Shaun King Sees Undisciplined Defense, Exposed Youth
December 5th, 2020
Lifelong Bucs fan and one of three quarterbacks to lead the Buccaneers to the NFC Championship game, Shaun King always has his eye on his beloved Buccaneers, the team that drafted him in 1999.
King is one of Joe’s very favorite analysts, though his raw Bucs analysis had been stifled in recent years while he was a college coach. But King has a new gig this year and he’s opening up.
Speaking this week on WDAE Radio, King found a Bucs’ defensive red flag that Joe had noted and considered inexcusable.
Against the Rams two games ago, Shaq Barrett and Devin White jumped offsides on third down, crushing plays for the Bucs. Did the Bucs clean it up the next week? Nope. Against the Chiefs on Sunday, they were flagged for the same offense three times.
“I just think that’s a sign of a lack of discipline,” King said of repeating those penalties.
“And what kind of puts us in a weird position is we’re so young in the secondary. So if our pass rush isn’t elite, we have guys still trying to figure out not just the scheme, but where they fit in this league. So I think you see some of that getting exposed. … They’re just going to have to keep getting creative on ways to get to the quarterback, because when we don’t put pressure on the opposing team’s quarterback, we’re not very good.”
King is on the money when it comes to the Bucs’ secondary collectively getting exposed. Bucs officials rolled with three 23-year-old cornerbacks who were gifted starting jobs, and another 23-year-old safety alongside a rookie. That was a huge leap of faith in a passing league.
Through 12 games, the defensive backs have held up reasonably well overall, but it’s been nowhere good enough to match the Bucs’ high goals. And their play is in rapid decline.
Thankfully, the Bucs have a week off to get coached up and ready for a solid Vikings passing attack followed by a Falcons offense that put up 371 yards passing and four touchdowns on that Vikings defense six weeks ago.
December 5th, 2020 at 4:01 am
Why was Winfield lined up 20 yards back, he was so far back, he gave no support to Davis. He just did not look like he was doing. With what S King is saying, he did not know what he was doing back there. He was not responding well at all. It is like becuase of positioning he was taken right out of the defense, like they were playing with 10 instead against 11 on so many plays.If he is not going to help back there, then put him on the line and blitz with him, it sounds crazy but 10 against there 11 is futile, might as well make use of him instead of him looking lost. This really is on the coaches not to let this happen. He played way out of position. GO BUCS!!!!
December 5th, 2020 at 6:40 am
@King … “They’re just going to have to keep getting creative on ways to get to the quarterback, because when we don’t put pressure on the opposing team’s quarterback, we’re not very good.”
Shaun King nailed it; it’s all about pass rush & pressure. Against QBs like Mahomes & Brees, I’m not sure it matters all that much where our young Secondary lines up; if you give most NFL QBs time, they’ll find open receivers & pick you apart. So the real question IMO becomes … ‘With the personnel that we have NOW, how do we improve our pass rush effectiveness to increase pressure on opposing QBs’?
Can’t wait to see how Todd Bowles adjusts this defense during this 2-week hiatus.
December 5th, 2020 at 7:05 am
To put it “simply” to the sheep, they did not “turn the corner” and they have not “been developed”!!!!!!!!!!!!
The toilet Bowles defense has been exposed!!!!!!!!!!!!
The difference is that they traded for JPP, and bought Shaq and Suh!!!!!!!!! And they have to be physically superior, or they get outcoached and schemed which leads them to be easily exposed!!!!!!!!!!!
This was what the “real” fans told the sheep months ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 5th, 2020 at 7:25 am
People
Todd Bowles has choice but to play the defense this way…….because he knows our secondary can’t play man and sucks in coverage.
Stop blaming the DC……….he’s still helluva lot better than Mike Smith
December 5th, 2020 at 7:27 am
King’s observations are clearly true but I’m not sure there’s any revelation there.
In ANY NFL game with even a decent NFL QB without pressure virtually any NFL secondary will look bad. That’s just a fundamental of the NFL since my youngest days…a LONG time ago.
Al Davis famous credo…”The QB must go down and go down hard.”
Any NFL QB will pick apart a secondary if given time and confidence in his pocket.
I guess what really matters here is evaluation of our DB’s. How much of getting burnt is their fault and how much is the D line or Bowles poor defensive schemes?
I really like Davis despite seeing vivid evidence that he can’t keep up in a foot race with a 4.24 WR. How many CB’s can?
SMB and Jamel Dean still scare me. They clearly have talent and so hopefully upside but SMB gambles way too much and gets burnt to a cinder and Dean is also erratic…great on some plays..out to lunch on others…The D’s version of Donavan Smith?
December 5th, 2020 at 7:29 am
Have to agree with Realist here. One thing he’s missing, they’re just not very good. Talent, and coaching is a problem. The 49ers had no trouble covering the Rams receivers, and getting to Goff. We couldn’t touch him, we couldn’t cover, and to make matters worse, we didn’t tackle well. All Lichts picks in the secondary are looking to be average at best. No stars in the secondary, and the scheme isn’t helping them any either.
