Cleanup From Week 8 Needed
November 7th, 2020
Bucs not quite No. 1, yet.
Ian Beckles fully believes Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians was onto something. Problem is, Beckles is convinced the Bucs cannot let it happen again.
The Bucs lacked energy because MetLife Stadium was empty from fans, so Arians and several of his players said of the too-tight-for-comfort win over the Giants.
Beckles believes Arians.
The popular local sports radio personality and former Bucs guard sympathized with Arians as Beckles stated on his podcast “In the Trenches” this week.
“We figured out a way … to beat the Giants,” Beckles said. “If you look at the game and watched the game it sure seemed like the Giants came out with more fire, there is no doubt.
“It’s not quite that easy to come out there hyped [with no fans]. They have to figure out a way to muster up energy early in those games.”
In breaking down the win over the Giants, Beckles said the Bucs need to address a few things if they hope to be playing meaningful games in January.
“I don’t do homerism bullsh!t, OK?” Beckles began. “There are sometimes in wins I am not impressed and there are sometimes in losses — like, ‘They didn’t play that bad.’ That’s the way football is.
“The Bucs won’t win more games than not if they like they play like they did [Monday night]. Because you know what will happen this week if we play the exact same way defensively? Drew Brees will score 45 points. You can mark that up. Daniel Jones missed on four balls that if he was on, would have scored about 21 more points. Easily.”
Beckles was bothered that the Bucs defense didn’t come to play like most expected.
“The Bucs pass rush wasn’t where it had been,” Beckles said. “[Danny Dimes] had too much time to be comfortable and there were guys wide open streaking down the middle of the field. Danny Pennies left a lot on that field.”
Other observations from Beckles:
* Beckles believes the Bucs are a consistent, productive running back away from being a special offense.
* On running backs in the passing game: “When you catch the ball on dump-offs, we get tackled.”
* Sees defenses adjusting to Brady. “People are figuring out Tom Brady a little bit. The Giants confused Brady a few times. And on the couple of sacks the Giants got, you can almost put on Brady for being confused with the secondary. They are figuring out tendencies with Brady. Throwing 40 times and only getting 263 yards is not overly efficient to me. Not good enough.”
* The strength of the Bucs — controlling the line of scrimmage — was not a strength in New Jersey. “The Giants won the line of scrimmage I believe on both sides of the ball. You saw the Giants offensive line pushing the Bucs defensive line which I haven’t seen in quite a while. The Giants were good enough to just line up and smash it down their face. I think the Bucs miss Vita Vea. I think they miss him a little bit.”
* Twenty-four first downs for the Giants. That’s not good enough. that’s not good enough against a lesser team.”
* Too many yards given up to unestablished quarterbacks. [Justin] Herbert lit us up. Daniel Jones got after us a little bit. Great defenses — the Buccaneers defenses of the late 90s and early 2000s, they light Daniel Jones’ @ss up and they have to scrape him off that turf.”
* Beckles thinks maybe the Bucs defense is a tad overrated. “We are not quite where we think we are, defensively. I think we are good. I don’t think we are great yet. There have been a few games in-between great games where you go, ‘Ooff. We won despite doing this, this, this and this.'”
* The secondary was leaky. “There were a lot of people getting behind our DBs. A lot. And that is a lot to do with our blitzing scheme and our pass rush as well. So that makes me a little concerned. … If you let people get behind you against the Saints, Drew Brees is going to eat yo’ @ss up. It’s not about having a big arm. … If anybody can scheme people open, it is Sean Payton.”
* Thinks the Bucs got lucky they faced the white Jameis (Beckles said in the episode Danny Dimes reminds him exactly of Jameis.) “Good for us Daniel Jones was off. We were lucky. We really were.”
* Beckles has turned into a big fan of Bucs linebacker Devin White. “I saw a beautiful play by Devin White where he fake-blitzed and came back on a stunt and got a nice sack. … Devin White has four sacks in the last two weeks. I don’t ever remember the last time a Bucs middle linebacker had four sacks in a year.”
* Pass rush was good when Bucs needed it. “Both interceptions were due to good pass rushes up-front.”
* Beckles respects Jason Pierre-Paul’s heart. “JPP said he was going to go back there and kill some people. He did a little bit. Made some hustle plays. Saved a touchdown on a hustle play. One thing you cannot say about JPP is that he doesn’t go hard.”
* Beckles didn’t think Danny Dimes gave the Giants a prayer on the failed two-point conversion to end the game it was such a bad throw. “Anybody that thinks that last play was interference, either you are a Giants fan or lost money or both.”
As always, Beckles welcomes feedback and encourages listeners to submit Bucs questions by e-mailing him at IanBeckles@RadioInfluence.com.
November 7th, 2020 at 12:33 am
Bucs won a stinker, no doubt about it. But they won, like good teams do. No style points in the NFL, only stat that matters is the W. Giants game is done with, time to put it on the Saints. Hopefully we play the perfect game and score 7 every drive and win 94-0.
November 7th, 2020 at 2:47 am
I agree with a lot of what he said. It puts things in perspective. The team hasn’t accomplished anything yet. Brady is a great story… so far. I wonder about teams starting to figure things out with him. Of course, for all these years they haven’t, but you wonder if at his age, and without much warning, the wheels start to fall off. Hopefully the solid play continues from Brady, at least through this season.
November 7th, 2020 at 2:49 am
Jamel Dean was exposed big time. He may have a pd or two but he’s not consistent. CDavis is a playmaker. He should have at least 7 ints. He’s aggressive n don’t consistently allow his man to get behind him. I’d take AWinfield n try him at cb. He’s aggressive, alert, n has the best instincts. Don’t see him allowing his man to get behind him. Try Dean at safety or bench him n bring in Edwards. We’ve gotta get creative.
