“It’s The No. 1 Thing We Always Talk About”
October 16th, 2021
Todd Bowles
Yeah, Tom Brady is shattering history because he’s old and great. But one aspect of the Bucs is re-shaping league standards and it has nothing to do with age.
It not a sexy topic, but the Bucs run defense cannot be ignored. It was best in the NFL in 2019 and 2020, and not it’s pushing new limites of greatness.
Some speculate the Bucs should divert a little focus and resources from run defense to help their ailing pass defense.
Vita Vea was asked about that on SiriusXM NFL Radio yesterday and said that is not a consideration.
“We come in every week expecting teams to run on us,” Vea said, of the one thing opponents don’t do. “That’s the No. 1 thing we always talk about when we go meet with our coaches, we talk about the run. Every week we face a threat in the run game so we can never really neglect it.”
Vea added that once you think you have run defense figured out, you face a different style of running back or blocking.
“It’s just starting over every week and just staying true to our fundamentals out there. It’s a challenge to go out there and, you know, have everyone work together on the field and try to play together to stop the run ,” Vea said.
Joe is all good with the Bucs’ approach. They are playing to their strengths.
Many teams can’t stuff the run even when they try. The Bucs literally can make every offense one-dimensional. No reason to stop. The proved last season you can win a Super Bowl with this approach.
October 16th, 2021 at 10:17 am
Hmm, secondary was bad last year but taking it to a new level of putrid this season. One dimentional means bigger chunks of yards and more points. Thursday’s game is a perfect example that game was over in 3rd qtr and ended up closer than it should of been. Start shopping.
October 16th, 2021 at 10:27 am
I still agree with negating the run game first. More bad things can happen to an Offense trying to pass than run. But I’m still not over looking the fact I would like to see tighter coverage on the back end.
October 16th, 2021 at 10:30 am
Considering how every year, when the playoffs roll around, the one thing everyone talks about as a winning formula, is running the ball. I would say that Coach TB and the Bucs are wise to make themselves the best run stoppers of all time.
I think to a certain degree, throughout the season a team will show weakness in areas of strength. Not that we have a good pass defense but I don’t think it is as bad as we think either. The reason for this is because they are controlling the narrative and setting the stage for others will attack in the future. Than right when you think they have met they’re match. BOOM they wax the floor with you.
Think Super Bowl. KC still don’t know what hit them and they are a shell of themselves now. Thanks to the (one game) LEGENDARY secondary.
October 16th, 2021 at 10:48 am
Bowles is managing the defense to force the opposing teams to put together drives until the field compresses. It’s a bend don’t break approach with the hopes of trading FGs while our offense scores TDs.
October 16th, 2021 at 10:52 am
I said it last year. Brady uses the first half or more of the season as practice. Now it seems Bowles is doing the same thing. BA is also rotating a lot of players in and out to save the big dogs for the playoffs. Vea and Suh are playing roughly half the defensive snaps. AB is being used conservatively also. I have to think there’s a master plan to all of this.
October 16th, 2021 at 11:15 am
@LetsRoll
Do you know what a run on sentence is? Here is some help with comma usesage. Think ‘FANBOY’. For, And, Not, But, Or, Yet.
Just sayin
LFG Bucs
October 16th, 2021 at 11:17 am
@JimBuc2
Thanks for the advice, I will keep that in mind when writing your mother.
October 16th, 2021 at 11:51 am
You guys need to stop chasing waterfalls…… I would like to see you guys play tight coverage with a Cocktail (R.Cockrell) a wine glass (Pierre Desire) and Jimmy Dean Sausage (Jamel Dean). They have to play a little off coverage jus so these guys don’t loose the little confidence they have… I Do agree that some tight coverage should be sprinkled into the game plan…..
October 16th, 2021 at 12:07 pm
The Secondary that played almost all of the game against the Eagles is NOT the same Secondary that excelled in the SB. Thursday night we had Dean (100% snaps), Cockrell (100%) & Delaney (88%) as CBs, plus Edwards (98%) & Whitehead (100%) as Safeties. Only 2 of those 5 played most of the SB against the Chiefs. And yet they did a very commendable job against the Eagles.
