Gamewrecker
October 5th, 2020
Changed the game.
Former Bucs coach Dirk Koetter liked to call defensive linemen known for living in an opponent’s backfield “gamewreckers.”
Yesterday, Ndamukong Suh wrecked the game for the Chargers.
It was Suh’s firing through a gap and blasting Chargers running back Joshua Kelley knocking the ball loose for Devin White to fall on and the Bucs had a first-and-goal on the Chargers-6.
It was mostly Bucs from that point on.
Suh admitted he was just trying to make a play to let the offense light up the scoreboard.
“It created some momentum for us,” Suh said. “Tom and the offense did a great job punching it in, getting a touchdown and allowed us to build off of that.
“That is what we have to do as a defense – make sure we give [the offense] as many opportunities to score points because we know we have plenty of firepower over there. It is just about getting opportunities and getting the job done.”
Up to that point, the Bucs looked just about dead. The first half reminded Joe many Bucs step-on-a-rake moments too numerous to count through the Lost Decade.
Difference is, those teams didn’t have a man named “Brady” behind center.
October 5th, 2020 at 3:46 am
Joe would you be kind enough to ask a player that is going to be in the defensive huddle when the defense is running a max blitz on a long down & distance to remind the defensive backs that the easiest and most costly completion is over the top. Watching those for 2 long completions from a rookie QB was painful. And help the Bucs look dead. And maybe when an overmatched CB is covering a receiver on a 50/50 ball 6″ from the sideline he can use the sideline to his advantage, especially when the receiver feet are off the ground. As you know it is the little things that are the difference between a feel good contender and a champion.
October 5th, 2020 at 5:39 am
Yep! Play of the game….and LD54, my goodness, all over the place!!
October 5th, 2020 at 5:44 am
The Chargers muffed the handoff. Such didn’t cause the fumble. He simply prevented a recovery. Our Defense looked vulnerable to a rookie QB. We have the talent to beat bad teams. Right now good teams can beat us. We need Godwin back and Brate more involved. They are our most dependable receivers on the sidelines. Not overlooking the Bears, but it’s good that we have some time to heal up and get a game plan ready for the Packers.
October 5th, 2020 at 5:53 am
All day long I kept rationalizing to myself two things:
1. This D is healthy and overall has too much experience and talent to lose to rookie and injury-ridden Chargers offense.
2. Tom Brady will find a way to work wiith the weapons he has and put together a comeback.
Alas, had this been two years ago, Winston would have been thrown for 400 yards (we’d check our sheet) and three INTs, including one of the Bucs final desperate drive. The D would collapse and if it got to the end as a one score game, rookie QB Herbert would slice and dice on a two minute drill and the Bucs would lose by 3 in the final seconds.
Times have changed. Thank God.
October 5th, 2020 at 5:58 am
1sparky…I agree with most of what you wrote. Except, give Suh some credit. The fact that he’s all over them generates mistakes…that’s how it is.
The Bucs on Thursday night football are most always terrible, and if memory serves me correctly, they have only beaten Foles once and have a spotty record in Chicago. Not even thinking about the Packers yet. And if Godwin and Fournette CAN play, they SHOULD play Thursday.
October 5th, 2020 at 6:16 am
“Difference is, those teams didn’t have a man named “Brady” behind center.” Spot on, GO BUCS!!!
October 5th, 2020 at 6:17 am
it was a botched hand off, but likely looked like it would be pulled into the gut by the rb until suh got his big beastly claw in there to disrupt the play…thus causing the turnover…
yes…suh is having a good year so far…
high impact and awfully good timing, at times
#AllHailKongSuh
October 5th, 2020 at 6:19 am
12-13 wins coming our way Baby!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!
October 5th, 2020 at 6:21 am
According to Brady and Co, this is our 4th preseason game. Just enough time for the Offense to gel. Just need to prove they are a top team by beating a good team like Green Bay.
October 5th, 2020 at 8:02 am
Many criticize teams for taking a knee before the half…..well, this is one of those times where their coach likely lost the game for them.
October 5th, 2020 at 8:03 am
Even if Suh didn’t do much to cause the fumble….he was still in the backfield to help make it happen.
October 5th, 2020 at 8:08 am
This entire season so far, Suh has been dominant. About time he gets the recognition. Insured hope he wants to play next year. A great addition after the disappointment with the Ice Cream Man.
October 5th, 2020 at 8:08 am
Suh’s play was awesome, and it did change the momentum big-time IMO. LVD’s play was awesome, and if he doesn’t make All-Pro this year then something’s drastically wrong. I love a win much as anyone, but until the INT with 2 mins left in the game, Chargers were still in the game (within 1 TD). Unbelievable.
