Shaun King: Bucs Pass Rush “Embarrassing”
September 12th, 2021
Flimsy output from the Tampa Bay pass rush
Joe is all about production and former Bucs QB Shaun King, one of four men to lead Tampa Bay to the NFC title game, seems to have the same mindset.
Dak Prescott attempted 58 passes Thursday and the Bucs sacked him just once and barely pushed him around in their 31-29 victory.
For perspective, last season the Bucs registered one sack for every 13 pass attempts by an opposing quarterback.
Yeah, it was a gruesome display by the pass rush to open the season. And ponder that Vita Vea is widely being lauded for mauling and balling and having a strong game. Well, if that’s accurate, then what the hell happend to the rest of the pass rushers?
Don’t get confused, Joe is not down on the thrilling victory and loves how the Bucs started the season for many reasons. But the pass rush was rough.
King, speaking on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio, said the Tampa Bay secondary deserves “an asterisk,” essentially a bit of a pass for being down two starters in most of Thursday night’s game. But King says there are no excuses for the failures of the front-7.
“I think that was the story of the game. [Prescott] threw the ball 58 times and Tampa only had one sack and maybe one or two knockdowns,” King said. “… There’s a lot of money on that front line. You know, Vita Vea is a first-round pick. Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett have both signed lucrative contracts. Ndamukong Suh is probably on the back side of his career, but still he’s a former first-round pick. You can’t allow a team, Cowboys or anyone else, to throw the ball 58 times and we only get one sack. Like that’s embarrassing.”
Notice King says “we” when he refers to the Bucs. A national analyst for VSiN network, King is a lifeline Bucs fans from his days growing up in St. Petersburg.
The money investment is a fair take from King, and it’s always worth noting the expectations that come with salary. Joe also will add that the repeated blitzes from the Bucs also didn’t get through.
In the end, it’s great knowing that your team has deficiencies but still beat a talented opponent — and that it has the coaching and leadership to fix its issues.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:13 am
Sometimes you just have to give v credit where credit is due. Dallas offensive line deserves credit.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:48 am
dak was getting the ball out quick, to me it was the secondary not being able to cover for even a couple seconds so the pass rush could get there that caused them to look so bad, im not saying the front 7 arent at fault as well, but as quick as the ball was coming out, it would be hard for anyone to get there.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:57 am
the pass rush was non existent for the bulk of the game…
however, they ran for almost no yards against us…
and the rush woke up a bit down the stretch…
it almost looked like both teams were just putting on a bit of a show for the nation, as in an opening game, to thrill fans, attract audiences, and create appeal for the league on a whole…
and then in the 4th it was like “ok game on, enough doing what goodell wants, may the best team win”…
let’s be real, the nfl wanted a darn good game, and the bucs to win in the end – as they let the godwin offensive pass interference slide big time…
#YesWeGotTommy #BradyRulesApplied
September 12th, 2021 at 2:59 am
as i was saying b4…we are the new america’s team
September 12th, 2021 at 3:12 am
It’s definitely very concerning..yeah announcers were saying taking front 7 out of it etc .. but a lot of times looked non existent… I hope jpp and Suh arent going to be showing their age this year. It’s good we at least picked up Tryon but will take him some time
September 12th, 2021 at 3:14 am
it was kinda like a larry holmes title defense in the 80s…
he won, he outpointed the opponent, but the opponent held it’s own too…
all is good…on to week 2 where it becomes no frills football against atlanta ————> with much less glitz, glam and league bs
September 12th, 2021 at 3:44 am
Someone tell Sean that a CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM peaks @ the end of the season & NOT game 1. Lolololol
September 12th, 2021 at 4:17 am
The pass rush does not operate in a vacuum. You need good coverage by the secondary in order to slow down the pass and then the pass rush can get to the QB. When the secondary is the weakest link by far then the rush is meaningless.
September 12th, 2021 at 4:50 am
Zeke did a heck of a job picking up blitzes.
September 12th, 2021 at 5:08 am
Thats all Zeke did though.
Run D looked great per usual.
All that matters now is the W.
Dallas is probably a playoff team and Dak is special so.
Can’t overlook Atlanta but LA and then NE are big games.
Gotta clean $hit up quick.
Hopefully Bunting is back quick.
September 12th, 2021 at 5:46 am
Quick timing passes combined with great o-line play makes it hard to get to Dak. Not panicking just yet – let’s see how our front 7 handles Atlanta.
BTW, Godwin’s play wasn’t OPI, back shoulder throw that He had a right to go after and DB flopped to get the call.
September 12th, 2021 at 6:01 am
Even though some JBFers don’t care much for stats, they can tell you quite a bit about parts of the game that you don’t see on TV or even sitting in the stadium … IF they come from a reputable source of course. Pro Football Reference is one of those sources IMO.
