Fixing The Pass Rush
June 6th, 2019
Calming words for potential chaos.
Two things instantly transform Joe from being perfectly healthy to looking for a safe place to vomit.
One is any image of Rosie O’Donnell.
The second is thinking of the Bucs’ pass rush.
It wasn’t like the Bucs had a Fearsome Foursome on the front line to begin with. And moving from a four-man front to a three-man front automatically cuts the odds of a defensive line getting to a quarterback.
Now you take away Jason Pierre-Paul and his fractured neck (one has to be beyond an optimist to think he will impact this season) and Gerald McCoy, and even Vinny Curry, and you are left with… what exactly?
We have all seen what can and will happen to a defense in the NFC South if you give Drew Brees/Matty Ice and pouty Cam Newton time to throw. It’s like a deli butcher slicing baloney.
Yesterday, Bucco Bruce Arians tried to ease fears of how to replace all of these missing sacks and somehow slow down the NFC South quarterbacks.
“Well, you can create [a pass rush] a bunch of different ways,” Arians said. “It’s not a front four. I know Tampa traditionally had a front four for years. We don’t have a front four, per se.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys coming after the quarterback. Now, it could be four, could be three, could be eight and it’s that unknown, that’s how you create a pass rush.”
Well, sadly, the Bucs tradition of the past decade since the complete braindead decision of unloading Michael Bennett is the Bucs have mostly had a front four of stiffs, castoffs and never-beens.
Honestly, whoever slapped the conference table at One Buc Palace with the palm of his hand ordering the dumping of Bennett should be waterboarded and roped to a chair in a windowless cell forced to watch sex tapes of O’Donnell while being assaulted with the music of Boy George 24/7 for days at a time. That’s appropriate punishment to pay for the football torture Bucs fans have been forced to endure by that idiotic decision.
Six years later, the Bucs are still suffering from the loss of Bennett.
Joe sure hopes Arians is right. Because on paper, this may be the weakest pass rush the Bucs have had in some time.
Meanwhile, who made the call to let Bennett go for no good reason?
June 6th, 2019 at 8:12 am
This is something I think some people are having a hard time realizing. In our new “attacking 3-4” we will rarely be relying on just a select group of pass rushers to get the job done. The entire team will now become a weapon, the blitz rush can now come from any 4 linebackers, money backer, a corner off the edge, safety’s on the line of scrimmage… that’s what I am excited about most is a scheme that keeps the offense guessing. Will it work? That remains to be seen but I am excited none the less.
Obviously we would be in better shape with JPP and some other pure pass rusher but at least in this scheme we can be a little bit more creative then just trotting out 4DL and hoping someone does something
June 6th, 2019 at 8:12 am
And moving from a four-man front to a three-man front automatically cuts the odds of a defensive line getting to a quarterback.
What? Where’d you get that dumb logic (key words in there “defensive line”–Joe) because I’ve never seen von Miller playing the edge in a 4-3 unless you count probowl, he’s an outside linebacker have you heard of them they rush the passer.
June 6th, 2019 at 8:13 am
Eliminating cancer93 was the first step in fixing the pass rush. Can’t be successful with mentally weak soft players leading the defense… cancer93 and lvd have proven over the last decade mentally weak soft players equals historic worst of achievements
June 6th, 2019 at 8:13 am
I see your point about only three guys instead of four rushing the passer. So, the Bucs are only going to use 10 guys on defense instead of 11….that makes me sick too. That will certainly make things more difficult. However, if we are going to use a 3..4 defense that would seem to give the Bucs a better chance of getting to the passer…because the offense doesn’t know how many are rushing and from what points. Instead the same 4 coming from the same position on every play.
June 6th, 2019 at 8:27 am
Flexible pass rush. Unpredictablity. Sounds like a plan to me.
June 6th, 2019 at 8:32 am
Nassib, Barrett, Spence, Nelson, Bucanon make for decent depth at OLB but no sure fire outstanding rusher but I think they’ll add some more front 7 people before September…
June 6th, 2019 at 8:38 am
@joe
You called for Yannick Ngakoue.
