Getting Off The Field
November 19th, 2021
Bucs DC Todd Bowles.
Last week the Bucs were simply atrocious at getting the defense off the field on third downs. You could argue that’s what cost the Bucs the game against the WTF.
Nobody knows this better than Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. Bowles said he has the perfect target to blame.
That would be himself.
“I can coach it better,” Bowles said, admitting the defense can up its game. “And they can play it better. We didn’t have the right calls and we didn’t make enough plays. We’ve just got to get better at that.”
The WTF converted 58 percent of its third downs. That’s downright sad.
Bowles is hoping that last week at Washington was just an awful day.
“Well, we’ve been doing pretty [well] on third downs except for last week,” Bowles said. “We had a tough day last week. Again, I can make better calls and we can play it better. It goes hand in hand. You move on and you get better from there.”
Joe decided to look up the Bucs’ third-down defensive statistics and what is weird is, Joe found three different numbers. You can see here and here and here. For whatever reason, they are all different except that the Bucs’ third down defense hasn’t been that great and a couple of bad games are really dragging down the season percentage.
But yeah, the Bucs need to get off the field on third downs. It has to be a priority Monday night and through the rest of the season.
November 19th, 2021 at 5:42 am
“I can coach it better,” Bowles said.
No kidding. The NFL figured out his defense with the Jets, too, and the Cardinaks for that matter.
Better get in the lab and come up with some more effective packages or the Giants will look like the 1999 Rams on Monday night.
November 19th, 2021 at 5:45 am
We are not playing good football on either side of the ball. If you receive the kickoff and sputter on offense as we have the last two weeks in the first half
it places a heavy burden on a defense that has a depleted secondary and a
wounded JPP. These rocky starts on offense have to stop to set the tone for the rest of game.
i
November 19th, 2021 at 6:03 am
tommy must be buggin’ out in his home…
the patriots are getting good again…real good…
3 losses in a row and tommy might sh!t the kitchen sink…
#GiselleNeedsToCoolTommysJets
November 19th, 2021 at 6:27 am
I am so tired of hearing the general excuse of “our CB’s are hurt” – Yes they are. But you have Shaq Barrett, Suh, Vita Vea, Devin White, Lavonte David, 50% of JPP, a hungry JTS, Antoine Winfield, Jr. and Jerome Whitehead. I’m pretty sure most Defensive Coordinators would take that group and be able to patch together a scheme that:
1. Shuts down Dan Marino and the ’84 Dolphins? – No
2. Shuts down Joe Montana and the 49ers of the ’80’s? – No
3. Shuts down the greatest show on turf? – No
But coming up with a scheme where this group can shut down Trevor Siemien and certaintly Taylor Freaking Heinicke? You bet your a$$. Jack Del Rio was able to come up with one coverage that confused the greatest QB ever to play. Maybe Todd, you could come up with something to get us off the field against these two.
This just in, Todd. WFT is not rushing out to give Taylor Heinicke a long-term multi-million dollar contract extension. They may keep him as a back-up, but they are either going to sign an established QB in the offseason or draft one in the first round.
Don’t look now, but another pathetically average QB is coming to town and this is the second time that you’ve seen him in consecutive years. Are you going to come up with something to stop him (and an average supporting cast) or are you going to help size him for his gold jacket?
November 19th, 2021 at 6:35 am
Daniel Jones will throw for over 300 yards, the Giants will accumulate more than 400 yards and the Bucs chalk up their first home loss and third in a row.
But the Super Bowl run last season was nice.
November 19th, 2021 at 7:03 am
come on swampbuc….wtf
i’m predicting a bucs blowout here…
like 40-13 or 38-17…
the bucs aren’t going to hit an all time low with brady and lose 3 in a row – can’t see it happening at all
November 19th, 2021 at 7:03 am
at least 31-17 bucs
November 19th, 2021 at 7:24 am
not so sure when your offence cant move the ball and your defense cant stop a turd, how do you expect to win. that’s what I have been watching the last few games.
November 19th, 2021 at 7:26 am
Adam, not going to score 40 points without Gronk & AB on the field. I applaud Bowles for taking the hit, I hope BA reads this. Was Bowles not at the Saints, Dallas & Miami game? 3rd down is their nemesis. There’s still time to fix this but is coaching staff capable of doing it. As far as slow offensive starts, they run the same plays every first series, can’t make it any easier for opposing DC’s. Side note, any of you see MJ Costa this morning? WOW she is sexy!!!
