About That 29-Yard Bears Run
October 25th, 2021
Joe was stunned with every other Bucs fan when the Bears handed off to running back Khalil Herbert early in the first quarter yesterday and he rumbled 29 yards — dragging Devin White the final 10 yards to the Bucs’ 44 yard line.
That just doesn’t happen against the Bucs, but it did.
It seems White and fellow inside linebacker Kevin Minter bit on the play-action fake sort of in reverse, meaning they reacted as if it was a pass. That was odd against a run-first team like the Bears on first down, but it can happen. What doesn’t happen against the Bucs is the big finish from Herbert.
The rookie sixth-round pick had 71 yards on 17 carries the rest of the game, and that might be more surprising than the big run early.
Nobody runs like that against the Bucs’ run defense, which has been by far the best in the NFL since defensive coordinator Todd Bowles arrived in 2019.
The week prior against the Eagles, the Bucs allowed more than 100 yards rushing, though Joe wrote much of that off to garbage time defense and yards. But what against Chicago was a different animal.
It’s exciting to know the Bucs are so damn good yet still have so many areas in which to improve.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:11 am
Surprised Richard Sherman wasn’t blamed for this…..
October 25th, 2021 at 10:12 am
Pete loves how we can knit-pick over a 38-3 win. TB12 has changed everything
October 25th, 2021 at 10:19 am
I was more surprised at the opposite. That is the big early run. I think most of the others were when we were up a few scores no? That’s when you essentially Lin your ears back because clock is working against them so if they wanna run go ahead
October 25th, 2021 at 10:20 am
The best defense against the run, can also miss one play…..
And your rival makes plays too, right?
October 25th, 2021 at 10:26 am
I think Bowles is making adjustments for how we have been getting killed with the short, quick passes. I will let them run for close to a 100 yards if we can contain the pass.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:28 am
dude was quick, as was the QB….like playing Vick and Dunn (but shiftier)
and it’s not like he was dragging people. he had momentum and 45 at an odd angle.
good play by them and a learning experience for us.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:36 am
Any team can run for 500 yards as long they only give up 3 points.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:40 am
When you are up 3 scores keeping the top on the defense becomes a higher priority than stopping the run, and White had a beast of a tackle right before the second quarter.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:47 am
We beat Chicago so bad, we may have cost Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace their jobs.
Our Stadium was full of Bears Fans yesterday, and most were super nice. They did not expect to beat us, but were hoping that it would at least be a competitive game. It was not. Most of the Chicago media are calling for the heads of both Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:51 am
I’m sure Alvin Kamara and Sean Payton are making notes. If a 6 round rookie puts up a 100 yard game we better get real and forget about their QB and focus on their real strength.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:58 am
Lavonte David has a lot to do with the run defense success, and he was absent. Thinking we go from A- back to A+ upon his return.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:59 am
Orange…nothing to worry about. Bowles is bright enough to have a new game plan every week.
October 25th, 2021 at 10:59 am
Give the Bears some credit….they ran the ball against the Bucs for 3 points….
October 25th, 2021 at 11:09 am
You’re right Leighroy. Nagy is not in the same league as Payton though. I see complacency here on JBF. Keep it out of the locker room. Bowles v. Payton is a good matchup to watch.
October 25th, 2021 at 11:10 am
Preview tonight. Payton v Carroll
October 25th, 2021 at 11:26 am
I agree with others who have said they think Todd Bowles has made adjustments to adress the pass defense. Look at the two games we’ve given up more yardage on the ground, we were not killed in the passing game.
October 25th, 2021 at 11:31 am
seems we focused on other priorities, I would say our gameplan was effective gameplan==one game only
October 25th, 2021 at 11:33 am
Tampabaybucfan Says:
October 25th, 2021 at 10:59 am
Give the Bears some credit….they ran the ball against the Bucs for 3 points….
Lol! We should of slaughtered them more and better and then looked for more ways to do it again.
October 25th, 2021 at 11:49 am
Thisisouryear!!! has the right read on it. The linebackers are being taught to bail out on certain looks and schemes as a first step to contain the passing game that had been gashing us. Look at how it paid off with the practice squad secondary we have.
October 25th, 2021 at 12:00 pm
Good to see the pass rush and flushing the quarterbacks out of the pocket. These rushing totals are nothing to be concerned about because the passing yards are so low. Look at total yard per game Bucs defense has given up and its getting better each game.
