Why Did The Bucs Not Challenge A Rotten Secondary?
November 15th, 2021
“Tom, those WTF defensive backs scare me more than Bruce Allen’s e-mails.”
Look, WTF entering the game was No. 32 in the league — that’s dead last — in pass defense.
Yet the Bucs offense acted as if the WTF secondary consisted of Deion Sanders, Darrelle Revis, Ronnie Lott and John Lynch in their prime.
This baffled Joe (among others) and also perplexed Pro Football Hall of Fame selector Clark Judge of SI.com.
With Tampa Bay’s Antonio Brown sidelined, Mike Evans has only three targets and two receptions? “We’re a very dumb football team” said coach Bruce Arians. OK, that explains it.
Yeah, Joe got feedback from fans yesterday saying WTF was playing with two safeties deep. Yeah, but they are lousy. You know, worst in the NFL?
This was driving former Bucs tight end Dave Moore bananas yesterday. A game analyst on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Moore claimed on several occasions that Mike Evans and/or Cam Brate were open downfield but Brady instead elected to checkdown to Playoff Lenny (who is not exactly Roger Craig or Warrick Dunn).
Moore, knowing full well how foolish it would sound to go after Brady, wondered aloud on the broadcast if WTF was fooling Brady by disguising coverages or perhaps that Brady was hurt.
Is there a defense that can fool Brady? Joe isn’t sure. So was there something wrong with Brady that none of us know? Maybe he couldn’t physically heave the ball downfield?
Yes, Brady did that one time to Evans for a score, which Moore applauded for the Bucs finally taking a shot and testing the league’s worst secondary. But the pass to Evans was not super far in the air, and Arians/Leftwich/Brady did pass on throwing a Hail Mary pass seconds before halftime when that seemed like the logical play.
Something just wasn’t right about that gameplan yesterday, or the execution of it.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:05 am
This game is still making me ill. I’m not sure what I watched. It was clear from the Bucs electing to receive and then doing absolutely nothing that they had no intent to win yesterday. Is Brady just mentally checked out until his friends Gronk and AB come back?
November 15th, 2021 at 8:08 am
Moore won’t say it but I will. Brady was off yesterday. He didn’t start right and he looked uncomfortable all game. Even shell safeties can be beat with downfield passing.
AND, if the defense is playing that way, why didn’t they run more? Running would’ve drawn the safeties up and kept our defense off the field.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:08 am
Because the play all did not accommodate the personnel Bucs had out there. They tried to play as if AB and Gronk were fully healthy. Obviously, Tyler Johnson is not AB and has his own skill set that could be utilized in its unique way if the play all is designed as such.
Byron Leftwich or Bruce was stubborn to stick with usual stuff when WFT defense was taking advantage of such deficiency in our scheme… bunch of Bucs players running useless routes not getting open and very predictable. Easy to defend against.
Nobody open.
Brady was leveled on the 3rd play of the game… it kinda set the tone for the whole game.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:11 am
I believe that Tom’s thumb is still bothering him. Yes, he can throw downfield on occasion but he is doing so in pain. He hid his knee injury last season and may be doing the same with his thumb.
He hasn’t been the same since he banged it into a helmet.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:26 am
Choke 🐐
November 15th, 2021 at 8:27 am
TB12 doesn’t trust Evans. Its clear as day
November 15th, 2021 at 8:30 am
I don’t know WTF happened to us yesterday, except that we got out played, and seriously outcoached.
Thank GOD that everybody else lost yesterday too, even Arizona!