December 5th, 2020 at 7:59 am
Stpetebucsfan,
I agree with u on JDean n SMB. Dean doesn’t know how to maximize his speed and size. He plays timid n confused. He n SMB seems as if they are just learning how to tackle. They both are passive. I take my hat off to CDavis, he gives his all despite of being beat by THill. With the hands off receivers at the line n zebras protecting today’s QBs , it’ll be hard for former HOF lock down corners Deon Sanders n Darrel Green to cover today’s receivers. Hold ur head up CD, honestly, you’re the best all around cb we’ve had since Talib, I’m not counting Brent Grimes because he was two years n done. I believe Winfield will rebound but after that one good game JDean had against the infamous ARodgers, folks thought he was a star in the making. Please look at the tapes on him, he is often beaten at ease.
December 5th, 2020 at 8:21 am
@Anthem, that just makes complete sense (*sarcasm*). Bowles is in charge of this defense; Bowles chose to roll with these players – he picked them; Bowles elected to not add more experienced DBs.
So is it Brady you think we should blame? Or maybe BL? Oh wait, I know, it Licht’s fault because he has not added any players to the roster this year…
December 5th, 2020 at 8:21 am
Sean King,one of two Buc quarterbacks who lost an NFC championship when his defense gave up only 9 points……
Sean apparently knows what a good defense is……but couldn’t win the big game with one.
December 5th, 2020 at 8:25 am
@Hodad, anytime you find yourself agreeing with Realist (even bothering to read what he posts), you need to put the pipe down, you’ve had enough…
The other explanation is that you also find “putting it to the sheep” enjoyable, and I don’t think that of you. No offense Hodad, just trying to help
December 5th, 2020 at 8:26 am
The secondary is the most puzzling unit on the team. Good athletes that seem to have the collective tools to be successful but, wow, receivers always seem to be running wide open…. not open, WIDE open.
Either the scheme is flawed from a coaching perspective or the DBs are not mentally able to execute it… and that goes back to coaching.
No other unit in the league lets guys get so regularly open and, so far, there is no sign of that changing.
December 5th, 2020 at 9:41 am
Shaq has jumped offsides for both years here.
The Defense thrives when it hits the QB. It hits the QB when it blitzes. Whe
When it doesn’t blitz, Rodgers 1st 2 drives, Brees and Mahomes happen.
When it does blitz, Rodgers turns into Trent Dilfer.
Got that, Todd? Bruce?
December 5th, 2020 at 10:00 am
@Hodad … “The 49ers had no trouble covering the Rams receivers, and getting to Goff.”
The 49ers held the Rams to 20 pts (versus Bucs D holding the Rams to 27 pts). 49ers generated FOUR takeaways (while Bucs generated TWO takeaways). 49ers sacked Goff TWICE; Bucs sacked him ZERO times. 49ers had SEVEN QB hits on Goff; Bucs had THREE. 49ers defense was on the field for 25:57 TOP (thanks to the 49ers offense using a BALANCED ATTACK & running the ball on 47% of their plays); Bucs defense was on the field for 33:13 TOP (our attack wasn’t balanced at all, since we only ran the ball on 27% of our plays).
So let’s see Hodad: Bucs pass rush not nearly as effective … check. Bucs didn’t make nearly as many takeaways … check. Bucs defense spent far longer on the field, largely because our offense couldn’t control the TOP … check. And yet we still only lost by 1 TD, AND had a decent chance at the end of the game to tie it (oh ya, except for that little thing called an INTERCEPTION on yet another Brady deep pass with 2 mins left ). Yup, 49ers defense is FAR superior. (Maybe not?)
December 5th, 2020 at 10:36 am
Señor Harry in Costa Rica Says:
December 5th, 2020 at 8:25 am
@Hodad, anytime you find yourself agreeing with Realist (even bothering to read what he posts), you need to put the pipe down, you’ve had enough…
………..
Ain’t THAT the Truth
December 5th, 2020 at 12:09 pm
Tbbf
Bert Emmanuel made that catch! We were driving for the winning score. That was our modus operandi that entire season. Keep it close, win at the end
December 5th, 2020 at 12:11 pm
Run the table. We got 4 games left. We say we all that? Then prove it. Win the last 4 and go into the playoffs with momentum. Until then? We are just a good team in the..middle of the pack.
December 5th, 2020 at 8:05 pm
Always an excuse. Except our DBs let Hill do what? And not and because they were tired. And who else threw an Interception that our offense made him pay for? When we needed a stop on third down to get the ball back how did the Chiefs get it? Why of course. They sat back laughed at us and threw for it.
December 5th, 2020 at 8:28 pm
Defense,
Great info.
However, there’s one important piece of information you didn’t gleam from your stat sheet analysis. Injuries!
The 49ers are down several starters along the d line and secondary is not 100%. Basically, if the Bucs were without JPP and Suh along with Vea then we’d be where the niners dline is now. I give their d coordinator a ton of credit for putting up a decent defense with the team suffering so many injuries along the defensive line. I don’t believe Bowles would be that effective without the big 3.
December 5th, 2020 at 8:50 pm
Tampabaybucfan,
The championship game vs the Rams was probably the best defensive game from the Bucs to date. 9 pts to the Rams was a phenomenal achievement.
Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t protect king as he was running for his life the majority of the contest. I’m not sure but he was probably sacked for more yards than he threw.
On a personal note, I remember that game all to well because not only did the team lose , they lost with a terrible call by the refs, but later that evening I totaled my new Porsche. That was in addition to breaking up with a 10 girlfriend. That a 10 on the south beach scale .
Man I really miss that car….