Instead, we drafted Roberyo Aguayo and Noah Spence.
Thats why we “The Yucs.”
June 6th, 2019 at 8:49 am
Nina made the call to let Bennett go
June 6th, 2019 at 8:53 am
Rosie O’Donnell sex tapes. You had to say it, huh?
June 6th, 2019 at 8:57 am
That was one excuse given to all the interceptions so far in underwear football
The Carmen Vitale who gets to view the practices that are cut off to everyone else …stating Bowles is blitzing from all areas (dbs and safeties too)
They are disguising blitzes from linebackers who end up dropping back into coverage . Who will be coming on any given play? That’s why they feel the nickel corner is so important in Bowles defense. He coaches back to front. Safeties make a lot of the calls before ball snapped.
Our defense will look like nothing we have seen before in Tampa
June 6th, 2019 at 8:58 am
Another reason bucs got all this new speed at linebacker and secondary
June 6th, 2019 at 9:09 am
Sick of Bennett. He was over-rated
June 6th, 2019 at 9:29 am
Well played Grandpappy!
June 6th, 2019 at 9:35 am
Joe every year except maybe last year the Bucs have had a weak pass rush. Whoever the guy was pounding the table was probably the same person saying Gerald McCoy could stop the run.
June 6th, 2019 at 9:37 am
Bucs had 38 sacks last year, 22 in 2017
Cardinals had 38 sacks in 2012
2013, Arians 1st year as Cardinals coach, Cardinals had 47 sacks
Trust Bowles and Arians
June 6th, 2019 at 9:42 am
Pass completion % against the defense is a much more important stat than # of sacks.
Bucs were the only team OVER 70% against at 72%. A pass breakup on 3 and 8 is just as good as a 4 yard sack.
Young, fast secondary will close the gap when covering WR’s. Completion % against will drop like a rock. Need to get it down around 65%.
June 6th, 2019 at 9:43 am
@Tmax not sure how Lvd has proven soft over a decade when he has only been in the league 7 years.. especially when his first 6 years blow D.Brooks first 6 out of the water
Lavonte David 2012-18
18 FFs
13 FRs
21.5 sacks
10 INTs
3 TDs
1 safety
884 tackles
Derrick Brooks’ 1995-2001
14 FFs
3 FRs
5.5 sacks
12 INTs
1 TD
927 tackles
June 6th, 2019 at 9:48 am
For a Bucs fan to say that is like a dude at the bar mumbling while seeing Kate Upton hang on his bro’s shoulder and scoff that she’s overrated and chug what’s left of his Bud Light.
June 6th, 2019 at 10:25 am
We need one more defensive lineman to go along with Vita and Suh. Waive JPP and Golstein and trade for Leonard Williams. That gives us three big strong bodies up front to occupy the linemen that will allow our LBs to get after the QB and RBs.
June 6th, 2019 at 10:27 am
Neal
55 is a backup at best without sapp playing in front of him…. stop comparong players to one year wonders who were lucky never great is laughable…. stop clinging to a failed past
Lvd had 1 good year under schiano after a good game or two but he’s hardly special and certainly not great
June 6th, 2019 at 10:36 am
Race to 10 neither did Greg Loyd,Kevin Greene or Pat Swilling. Joe was a little too busy earning his credentials to really be aware of the game of Professional football. And if Joe needs a few more current example just watch Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins during their time in ne.
June 6th, 2019 at 10:39 am
bowles is head and shoulders better than smitty……thats all we need to know….
GO BUCS!!!!!
June 6th, 2019 at 10:40 am
BA is correct. The Bucs are used to a front-four pass rush and cannot mentally get beyond that paradigm.
Look back in history. Whenever the Bucs played the Iggles, especially in the playoffs, the thought of a Jim Johnson defense bringing pressure from everywhere struck fear in Buc fan’s hearts. Those defenses didn’t have a traditional front four pass rush. The rush came from everywhere.
But seems the Joes can’t get past the front-four mindset, much less Michael Bennett.
