“I Expect More”
September 16th, 2021
Bucco Bruce Arians talks Vita Vea and those around him.
Joe would like to say thank you to Bucco Bruce Arians for his candor.
Yes, Arians is like most NFL coaches; a huge percentage of what he tells media is calculated spin. But Arians is more forthcoming than nearly all his coaching brothers and Joe is going to miss that terribly when Arians is gone.
Enter the Bucs’ absent pass rush on Thursday night. Those who watched the film saw blitzes didn’t get home nearly enough and the front line had a rough night.
However, the intriguing X-factor is Arians — and seemingly everyone in the free world — saying nose tackle Vita Vea “had a great game,” so he told Bucs Total Access on Tuesday. Arians added on SiriusXM NFL Radio that Vea should have drawn a couple of additional holding penalties.
If so, and Vea was wreaking havoc in the middle of the offensive line, then where was everyone else playing off that?
Arians made exactly that point when he spoke of Vea’s strong night. He was clear that Vea’s work should have equaled a lot more heat on Dak Prescott.
Joe can throw plenty of maybes out there. Maybe The Sickness took a little out of Ndamukong Suh? Perhaps Todd Bowles was caught off guard, as Arians explained, and didn’t have his usual feel for his playcalls? Perhaps Jason Pierre-Paul’s new hand injury was affecting him?
It could be a lot of things, though Joe is certainly not ready to say the mighty Tampa Bay pass rush of 2020 has taken a step back.
September 16th, 2021 at 3:14 pm
The pass rush was mitigated by all the quick, short, and screen passes thrown by the the Cowboys.. It seemed like every one of their series had a 2nd. and 3 or 2nd. and 4. Because so many first down plays were these quick short passes. The D coaches need to make quicker adjustments to such obvious strategies.
September 16th, 2021 at 3:34 pm
And that is why the Cowboys threw 50+ times – they were mostly short passes. Excellent strategy by the Cowboys to neutralize the pass rush. The pass rush is pretty mush useless if the QB can release the ball quickly on short passes. And this is where you need good secondary – you need to cover in order to slow down the passes in order to give the pass rush a chance to get to the QB. The secondary is the weakest link, the Bucs pass rush is still good.
September 16th, 2021 at 3:39 pm
The Eagles shut down the Falcons by playing soft coverage, no one gets behind the DBs, and let the front four apply pressure. (Plus, the Falcon stink.) I’d like to see the D-Line get after Ryan this week.
September 16th, 2021 at 3:56 pm
50 passes for 400 yds is a pretty good average which shows they werent all short
September 16th, 2021 at 4:01 pm
casual said it. their qb looked like TB getting the ball out.
September 16th, 2021 at 4:09 pm
The Dallas offensive line played well and Dak got the ball out quickly. Our secondary also had a shameful day. I’ll never understand how a player or unit can look fantastic in one game and then look like they don’t even belong on the field in another.
September 16th, 2021 at 4:20 pm
@Buczilla Says:
“… I’ll never understand how a player or unit can look fantastic in one game and then look like they don’t even belong on the field in another…”
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because our unit D at best is average. most of fans refuse to see it that way… they want to believe that our D is elite, like we were once…. is NOT.
TB12 and the O unit is what we have SPECIAL. That’s it.
Coaches… mediocre level.
September 16th, 2021 at 5:18 pm
I saw a lot of holding there’s also in online in the nfc south that does a lot of holding.
September 16th, 2021 at 5:41 pm
Casual observer, you took the words out of my mouth. That’s exactly right.
September 16th, 2021 at 5:57 pm
I think some of problems still exist it’s just winning covers up a lot of mistakes. Our defense is “not there” yet. Yes they had a good run and at perfect time but I know that Qbs like Heineke are deadly to us. Insert Dak that didnt play for a year and he lights us up. Totally expected. If you expected different then Idk what to say to you other than you bought the hype and a prisoner of the moment
September 16th, 2021 at 6:08 pm
The Cowboys had a great game plan for our very good defense. They knew they weren’t going to have a productive run game so they did have their pass game mapped out that almost won the game for them. A few more good kicks and we would of been 0-1
September 16th, 2021 at 6:42 pm
Secondary will be picked on y’all. For Christ sake, you can’t run on them. What do you expect teams to do? Run 40 times? Brady will score at least 30. You can’t get to 30 running the ball a lot. The secondary will also post atrocious numbers, it’s just a fact. NFL offenses are hard to defend, no matter how talented you are. Stupid teams may try to run on them, the ones without offensive lines and bad qbs. They need to blitz a hell of a lot less and start looking for corner help. You’re supposed to have this great GM. He should realize the fatal flaw. It may not matter because you have a sickening amount of talent, and the best QB to ever play. But Ben foresees roasted secondary on the menu.
September 16th, 2021 at 6:44 pm
Never been a fan of Thurs night games; not much of a fan of night games in general actually. Bucs never seem to play well on Thurs nights (or at night in general) for some reason.
Last year for instance we played the Bears on Thurs night: lost 20-19 in a lethargic game. Played the Giants on a Mon night: won 25-23 (squeaked by). Then played the Saints on a Sun night: got trounced 38-3. Then the Rams on a Sun night: lost 27-24. Only playoff game we played later at night was against Washington: won 31-23 but wasn’t a particularly well-played game. So 3 of our 5 losses were at night, and the 2 wins at night weren’t exactly runaways.
Maybe it’s just having too many hours to get ready for the game. Or too many meals. Heck maybe they all just need to take a nap before showing up at the stadium. Something’s not clicking.
September 16th, 2021 at 6:56 pm
Dak played Brady’s style. And played it well. Bucks never adjusted. Then Brady played Brady style and won the game. Meanwhile every team we play this year saw how to neutralize the Bucs fierce pass rush if your qb can play Brady style. Bowles will have to make some pass rush adjustments and coach up the dbs and lbs on pass defense schemes. Luckily not many opponents are going to have such stout offensive line blockers like the Cowboys. The Rams loom large in game 3. They will be a tough challenge.
September 16th, 2021 at 8:23 pm
One game is not sufficient to draw conclusions… EVER.
September 16th, 2021 at 9:03 pm
First game.
September 16th, 2021 at 9:13 pm
Vea did his thing.
September 16th, 2021 at 9:20 pm
Vea did his thing because he was not doubled as much as he typically is.
Shaq was doubled a lot.
Obviously I’m just watching the TV and not film focused on the line of scrimmage
September 16th, 2021 at 11:57 pm
So many short passes with the defensive backs in soft coverage. Basically gave the Dallas receivers a 5yd window with little to no coverage. Dallas planned for a Tampa aggressive front seven by getting the ball out with short passes. And used screen passes and passes to the flats to punish them for blitzing. Kinda reminded me of a Gruden offense. Except Dak Prescott can throw deep too. The rest of the league will try to copy what Dallas did. Also Ezekiel Elliot was amazing at being in the right spot to pick up the blitz. Todd Bowles better figure out how to adjust. Or it’s going to be a long season.
September 17th, 2021 at 9:08 am
CrazyBucs, u r crazy and make no sense.
September 17th, 2021 at 10:40 am
Nothing’s going to be easy this year. Just the way I like it. It’s only going to make better in the playoffs. GO BUCS!