. ”
That got me thinking….
If all a dog knows is spanish would he even understand me if I say come here boy in english or would the dog just sit and look at you like wtf? lol 🙂
September 15th, 2018 at 2:53 am
Maybe the Bucs D should start using sign language or tap morse code on each other helmets to communicate.
September 15th, 2018 at 6:47 am
Lets see, Our first and second round pick injured or not dressed. A patchwork D- line that that included a player off the street, sure there would be communication issues. There was also depth issues created by the Vea and Urein injuries forced
the team to start a player off the street. Defense scored the TD that equaled the
margin of victory. Savor the victory against a very good team.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:56 am
Here’s all the communication the defense needs….”Gerald, Jason and all you other linemen….see that guy over there behind the center? Every time they snap him the ball, you guys go and knock him on his ass before he can throw it! Got that?!”
September 15th, 2018 at 8:37 am
Much is just over reaction to the first game of the season!!!!! The Offense is very good, But they will not be as good as they were last Sunday!!!!! The Saints were in man and got beat constantly and never adjusted!!!!!! And the defense is not as bad as last Sunday’s game!!!!!! The Bucs will not play one of the Best offenses week in and week out!!!!! They were missing their best CB and lost the second best CB during the game!!!! I wish that there were more NFL analyst so that the sheep can hear that the defensive roster is a work in progress!!!!!! The “real” fans are glad that we have Coach Smitty because he does a lot with little talent on defense!!!!!!! The sheep are wrong that think this defensive roster is full of “talent”!!!!! They have some, but really have to outscheme to be successful!!! and to do that, all the defense needs to be on the same page!!!!!! That is why the back half of the season will be so exciting!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe their will be more NFL types in the know that can have segments to “teach” football because knowledge is sorely lacking around these parts!!!!!!!!!!! And maybe some local media can pay attention and learn as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The “real” fans would sure heat to see the sheep destroy this up and coming defense, that is finally going to be fixed with a heavy draft and free-agency to put even more pieces in place!!!!!!!! We saw the 4 year plan with the offense that is the strength!!!! now the defense is the work in progress with clear arrows point up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#trust the coaches!!!!!!!!! Fix the “real” problem!!!!!!! The roster!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!
September 15th, 2018 at 11:51 pm
The Buc Realist is none other than…Mike Smith?!!! What’s up coach? Can you please explain to us why you love your corners to play 12 yards off the line of scrimmage? And why communication has been the word of the day for three years? Or why you’re the only defense in the league who doesn’t play the sticks on 3rd and long (which goes along with my first question)? We’re waiting coach. Lol!