Devin White Getting Close
December 6th, 2020
Improvement.
Joe has one go-to site for NFL stats.
And that would be Pro-Football-Reference.com. It’s basically the NFL’s online encyclopedia.
Now some folks sing the praises of the PFF tribe. Joe does not sing that song at all. Oh, Joe will use their stats from time to time, but that’s about it. (Don’t get Joe started on their nonsensical “grades.”)
Yesterday the Tribe pumped out on Twitter the top-five defenders with the most “pressures” who are not defensive linemen. (Joe assumes this means quarterback pressures because why the hell would anyone care if a defender pressured a guard?)
Well, it appears these Tribe stats are all out of whack if you compare them to the quarterback pressures on Pro-Football-Reference.com.
The tribe has Bucs inside linebacker Devin White with 18 pressures. Not bad for a guy who is not up on the line. Pro-Football-Reference is totally different. They have White with 12 pressures. The same site has outside linebacker Shaq Barrett leading the team in pressures with 32.
Joe does not know if the tribe considers an outside linebacker as a “lineman” in a 34 defense.
Last year, Pro-Football-Reference had White, who played in just 13 games, with only five pressures.
So no matter what site you belive, the focus of this post is the same. White, who struggled getting to the quarterback on blitzes last year, has improved a lot.
December 6th, 2020 at 11:05 am
I guess at least the highest drafted middle linebacker in a decade can do one thing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shame that the pass coverage is in the dumps!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Definitely one of the causes for the Bucs being dead last in pass completions allowed!!!!!!!!!!!!
But maybe they can play a backup or third string QB, so that the sheep can wrongly claim they turned the corner!!!!!!!! Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 6th, 2020 at 11:30 am
Realist not one sheep have ever said the Bucs secondary has turned the corner.
December 6th, 2020 at 11:41 am
“Joe has one go-to site for NFL stats. And that would be Pro-Football-Reference.com. ”
Agree 100% Joe. That’s a truly amazing site for those who are interested in seeing what REALLY went on in a game (or season) as opposed to what some will tell you went on. That’s true even more-so for some of the ‘Advanced’ stats that they break out for Offense & Defense.
Jamel Dean’s performance this year is a good example IMO. Lots of folks seem to be very down on him right now, and yet if you look at his stats for the year, he’s holding his own far as I’m concerned. Not excelling, but ‘holding his own’. He’s credited with 7 PDs, has been targeted 54 times against only 31 completions (57.4%) which IMO is quite decent. Davis is sitting at 61.7% and SMB at 76.8%.
Actually Mike Edwards is doing OK this year too … not excelling, but ‘holding his own’. He’s played only 138 def snaps this year as opposed to Winfield who’s played over 5 times as many (783 def snaps), yet Edwards has twice as many INTs (2 vs 1), more fumble recoveries (1 vs 0) and more passes defensed (5 vs 4). Mike’s also doing better in terms of completions allowed (66.7% versus 78.1% for Winfield).
Still, lots of growing pains for our young Secondary.
December 6th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
@Defense Rules great post. The only thing I don’t like is playing 8 yds off the line. Imo they are playing well enough to win games. Just not so much in a zone
December 6th, 2020 at 12:29 pm
White, who struggled getting to the quarterback on blitzes last year, has improved a lot.
Overall, yes, but not against Saints, Rams and Chiefs
December 6th, 2020 at 1:34 pm
Rico 210 I’m with you; I don’t particularly like seeing our Secondary playing zone. Monte’s defense played a lot of it from what I remember, but those guys were very experienced at it and were excellent at covering for each other. No one that I can think of in our current young Secondary has that much real experience playing zone, and they’re obviously not very good at covering for each other.
Press works well against many receivers, but some others will just eat you alive if you press. Saints’ Michael Thomas was the highest rated WR against press coverage last year. He caught 7 TDs against press against 0 INTs. What’s even worse is that Thomas was a ‘sure thing’ when he’s one-on-one (he tallied an 80% completion % vs press coverage). No wonder he drive the Bucs’ Secondary nuts.
Other WRs in the Top-5 against press coverage from last year: #2 – Tyreek Hill; #3 – Alshon Jeffrey; #4 – Julio Jones; #5 – Calvin Ridley. Isn’t it wonderful that we get to play against 4 of the Top-5 in that category this year? (I wonder if that’s why Todd Bowles has been using so much zone/off-man).
December 6th, 2020 at 2:36 pm
PFR is a great resource and it’s just raw data with no opinions involved. PFF is hot garbage, but I’m not going to begrudge them for finding a way to hoodwink suckers into giving them their hard earned cash.
December 6th, 2020 at 10:13 pm
just a couple more wins & realist & tmax will fade away in the darkness for 6-8 more months
December 7th, 2020 at 4:20 pm
I’m confused, so pressures are good for ILB, but not good for OLBs?
:: just some snark ::