Best Pair Of Linebackers?
February 13th, 2021
NFL standard.
If there is a pair better than what the Bucs have, please let Joe know.
The NFL twittered out something yesterday that sort of backs up what Joe has been saying since the offseason.
If there is a better linebacker unit than the Bucs’ starting four, Joe is unaware of them. Shaq Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul, Lavonte David and Devin White are simply a ferocious four.
Pittsburgh may be close. Bud Dupree, T.J. Watt, Devin Bush and Vince Williams are very good.
And when it comes to inside linebackers, there is no doubt about it: David and White are the biggest hitters since Ruth and Gehrig.
The more you study the work in recent years of Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht, the more you become aware it was coaches who held back the talent on this team.
Did @DevinWhite__40 and Lavonte David become the best LB duo in the league this year? #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/PQ9dfKqM2v
— NFL (@NFL) February 12, 2021
February 13th, 2021 at 10:17 am
They all were outstanding in the post-season and especially the super bowl. They rose to the occasion. Hard to argue that they are not the best duo (foursome?) in the NFL.
February 13th, 2021 at 10:31 am
Awesome video!!
February 13th, 2021 at 10:38 am
Just remove the question mark and you have the title right.
February 13th, 2021 at 11:00 am
resign David and keep the duo intact another year
February 13th, 2021 at 11:18 am
The salary cap is going way down this year due to the sickness. Bucs will have some tough decisions to make. Unfortunately we have probably seen the last of Godwin and Brate , but we will be fine at TE and WR. Playoff Lennie was nice , but ROJO and Vaughn can handle the RB load.The most important area is to get to a deal with all your defensive free agents and let this monster defense get even better , which is scary to imagine. GO BUCS
February 13th, 2021 at 11:29 am
Best linebacker performances with tackles and sacks in a year
Not easy to find in nfl history
Ray lewis had a year with 184 combined tackles but only 4 sacks
Devin white this year had 140 combined tackles and 9 sacks and he missed a game on top of that with covid
And numbers were ridiculous in playoffs again (double digit tackles a game and missed one)
So he is in discussion for best year for linebacker (non edge rusher 3-4)
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Check out lavonte 2013 year
145 tackles and 7 sacks (plus he had 5 picks)
Adding all up that may be best ever combines tackles / sacks/ ints
——
Then add in shaq And jpp. Best in nfl in my opinion
February 13th, 2021 at 11:30 am
Shaq, Suh, David
February 13th, 2021 at 11:30 am
Keep the D together.. the offense will be alright with Toms influence
February 13th, 2021 at 11:33 am
We must keep David and White together. Go Bucs!! SB champs!!!
February 13th, 2021 at 11:41 am
David looks like he has at least a couple more years left in the tank and I can’t think of anyone in the league right now that could replace his production. We may get “lucky” with a draft pick (been playing lotto for 40 yrs, ain’t got “lucky” yet!)
Nothing against grooming his eventual replacement but we need that production in the mean time.
February 13th, 2021 at 12:01 pm
If we sign Lavonte David what will his contract look like?
4 yrs. $45 mil – $20 mil guaranteed?
February 13th, 2021 at 12:13 pm
They really are the best and white still hasn’t reached his full potential but unfortunately LVD will start to decline here in a few seasons if he’s with us. I say sign LVD to a 1 or 2 year deal and find someone on the streets orate in the draft to start developing his replacement. Go get Kwon for real cheap and have him back up white and LVD lol
February 13th, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Marine buc
That may be about right 45 ish to 50 range
And closer to 25 guaranteed
But I dont disagree
February 13th, 2021 at 12:17 pm
David has earned the right to be a Buccaneer for Life. But he also needs to decide if he wants market value or is willing to take less. Can’t pay market value to everyone. Also, Shaq, too. If he wants Tag money for extended time, let him go. Right now, any vet who wants a SB ring would be willing to take a little less.
February 13th, 2021 at 1:30 pm
Joe’s … Personally believe that LVD & White were the best interior LBs in the league in 2020, but I don’t see how folks can evaluate them in isolation of the rest of the defense. The 2020 Bucs’ defense (355 Points Allowed) wasn’t as scary good as the 2002 Bucs defense (196 Points Allowed), BUT … given another year or so they’ll rapidly approach that rarified position. Their improvement between 2019 and 2020 was nothing short of spectacular IMO.
Bucs defense ranked #29 in 2019, Todd Bowles FIRST year as its DC. It allowed 449 pts based on giving up 30 passing TDs, 11 rushing TDs, 37 FGs, and oh ya, was charged with 7 TDs allowed from Pick-6s by the offense. It generated 28 takeaways based on 12 INTs & 16 FRs and allowed 331 first downs (222 by passing, 70 by rushing, 39 by penalties).
Bucs defense ranked #8 in 2020, Todd Bowles SECOND year as its DC. It allowed 355 pts based on giving up 29 passing TDs, 10 rushing TDs, 21 FGs, and oh ya, was charged with 2 TDs allowed from Pick-6s by the offense. It generated 25 takeaways based on 15 INTs & 10 FRs and allowed 319 first downs (215 by passing, 78 by rushing, 26 by penalties).
So what changed in only ONE year to allow our Bucs defense to go from #29 to #8 in the rankings? What allowed them to give up 94 FEWER POINTS? And what allowed them to play a key role in winning the Super Bowl?