If you look at their ‘Advanced Passing’ stats for Thurs game, it paints an interesting picture. Dak Prescott attempted 58 passes, completed 42 of those (72.4%) for 403 yds. Impressive. He threw for 21 of Dallas’ 30 1st downs. Also impressive (since that means that half of his completions went for 1st downs).
But when you dig deeper there’s some interesting stats. He threw for 211 Completed Air Yards (CAY), which amounts to 5.0 yds/completion average. His receivers added 192 yds after the completion (YAC), telling me that they were fairly open when they caught the ball. Cowboy receivers only had 2 drops on the night, and Dak was credited with 9 ‘bad throws’. Bucs’ defenders were credited with only 5 Passes Defensed (PDs), 3 of those by Davis.
But where it really gets interesting IMO is in the times when Dak was under pressure. He was blitzed 33 times (out of his 58 attempts) but only got sacked once. Bucs did get 2 Hurries and 6 QB Hits for a total of 9 pressures (including the 1 sack). That’s a Pressure Rate of only 14.5%, roughly 1 out of 7. Tells me that Dak did well getting the ball out, and that his OLine did a great job of protecting him. Kudos to them.
Also seems to me though that our blitzing wasn’t very effective, and that we were leaving the underneath ‘stuff’ open far too much, allowing the Cowboys to capitalize on it. And only having 5 PDs in 58 pass attempts should be somewhat concerning (especially when 3 of those came from 1 CB).
September 12th, 2021 at 6:32 am
@Defense Rules
U should be running this website
September 12th, 2021 at 6:33 am
Shaun King never led anyone anywhere. He was just along for the ride. Talk about embarrassing? There he is.
September 12th, 2021 at 6:36 am
@ Defense Rules:
interesting stuff right there…good post…
they’ve gotta go back to the drawing board on a whole lotta stuff…
on another note, there are like a handful of really good games on today’s week 1 schedule…i’ll be tuning in for jameis and many others
September 12th, 2021 at 6:41 am
i was in the stadium that monday night that shaun king led the bucs down the field against the rams on monday night football back in the day…the bucs either won 38-35 or 41-38…
that was one heck of a game and a night…
the stadium was shaking and reverberating on some richter scale type sh!t when we scored…
the floors were shaking like never before at ray jay…and i haven’t felt them shake like that since…
that last drive was wild and king was a good part of it…
shaun was not bad in his time here – and yes he had limitations…but he definitely was a buc for more than a hot minute
September 12th, 2021 at 7:02 am
It’s hard to make a sack when the ball comes out so quick. Dallas was very good at that. Give them some credit.
September 12th, 2021 at 7:04 am
Shaun … is not giving any credit to the Dallas OL and Prescott’s correct quick reads and release… and Oh accuracy!
Bowles realized all of that early when he got burned bringing pressure on the Cowboys first drive working off the 2 yard line.
September 12th, 2021 at 7:11 am
Wasn’t SK one of Jameis’s biggest defenders?
September 12th, 2021 at 7:34 am
It’s not like all those pass attempts were 7 step drops, Shaun. Dak and the Cowboys knew they couldn’t hang back there forever, so they neutralized the pass rush by getting the ball out really quick most of the night.
September 12th, 2021 at 7:36 am
I thought Shaq had a 2nd sack when he forced Dak out of bounds for a loss.
The Cowboys made our Edge rushers who are OLB’s cover the flats first of all. They weren’t able to pin their ears back and rush the QB.
BA said that they tackled Vita a couple plays in a row but they refs wouldn’t call consecutive holding calls. He’s right.
Holding calls are almost as good as a sack.
Vita got zero stats but dominated that game especiually on the Cowboys last drive.
September 12th, 2021 at 7:42 am
The one thing that really bothered me is that we never tipped or batted down one pass…..Dak is only 6′ 2″…..so he’s not that tall…if we weren’t getting to him the least the front 7 could do is raise their hands…..but no….they got tied up with their blocks too much.
I rarely ever agree with Burger King….but this time I do.
September 12th, 2021 at 7:56 am
“The one thing that really bothered me is that we never tipped or batted down one pass….”
LVD deflected one, but he should have let it go. It would have been a pick.
Davis dropped a pick in the end zone, I guess that counts as a deflection.
September 12th, 2021 at 8:01 am
Dak got rid of the ball so quickly, he looked like Drew Brees picking our secondary apart. That’s why there were so few sacks. They exposed the lack of coverage. The front 4 were tough. Their game plan was on the money. We know we can’t run the ball. Dak has to get rid of the ball immediately and let’s keep the ball away from white an David. They executed perfectly. Thank goodness our offense is so strong.
