“What I See Is A Defense That Needs To Get Their Act Together”
November 17th, 2021
BSPN’s Stephen A. Smith.
Screamin’ Stephen A. Smith was horrified.
He watched the Bucs lose to the WTF on Sunday and couldn’t believe his eyes. Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles’ troops were getting shredded by a recycled AAF quarterback.
What’s going on here? It led SAS to make the following statement this week on BSPN: Unless Bowles can somehow repair the defense, the Bucs are going to be in a world of hurt trying to defend their Super Bowl championship.
“What really stands out to me is the defense,” SAS said of the Bucs. “We recognize from the very beginning of the season they have been rife with injuries. The one thing that cannot be ignored is you’ve got Mr. Muffler himself, Taylor Heinicke. What does he do? Thirteen of his completions went for first downs. I cannot ignore that.
“That makes me look at the defense. We rave about the greatness of Todd Bowles as one of the greatest minds as defensive coordinator. We raved about how Tampa Bay’s defense came on in the second half of last season. Well guess what? We are still waiting on them to turn on the afterburners. To really amp it up.
“What I see is a defense that needs to get their act together because they scare no one.”
Well, let’s be blunt: Given the Bucs’ injured corners, what idiot NFL offensive coordinator is going to target the lone decent corner the Bucs have, Jamel Dean?
No, opponents will go after Ross Cockrell and the bottle of cologne, Pierre Desir, until the Bucs get healthy back there.
Maybe Sean Murphy-Bunting can play on Monday night? Hopefully, Carlton Davis can get back on the field before December. But until those two guys are 100 percent, Joe honestly doesn’t see the defense playing much better since Sean Payton exposed how to attack these guys.
It would help if the Bucs quit acting scared of opposing defenses. The secondary of the Giants isn’t quite as bad as WTF, but it’s not like they have Mel Blount and Lester Hayes in the secondary.
Mike Evans and Chris Godwin aren’t a couple of bums off the street. Feed them past the sticks a few times, huh?
November 17th, 2021 at 5:09 am
This team has multiple issues on every level. Crazy
November 17th, 2021 at 5:34 am
….and Cam Newton will beat the Bucs at least once says Pete. The Bucs will be fighting for their lives to make the playoffs
November 17th, 2021 at 5:57 am
The naysayers come out of the woodwork like roaches. Probably the same people talking all that junk when the Bucs were 7-5 last year, with a name change for the “Whatever It was Last Year”/Medicated Pete type trolls. There’s still time for the Bucs to turn it around. We’ll see what they’re made of.
November 17th, 2021 at 5:57 am
lol lol The sky is falling lol lol NOT…
They will win their Division BUT anything else is a crap shoot at this point.
We have still not seen the starting 22 that came back play 1 whole game this year.
Father time is kicking their behind right now with all the injuries.
Whatever, time will tell what happens
GO BUCS!!!!!
November 17th, 2021 at 6:05 am
Agree with Pete. TB12 said in his monday podcast; ” its disappointing when you loose,,and its a relief when you win” ;; NO mention of HAPPY to win in that sentence….I think he has simply had it with other players on the team not having discipline and focus at game time…If he gets NO joy , happiness in winning anymore; retirement is not far off .. this team including coaches is simply not as hungry as last yr.. TB12 sees that. false stars, off sides, dropped balls continue
they might win 5 of the 8 games left–such a dam shame
November 17th, 2021 at 6:14 am
@Captiva Jim
Well said. Pete thinks the stress leading up to the Patriots game and during the game aged TB12 greatly. Finally realize “I don’t need this anymore”. He’s gonna be just as successful after retirement. His legacy is already set in stone
November 17th, 2021 at 6:17 am
If only there was an aspect of offense that would help the defense by maintaining possession and wearing down clock!
We’re not going to be that much healthier come Monday with Vea now out. They better find some balance on offense because without SMB and Davis…
November 17th, 2021 at 6:40 am
We need to get some guys healthy fast
November 17th, 2021 at 7:17 am
O Lordy no; Screamin Stephen A. Smith is horrified? The greatest defensive mind of all time is horrified? Woe is us.
Piling on this defense is a piece of cake. It’s not even a challenge. Fact is that Washington very methodically used the run to set up the pass … and it worked. They ran on our vaunted run defense 34 times & only got 94 yds … less than 2.8 YPC … BUT they beat the snot out of us in the process. Just like the Rams did BTW. And just like the Saints did. Those runs accomplished their goal: wear us down.
Bucs’ offense helped them tremendously by being guilty of ‘aiding & abetting’, which is the very last thing that this beat up defense needs right now. Look at our 10 drives:
o Drive 1: Bucs received (took a touchback) & proceeded to march 2 whole yds in 3 plays (1:27 mins) then punted. WFT got the ball on their 40-yd line (decent field position) & drove 32 yds in 8 plays, settling for a FIELD GOAL. Damn defense.
o Drive 2: Bucs took a touchback & marched ZERO yds in 2 plays (ELEVEN seconds) & threw an INTERCEPTION; WFT got it at Bucs 28-yd line (excellent field position) & drove 18 yds in 7 plays, settling for a FIELD GOAL. Damn defense.
o Drive 3: Bucs ran it out to the 24-yd line, marched ELEVEN yds in 5 plays (2:36 mins) & threw another INTERCEPTION; WFT got it at the Bucs 46-yd line (good field position) & drove 46 yds in 10 plays for a TOUCHDOWN (big play was the 20-yd TD pass to Carter). Damn defense.
o Drive 4: Bucs vaunted offense finally got untracked after taking a touchback & drive 68 yds in 13 plays (5:37 mins), and settled for a FIELD GOAL; WFT responded with a 64-yd drive in 11 plays (5:46 mins) settling for a FIELD GOAL of their own. Damn defense.
o Drive 5: Bucs S/Ts ran it out to the 30-yd line, offense then went 58 yds in 8 plays (58 seconds), settling for a FIELD GOAL to close the score to 16-6 at halftime. Damn defense (that was a freebie).