Jalen Hurts was only 12-of-26 for 115 yards passing. Of the 14 incompletes, half were PDs (4 by Dean, 1 by Cockrell, 1 by Whitehead & 1 by White). That’s an outstanding ratio. Dean also had 1 INT and the Secondary had 14 total tackles in the game (considerably fewer than we normally have been getting).
Through 6 games Bucs have allowed opposing QBs to complete 70.1% of their passes. Last season, with our starters healthy for almost all of the year, we allowed opposing QBs to complete 69.0% of their passes. 1% is hugely significant. This Secondary isn’t doing nearly as poorly as some would have us believe.
October 16th, 2021 at 12:11 pm
Ooooh, make that ‘1% ISN’T hugely significant’. Love spell-checkers.
October 16th, 2021 at 2:10 pm
Agreed defense rules… this is just our style. Our front seven is so good they can create turnover opportunities throughout the game. With an offense like ours it only takes a few big defensive plays and it’s advantage BUCS.
October 16th, 2021 at 3:24 pm
This has got to be one of the dumbest things I’ve read in a while. As long as you stop the run well it doesn’t matter how poorly you play pass defense? Seriously? What planet are people living on??
Did we forget the Rams game so quickly? In fact, this team hasn’t blown anybody out this year, with the exception of the 4th quarters against the self-destructing Falcons and Dolphins. Every game has been far more competitive than it should be given the abundance of (expensive) TALENT this team has.
We will get blown out against the Bills, and you can pencil in losses to the Panthers and even Saints as well. Very lucky we don’t play the Cards, Ravens, Browns, and Chargers.
If the pass defense doesn’t get itself corrected, a major reality check is coming when we actually play an actual quality team.
October 16th, 2021 at 4:04 pm
Izod.”.if the pass defense doesn’t get itself corrected, a major reality check is coming when we actually play an actual quality team.”
Ok so what is the answer, more camp meat bodies, we all see the walking mash unit of a secondary, with back ups playing now.
There is not much the Bucs can do right now, except have the offense protect the defense with a balanced offense and scoring enough to win games.
The secondary was not that great last year for most of the year, and then stepped up in the postseason. Time will tell how far this rag tag beat up defense can go.
So Izod might as well quit kicking “the dog” of a beat up secondary. We all see the same things you see every game.
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 16th, 2021 at 4:05 pm
Bucs gave up 100 yards rushing this week.
I’m not so sure the Bucs running stuffing is actually all that good anymore, they’re just so bad at pass defense that teams don’t even bother with the run. This week, Hurts was so bad passing that they finally had to run the ball, and when they did, they ran it right down the field. The last good running team we faced, that actually stuck with the run, was the Vikings and they had what, 160 yards rushing?
Yes, the Bucs can stuff teams who run it right up the gut on 1st down, but teams that are more creative with their playcalling than Leftwich is, they could run the ball if they stuck with it. Again, however, why would you bother when you can pass at will?
October 16th, 2021 at 4:06 pm
*run stuffing is actually all that good anymore…
I should have said ‘great’, not ‘good’. To be clear, I think they’re a good run defense, just not a great one anymore.
October 16th, 2021 at 4:37 pm
Well yes we gave up exactly 100 yards rushing.
Of those rushing yards last game, it was 56 to running backs. Also would point out that Sanders got 51 yards of those yards in the 4th quarter.
So up to that point of the game and part of the point of the article, we made the other team one-dimensional giving about 10 to 20 yards thru three quarters on designed rushing plays. Pretty stellar!
At this point, I would still call us a great rushing defense.
But certainly reasonable people can disagree.
October 16th, 2021 at 5:38 pm
We wom a superbow; last year with an average secondary. I think its going to have to be 2 times as good this year. And our D line has got to rev it up if we are to go to any superbowl. You cannot and will not outscore every opponent. Lucky for us, Philly’s game plan kinda sucked.