No Vita Vea, No Problem
October 18th, 2020
Rakeem Nuñez-Roches
So the certified 345-pound manbeast of the middle of the Bucs’ defensive line broke his leg last week and likely is gone for the season.
Bad timing before the arrival of a a balanced and lethal Packers attack, right?
Wrong.
Vita Vea wasn’t missed today. No, Joe’s not saying the guy has no value. But all week Joe said and wrote that Vea shouldn’t be a critical loss to the NFL’s best run defense. The Bucs are simply too deep in their front-7 to be starving for what Vea offers.
And for the 14th consecutive game, the Bucs didn’t allow a 100-yard rusher today. In fact, the Packers had nothing in the run game until the 38-10 blowout was out of reach. Aaron Jones, the Packers top running back, managed just 15 yards on 10 carries.
Joe’s tipping a hat to Rakeem Nuñez-Roches, Vea’s replacement at nose tackle. He was up for his first Bucs start and the run defense didn’t miss a beat.
Joe is not pretending that Vea isn’t a valuable cog. He is, but the Bucs are good enough around him — and behind him –to pick up the slack.
October 18th, 2020 at 10:25 pm
To bad Jamison didn’t have a NT like him… Instead he had GMC
October 18th, 2020 at 10:26 pm
Both our lines played really well today & it showed…..the Dline got great penetration and moved Rodgers off his spots all game……great game for the D.
October 18th, 2020 at 10:28 pm
Who is Jamison??? Anyway the Bucs change schemes since GMC has been gone so absolutely no comparison.
October 18th, 2020 at 10:29 pm
True dat but the new guy should fit right in too. Seems the Bears are for real. The fact we almost beat them takes some of the sting away. I expected Rogers to burn our defensive backs but they played their best game so far. Truly a team win. And a solid kicker!!! Christmas comes early!
October 18th, 2020 at 10:30 pm
May be Vea will join us in the playoffs.
Go Bucs
October 18th, 2020 at 10:35 pm
Uhhh what!? Joe said this? I get like Joe was more in “the sky is falling” camp. —But all week Joe said and wrote that Vea shouldn’t be a critical loss to the NFL’s best run defense.
Ah Joe, great for a take credit where no credit is deserved kinda guy. The written archives and the podcast archives are always there for you. Early last week, Joe wrote up a take from Anthony Becht on Vita not being a critical loss. Joe wrote it up and agreed. –Joe
October 18th, 2020 at 11:04 pm
We did miss Vita today. Too many defensive players were used for the run blitz. A mountain of a man like Vita can take the place of four DBs, and he is more than just a mountain of a man. He can also move very well.
Bowles got lucky a few times today, then Rodgers got rattled, maybe for fear of playing on real grass.
We did miss Vita today.
October 18th, 2020 at 11:08 pm
All the backups played well. Even the player brought up from the practice squad go in on the action. I saw him around Rodgers legs when he was going down.
October 18th, 2020 at 11:09 pm
^got
October 18th, 2020 at 11:10 pm
When them packers went after Tweez Captain Lavonte David had his back like Family. Can I get a 1-2-3 FAMILY!!!! Don’t let nobody mess with the FAM!
Jensen is a warrior he did not wanna come out the game.
LedBetter showed up bout time. That Defense in a whole Todd Bowles and all I bow to them. Great Job Gentleman great freaking job.
October 18th, 2020 at 11:25 pm
A very good sign that this team can lose one of its best defenders and not miss a beat. Great win today and it was a team effort.
October 18th, 2020 at 11:36 pm
ONE common denominator I have heard across the Internet threads is that
“Green Bay Quit”
I don’t believe that. I believe we beat them into submission. Something we haven’t seen in a while around here.
October 19th, 2020 at 12:38 am
Even better news is the Bucs traded for Steve McLendon, starting nose tackle from the Jets, today. The trade was for our sixth round in ’22 for their 7th round in ’23, so basically for free. Our 6th round pick will be very late in the 6th round while their 7th round will probably be pretty early. lol
This is great picking up a starting, run stuffing, nose tackle mid season. Great job Tampa!!
October 19th, 2020 at 1:02 am
SB It goes hand and hand, the Pack quit because they got tired of getting curb stomped. lol GO BUCS!!!!
October 19th, 2020 at 1:25 am
Agreed- they did quit, but not until there was only about 5 min left and they were still down 4 scores!
And it’s precisely because we beat the snot out of them! Took their will to live, etc.
After last week’s kick in the nuts, today was the most dominant beat down I could have possibly asked for. Let’s hope we play with this same fire and discipline every week for the rest of the season!
October 19th, 2020 at 2:23 am
Technically speaking Green Bay did quit. But they didn’t quit until they were absolutely pummeled into submission.
October 19th, 2020 at 10:09 am
Rakeem Nuñez-Roches did a great job. No doubt. The whole team did. I hope he can keep it up too.
Any idea when Vea will heal up? Is there a chance he’ll be available for post season?
October 19th, 2020 at 10:12 am
Tampabuscsbro Says
Technically speaking Green Bay did quit. But they didn’t quit until they were absolutely pummeled into submission.
You ain’t lying they quit. As bad as Tampa has been in the past, we would never have quit that bad. When we got our last rushing TD, their defense was just standing there behind their line, doing nothing but watching.
And if I owned the team and the coach didn’t use the timeouts to fight until the end? He’d be fired the next day. Without hesitation. What kind of message does that send to the players when even the coach quits???
October 19th, 2020 at 10:32 am
Major kudos to Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Will Gholston. They filled superbly for double V. Now, can this team play a perfect game?
October 19th, 2020 at 12:45 pm
” Too many defensive players were used for the run blitz. A mountain of a man like Vita can take the place of four DBs,” I’m hoping this statement is a joke because it makes zero sense. DB’s assigned to run blitz because Vea is out? wtf are you even talking about?
October 19th, 2020 at 1:10 pm
We did miss Vea.. a lot!! They had a few runs up the middle that they wouldn’t have if Vea had been there!! They also ran David and White down the middle a lot which made up for it but won’t work every week!! In those weeks that they will need to get pressure with 4 they will miss him a lot!!! …. Also Dean is the starter I always thought he should be! Why they have bunting out there I have no idea…. And Rojo is the runner I have said he is on here quite a bit….. I will also tell you this.. I was wrong about Tyler Johnson!! I thought he was good in college but had some crucial drops but I was really worried he would not be able to create separation at this level… Boy was I wrong about that one!!! That kid is going to beat out Miller for slot receiver and if he gets good enough they will have tough decisions to make at WR in the coming years!!! ….
October 19th, 2020 at 1:10 pm
If I were the bucs I would trade whatever I had to to acquire that QB from Clemson next year and let him sit behind Brady for a year!! The teams that are looking to be in the first pick opportunity have their QBs for the most part and could potentially be talked out of that pick!!! This team could be set for awhile with that!! They already have plenty of young talent that will last awhile before worrying about their contracts!!