Arians Says Third-Down Defense Must Improve
October 13th, 2020
Todd Bowles gets an order from Bucco Bruce Arians
To date, the Bucs have faced quarterbacks Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, Justin Herbert, Nick Foles and a pair of no-name Broncos QBs.
Considering the Bucs have an elite run defense, the Bucs should have a strong record on third down against that crew.
And they do. But it’s not as good as it was last year and Bucco Bruce Arians said today that it must improve.
Arians talked about self-scouting his team over the long weekend and third-down defense was on his list of must-get-betters.
Joe looked up the numbers and the Bucs rank ninth in the NFL on third down; opponents are converting on 38.33 percent of third downs. Last year, the Bucs finished ranked fourth overall (34.4 percent). In 2017 and 2018, they were horrible on third down after leading the NFL in 2016 at 34.3 percent #MikeSmithIllusion/#ShouldhavekeptBradleyMcDougald.
Next up is legendary Aaron Rodgers. His Packers are third-best in the NFL on third down with a 51.11 percent conversion rate. What offense leads the NFL? That would be Chucky’s Raiders (52.31 percent), who the Bucs face after the Packers.
Joe’s very eager to see if the Bucs keep blitzing at a super-high rate against Rodgers and Derek Carr. Tampa Bay leads the NFL in blitz rate, per Pro Football Reference, blitzing a whopping 40.6 percent of the time.
October 13th, 2020 at 1:44 pm
Our can’t handle nick foles and told Bowles has been exposed. How is the secondary playing worse with better safety play
October 13th, 2020 at 1:48 pm
The secondary has also been an issue…..
AWIII is stud and will be a force for many years
CDIII is a force but isn’t fast enough to keep up with elite receivers
………..and the rest of the secondary starters would be 2nd stringers on somebody’s else’s defense.
Now with loss of Vita Vea………….who knows what our run defense will look like now????
October 13th, 2020 at 1:49 pm
We really need another stud at DT…..
October 13th, 2020 at 2:13 pm
Can’t buy a stud defensive tackle for 2 mil. Snacks would not come here for 1 mil and he’s only making 147,000. There are no stud defensive tackles in the 2021draft. The bucs just need to keep what they got and add one in 2021 free agency.
October 13th, 2020 at 2:21 pm
We need to be more selective with our blitzes……we’ve been burnt too much…..we need tighter coverage……LBs covering RBs, TEs……CBs, S….covering WRs…..
Aaron Rodgers will burn us if we blitz too often.
October 13th, 2020 at 2:22 pm
And just think about it. The defense this year is light years better than it was this time last year.
October 13th, 2020 at 2:26 pm
The problem isn’t necessarily the flat rate teams convert 3rd down… It’s how many of those are 3rd and longs.. as you mentioned our run d stops them short on early downs but when a lot of those 3rd are long then we can do better
October 13th, 2020 at 2:33 pm
What kinda sucks is the Packers got a by week before playing us and now the Raiders get a by week before playing us.
October 13th, 2020 at 2:36 pm
Bucs going to lose three in a row. Packers game will be a blowout. Raiders will be close but the Bucs lose by 10. Giants beat the Bucs on a last second FG. This is the Bucs, people. They are not that good. We’re blinded by fandom. OJ and Vea are huge losses.
October 13th, 2020 at 2:46 pm
They play aggressive 1srt and 2nd downs and then play soft on 3rd…doesnt make sense. If I can see it then guaranteed the opposing OC see’s it as well ( unless his name is Byron Leftwich who doesn’t believe in scheming his offense based on an opposing defenses tendancies ) can see it as well. Stay aggressive on third downs, and start playing the short game more on offense when the pass rush and coverage down filed is on to your game!!!!! Those are the two main issues right now.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:00 pm
Bunch of nattering naybobs of negativism up in here
October 13th, 2020 at 3:22 pm
From what I see and have seen the Bucs will lose against the Packers and the Raiders. The injury bug has been relentless and a huge hammer battering the Bucs chances. it’s always one thing or another and at this point we all should be used to it.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:43 pm
So far 5 games in Im fine with the defense mostly. They kept us in every game and made a lot of game changing plays. I want the Defense to play better but they gave the offense more then enough chances to ice that game.
They held the Bears to six freaking points in the second half. I though our team was built to win in games like that. We should destroy a 6 point effort. We should have no problems scoring 2 TDs in a half……..And we get nothing? Right now this offense stinks and they better play better or Green Bay will steamroll us.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:57 pm
Packers have 0 turnovers for the year – no interceptions, no fumbles
Packers are + 4 in number of penalties differential
Bucs are -10
This has to change Sunday.
October 13th, 2020 at 5:17 pm
You live and die with the blitz! If the blitz doesn’t get there, we have lots of inexperience in the secondary and it has shown.
Attention “Realist(o)”:
“In 2017 and 2018, they were horrible on third down.”
Gee, I wonder who the DC was?!
October 13th, 2020 at 7:54 pm
“Arians Says Third-Down Defense Must Improve”.
Did he also say that HIS coaching has to improve? Just curious.
October 13th, 2020 at 9:22 pm
Jimmy Jack I completely agree…the defense can and should improve, but the offense is the reason we are losing these games. Although this team is sitting 3-2 tied with first, nobody has any confidence in them beating a good team…ANY good team they play.
Two things that need to improve are Leftwiches play calling and his unwillingness to change the calls based on. what the defense is showing him . (Words came right out of his mouth in a 2019 post game press conference)
Tod Bowles needs to stop backing his corners up ( or allowing his corners ) ten yards on a 3rd and freaking 6 minus.
These are very simple fixes but only ones you see good coaching staffs making. The bad ones keep doing the same and expecting different results.
For some reason Arians never calls out the offense but calls out the defense. I used to be a huge Arians fan but he’s losing me quickly.
October 13th, 2020 at 10:15 pm
I really don’t think the defense has been an issue this year. In game 1 against the Saints, they weren’t an issue. In the Chicago game, your offense has to put up more than 19 points, and has to run the clock down and not have a 16 second drive or whatever it was. The defense isn’t lights up, but who, besides complete morons, expected them to be? If the offense can get the WRs healthy and not have Tyler Johnson as the only healthy WR on the field, then the offense should be fine. The defense, if they can just do what they’ve been doing, they should be fine.
All in all the Bucs are right where I thought they’d be. They weren’t winning on opening day, and they never ever ever win in Chicago. Been trying to tell you dopes that since Fitzmagic got slaughter there, the Bucs absolutely suck in Chicago, they’re 5-23 (17% winning pct) there.
The Bucs are 3-2, I believe they beat the Packers since, just like the Bucs ALWAYS lose in Chicago, the Bucs win against the Packers at home. I see that trend continuing and the Bucs win. If they don’t, then they’re 3-3 going into the bye, and after that I expect the offense to start clicking. Of course the offense can not click with Scotty Miller as the #2 WR, he’s a #3 or #4 guy, not a #2 guy – it’s incredibly important that Godwin gets back, it’s literally the most important thing on the team outside of keeping Brady healthy.
October 14th, 2020 at 1:53 am
Awful Arians coaches almost as bad as Terrible Tom has been playing. Idiot Licht is working. Firrrreee Licht!
October 14th, 2020 at 2:13 am
Rod Munch is the best poster on this site. He should be hired by the Joes for his takes.
October 14th, 2020 at 8:35 am
We will see if this is a team that plays to the level of the competition, i.e., listening to the prognosticators – I wouldn’t be surprised if they played lights out against the Pack