Rondé Barber Talks About How The Bucs Can Get Beat
January 31st, 2021
Tampa Bay may be riding a seven-game winning streak, a franchise-record mark, but they can be taken down easily if they do one thing next Sunday, says Bucs icon Rondé Barber.
Fresh off re-watching the Bucs-Chiefs game of late November, Barber made a visit to ESPN Radio to chat with his old friend and morning show host Keyshawn Johnson.
Barber told Johnson that Bucs-Chiefs game epitomized one of Chucky’s favorite sayings, “I’ve never lost a game. I ran out of time.”
As fans remember, the Bucs got rolled early in the game with Tyreek Hill going wild for 200-plus years receiving in the first quarter. Then the Bucs adjusted and clawed back made it a game in the second half before losing by three points.
“If you put Kansas City in a situation where Patrick [Mahomes] can identify man-to-man defense right away, you’re going to get beat because nobody can cover [Tyreek Hill],” Barber explained. “Not only is he the fastest guy in the NFL — maybe Scotty Miller gives him a little run for his money there — but he’s a contortionist. You know, when he’s covered, he still makes catches.
“When you watch the first half of that game in November, Carlton Davis had good coverage but he was just getting beat. And the second half of that game, go back and watch on defense and watch how [the Bucs defense] adjusted. They kept everything in front. The two edge rushers started getting after the quarterback, and it became a game that they felt like they were going to win.”
Barber isn’t concerned about the Bucs offense in the Super Bowl. He believes the defense will be the X-factor as it’s been through the bye week.
The formula is straight-forward, per Barber, “Find a way to double Hill and Travis Kelce. and pressure Mahomes and take away his quick options.”
Of course, a huge issue is that Mahomes can succeed regardless of the defense, and the Chiefs have an arsenal of weapons like the Bucs do.
But Hill had 12 regular-season games with less than 100 yards this season. He’s not Superman, but obviously the Bucs don’t want him to beat them.
If the pass rush can be consistent, then Joe believes the Bucs will have a good chance of keeping the Chiefs under 30 points. The run defense is nearly unbreakable and the Bucs have enough playmakers across the defense to force a key turnover.
January 31st, 2021 at 7:49 pm
The problem is, if it were so easy why wouldn’t everyone do it. I would watch the Atlanta game and see how they were successful. If the defense can hold them to 21 or under Bucs will win this game. Kind of think KC took their foot off the pedal in the second 1/2 in Tampa.
January 31st, 2021 at 8:08 pm
Everybody doesn’t have the personnel to do it. Bucs do.
January 31st, 2021 at 8:08 pm
I think Atlanta was successful because KC took them lightly.
January 31st, 2021 at 8:09 pm
“But Hill had 12 regular-season games with less than 100 yards this season. He’s not Superman, but obviously the Bucs don’t want him to beat them.”
And Mahomes is not Supeman, either.
Just, stop glamorizing these guys.
January 31st, 2021 at 8:25 pm
Ronde nailed it. I’ve been saying it all along. Double Hill and disrupt Kelce at the line. Just disrupt their timing. The D-line needs to send Mahomeboy back to a barbershop in KC. hahaha
January 31st, 2021 at 8:45 pm
Kentucky Buc, the Bucs don’t have a premier secondary. KC has played many teams with better DB’S than the Bucs. A lot of the scheming I would imagine is based off who and who will not be able to play. David would be a huge loss in the front 7.
January 31st, 2021 at 9:07 pm
The original 1976 Fan again. I’d like to commend the Ownership, Management, Coaching Staff and Team for making History during an unprecedented season. While doing something in 54 SB’s that has never been Done. Now it’s Time to Show the Chief’s something which they’ve Never Seen and that’s Defensively removing the Torch from their Offense(#10) by allowing the TB (#24) best corner help over the Top even when they’re in 12 personal and we cannot Forget to introduce the best TB ILB (#45) KC (#87) at the shadow crossing routes. When Todd B allows them to Plaster All Night, there will not be much left to Torch our SB Homecoming at “Ray J” I can hear it Now. “Turn Out The Lights” your Party’s Over. GO BUCS!!
January 31st, 2021 at 9:14 pm
I see KC dropping 50 on this over hyped D. They were exposed by Washington, would of got beat by the Saints if Winston got more snaps as drew breeze couldn’t throw the ball past 10 yard, and then got bailed out by the refs in greenbay. The interception was a clear hold. Brady won’t be the refs darling in the superbowl, bc the league loves mahomes
January 31st, 2021 at 9:17 pm
You finally found the balls to show up in here again. What a douche
January 31st, 2021 at 9:18 pm
Remember when Brady got suspended for cheating, ruled guilty in a federal court, remember when Brady left his pregnant girlfriend for a horse named jizzel. He cheated on his girl and cheated on the game
January 31st, 2021 at 9:27 pm
Have White jam Hill at the line, then release for a delayed blitz off the end.