November 7th, 2020 at 6:03 am
Lets face it. Giants have 2 good lines
When we face a good dline. Brady is required to win the game with out if hand quick shorter passes
When we face a good oline. Our dbs are not good enough to stop the bleeding and that is when we get teams throwing all over the place with ease
November 7th, 2020 at 6:20 am
“Anybody that thinks that last play was interference, either you are a Giants fan or lost money or both.”
Sorry Ian, nobody that bet on the Giants lost money……they beat the spread anyway around it.
As for the Saints…..fewer blittzing…..tighter coverage and isolate LVD, White on Kamara.
Our offense needs to roll….out of excuses…4 quarters of scoring….we need 35.
November 7th, 2020 at 6:35 am
LMAO … “homerism bullsh!t”? That deserves to be in Websters.
Beckles is on fire IMO; great breakdown of the game. Strange though that, like most Bucs’ fans, he focused on what the DEFENSE did (or didn’t do) in the game as opposed to what the OFFENSE did (or didn’t do) in the game. This defense was flat Monday night for sure, but credit the Giants for coming out on fire with a great gameplan against the Bucs. They knew Todd was going to blitz, blitz then blitz some more … and they used that against us IMO. So will the Saints & so will every other team for the rest of the year. That’s our strength given the speed of our defense … it’s also our Achilles heel if the Front 3-4 can’t own the LOS. We didn’t Monday night, and the Giants took full advantage.
Yes we miss Vita Vea (more than some are willing to admit it seems).
o Suh did his job with 1 sack, 5 QB Hits, 1 TFL & 2 tackles (72% snaps)
o JPP did his job with 1 sack, 1 QB Hit, 2 TFL & 7 tackles (95% snaps)
o Shaq was OK with 0 sacks, 2 QB Hits, 0 TFL & 3 tackles (84% snaps)
But the rest didn’t measure up IMO, and the Giants took advantage.
o McLendon had 0 sacks, 0 QB Hits, 0 TFL & 1 tackle (54% snaps)
o Nunez-Roches had 0 sacks, 0 QB Hits, 0 TFL & 1 tackle (43% snaps)
o Gholston had 0 sacks, 0 QB Hits, 0 TFL & 3 tackles (61% snaps)
o Nelson had 0 sacks, 1 QB Hit, 0 TFL & 0 tackles (32% snaps)
Our safeties got burnt some on the night: Whitehead, Winfield & Edwards were targeted 6 times & gave up 6 completions for 77 yds (it would’ve been a lot more if Jones could throw a better deep ball). But our CBs did quite well overall: Davis was targeted 12 times & gave up only 5 completions (42%) and had 1 INT. Dean was targeted 9 times & gave up 5 completions (56%). SMB was targeted 4 times & gave up 3 completions (75%) but also had 1 INT.
Bigger problem IMO was that our offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain. We went 4 for 12 on 3rd down conversions; not very good. They only made 1 turnover but it was a doozy … the fumble in the opening qtr on the Bucs’ own 12-yd line resulted in a Giants TD 3 plays later (defense had barely come off the field just before that after forcing Giants to punt). That hurt early-on, but the defense returned the favor with 2 INTs that led to a FG & a TD by our offense. Still, BOTH sides of the ball need to play a lot better for these Bucs to be championship-caliber.
November 7th, 2020 at 6:37 am
We need the defense that whipped the Packers.
November 7th, 2020 at 7:08 am
They clearly relaxed against the Giants. I felt like the Bucs were outcoached especially the 1st half. On offense they really missed Godwin’s ability to get open . With AB & Godwin on the field you won’t see Evans doubled the rest of the season! The Oline has to protect Brady that’s the key.
November 7th, 2020 at 7:28 am
They did it 2 weeks in a row before Giants game and they can do it again.
They have the best in the business under center to motivate them and make sure they get in good practices, packers and raiders were just as good if not better than saints, I’m confident bucs will come out ready to go.
November 7th, 2020 at 8:15 am
@Hodad Says:
November 7th, 2020 at 6:37 am
We need the defense that whipped the Packers.
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We have a winner!
November 7th, 2020 at 8:23 am
Good stuff.
November 7th, 2020 at 8:32 am
while I agree with most of what Beckles says, I think/hope the Bucs are still finding themselves on Offense. Soooooo inconsistent. One moment, there is not a defense in the NFL that can stop the Bucs. Then, like in Chicago (penalties, not taking anything away from the Bears D) and NY, it is the Bucs who stop themselves
Mostly, I do not like what I see with Brady and ME. ME may be hurt, but he is playing and getting so few targets; whats up with that?! ME is a GREAT jump ball and sideline catch WR. I don’t remember him ever not winning a jump ball. Have we seen one thrown to him this year? Is Brady this risk adverse that he prefers 12 targets to Scottie? ME is one of the best in the NFL. Throw him the damn ball.
And I don’t know what to say about the Bucs running game. Is it predictability? While its been ok, I would think we could have a few more big gains from Rojo and Fournette.
November 7th, 2020 at 9:57 am
What we got to do is SCORE SCORE and SCORE some more because they will score and score.. Get um bucs send them aints home 2nd in the division.. OH YA..
November 7th, 2020 at 11:11 am
I agree with Beckles on one important point: I also think the defense is overrated.
They are good when playing well. At this point they are NOT great, and can be exploited.
I’m not entirely comfortable in the Bucs ability to slow down the NO offense. I hope I am wrong.
I would bet the over.
November 7th, 2020 at 6:21 pm
Beckles harps about White, but not LVD? Not impressed. Bucs better be ready for the refs as well as Aints. Go Bucs!!
November 9th, 2020 at 11:57 am
Beckles was right.
This team has no heart. Defense has been exposed and the offense still sucks if everything doesn’t go perfectly from the start.