September 12th, 2021 at 8:04 am
Ghost of Darrell Henderson Says:
That deflection was a pass that wasn’t tipped at the line….it was downfield….
September 12th, 2021 at 8:05 am
Dak played like Brady. Quick reads and get rid of the ball. Best way to combat a big pass rush. Bucks stayed with the blitz all game even tho it wasn’t working. DBs played soft coverage on short throws in man coverage. Cowboys took what was available and moved the sticks. Bucs never adjusted and dropped linebackers back to help more in short pass coverage. Creds to the Cowboys game plan that looked like the Bucs. Quick release QBs are hard to sack. But what really hurt the Bucs were interceptions and fumbles. Should have been several more Buc tds that would have kept the Bucs safely ahead all game. Turn overs kept Dallas in the game. And our dbs are not good enough in man coverage not to have linebacker support.
September 12th, 2021 at 8:32 am
Good points Wild Bill, but King’s right, I was disappointed with our pass rush too. Dallas had a good game plan against our front seven. Blitzing White up the middle wasn’t working with Zeke staying in yet we kept at it. Hindsight we would’ve been better off just rushing four, or three, and adding an extra DB to create tighter windows. Overall, not a great night rushing Dak.
September 12th, 2021 at 8:48 am
The Mike Smith, 8-yards-off-the-line-of-scrimmage coverage, did not help the pass rush or the YAC that DR speaks of!
When is lose coverage good in a close ballgame?
September 12th, 2021 at 8:54 am
Dallas’s O line, when healthy is the best in the game as is our D-line
They basically canceled each other out – plain and simple
They also didn’t run the ball in us so it’s not but our D-line was dominated
Sometimes you have to win using whatever slight advantage you have
In this case it was our skill players on offense
September 12th, 2021 at 9:04 am
The Bucs gave up 9 points because the offense handed the Cowboys the ball on the Bucs’ 20 twice in the 2nd quarter on turnovers.
Dak Prescott is a great QB, period – he’s the difference in the Cowboys being 10-7 instead of 6-11 this year.
The Cowboys had all summer to game plan and they came out with different receiver formations that Bucs hadn’t seen.
The D played well overall – believe it or not, Prescott shreds every teams’ secondary.
1st games always leave messes to clean up.
September 12th, 2021 at 9:14 am
Rest assured that the Bucs upcoming opponents will be studying the Dallas game plan very carefully. Bowles better fix this quickly. Teams know they can’t run up the middle, so Dallas attacked the edges, with great success. Defense Rules had some great analysis and he’s right. The Dallas o-line, even with one of its starters out, did a great job against our front 7. The answer – don’t turn the ball over and score more points so the D isn’t on the field as much. The time of possession was way too lopsided.
September 12th, 2021 at 9:16 am
Who in the hell is Shaun King? Are you that want a be QB the Bucs had a few years back who doesn’t know what he’s talking. OK the Bucs had only one sack but a ton of pressures because Prescott mostly threw a ton of screens & short passes. Keep in mind King stats do not win ball games or are you to dumb to see that.
September 12th, 2021 at 9:21 am
Their O line overachieved.
September 12th, 2021 at 9:43 am
I think the main advantage to the game was that the Cowboys offense had looks that were not seen before. I rewatched the game. Jame Dean had a very bad night. Mike Edwards had cramps. Much of the action of the Cowboys offense was right in front of Edwards or Dean. I think SUH has lost a step. Vea was a beast. In my opinion, Shaq played on the wrong side of the line. All of these are fixable. I am glad the D pur a turd on the field in the first game. It gives them reason to work in practice all season long.
September 12th, 2021 at 9:47 am
For as fast as Dak was getting rid of the ball, the rush was close. This take by King is off base in my opinion.
When they attempted anything over 15 yards down field he was under pressure. With backup Corners and Safeties on the field, and against those recievers, they had to play off coverage and Dak played pitch and catch underneath all night and because of that Dallas didn’t score TD’s, instead settling for FG’s.
We won game one, on to game two.
September 12th, 2021 at 9:50 am
Bowles went back to coaching like he did all 2019. Things didn’t change until he stopped. He forgot about all the success the defense had last year. The pass rush and coverage go hand in hand they both feed off each other. If neither can do their job under 2.5 seconds, the line getting real pressure and the dbs covering then every game will be like this. When you give 10-15 yards free fly zone because you’re scared then the line has no chance. If they would just keep receivers on the line for one second and stick with them for 1.5 the line would have a chance. Bowles was out coached because he kept blitzing when it wasn’t working.
September 12th, 2021 at 10:03 am
Nice post DR!
Bowles felt it best to keep the Dallas WR’s in front of the DB’s. Dak and OL did really good job unloading the ball quickly on the perimeter.
Turnovers nearly cost us the game.
Fook pretty points. we are 1-0.