Then have Davis or Dean pick up Hill with a Safety over the top.
January 31st, 2021 at 9:55 pm
Hey Brady is a cheater, why didn’t they drop 50 on the overhyped D back in November??? I mean they dropped 17 in the 1st which should have been 68 if the D is so aweful! So, tell me why KC didn’t do it then when the D was clearly playing worse then they have in the last 5-7 games! You really need to get a better hobby bro. You got beef with Brady, then that’s fine…go find an outlet for your beef and stop acting like a fool on this site!
When the Bucs win next Sunday you can come back and let us all know how much of an idiot you were to doubt the team! But I suspect you won’t be man enough…since you come up with excuses for why they win each game, right?!?!
January 31st, 2021 at 9:57 pm
Kentucky Buc, he ain’t got no balls, that’s why he acts like he knows something and expects us to take him seriously when hiding behind a screen. He don’t know what the hell he’s talking about and makes every excuse in the world for why the Bucs have won!!
January 31st, 2021 at 10:00 pm
Need Whitehead in the box to blanket Mahomes and Weinfield Jr to double up the deep ball. Devin White is not great in coverage and I can see a lot of screens and short yardage passes to their weapons to eat up yards.
January 31st, 2021 at 10:19 pm
2 Words – Vita Vea
January 31st, 2021 at 11:41 pm
No matter what happens, I deem this season as a success. Go Bucs!
January 31st, 2021 at 11:41 pm
Last game of the season.
Go punch the f****** Chiefs in the mouth!
That’s all that matters.
Go Bucs!!!!
January 31st, 2021 at 11:43 pm
Punch the Chiefs in the mouth.
Nothing else matters.
January 31st, 2021 at 11:44 pm
First team to 5 TD’s wins.
February 1st, 2021 at 12:26 am
I wonder where “Brady is a cheater” is from , are you a disgruntled Jets fan looking to amuse yourself since you have nothing else to do , lol ?
February 1st, 2021 at 12:30 am
My guess is “Brady is a cheater” is really Ndog.
February 1st, 2021 at 12:35 am
👍
February 1st, 2021 at 12:35 am
Not n dog. Iam a logical football fan that respects clean play. But n dog has a bunch of great football analysis
February 1st, 2021 at 12:41 am
Buxszntky is such a buzz kill.
February 1st, 2021 at 1:54 am
Sure is nice to have Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr, the living legend, and official Lord of the Rings, as the QB of the Bucs. WINNER. Just think it will take Mahome boy at least 4 or 6 more years of winning Super Bowls, whether KC wins this week or not, just to tie Brady. He would have to go 8 more times to the Super Bowl just to tie Tom Terrifics 10 appearances. Call Brady whatever, but he is the greatest WINNER in the storied annals of the National Football League. If someone does not like him fine, but sour grapes just make one bitter. It is just fun for any Bucs fan to enjoy the ride. GO BUCS!!!!!!
February 1st, 2021 at 2:32 am
It’s N dog
February 1st, 2021 at 7:08 am
@Ronde … “And the second half of that game, go back and watch on defense and watch how [the Bucs defense] adjusted. They kept everything in front.”
I’ve asked how we adjusted after the 1st qtr in that first meeting & finally someone (Ronde) answers it. I like Ronde’s answer, but even after that horrific 1st qtr, we didn’t truly shut Hill down (still caught 6 more passes, 1 for a TD). IOW Tyreek’s gonna get his catches; more than anything we need to limit the long ones that burned us bad (like Hill’s 75 yd & 44 yd TD catches?).
If you relook at our 1st game against the Chiefs, I think that several really interesting things jump out.
Bucs defense started the game reasonably well. Bucs kicked off & held Chiefs O to a FG on their 1st drive (after the Chiefs had a 2nd-and-Goal at our 1-yd line). Then Bucs’ O punted after a 5-and-out. Bucs D then forced Chiefs O to punt after a 3-and-out … so far so good. Bucs O then punted again after a 3-and-out. FIRST PLAY: Chiefs burned us with a 75 yd TD to Hill. Bucs O then punted again after a 3-and-out. Chiefs O then marched down field in a 7-play drive capped off with a 44-yd TD pass to Hill. Bucs then punted again after a 3-and-out. Chiefs ahead 17-0 at that point to end the 1st qtr.