Stuck in the mud they are.
June 6th, 2019 at 10:48 am
I have a hard time believing the pass rush will be as bad as Joe says it will be. I remember the days we had Ayers and Gholston rushing from the edge. That was horrible. I honestly do not think that Nassib and Spence/Barrett will be as bad as Gholston and Ayers was. plus the biggest trend in the modern NFL is to be versatile on the defensive side of the ball. Something this team may shape up to be.
June 6th, 2019 at 10:53 am
Actually, the Bucs were originally a 3-4 team, with Dewey Selmon, Batman Woods, David Lewis and the like as dogging backers. In fact, John MacKay was later praised as the man who brought the 3-4 into the NFC. (The AFL and later the NFC were in the forefront of innovating this approach to defense). It was only when Dungy arrived that the 4-3 identity took off. If it now is ingrained in the fan population that just means most of us are young — or senile. 🤓
June 6th, 2019 at 10:55 am
That should be “the AFL and later the AFC.”
June 6th, 2019 at 11:10 am
Loooooong season.
June 6th, 2019 at 11:13 am
I’m not that worried about this.
The more I read on it – it’s much easier to manufacture a pass rush than it is to manufacture good coverage with a bad secondary.
The more I’ve read – in today’s NFL – pass coverage grades by various sites correlate to much higher success than pass rush grades, although there is a chicken and egg aspect to that.
Also in terms of the front line swaps:
2019 Suh > 2018 McCoy IMO. Upgrade
JPP is the biggest loss. My hope is that we make up for his sacks with Shaq Barret (has 5-6+ sack capability easy) and MAYBE Noah Spence (5.5 sacks as a rookie when used the way he should have been – as a pure pass rusher at his natural size).
So hopefully 2019 Barret + Spence = JPP
Then we have Anthony Nelson who could def be an upgrade or wash with Vinny Curry.
Plus this ignores Vita Vea 2019 vs Vita Vea 2018 potential impact…
Not worried. More worried about O-line / run game right now than anything.
June 6th, 2019 at 11:34 am
Dang Joe,
You went all Jack Bauer for making that move. Wow, I miss 24, I may have to binge watch again, but I will wait to see what the Bucs first few games look like
June 6th, 2019 at 12:28 pm
That’s a creepy punishment. You are kinda warped dude. 😯
June 6th, 2019 at 12:56 pm
@tmax. Wow it doesn’t take much to melt your little snowflake @$s. Sapp was garbage. he had 2 good years and the rest look like a page out of the GMC stat book. ( see how easy it is to say dumb garbage like you do?) If you put the same amount of effort into sweeping the floors at burger king as you do saying dumb crap, they might actually move you up to the fryer…
June 6th, 2019 at 2:16 pm
“And moving from a four-man front to a three-man front automatically cuts the odds of a defensive line getting to a quarterback.”
While that’s 100% correct it’s also irrelevant. What’s the goal joe? Sacking the QB or Sacking a QB using d linemen only. If the goal is the latter, we need more dlinemen.
Now you take away Jason Pierre-Paul and his fractured neck (one has to be beyond an optimist to think he will impact this season) and Gerald McCoy, and even Vinny Curry, and you are left with… what exactly?
Alex I’ll take Buc math for 200.
Question is.. 4 minus 3 .is… this in a 3 4.
… who is.Michael Bennett ?
I’m sorry joe that was a trick question ….the answer is 0 .
June 6th, 2019 at 3:18 pm
The points are all moot here. Answer the question of who..replaces JPP?
June 6th, 2019 at 4:31 pm
Interceptions are better than sacks because we don’t get the ball unless it is a strip sack, but we always get the ball with an interception and we will have a lot more sacks than last year!
June 6th, 2019 at 4:32 pm
A lot more interceptions!
June 6th, 2019 at 7:00 pm
Is this the year Spence gets it? He’s always been a 3-4 OLB miscast as a 4-3 DE, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be any good rushing the passer standing up. On another note, how big is the loss of JPP, really? Didn’t the Giants trade him because he didn’t fit their new 3-4?