Defining Special
February 9th, 2019
“Ronde, I bet you could still play special teams like you did for all those years.”
Trivia time!
How many Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranked among the top-100 NFL special teams tacklers last season, based on total tackles?
You guessed correctly. Zero!
Scary, scary, stuff. Now you can see why Joe referred to 2018 rookie receiver Justin Watson as a solid special teams player earlier this morning. His six tackles might have placed him in the top 150 in the NFL last year.
Special teams were another hang-your-head element of the Dirk Koetter regime.
The kicking game was dreadful. The punting declined rapidly after the 2016 season, and the Bucs had no special teams “ace” last season like many teams do. Backup tight end Antony Auclair made a couple of big special teams plays.
Don’t think special teams matter much? Three of the top 12 special teams tacklers last season played for the Patriots.
Please find Joe a special teams stud, Jason Licht.
February 9th, 2019 at 4:58 am
Bucs have had several excellent S/T players during Jason Licht’s tenure. Josh Robinson (who we didn’t re-sign … but the Saints did) and Russell Shepard (who we didn’t re-sign … but the Panthers did) come to mind. Our problem across-the-board has been the same IMO: not having a good eye regarding what it takes to build a winning TEAM.
Note to GM: There’s a new sheriff in town. His name is Bruce Arians. No more signing FAs like Swaggy Baker or ‘cute draft picks’ like Roberto Aguayo. Just do what he says and things will go a LOT BETTER than they have been.
February 9th, 2019 at 5:24 am
Dekoda Watson still ballin.
Josh Robinson still ballin.
Russell Shephard still ballin.
Boom: 3 special teams stars we let walk.
February 9th, 2019 at 6:20 am
Watson had 6 solo tackles on ST last year
Bobo had 5
Ryan Smith had 5
Cichy had 3 in 6 games
ST coaching sucked last year – but the Bucs are by no means devoid of ST talent
February 9th, 2019 at 6:50 am
DK was fine with being average on ST “safe” a la Humphries and Quizz as his go to guys- both safe and solid but never going to be a game breaker
Coverage suffered from injuries on D last year big time
Blocked punts, woeful kicking game
Yeah, nothing special on that side of the ball in a long time
We let 2 great gunners go for no good reason while we keep a 3rd QB for sixteen years…lol
So glad we turned the page on the under achieving ways of the last regime
February 9th, 2019 at 8:01 am
You guys forget that shep got PAID by the panthers. It was foolish and we shouldn’t have matched it in a million years. Revisionist history to say we shoulda kept him.
February 9th, 2019 at 8:07 am
Let’s see , we have not had a decent kicking game since Matt Bryant left…we have not had a good returner since Micheal spurlock returned kicks for us…our punter as joe stated has done diddly poo since 2016 unless you consider bad holding of the ball for our place kicker good diddly poo…we have not been able to block friggen any kicks to think of , we let one really good Gunner go & another pretty good one walk ! For crying out loud I’d say we have had the worst special teams all around the leauge for years now & since Bruce Arians has his hand in all aspects of defence , offence & special teams unlike friggen Dirk the dork , our all around team will be playing way more fundimentally sound football as soon as the season gets under wAy…I bet we will make kicks , down the ball inside the 20 with regularity , block a few , return one for a TD & create a few turnovers ! Go bucs
February 9th, 2019 at 8:26 am
I am a huge fan of Hump and believe we must sign him, he’s our
Julian Edelman. Edelman is not fast and like Hump returns punts as well as playing WR.
Hump…like Edelman is a tough dude for his size…he’s safe and so that appeals to coaches like Koetter.
But with DJAX on the team I never understood why he only returned 5 punts…his most in 5 years but still well below the 110 he returned in his first four years. He did fumble the ball 8 times in those first four years perhaps that scared Koetter?
Hump has fumbled 5X in his first 4. DJAX had 4 TD’s in those first four years when he was still returning it…Hump has had 0 he’s solid but he’s simply not a threat to take it to the house.
So why no DJAX? Did he pull a Grimes and claim that ten million was not enough to return punts?
February 9th, 2019 at 9:23 am
Licht has to take a large share of the blame for the failure of the bucs .. Its not just coaching but also a lack of talent !
February 9th, 2019 at 9:34 am
That folks is ALLLLLLL COACHING!!!!!
February 9th, 2019 at 10:14 am
ST coach Nate K. should’ve been let go when you fired Jay Hayes. But that’s old news now.
February 9th, 2019 at 10:19 am
I still have no clue how the hell they let Josh Robinson go last year. He was always in the punt returners face half a second before the catch.
February 9th, 2019 at 10:26 am
Part of Licht’s problem is he won’t admit when he screws up. To make it worse he lies and says certain players are good when they really suck. Then he blames it all on the coaches when the team fails. Just remember Licht you’re the one that is instrumental in bringing in lousy FA & draft picks. I don’t believe anything he says. Can’t wait to see what stupid upcoming moves he makes. It seems like for every good move he makes ha makes three bad ones. I’ll say one thing at least he’s consistent.
February 9th, 2019 at 11:21 am
Shep wasn’t resigned because he wanted WR money. He was a good special team player and that’s all.
February 9th, 2019 at 3:40 pm
St Pete-
Hump will sign somewhere for $25 -30 million 4 years
I hope the Bucs don’t do this.
They have Watson and Bobo to fill a slot receiver position and don’t forget about Sergio Bailey who was hurt after good pre season last year.
Bucs have 3 linebackers coming off injuries, OLine and DLine issues, – if DJax returns punts, he’s worth $10 million
February 18th, 2019 at 7:41 am
Fire Licht!!!!