With the exception of TWO deep completions, Bucs D did a decent job in that 1st qtr despite the fact that the Chiefs dominated the TOP (Bucs O punted 4 straight times after running a total of 17 plays on 4 drives).
Bucs D stiffened in the 2nd qtr, despite 2 very long Chiefs drives. The Chiefs O got the ball to start the 2nd qtr & drove to the Bucs 8-yd line in 12 plays before the Shaq forced a Mahomes fumble & Bucs recovered. That ignited the Bucs O who then drove the length of the field in 9 plays for a 37-yd RoJo TD off a Brady pass. Chiefs O responded with a 14-play drive to the Bucs 11-yd line, but our defense held them to another FG to end the qtr. Again the Chiefs owned the TOP, Bucs O only had the ball for 1 drive in that qtr (plus a kneeldown to end the half) for 9 plays (a little over 4 mins), but they made the Mahomes’ fumble count by scoring a TD off it.
Bucs D played some excellent defense in that 2nd qtr in limiting the explosive Chiefs offense to 1 FG AND forcing a fumble which kept the Chiefs from scoring more points. Chiefs O had the ball for a total of 19:20 mins (44 plays) in that half to our 10:40 mins (22 plays). Bucs being behind 20-7 at the half is actually a credit IMO to how well our defense played … minus 2 long TD passes to Hill.
Bucs O continued to stumble in the 3rd qtr, but started & ended well. Bucs O got the ball to start the 2nd half & marched down the field in 4 plays to the Chiefs 5-yd line based on 2 RoJo runs (for 14 yds) & 2 passes to Gronk (for 56 yds). Bucs O then went backwards for 3 yds & kicked a FG, closing the score to 20-10 (having to settle for a FG proved to be huge in the final score). Chiefs O responded with an 8-play drive ending with a 20-yd TD to Tyreek Hill. Of note though, included in there was a INT by Whitehead that was nullified by a penalty … could’ve potentially been a difference-maker.
Bucs O then had a 5-play drive that ended in a Brady INT (deep pass on 1st down). Bucs D held the Chiefs to a 3-and-out. Bucs O then had a 4-play drive that ended with a Brady INT (short pass to ME13). Bucs D again held the Chiefs to a 3-and-out to pretty much end the 3rd qtr with Bucs trailing 27-10.
Bucs O … and Tom Brady … then came alive. One Fournette run followed by 7 Brady passes led to a deep pass ME13 TD (31 yds). Chiefs O responded with a 11-play drive that gained a total of 25 yds then punted. Bucs O drove the field in 11 straight Brady passes for another ME13 TD, bringing the score to 27-24 with a tad over 4 mins left. As we all know, Chiefs managed to run the clock out (they made two 1st downs to achieve that).
Bucs defense did a fairly good job of limiting the Chiefs O scoring in that game IMO … with the exception of those THREE passing TDs to Hill (75 yds, 44 yds, 20 yds). Bucs O came alive late in the game, but by then the damage had been done. Our offense has matured a bunch since that game, and actually so has our defense. We won’t make those same mistakes. We got this.
February 1st, 2021 at 7:14 am
We need to target Mahomes’s turf toe. Tread on it by ‘mistake’ a few times. A few hard hits wouldn’t go amiss either.
February 1st, 2021 at 9:13 am
Brady is a cheater =NdOg
February 1st, 2021 at 10:31 am
Wow, Defense rules has some time on his hands.
February 1st, 2021 at 11:15 am
Listnfrmafar … Nah, not really (woke up way early this AM). It’s the Super Bowl & since we’ve played the Chiefs already this season I just wanted to get a better idea of what to expect on the second time around. What I saw from doing a deeper look-see at that 1st game is that our defense played very well, despite the 27 pts given up. Our offense struggled for most of the game despite scoring 24 pts, but it’s grown a bunch since that game. It won’t make the same mistakes, and I can see us putting up 35 pts or maybe even more on the Chiefs’ defense. So even if our defense surrenders the same number of pts (27), we got this. 35-27 Bucs win sounds good to me.
February 1st, 2021 at 11:17 am
I believe the Chiefs took their foot off the gas in the 2nd half. Remember Mahomes missed Hardman on a big TD pass. The thing that scares me the most is Andy Reid having 2 weeks to be creative and Mahomes excelling when blitzed and on the move.
Should be a good one Sunday!