Alvin Kamara in past years has killed the Bucs but his numbers so far this season have been well below his past performances, only averaging 3.9 yards per carry with one rushing touchdown. If the Bucs can take him out of the game early and Winston goes to the air, I see the Bucs pass rush getting to him. We’ve all seen him fumble in the past, the way Barrett and JPP were getting around the edges and coming after the QB’s arm, would be good to see them knock a few out of Winston’s windup.
October 25th, 2021 at 12:12 pm
The Bucs are actually good enough to set up teams they will meet down the road.
Let Kamara try that next week, it won’t work. I am going to estimate that Alvin will be under 50 yards next week. That way they can try to force the Fameis one to try to win with his arm.
One or two extra seconds of holding the ball will allow Shaq and JPP to tee off on him.
October 25th, 2021 at 12:15 pm
I heard LVD is pretty good. Losing him may have an impact on the run game.
October 25th, 2021 at 12:26 pm
Gota tip the cap to Herbert. He was their best player yesterday by far.
October 25th, 2021 at 12:48 pm
Getting LVD back is going to be huge for this defense
October 25th, 2021 at 12:49 pm
Apparently few have noticed, but our defense has been steadily improving, despite the injuries. I attribute that almost exclusively to Todd Bowles.
Our run defense is still ranked #1, despite our Yards/Rush average increasing lately to 3.7 YPR after 7 games (last year we were 3.6 YPR on the year). But our pass defense has gradually come up in the rankings, and we’re now ranked #22 in Passing Yardage Allowed (1853), putting us overall in the Top-10 defenses (we’re now ranked #10 overall). Personally I think that’s incredible considering the number of injuries we’ve had on defense.
October 25th, 2021 at 12:50 pm
Im in the camp where our D backed off a bit on run prevention and as a result we were better at getting deeper drops from the LBs to stop completions to rbs and TEs! I will gladly trade an extra 40 yards on the ground for 150 less yards in the air!
October 25th, 2021 at 1:06 pm
Almost all success came on draw plays out of passing formations on obvious passing downs. Doesn’t bite the same as lining up in heavy formations in obvious run situations and continually getting gashed like the Panthers-Bucs Monday night game back in 2008.
October 25th, 2021 at 1:38 pm
Sorry to break the news, but this is not an elite run defense. It’s a good run defense, but when teams want to run on this team, they’ve been running on this team. The issue had been it’s so easy to pass, that teams just didn’t run, but since the Bucs have been getting some pressure, finally, teams have needed to run more and they’ve had success. People are living in the past if they think this is an elite run stop defense. Said this last week and people threw a hissy fit, then the Bears go and rush for 143 yards. I’m the best, ladies, what I saw is truth. When will you learn?
October 25th, 2021 at 2:31 pm
Saw Herbert at Tech he was very good and seems like he’s only getting better now that he is getting more NFL action dude is legit
October 25th, 2021 at 2:37 pm
That big run by Herbert was the result of Todd Bowles having D. White not playing as the big impact player he is against the run because of L. David’s absence in the lineup.
Tampa needs both David and White playing side-by-side, along with their CB’s, to be the shut down defense we saw last year in the playoff.
It’s about to happen soon with the CB’s returning.
October 25th, 2021 at 3:13 pm
@Thisisouryear!!! What a great point
October 25th, 2021 at 4:09 pm
Good God. It was one run. It was a long game which was out of question early. To expect the Defense to stay focused and never give up a run is a little greedy.
They gave up 3 points. They won.
One more time: Stats are for losers.
October 25th, 2021 at 4:29 pm
I saw White out of position in a few of his run fits. Too much freelancing.
October 25th, 2021 at 5:34 pm
Kellen- You Hokie alum?
Fanman is. I had to do a double-take when Herbert entered the previous game against the Packers. His departure is a huge reason the Hokies look like a 5-win team at best. He would’ve been a higher round pick if not for his injury last season. I won’t be surprised if he cracks a starting line-up somewhere.
BUT…Fanman can only root for him when NOT playing the Bucs.
Hey, Chicago isn’t there playing to lose. Give them credit. They exploited our blitzes by gashing us with runs.
Somebody somewhere once said turnovers are a strong indicator of wins and losses. Hard to overcome, regardless of statistical success.
October 26th, 2021 at 12:38 am
They’re missing so many players I’m not surprised at all … David is a HUGE part of that run defense and so is Davis!!
October 26th, 2021 at 9:44 am
This defense would be scary good if White was having a pro bowl season. Whether it’s free lancing, or being used differently, he’s just not making any splash plays. Right now White’s not even the best MLB in our division let alone the league. I thought White would be the next coming of Ray Lewis, but this year he’s playing more like Jerry Lewis. The number 5 pick in the draft needs to play great, not good, and certainly not average which is what he’s been.