September 12th, 2021 at 10:40 am
Kind of agree with sparky Bucs. Shawn King was an embarrassment not our defensive line. Give Dallas credit but Tampa still won. Let’s not lose focus of what’s important. GO BUCS!
September 12th, 2021 at 10:48 am
I said this after the game. Harp on the Secondary…they didn’t have a good game. But against three top quality receivers and no pass rush? A recipe for disaster for any DB’s not named Deion Sanders.
September 12th, 2021 at 10:50 am
And don’t forget, guys. If not for four turnovers, and 100 yards in penalties, it appears the game plan would have worked pretty well, not in regard to the stats, but regarding the victory.
September 12th, 2021 at 11:15 am
Early Cowboy play design was to get the ball out very quickly on the perimeter. They did not want the ball to stay in Dak’s hands long and it didn’t. Then as they started throwing the ball down the field, Dak’s primary target was almost always open. Sacks usually come from a QB having to go through business 2nd and 3rd progressions and the sack comes through. We didn’t do a good job in coverage and also dropped two relatively easy INTs that would have ended scoring drives.
September 12th, 2021 at 11:34 am
Hard to get sacks when Dak’s first read is wide ass open all the time
September 12th, 2021 at 11:42 am
In hindsight with Dak playing his arse off and getting the ball out so quick, Bowles should have adjusted to a rush 4 and drop everyone else scheme. Maybe he would have thrown into some double coverage.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:14 pm
BucsBeBack … “When is loose coverage good in a close ballgame?”
I’m still not convinced that our defensive gameplan called for ‘loose coverage’. But I am convinced that it called for a lot of blitzing, and that our blitzing wasn’t very effective on the night. Bucs blitzed 61 total times on 33 plays, so almost 2 blitzers were sent each time Dak got blitzed. That’s bound to leave large swarths of real estate open IF the blitz isn’t successful. So what may have looked like off-coverage may in fact have been more the result of unsuccessful blitzing IMO.
Out of the 61 times we blitzed, Shaq blitzed on 19 of those (almost a third). LVD blitzed on 11 of those, and White blitzed on 8 more. That’s approaching 2/3rds of our blitzes were by just 3 guys. Shaq did get our lone sack, but as I remember it was from Dak scrambling. Gut feel is that (1) Dallas did a great job of handling the blitz; and (2) the lanes just weren’t being created for our blitzers to exploit.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:30 pm
Yeah, the Bucs returned to Blitz Happy Team, which failed miserably last year. When it stopped blitz, it started to won last year!
September 12th, 2021 at 12:45 pm
We should put Shaun Buger King on the D-line, he’s certainly heavy enough.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:58 pm
There would’ve been at least 2 more sacks if not for Dallas holding penalties (JPP and Vea would’ve had those).
September 12th, 2021 at 1:45 pm
They are who we thought they are Professional !
Now who is Shuan King to talk..He didn’t even study
the play book to keep his JOB.. Oh by the way this was the FIRST game…Its a W..
September 12th, 2021 at 1:58 pm
I too joe was embarrassed about our front 7. Dak is a good QB. He was in fire before he got hurt last year and Thursday night looked as if he was never injured. Even if SMB was in the game everyone was getting toasted in the secondary. People running wide ass open. We have got to tighten up.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:01 pm
How do you blitz 61 times on 33 plays??? 😅🤣😂 just playing I know what you meant. You’re right we blitzed too much. Bowles Tim this defense back to his Tidy Bowel defense because he was scared. Didn’t believe in his line or dbs
September 12th, 2021 at 2:45 pm
I’m not invited to any coach meetings but I’m pretty sure that what we saw was exactly what was planned.
1) We don’t give up much running yardage on defense, Given
2) Dallas was going to have to throw the ball to move the chains, Given
3) Dallas has “big play” ability and we pretty much took that away too.
4) Dallas took what we gave them which was the short ball. To our chagrin, they also managed a tidy sum of YAC yards.
5) We turned the ball over 4 times, twice within field goal range!
Take away those turnovers and we would all be crowing about the masterful coaching that led to a two or three score differential at the end!
September 12th, 2021 at 2:49 pm
BTW
The blitzes were designed to force the short passes too.
Part of the game plan and it worked!
Settle down!
September 12th, 2021 at 6:40 pm
@joe Prescott got rid of the ball so fast because of the dline and we still registerd 22 qb hits do that count for anything? I think our dlne played good fb maybe I’m wrong
September 13th, 2021 at 4:39 pm
I think the refs just needed to make sure we didn’t cover the spread. Vegas made a billion dollars Thursday night.
September 13th, 2021 at 8:49 pm
Shawn King was a terrible quarterback for the Buccaneers. He was handed the starting job and he came in completely unprepared for it.