I’m still trying to decide what I saw yesterday from our defense. It was almost like they were playing whack-a-mole for most of the game. Bucs defense was only on the field for 25 mins & 53 defensive snaps, yet they allowed 3 TDs & 1 FG (Bucs offense owns the Pick-6) and allowed a rookie QB to pass for 80% completions (20-of-25) & 3 TDs. And oh ya, 290 yds & a 138 QB rating. YGBSM.
Our offense in comparison kept the ball for 35 mins TOP & 76 offensive snaps, benefitted from 2 TOs, and put up almost 500 yds of total offense. Yet much of the time they seemed out-of-sorts against a beaten-up Chargers defense that must’ve been pooped by the end. Too many penalties (yet again) & not enough running (once again ran on only 37% of our plays). Brady was 65% completions yet again, with 369 passing yds which is great, but too many of these short passes aren’t gaining much if anything. Bucs need to run the ball more instead IMO.
October 5th, 2020 at 8:33 am
Can’t believe we won the game yet posters on here basically call Suh a bust and complain about the offense & defense! The defense kept us in 2 games, and the offense helped the defense yesterday. Why all the negative posts? I would think that, if any players read JBF, they would think “why win”, our fans are just going to complain anyway!
October 5th, 2020 at 8:41 am
Forget the rookie BS. Herbert is an outstanding QB. He made some perfect throws. Yes the DBs made a mistake on one long ball when they let the receiver get behind them, but on that play, as well as many others, the ball was perfectly placed. They game planned well by having max protection for Herbert on many of the passing plays. I don’t think the defense was prepared for that. The front couldn’t get to the QB and the DBs are used to a QB having to throw short or intermediate passes when under pressure. So they didn’t have the deep coverage they needed. I think some of the the long balls were more on defensive scheme than player mistakes. Let’s face it, the chargers, even with their backups, played well. And, with Brady at QB we were able to overcome our mistakes and win the ball game.
October 5th, 2020 at 9:00 am
IMO the LAC played very well and are a good team. Herbert is a stud. Bucs fans should give the Chargers credit – they were a good opponent.
Suh came to play this entire year, as did David, JPP, Shaq, Gholston, Marpet, Wirfs, Jensen, Brady, Rojo, ME, Scooter, etc. – they all know its a Super Bowl year for us!
October 5th, 2020 at 9:04 am
Bucs fans are usually depressed after a sunday loss game, now it’s different. Lets Make Monday Great Again!
October 5th, 2020 at 9:06 am
Remember when we all used to come to JBF to compliment our former “stud” DT93 on Monday mornings just like we’re doing with Suh?
We’d all sing the praises of that quick first step to nowhere and how he changed the game when it counted!
What was his name again?
October 5th, 2020 at 9:08 am
Bunting was on an island on the one long touchdown. We blitzed the safety. That’s what happens when we don’t get home and the coverage isn’t absolutely perfect. And of course the past was perfect too. This rookie is no joke.
October 5th, 2020 at 9:10 am
Doodh, I never hated McCoy like you and so many others. But I don’t miss him one bit either. Suh has been a demonstrable improvement. It’s about the team for me never one player. I wonder if anyone else is listening?
October 5th, 2020 at 9:17 am
Adam…it was a poor hand off. But if Suh hadn’t hit the RB before he had time to secure the ball, he likely wouldn’t have fumbled it. Almost all fumbles are a result of a poor hand off, a hand poking it out, or a great hit. That doesn’t reduce the value of the fumble and the fumble recovery. Give Suh his due. Excellent effort and play.
October 5th, 2020 at 9:37 am
Steven…I think the problem with the two long touchdowns is that Sean was the deep safety, and should have never let the guy behind him. That I believe is where the mistake exists. Someone was responsible for the deep ball and should never allow the guy to get behind him, even in a man to man. But I’m no coach, so I defer to Bowles.
October 5th, 2020 at 9:49 am
All the coaches here just don’t get it
Suh was 3 yards in the backfield
Since none of us play in the trenches we don’t know how hard that is
That was a hell of a play
It got us 7 points and changed the momentum
October 5th, 2020 at 9:58 am
Steven007 … Excellent point about SMB being ‘on an island’ on that play. Couple other factors that might’ve come into play there is that SMB was hurt last week & may not really be 100%; the pass was perfectly thrown IMO, and the receiver (Tyron Johnson) was virtually unknown to everyone (1st NFL catch) so their was no tape to watch. Kid looked like he had excellent speed.
October 5th, 2020 at 10:03 am
DR
didnt run the ball enough?…..OMG!!!!
hard to continue to run the ball when you’re down 21points…..
rojo ran for over 100+ on 22 carries….thats effective running….thats efficient running…..
the run game kept the chargers guessing which allowed us to hit on big plays with mike and scotty…..
we cant score a TD every possession AND have 150rushing yards AND 300+ yards passing……
get real!!!!!!…..
our offense is balanced and efficient….
