“Fun To Watch”
December 2nd, 2019
Happy with secondary.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bucs have Mr. Entertainment.
And the defensive side of the ball, the Bucs have “fun” players. That nugget comes from none other than Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians.
In his day-after presser, Arians admitted watching his defense play recently has been “fun to watch.” Any why is that? Arians believes the Bucs have finally figured out what they want from players.
“I think defensively, we’re finally understanding situational football a lot better,” Arians said. “Guys’ communication, short-yardage, red zone, third down is becoming really fun to watch and watching the growth.
“Obviously, [we’ve been] rushing the passer extremely well for the last few weeks, but again on the back end, we’re holding our guys [and] we’re covering our guys. The quarterback’s not having the quick throws.
“And then, when we are sacking them, we’re knocking the ball out of their hands and I think [assistant linebackers coach] Larry Foote does a great of job teaching those guys when they turn the corner to find the ball and [force a] strip-fumble. That part of it, I think, was the best thing I watched on film.”
The Bucs had two fumble recoveries yesterday that were a direct result of Jags starting quarterback Nick Foles getting blasted by Bucs sack artists. One became a scoop-and-score by linebacker Devin White.
The Bucs were not overly impressive offensively. If not for the defense and their forcing turnovers, who knows how that game would have turned out?
But it sure was refreshing that on a day the offense wasn’t humming, the defense carried the team.
How often in recent years have we been able to say that? Not too damn often, that’s for sure.
And Joe believes Arians was citing the secondary more than anything. The Bucs have gotten strong play if not excellent play from the front-seven. The secondary struggled mightily and only recently seemed to have turned the corner after Vernon Hargreaves was benched.
December 2nd, 2019 at 4:14 pm
VH3ust was dragging the team down with poor play. They look different ever since he was jettisoned.
December 2nd, 2019 at 4:17 pm
“If we had a competent OC we would be 9-3
We need Byron Leftwich to kick Kyle Shanahan’s wife out of bed and sleep, eat, and breath next to Kyle Shanahan
until he starts getting accustomed to calling an effective short passing game”
Kobe Faker
December 2nd, 2019 at 4:31 pm
We have some promising young players to be excited about……Godwin, Cappa, Rojo, OJ, Vea, SMB, White, Whitehead, Edwards, Davis, Dean, Gay, Nelson…..and maybe Miller, Hudson
The thought of adding a RT, DE, DT & RB to that list in the draft is exciting…..
We are the 2nd youngest team in the league and could be the youngest next year.
December 2nd, 2019 at 4:33 pm
Kobe- completely agree, he clearly didn’t learn his lesson in the Giants game that if you play not to lose in this league, you usually lose. Yesterday felt like it was coming again. The defense bailed out Leftwich, not Jameis this week. His running up the middle every first down and most second downs is very reminiscent of Mike Shula, and that is NOT a compliment.
December 2nd, 2019 at 4:35 pm
TBBF- you better add a LT to that list and move the current to RT or we will need 3 QBs on this roster.
December 2nd, 2019 at 4:48 pm
Wow, just when I thought you were praising the defense Joe … ‘the defense carried the team’ … you hit ’em with more low blows. Reality is that Todd Bowles was given an unprecedented challenge & he’s done one helluva job, ESPECIALLY with the pass rush AND our very young Secondary.
TB had little choice but to play VHIII early-on. Jamel Dean was hurt, Ryan Smith was on suspension, SMB took awhile to come up to speed. And as I remember, Mike Edwards wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire during the first half season. Justin Evans went on IR, Darian Stewart flamed out after 1 game, and we had to bring back Andrew Adams. How’d you like to be the DC facing all that, PLUS having JPP, your starting DE, out AND losing your prized rookie, Devin White, in the middle for 5 games. Bummer. And oh, forgot to mention that our GM sat on his hands prior to the trade deadline and offered no help whatsoever. Double bummer.
And yet, Bucs managed to win 2 games in those first 8. Our defense held the Panthers to 14 points in the first win. Defense forced FOUR turnovers by the Rams in the 2nd win, setting the Bucs’ offense up to score a boatload of points. And now we’ve won 3 out of the last 4 games. In those 3 wins, defense has given up 20 PPG average, and forced 8 TOs to help our offense (while our offense committed 6 TOs in those same 3 wins to return the favor). Most importantly, it looks to me like our defense is improving every game. Somehow I don’t think that TB or this defense has any inclination to tank these last 4 games so we can get a higher pick. Hallelujah.
December 2nd, 2019 at 4:49 pm
Hold the wagons , Barber minus the 15 yard run had like 15 carries for 29 yards and this isn’t far from the norm !!! There hasn’t been a 100 yard rusher since Louis Carter !! Lars Tate and Jerry Eckwood . This is like celebrating a church donation but your screwing your neighbors wife !!!
Bruce Said !!! We will have a successful run game !!!
December 2nd, 2019 at 4:58 pm
Obvisously the defense has made the biggest difference in the last month. Something else we are seeing getting much better is discipline. I’m talking pentalties. There’s been a significant dropoff is pentalties taken last two weeks especially.
The narritive earlier was Bucs beating themselfs. Nice to see us get out of that funk.
December 2nd, 2019 at 6:25 pm
i am telling you joe… run the number before, and after jpp returned … i think you can put this turn around almost squarely on his shoulders!! … he brings something to a team that veteran leadership that is hard to find
December 2nd, 2019 at 7:58 pm
Need a whole new OL. These guys are Beta’s not Alpha’s.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:39 pm
What is fun is watching the youngsters finally “get it” and play well with passion.
I won’t go back to when the young ‘uns in the late 90’s caught fire, because this is an entirely different group.
But FINALLY these guys, especially on defense, are fun to watch.
And Winston looks better with short fields and competent defense.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:39 pm
So where is a Bucco Bruce Confidence Poll now?