Bucs Now Prepare For A Bitter, Physical Team
October 18th, 2021
Khalil Mack coming to town.
For Bucs fans who watched the Bucs’ next opponent, the Bears, lose to the Packers yesterday, Joe has no idea how the Bears were allowed to skirt the rules and wear a second helmet Sunday.
The new second-helmet rule doesn’t go into effect until the 2022 season.
The league ban on a second helmet is what has prevented the Bucs from wearing the creamsicles for a throwback game since 2012.
But what Joe does know is that the Bears, while maybe not a playoff team are still a physical team. (Joe has a good friend from college who is a hardcore Bears fan. He texted Joe yesterday begging for lousy Lovie Smith to return to the Second City.)
So this Sunday the Bucs better be wearing their big boy pants.
Naturally, Khalil Mack has been doing a lot of the punishing for the Bears defense. Remember, he is the only guy who has ever gotten a sack on Bucs right tackle Tristan Wirfs in a game that counted.
Yesterday against a lesser offensive line than the Bucs’, Mack had a sack, a quarterback hit, a tackle for a loss and four tackles. Veteran defensive end Robert Quinn also was impressive. He had a sack, two tackles for a loss, a quarterback hit and four tackles.
Joe isn’t too worried about Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields. He’s not Mac Jones but he does have a helluva arm that ought to concern the Bucs with their beat up secondary. Joe trusts that Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles can cook up enough crazy blitzes that will confuse the Ohio State product.
The Packers don’t have the front seven the Bucs do and they got Fields on the ground four times and had four quarterback hits on him and picked him off once.
Joe’s big takeaways from watching the Bears was that this will be an old school black and blue division kinda game when the two teams were in the NFC Central, and that Mack and Quinn are two guys to worry about.
October 18th, 2021 at 8:04 am
Tristan Wirfs will make this his revenge game. I’m sure the Bucs will show him that ragdolling move over and over. Our OL is playing elite. This will be an easy game, unless Nick Foles enters the game as Brady’s kryptonite. LOL. J/k.
October 18th, 2021 at 8:21 am
Joe,
It’s not a second helmet, they just changed the decals around. It’s similar to when the Packers wear their throwback uniforms they just remove the decal from their helmets, even though the helmet color is incorrect it’s as close as they can get due to the one helmet rule.
October 18th, 2021 at 8:26 am
If this is what you write Joe, I can only imagine what JoeBearsFan is writing.
This is a potentially tough game but no one will have forgotten last year. We will now see whether the newly discovered running game is stout or happenstance.
October 18th, 2021 at 8:31 am
Weren’t those helmets the same with different stickers on them.
Should be a good game this weekend, the bears won’t want to lose back to back games. Our run D might give up a bunch more yards to another running qb as well.
October 18th, 2021 at 8:49 am
Joe,
I think the bears helmets are the same just without the normal bears logo. Same with Detroit and thanksgiving uniform. They just remove the decal. I could be wrong tho.
October 18th, 2021 at 8:49 am
Biggest concern is the secondary, but I think we get it done. This is a revenge game for Brady. Think our O-line will hold up and our TE’s and WR’s will have a big game.
October 18th, 2021 at 8:58 am
I forgot Robert Quinn is still in the NFL. I remember for a three year stretch he was one of the most dominant players in the league.
October 18th, 2021 at 8:58 am
Sounds like a game where you want to run the ball more, rather than make Brady drop back 50 times.
October 18th, 2021 at 9:27 am
Lets be honest. Packers were without jaire Alexander and next db King. And clark was battling thru snaps as he got dinged during game. That is packers two best defenders. Bears should have put more points on board
But they have put a rookie qb in a bad situation once again. Its only a few games but fields threw some balls that were outright terrible decisions. Again its early in his development but his future there could be rough.
Bucs should beat up on this team. Bears defense is strong. Still we should beat up on a team like this. And we are at home.
October 18th, 2021 at 9:47 am
Philly also was supposed to have a fairly stout defensive front. We were up 28-7 at one point. Gotta do the same thing this week. Get the running game going, use it to set up the passing game, and then run up the score. However, this week, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, take your foot off the gas! Bury them early. That’s the best revenge for last year.
October 18th, 2021 at 9:49 am
Lovie has been banned from the state of Illinois
October 18th, 2021 at 9:56 am
Chicago is more talented than their record indicates, the same thing I said last year on another fan site. They have two distinct flaws, both of which helped push the Bucs to being favored by 13 points:
1. Their O Line sucks. For some reason Chicago refuses to upgrade, despite the fact that the O Line has sucked now for several years running.
2. Rookie QB: Fields is a strange cat as a QB. He has an excellent arm and can squeeze his throws into some of the tightest windows imaginable. But he was not a fast processor in college, he always took a tick or two even three before he delivered the goods. He’s reportedly a smart guy, but right now this game is too fast for him. Pressure him and vary the looks, especially in the seconds preceding the snap.
October 18th, 2021 at 10:14 am
Let Brady sit this one out. Can’t take the chance of him getting hurt. Bears pose a unique and historical challenge for the Bucs. Bears D line is too good for a deep passing game.
October 18th, 2021 at 10:32 am
Jeff
Might be a good week to get Gio and the screen game going. Not sure he’s even had 10 touches total so far.
October 18th, 2021 at 10:34 am
Joe: Fields is already more dangerous than Hurts. This won’t be an easy game.
October 18th, 2021 at 11:45 am
I expect the Bucs to run a lot and continue to win the time of possession battle, taking some shots off of play action and getting the ball out quickly. On Defense, a lot of 5 man pressures and keep everything in front of them.
October 18th, 2021 at 12:09 pm
Joe isn’t too worried about “insert team name” rookie quarterback “insert QB name”. I think i have heard this before, lol, difference now is we have the secondary that does bend and not break, secondary a few years removed would bend and break violently. Be prepared and stay healthy should be the theme here, Gotta hand it to the young secondary stepping up, could be a lot worse but we are 5-1 still getting better and haven’t hit full stride as a whole.