BL is treating us to the best offense we’ve seen in years…..
give credit where credit is due!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 5th, 2020 at 10:16 am
813..agree…when your Offense can score on nearly every second half possession, in spite of an injured #1 receiver, a #2 that didn’t even suit up, a #3 that was questionable early in the week, the 1b RB that didn’t suit up, and your 1a/b TE that left the game with injury. In fact, it is just short of miraculous.
October 5th, 2020 at 10:21 am
Defense… I thought Winfield had some underneath responsibility on those plays. At lest he was running in the area when Sean was burned on the first bomb. Actually I think our D was fooled on the second one…weren’t there about three guys I saw at the linebacker level looking around with no real involvement in the play?
October 5th, 2020 at 11:17 am
Suh is the best interior DL the Bucs have had since Sapp, and that includes Gerald McCoy.
I love watching the guy play. He’s all ManBeast.
And as far as the rumor he takes plays off, I have not seen that. I’m impressed when there is a tackle pile 10 yards downfield ansd Suh is right there.
This Bucas interior DL rotation is the best I’ve seen on this team in many, many seasons.
October 5th, 2020 at 11:39 am
I can remember a lot of people here being very vocal about not bringing Suh back in 2020…
oops
October 5th, 2020 at 12:05 pm
813bucboi Says:
we cant score a TD every possession AND have 150rushing yards AND 300+ yards passing……
****************************************************
I say…
Why not?
The biggest thing holding us back is badly timed mistakes/penalties
We are still in the process of gelling as a team
The Chargers are the best losing team we’ve played and I suspect they will finish the year with a winning record based on what I saw yesterday.
October 5th, 2020 at 12:35 pm
gp
im sure thats the goal for every team…score on every possession but defensive players get paid too….
even KC a team that has had their qb, coaches and weapons in place for years dont score on every trip….
now, in the 2nd half we did looking pretty unstoppable…..play calling…execution….effort all looked great offensively….
but scoring on every trip would be tough to do against a playoff team…
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 5th, 2020 at 12:55 pm
If they’re going to jailhouse then the dbs need to play press. That’s why they got that final pick to seal the game last week. Gotta give the line an extra second to get to the qb
October 5th, 2020 at 1:09 pm
Mark2001 … Agree with you on the safety having underneath responsibility, but not sure if that was Winfield’s or Whitehead’s. Getting burned deep is never a good thing. Got a hunch other teams now will try to exploit that (at least until we can stop it). In any event, those were beautiful deep passes by Herbert; smack dab on the money.
813bucboi … OMG was a nice touch, although the FOUR !!!! reminds me of someone else on JBF. And you’re right, it is “hard to continue to run the ball when you’re down 21points” and especially when 7 of those points were gifts from the offense (and actually Bucs were never more than 17 pts down). But I digress …
Bucs are using the short passing game much much more now than they ever did when Jameis was our QB (surely that’s Brady’s input right there). For instance …
1st Qtr: Bucs ran 9 times for 37 yds (4.1 YPC) & 6 runs were on 1st down. Passed the ball 15 times (9 completions) for 55 yds (3.7 YPA). Total of 14 passes were short (31 yds) but only ONE of those 15 passes was deep (it was complete for 24 yds & a TD). Had 24 plays in the qtr.
2nd Qtr: Bucs ran the ball 3 times for 34 yds (11.3 YPC) & 2 runs were on 1st down. Passed the ball 14 times (5 completions) for 26 yds (1.9 YPA). Total of 11 passes were short (for 34 yds) & 3 passes were deep (Zero were complete). Had 17 plays in the qtr.
3 Qtr: Bucs only ran the ball 3 times for 5 yds (1.7 YPC) & 2 runs were on 1st down. Passed the ball 7 times (7 completions) for 127 yds (18.1 YPA). Total of 4 passes were short (all complete for 36 yds) & 3 passes were deep (all complete for 91 yds) … AND 2 TDs. Only had 10 total plays because the clock kept running (no incompletions).
4th Qtr: Bucs ran the ball 10 times (plus 3 knees to end the game) for 39 yds (3.9 YPC). Passed the ball 10 times (8 completions) for 136 yds (13.6 YPA). Total of 6 passes were short (5 complete for 42 yds) & 4 passes were deep (3 complete for 94 yds). Had 23 plays all together (if you count the 3 knees at the end).
So overall bucboi the vast majority of the Bucs’ rushing was done in the 1st qtr (9 runs) & the 4th qtr (10 runs). The vast majority of Brady’s passes were short (35), with 11 deep. But he was on fire in the 2nd half of the game when it came to connecting on his deep passes (6-for-7 for 185 yds). And oh ya, he burned the Chargers’ Secondary for 3 TDs deep, all in the 2nd half. So much for Brady can’t throw deep.
