He’s Back!
November 22nd, 2021
Playoff hero Sean Murphy-Bunting
It’s finally official.
One big horse in the cavalry has arrived.
Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, who wrecked/dislocated his elbow on opening day, has been activated from injured reserve and is set to play tonight.
What a sweet fragrance that is after experiencing the likes of washed out Richard Sherman, the fragrant one, Pierre Desir, and third-stringer Dee Delaney. That had Joe longing for the days when Ross Cockrell played his share of outside-cornerback snaps last year. To help cover for Murphy-Bunting, Cockrell has been the Bucs’ primary nickel corner in 2021.
Bucco Bruce Arians says Murphy-Bunting has been practicing well and was using his arms effectively in press coverage last week, including snagging two interceptions.
Joe does not buy the line that Murphy-Bunting won’t play much tonight. When Vita Vea and Jordan Whitehead returned from injuries, Joe heard the same thing and they still got a ton of snaps.
A playoff hero is returning to the Bucs’ defensive backfield. Joe will have a peaceful afternoon.
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:35 am
The Grave Diggers & Stick Carriers unite !!!!!!
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:40 am
Glad SMB returns….but it’s Gronk who will make the difference.
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:43 am
Yay! The return of a guy who wasn’t all that great before… with a bucket of rust and one arm.
Definitely gonna curb my enthusiasm. Front 7 better bring something better than last week. Don’t want Danny Dimes running all over us too..
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:50 am
What a relief and I thought our secondary sucked. On to the SB! Seriously he’s our next coming?
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:51 am
Excellent news !!!! What about Scotty Miller ???
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:59 am
He was playing like garbage before he got hurt.
Desperate times indeed.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:04 am
Doosh…he did have a very slow start. But maybe now he will have a fire under him, losing a good part of the season playing a game he loves. Hope so…we can certainly use the reinforcements.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:08 am
We can hope Mark2001.
I hope you’re right.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:09 am
I dont care who is on the field. They better win this game……otherwise they are toast and will lose momentum and a LOT of fans from the wagon. now or never.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:21 am
He didn’t play well early on but I think he will be fine. Him and Dean have been improving when playing together.
Davis is the one the defense really needs back.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:24 am
Any idea about Davis? Would have thought originally he’d have been back weeks ago or at least after bye. Obviously was more serious than they were saying originally
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:26 am
No way are we losing this game! Not to the Giants at home.
The next game is the one to worry about.
We have to go to Indy to play the Colts, who just beat the Bills.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:33 am
All these guys look cocky and complacent. I hope the embarrassing losses brought them back to earth a little bit.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:35 am
I would hardly call SMB cavalry. Am I glad he’s, back? Absolutely, but he still has to show he can go a stretch without being a total sieve too. It’s no5 like he wasn’t the worse player on the field earlier this season
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:40 am
If I’m not mistaken, he injured his arm after a receiver beat him to score. He fell awkwardly and got hurt. He will be THE target tonight.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:42 am
To maximize SMB’s talent Todd Bowles should ay more press man coverage.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:50 am
If the Bucs get the good version of SMB, then great.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:51 am
SMB is a ball hawk so whoever doesn’t like him can kiss his pucker and go back to Desir and Cockrell.
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:21 am
DooshLaRue … ‘He (SMB) was playing like garbage before he got hurt.’
Wow, that’s cherry Doosh. SMB got a grand total of SIXTEEN defensive snaps in the Dallas game before he was injured. He was thrown at SEVEN times, and Prescott completed FOUR of those (57%).
Right now the only player on the team who has a better completion percentage is Jamel Dean (47.5%). Why would castigate SMB for ‘playing like garbage’ in the FIRST quarter of Game 1 based on those performance numbers? Personally I’m glad to have him back.
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:31 am
No matter how you slice it or dice it….he’s an upgrade from what we had. Personally I don’t think it will make a huge impact if the secondary is having to cover for 4-5 seconds because our pass rush isn’t getting home.
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:31 am
@SOEbuc…..SMB is average at best ……but I agree with you that is better than Dessir Cockrell and Delaney…..Even more…. Our CB was by far the worst position on the roster…..
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:37 am
Zzbuc
And just think how many DBs we’ve drafted. Mind boggling.
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:48 am
@Jmarkbuc ….100% with you my men!!!!
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:49 am
SMB is also one of the better bucs at the podium…
and he’s so young…
he has a lot to say and it will only get better from him…on the field and at the podium…
glad to see he’s back – a pick of dunny dimes would be nice tonight
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:49 am
Well, this helps at least. I hope. Still undermanmed in the backfield but hopefully this gets us back to the median.
