Bruce Arians’ Confidence In Jamel Dean
October 19th, 2021
Cornerback Jamel Dean
Can Jamel Dean carry the secondary until the cavalry arrives?
So last night Joe while watching “Monday Night Football” Joe was assaulted with that godawful shrill Apple commercial — what is that guy hollering about in that ear-piercing voice in the opening?
No commercial makes Joe jump to hit the mute button quicker. (Joe swears if Apple doesn’t get rid of that damn ad soon, Joe’s going back to an Android phone and will Frisbee his iPad out the front door!)
What hitting the mute button during that friggin’ commercial did do, however, was remind Joe to listen to Richard Sherman’s pod. There, the Bucs’ veteran corner, talked up Jamel Dean as a playah.
Sherman hinted Dean is playing much better now because he is playing with confidence. Bucco Bruce Arians’ postgame comments implied he thinks Dean is on the cusp of getting over the hump.
“The only thing with him is just play the ball better,” Arians said. “He gave up [against the Eagles] the one play – it was such a poor throw but he got his head around too late.
“Just continue to improve in that area. Great interception – he played that perfectly. When he’s playing man-to-man, he’s a tough cover. He’s got those long arms and he gets pretty physical with the guys. He’s getting better and better.”
Later in that same press conference Arians said he didn’t think the Bucs will make another move for a corner, though he didn’t flat out say the Bucs won’t.
The trade deadline is two weeks from this afternoon, Nov. 2.
Joe guesses the Bucs won’t rule out a move as they monitor the progress of Carlton Davis, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Sherman. If you listen to Sherman on his pod, he thinks he will only miss a “couple” of weeks.
The Bucs play the Bears on Sunday and then travel to New Orleans on Halloween before their bye. Arians isn’t sure if Davis or SMB will be available to face WTF on Nov. 14.
How Davis (quad injury) and SMB (elbow) progress in the coming days will likely determine if the Bucs need to go out and find a corner.
October 19th, 2021 at 9:14 am
Finding a corner is one thing, knowing our system is another. I think that’s why Arains would rather stick with the guys he has in the building. At some point you have to trust the guys Licht has already brought in, and you have to trust your coaching staff to have them ready to play. It’s a sad commentary to say everytime one of your starters goes down you have to scramble to find some aging vet to come in, and save the day. Trust the talent you have, trust the coaches have them ready to go.
October 19th, 2021 at 9:31 am
Even when the different players come back, there still is no assurance that they will stay somewhat healthy. So I am sure they are exploring every possible situation to help this team. Again the secondary was never elite, they got better last year, but who knows if when they come back they will stay healthy. That’s the biggest thing.
It comes down to the offense being balanced and scoring enough to protect the defense, to be able to win games consistently.
Not a good place to be in, but not impossible either.
Who knows what will happen.
GO BUCS!!!!
October 19th, 2021 at 9:32 am
I’d love to see a breakdown of all the injuries to the defense along with projections of when each player may return. David, Winfield, etc.
October 19th, 2021 at 9:36 am
Luckily SMB doesn’t have a lower body injury. So I expect him to be fine coming back. But Davis may not be 100% the rest of the season. Dean has played better but has to keep that arrow pointing up. Sherman is what he is and that is not much.
October 19th, 2021 at 9:53 am
I’m fine with our young secondary. Do they scare me to death sometimes, yes. But they are battle tested and in my opinion put in a defense that allows short passes and prevents long passes. I’m fine with how Bowles is calling defense, though. On defense our pass rush is the problem. JPP has half a sack this season. Tryon has 2 sacks on season. Shaq has 4 sacks on season. So our top three pass rushers have only 6.5 sacks on the season. That is not good enough.
October 19th, 2021 at 11:28 am
I won’t be surprised if our first two draft selections are CB.
October 19th, 2021 at 12:12 pm
Gump wisdom says Dean is like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what your gonna get.