October 5th, 2020 at 2:29 pm
I’m pretty sure that ball was coming out just before Suh got to the RB. The QB exchange was too high. Watch the tape, the RB was bumbling the ball and Suh helped separate the the 2.
October 5th, 2020 at 2:34 pm
DR
BL ran the ball effectively in the 1st quarter which opened up big plays thru out the game….then BL closed the game with the run in the 4th….
brady hitting on the short passes also opened up things deep down field….
why are you still saying,”Brady was 65% completions yet again, with 369 passing yds which is great, but too many of these short passes aren’t gaining much if anything. Bucs need to run the ball more instead IMO.”
aren’t gaining much of anything?….
the run game and the short passes are what suck the defense up so BL can call something over the top…..the run game is fine and will only improve….
relax and enjoy THE BUCS offense….
GO BUCS!!!!!!
October 5th, 2020 at 3:33 pm
813 & DR
I wasn’t trying to disagree with you 813, just trying to point out a difference in mindset. Brady, IMO has the mindset that the team SHOULD score on every possession. Not doing so is a learning opportunity, but that is the only positive of it. The previous 5+ years (that’s a long plus) we had the mentality of “oh well, we’ll get another chance”. That is not the winning mindset that Brady brings.
How do we get there?
My opinion here is pretty much the same as any head coach(no, I am not one).
Execution.
Not by one, nor just the stars on the field, but team execution.
We did that reasonably well on the first drive yesterday, and then sputtered the rest of the half. Were it not for a ‘chance’ play by Suh (not diminishing his effort) we would have gone into halftime on the wrong side of the momentum swing.
Team execution was much better in the second half but, IMO, still not at achievable levels. Nonetheless, had we played as well through the first half as well, we would have sealed the game by the fourth quarter. And, ROJO might have been pushing the 200 yd mark.
Those short passes and 4-5 yd runs, as long as we consistently move the chains, will wear out even the best of defenses. The long balls are daggers to deflate their morale and instill in them the surety of their loss. Once we’ve conditioned them to accept their loss, we’ve won.
October 5th, 2020 at 3:57 pm
gp
you’re right…thats the mind set we should have….
GO BUCS!!!!
October 5th, 2020 at 4:37 pm
813bucboi … Brady has passed for 65.2% through 4 games (63.9% vs Saints; 65.7% vs Panthers; 65.8% vs Broncos; and 65.2% vs Chargers). And THAT’S why I said that “Brady was 65% completions yet again”. That’s incredibly consistent IMO. Through 4 games he’s on-track to pass for almost 4,500 yds & 44 TDs … I’ll take it.
Normally I’d agree with anyone who says ‘the run game and the short passes are what suck the defense up’ but I question whether that was really the case yesterday. In the 1st qtr we had 9 runs & 15 short passes, but only ONE deep pass (completed BTW). In the 2nd qtr Bucs ran only 3 times (for 34 yds BTW) and threw 11 short passes (completing only 5) plus 3 deep passes … completing 0. That whole qtr was a disaster IMO, EXCEPT for the fumble recovery that led to a Bucs TD. THAT was HUGE.
Bucs hung in there in the 3rd qtr, thanks to Brady going 7-for-7 passing (4 short & 3 deep) for a total of 127 yds. Running game did virtually nothing in its 3 rushes (5 yds), but Brady’s 100% completions made up for that. So sure, BL did a great job there.
And the 4th qtr was pretty much more of the same, with Brady hitting on 8-for-10 of his passes for 136 yds. My guess is that by the 2nd half, the Chargers defense was just too exhausted to keep up. How else do you explain them allowing Bucs to hit on 6-of-7 deep balls in the 2nd half, after they’d held us to 1-of-4 deep completions in the 1st half? It’s all about execution … the Bucs were sloppy in most of the first half, but beasts in the 2nd half. And making adjustments at halftime then coming out & kicking ass is a VERY GOOD THING IMO.
October 5th, 2020 at 6:04 pm
Two plays turned this game. The main play was Suh disrupting the hand off and forcing the fumble near the goal line to set up an easy Tompa Brady TD pass right before the half to take it from a 24-7 deficit to a 24-14 deficit. The previous play may have been just as important. The punt that pinned The Chargers inside the 10 with under a minute? I think it was under a minute. Momentum shifted to the Bucs. Thanks Suh.
October 5th, 2020 at 11:06 pm
Suh is my daughter’s favorite player and he has mostly been outstanding since he’s been here.
October 7th, 2020 at 9:14 pm
“Suh admitted he was just trying to make a play to let the offense light up the scoreboard.” … 😮. … He ADMITTED that he was trying to make a play?!?? No flipping way!!!! Lmao!!! …. Some of these stupid questions and answers make me think of that movie bedazzled when he was the basketball player!!! Lol