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:49 am
@SMB
#YoWhatUpDunn
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:52 am
CB position should be priority next year and I don’t mean through the draft. If they have the money.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:07 pm
Are all of you bashing SMB aloof, stupid, or maybe both? We wouldn’t have won a Superbowl without SMB. Do you remember the playoffs? Huh? Or are you so short sighted you just remember him “getting picked on” during the Cowboys game. Man y’all can be insufferable.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:09 pm
Man I cannot wait for lunch.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:10 pm
He’s baaaaaack, does that mean we will just have another person to pass the blame if the Bucs lost. He hardly had any game changing plays during the Dallas game.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:10 pm
@Bobby. Well at least somebody gets it. Stop castrating the secondary. Given the injuries, they have played admirable. It’s our D Line that should be thrown under the bus and lit into. The big bucks on defense are tied up in that defensive line and the performance has been subpar. JPP is playing through a hundred injuries and his play on the field backs that up. Tryon is a rookie and shows a flash here and there and Shaq has underwhelmed. If that D line gets home, we win. It’s that simple. The same formula that saw us dominate the never before dominated Kansas City Chiefs.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Defense Rules
And before that first game, it was a three picks against three different teams in the playoffs, including a pick six in the Superdome. Obviously Mahomes didn’t light anyone up. Then he went down barely any snaps into the first game. But that’s also not to say he won’t be rusty. And all of our sh!tty coaches of the past were not lying when they said the pass rush has to produce for the secondary to produce, and the pass rush is not producing but I got my fingers XX tonight. I believe in Nacho. Have never believed in McClendon.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:26 pm
Pass rush must come alive for at least 3 quarters.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:29 pm
Need this win!
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:30 pm
How is the giants oline ? Can they hold up againt our blitz and is jones going to burns us on blitz ?
Heinecke made a living against our blitz
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:40 pm
SOEbuc … I’m sure that SMB will be rusty, but I do think that Bowles will keep his snaps limited for a couple of games (at least until he sees that SMB can handle full-time duty). in the meantime, Cockrell hasn’t been playing as poorly as some seem to say (for a backup especially).
And as far as the pass rush goes, I couldn’t agree more. Effectiveness of the front end & the back end go hand in hand. Right now though, I’m more concerned that the Giants will pound it on the ground, use a bunch of play action & short passing, and chew up the clock on us.
Most effective way to beat Brady is to keep him on the bench. Most effective way to do that is to keep our defense on the field by punching them in the mouth starting right on the 1st series for the whole game. Giants are physical enough to TRY to do that. Big question right now is ‘Are we MORE physical’?
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:41 pm
Let’s be honest for whatever it’s worth SMB is the second best CB on this team. The first being Carlton Davis. So I welcome him back. I hope we get all 3 starting CB at the same time at some point because the backups have been pretty bad.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:00 pm
DR, I enjoy your analysis, I really do but dude you need to look up the word summarize. Sorry but sometimes it like reading Joe’s monikers.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:17 pm
This defense was built based on pass rush causing turn overs and sacks. The pass rush just hasn’t been enough. I still haven’t gotten over that WFT 10min drive to close out the game.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:27 pm
Listnfrmafar … And I enjoy your comments & analyses too. Used to write a bunch for publication (yup, analyses & problem solving) & would edit the heck out of those out of necessity (then the editors would do a lot more editing of course).
Keep telling myself I should take the time to edit, but I rarely do admittedly. JBF is a BLOG in reality, and usually I respond to a previous comment (or to Joe which I’m sure he wishes I wouldn’t). Like in this one; 1 of my comments was to DooshLaRue & the other was to SOEbuc. I enjoy it when JBFers start a ‘dialogue’ (like SOEbuc did) because that helps me to appreciate different perspectives, and that’s what I value in JBF dot com the most. I kinda espect that folks who aren’t interested in that will just by-pass my overly-analytical inputs.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:37 pm
To summarize, if you don’t like it, don’t read it. Lol.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:37 pm
SMB fully healthy would not fully solve the problems. The rest of the secondary, pass rush, run D, etc. etc. all have to be dramatically better. Forget last season and the playoff run. Now is now, and there are reasons to be very concerned.
November 22nd, 2021 at 2:18 pm
Time to hunt !
November 22nd, 2021 at 2:38 pm
Bucs D holds it down tonight baby
Then some of you idiots who think u know how evaluate defensive backs from your recliners or couches or whatever can shut up and say you were wrong about a lot of things
We get pass rush going, healthier as we go forward on back end hopefully
45 54 flying around
Then u see what Todd Bowles does Dec and Jan !!
We saw it last year , and 2019 second half of season
IMO
November 22nd, 2021 at 2:43 pm
Listnfrmafar … BINGO!
November 22nd, 2021 at 4:20 pm
The Bucs will be better on defense, with him on the field. It should be enough to give some heart to the rest.
I just hope Bowles can capitalize on it. Having linemen drop back into coverage didn’t work for squat in the last two games.
November 22nd, 2021 at 5:02 pm
See DR, you can do it, short & maybe not so sweet.
November 22nd, 2021 at 5:07 pm
It’s pretty sad when this guy is your savior. Real sad.
November 23rd, 2021 at 4:01 am
Yup, so sad that we won a SuperBowl. Next idiotic comment?