November 19th, 2021 at 7:39 am
A timeout should’ve been called before Humphries 3rd down catch. Clock management was terrible. That was the one chance they had to call a timeout and get their sh!t together and make a play.
They also failed in the first half too, should’ve called a timeout after wtf first down run. We would’ve got the ball back with 1:40-1:45 with one timeout opposed to a minute and three. Usually a minute and three is not a bad situation, but combined with the terrible play calling it turned into a disaster. Luckily we got a boneheaded penalty which aloud us to kick a field goal.
November 19th, 2021 at 8:22 am
Still embarrassed. A loss to NY would not be good for sure. I think Brady is still pissed off and the team definitely will tighten up.
November 19th, 2021 at 8:26 am
adam from ny —
Just like the last two games, right? Being blindly optimistic is cute and all.
The reality is, the Bucs have no juice, and are playing slow, unprepared. No one is making a play. No one is really even doing their job. This team is a few inchea away from being 3-6. Unless you don’t watch the games and just wave your pom poms.
November 19th, 2021 at 8:30 am
Is it just me or has our vaunted run defence gone south?
November 19th, 2021 at 9:01 am
This defense doesn’t have to be great… just make plays to interrupt the opponent’s offense. Case in point would be…. Make 1 play on a 19 play 10+ minute drive!
November 19th, 2021 at 9:01 am
This will be Giants’ playbook, vdry simple….. pressure Brady for 60 minutes and man to man coverage on the Wide receivers… that’s it 3 and out. For the Defense, play action by Daniel JOnes, secondaries will be caught flat-footed all the eay to the red zone,,, Touchdown Giants.
November 19th, 2021 at 9:17 am
For starters, they need to tackle better. They need to rally to the ball like they did last year instead of waiting for the ball carrier to come to them. It was a pathetic display last week. I don’t know how may times they could have made a tackle on 3rd down and been off the field, but they whiffed way too many times and the WFT got a first down. Unacceptable!
November 19th, 2021 at 9:35 am
It appears Gronk is back, one more bullet in Brady’s holster.
November 19th, 2021 at 9:45 am
I really wish he was out there reinforcing how to tackle, what angle works, and how to stay away from penalties.
The defense needs to go all the way back to defense 101. They were that bad last week.
November 19th, 2021 at 10:45 am
No question that ‘the Bucs need to get off the field on third downs’ but the bigger question is … HOW? Looks to me like our biggest problem in that regard is ending up in 3rd-and-short which makes converting much much easier. Seems like we need to focus defensively on minimizing what opponents are getting on 1st & 2nd downs to put them in 3rd-and-long more often, giving us a better chance of holding them.
A big concern in these last 2 games especially should be that our defense has been giving up a number of big runs. Saints game: they ran it 32 times for 152 yds; of those 6 runs gained a total of 91 yds (15 YPC average) … all for 1st downs. That’s ridiculous. We did great on the other 26 holding them to only 61 yds (2.3 YPC), but the explosive runs killed us. Washington ran it 34 times for 94 yds, with 4 of those being big runs totaling 46 yds (11.5 YPC average). The other 30 runs only gained 48 yds (1.6 YPC). We’ve gotta do better at containing those explosive runs because they’re very costly.
November 19th, 2021 at 10:59 am
The good news is the BUCS haven’t peaked yet this season! The TEAM can do BETTER!! That’s a reference to the Coaches, the Defensive Players, the Offensive Players, the Special Teams Players, and the GM!! When they all STEP UP and Do There Job, Tampa will have something very very special!!!!!! LET IT BEGIN MONDAY NIGHT!!! LFG BUCS!!!
November 19th, 2021 at 1:06 pm
The Bucs peaked against the Cowboys in week 1.
November 19th, 2021 at 2:30 pm
Yes Swampbuc, because you somehow can predict the future and how the final 8 games will go. You do realize there’s games left in the season, right?
November 19th, 2021 at 7:49 pm
Brady needs to play better. He was a big factor in the loss to the WFT. What’s with the pick 6 crap? That’s on him. Defense reacts to that tho they can play better even with all the injuries. Hope things improve Monday night. Bucs have a spotty record on these big primetime night games.
November 20th, 2021 at 9:04 pm
Daniel Jones is far from great, but he is a legit starter unlike the last two bum quarterbacks we played. I hope Bowles and everyone else on defense other than Devin (only good defender last week) have it figured out or the giants are going to torch us.