So in the 1st half Bucs had 5 drives & WFT had 4 drives. We scored 2 FGs in 31 plays, and in the process continually gave the WFT excellent field position on those first 3 drives (punt & 2 INTs). Defense did reasonably well IMO holding Washington to 3 FGs & 1 TD on their 4 drives in the 1st half considering the crappy field position.
Our defense even held Washington to 2 punts on their first 2 drives in the 2nd half … then they wore out in the last half of the 3rd qtr & in the 4th qtr. Kudos to Washington on a game-plan that worked. Boo to us for a crappy game-plan.
November 17th, 2021 at 7:54 am
So DR, no second half stats? I think your game blame may shift. I re-watched last years playoff game against Washington and Heineke shredded the secondary in that game as well. If it wasn’t for a few dropped balls by Washington receivers the Bucs would of had the winter off. Bucs secondary is not good even when healthy and for whatever reason the front 7 isn’t carrying them this season an obvious flaw by not addressing this in the off season. As far as the offense Bucs are missing their #1 WR and Gronk (run blocker and receiver). How does that differ from the injured D. Captain may have a point, if the team and or the coaching staff lost their hunger to win, Brady has no reason continue playing. This looks very similar to Brady’s last year in NE. I hope they at least make the playoffs because I hate to see this guy go out on a losing note.
November 17th, 2021 at 8:02 am
Someone needs to get this team motivated. Apparently the coaching staff doesn’t have a clue. And you damn sure don’t say you have a dumb team to motivate them. I would not be surprised if it gets worse before it gets better.
November 17th, 2021 at 8:35 am
Don’t just put it on the corners, the d line is garbage this year. You could easily use injuries to the secondary as an excuse
November 17th, 2021 at 9:03 am
Part of the reason the secondary looked so good at the end of last season is that the pass rush was consistently getting home and finishing plays. That has not happened yet this year and is a big reason why the defense is struggling so much. Yes, the injuries in the secondary are a contributing factor, but anyone in coverage will tell you that their job is much much easier when the d-line can get to the quarterback
November 17th, 2021 at 9:12 am
Joe, we threw the ball 35 times.
Gave it to Lenny 11 times, a handful of those in garbage time.
Ronald Jones had zero carries.
Where is the data saying we should have thrown even more?
We won a super bowl by having a respectable ground game. We blew teams out earlier in the year by having a respectable ground game.
Tom cannot sit back and get pressured over and over again, that’s not his style and never will be. We will get absolutely shredded by someone like the Rams in the playoffs unless we can get a push upfront and find a running back who can get hot. I don’t care if it’s Lenny or Rojo or Vaughan, it doesn’t matter.
November 17th, 2021 at 9:15 am
Nice book DR. always as usual trying to get the defense off the hook. They are tired and the rest of your garbage. The offense scores the defense gives it right back. When we need a stop the defense can’t do it. Give up your excuses. TOP? When the defense can’t get their own self off the field that leads to the other team holding the ball longer. Then your excuse we score to fast. That becomes funny too. Other teams have cornerbacks out. Their backup step up and make plays. Ours? Lost with out a clue. Wonder where the problem is? Talent or BAD Coaching?? Yes the offense is not perfect but THEY have been carrying this team.
And I am sure Brady is sick and tired of it.
November 17th, 2021 at 9:29 am
When you are a professional football player, professionally trained and coached and you are getting paid the big bucks to perform at a high level and you keep repeating the same simple penalties, that hurt your team, that is dumb !
I am sorry if BA hurt the feelings of some of those players.
November 17th, 2021 at 9:53 am
“Recycled AAFG quarterback”?? I’d hate to see what Joe thinks about Mac Jones, potentially rookie of the year, since he never played pro ball at ANY level!
November 17th, 2021 at 11:55 am
Steve M, if the company shats the bed due to bad management do you blame the employees? There are thousands of companies with under performing employees but it’s management is what brings them down. Please someone out there name me one coach that has ridiculed his players in public more than BA?
November 17th, 2021 at 11:59 am
Listnfrmafar & DBS … Actually I just got bored listing the 1st half drives; kinda like I got bored watching the game after the 1st half. Also getting bored with some media & some ‘fans’ pissin & moanin blaming every bit of every loss on the Bucs’ defense and disregarding that it’s the ultimate TEAM sport. What one side does … good OR bad … affects the other, and vice-versa.
And DBS, this shouldn’t need to be said, but you don’t have to read books. Just move on to the next comment. But while I’m thinking about it, Brady was a BIG part of the problem Sunday. He had plenty of talent to work with, yet he & the offense dug the hole for the defense in the 1st half. Obviously that point of the book eluded you. The one who’s making excuses is you.
November 17th, 2021 at 12:20 pm
Does Shaq barret still play for the bucs? Is he injured does he feel accomplished to the point he no longer needs to pressure mediocre quarterbacks?