They had the SAME COACHING STAFF and almost exactly the SAME STARTERS. The defense both years gave up essentially the same number of TDs rushing & passing (41 vs 39). It generated almost the same number of takeaways (28 vs 25), and the 1st downs allowed weren’t that much different (331 vs 319).
The pass rush produced almost identical results both years. In 2019 we had 47 sacks, 117 QB Hits & 87 TFLs. In 2020 we had 48 sacks, 116 QB Hits & 91 TFLs.
I surmise that the 3 biggest factors driving the Bucs’ defensive improvement in 2021 in no particular order were (1) defensive players’ experience in playing together; (2) the Bucs’ offense; and (3) Todd Bowles & his coaching staff.
The defensive core was there in 2020, it was just very inexperienced, especially our Secondary. But it really came alive during this last 8-game winning streak, and that should bode well for the near future at least. Ironically the Bucs’ defense had 96 PDs in 2019, but only 70 PDs in 2020. It allowed opposing QBs to complete 61.4% of their passes in 2019 as opposed to 69.0% of their passes in 2020. And yet our pass defense improved from a #30 ranking in 2019 (allowing 4322 passing yds) to a #21 ranking in 2020 (allowing 3945 passing yds). Hmmm, strange.
Our offense also helped our defense tremendously by cutting down on the giveaways (and especially on the Pick-6s). Turnover differential flipped dramatically, from a MINUS 13 Turnover Differential in 2019 to a PLUS 8 Turnover Differential in 2020. That’s a mammoth swing, and directly cut at least 35 pts (5 TDs) off the defense’s Points Allowed because of 5 fewer Pick-6s. Just as importantly though, the huge decrease in giveaways was probably the driving factor in why FGs Allowed dropped drastically from 37 in 2019 to only 21 in 2020 (fewer short fields?). And oh ya, our 2020 offense also helped by scoring 37 more points, even though our average Time Of Possession fell from 30:54 in 2019 to 29:06 in 2020.
What’s truly amazing IMO is that our DLine was without one of its big dogs (Vea) for most of 2020 … and yet this defense improved dramatically. Todd Bowles creativity in getting the most out of every player on this defense was the key IMO. Got a hunch that Todd was seeing the ‘Big Picture’ over this 2-year span much better than any of the rest of us were.
February 13th, 2021 at 1:59 pm
This is why I think resigning LVD and Shaq will be a bigger priority over Godwin, though I know we would all love to have all 3 of them back.
February 13th, 2021 at 2:27 pm
Defense,
Nice post.
I would add improved play at the safety positions. The positions were in transition last season. It was the source of many blown coverages and yards/points . This year the position is more sorted from top to bottom.
Turnovers, Brady and the improvements at safety is the source.
February 13th, 2021 at 2:35 pm
Kwon who? Not missing Mr. Alexander.
February 13th, 2021 at 3:15 pm
We must keep David and White together, and the rest of the defense if we want to repeat as Champs.
If push comes to shove, cut corners on the offense, we are loaded there, and Brady has shown he can win with average talent at receiver.
February 13th, 2021 at 3:23 pm
D1 … Adding Winfield at Safety was like bringing in a top veteran far as I’m concerned. He made a huge difference in the Secondary performances, especially in the 2nd half of the season & in the playoffs. Awesome addition.
The rest of the defense though was pretty much carried over from 2019. Some of the individual stats weren’t as good (Shaq’s sacks?) but the overall performance was appreciably better IMO (as in 94 fewer pts allowed?). And that was without Vea for 11 regular season games & 2 playoff games.
What’s fascinating to me is that EVERYONE contributed big-time. Not just the starters, but also our key rotational players like Gholston, Nunez-Roches & Nelson. And especially AFTER Vea went down. Todd Bowles’ leadership, game-planning & play-calling brought out the best in all of them.
I think it’s imperative to bring that whole group back (Shaq, Suh, LVD, Nunez-Roches especially, but I’d also include Minter in there) AND find a couple other pieces to augment it, preferably in the draft. We were fortunate this year in that our starters stayed relatively healthy (with the obvious exception of Vea), especially in this COVID year. Been a long time since the Bucs defense stayed THAT healthy, so it would sure be nice to improve our depth AND start planning for the future in the DLine especially.
February 13th, 2021 at 3:32 pm
Coaches and jameis Winston.
February 13th, 2021 at 8:21 pm
MUST KEEP LVD. PERIOD.
LVD + DW >> DW + anyone else
February 13th, 2021 at 11:20 pm
Keep Shaq Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul, Lavonte David and Devin White at all cost. And Joe, I love this article, because yes, for me too they are the best 4.
Individually you can make a case for Khalil Mack outside on a 3-4,or T.J. Watt.
Inside for a 3-4 Dont’a Hightower steped out this year but man, what a baller! What about JJ Watt? Man, another dominant player when healthy he is!
JJ Watt quit the Texans. I wonder if,…
Well, a fan can dream,…
GO BUCS!
February 14th, 2021 at 1:56 pm
White is the heart and sould of this defense IMO.
Dont think Whites impact would be the same if not for Lavonte Davids established presence.
Having JPP and Suh to mold the future of our DL is invaluable.
February 15th, 2021 at 9:06 am
Why obese porky one