Tennessee barely beat the Saints, but with the help of the referees they did 🙂
So, we are still solidly in first place.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:35 am
Brady is hurt and I know he has that pride thing but the pride might be hurting the bucs…only one deep pass and it was dime but there has to be a reason that was it; if the defense is going to play like the worst defense in football why not let Tahmmy heal
November 15th, 2021 at 8:38 am
I love Bruce saying Tampa is a dumb football team because he is right the stupidly is just overwhelming at times and yes that is a reflection on the coaching staff.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:40 am
Maybe he got hurt on the first 3rd down hit. If Evan’s and or Brate were open Brady would of found them at some point. He seemed to be holding the ball longer which tells me receivers were not turning or covered. I doubt very much the worst pass D in the league could fool TB12 and why they didn’t run more? Maybe because Lenny only had 30 yds in his first 8 carries.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:40 am
Maybe something akin to the evans touchdown could’ve been there provided that they, you know, would have actually gotten the ball in the 4th quarter. There is 11 min left or so in 4th, and that scenario will play out 500 more times for everyone, and the other team WILL get the ball back 500 out of 500 times. The Bucs, in incomprehensible, inconceivable fashion give up the longest drive of the entire NFL season. The absolute most disgusting thing I’ve had to waste my Sunday on in as long as I can remember. In fact the Bucs probably should’ve got the ball back TWO more times with ample opportunity to test the safeties more. I don’t wanna f’ing hear they had the first 3 quarters. The 4th is still 25% of the game, and the offense didn’t even have another chance to attack after the 40 yarder
November 15th, 2021 at 8:43 am
tennessee, green bay and dallas are solidly in first place chris…
we have new orleans so up our azzes it ain’t even funny brother
November 15th, 2021 at 8:44 am
Bryon Leftwich is over-rated…..simple as that
November 15th, 2021 at 8:45 am
Washington rubbed it in. They could have taken a knee. The game was over but no. They went for the td. We will see what this team is made of next monday.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:48 am
Don’t know why people keep insisting brady is hurt. It was the scheme that washington was playing. Teams keep copying it. Two safeties deep.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:48 am
ok so i’m thinking maybe we had a playbook mix up and practiced all week long for totally the wrong team 🙂
#ShadeOfFourthDownInChicagoLastYear #Four #BradysHand
November 15th, 2021 at 8:48 am
There must be something wrong with Brady’s arm, which they were trying to hide. No other plausible explanation
November 15th, 2021 at 8:49 am
There wasn’t that many drives, and two drives lost by a int and a fumble. It’s impossible to have the efficiency that the teams have against bucs defense.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:52 am
francisco:
brady can rip up that intermediate zone all day with our tight ends and receivers…he still has great accuracy and zip on the ball…
it just didn’t happen tho…
we are the number 1 passing offense and something was very very off yesterday — and it’s not because of a dangerous wft secondary
November 15th, 2021 at 8:52 am
the offense had the ball all of 20 minutes yesterday
November 15th, 2021 at 8:54 am
adam from nyc because our defense couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down. 11 for 19 is embarrassing.
November 15th, 2021 at 8:55 am
adam from nyc again our wideouts just didn’t get open. That’s how i see it. Washington is a physical team. This team can’t come in overconfident against anybody. Coaching staff can’t make adjustments to save their lives. 🤦♂️
November 15th, 2021 at 9:02 am
It’s way too early to declare Brady deficient in any regard. But something just wasn’t right yesterday. It looked like the WFT was the team gearing up for a SB run and the Bucs were contemplating a high first round draft pick. That was not the team we’ve grown accustomed to watching over the last year and a half. We’re used to Brady sitting in a nice clean pocket, calmly surveying the field and then quickly throwing to the open receiver. Yesterday it was check down after check down. He looked scared and indecisive. Whatever it was, I hope they figure it out and quickly. We’re still in good shape as far as the division goes, but this cannot continue if we have any hope of home field advantage in the playoffs.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:05 am
Leftwich and Bowles are simply being out coached…..Bowles in particular. He’s shown no strategic ability unless he has the entire unit of starters healthy. The JPP injury is more significant then folks want to realize. Without JPP, Shaq is double teamed which neutralizes our rush. Our rush is what masked our avg at best secondary (before all the injuries). Without a rush, our now below avg secondary is getting gashed up and down the field and Bowles has ZERO solutions.
Leftwich refuses to resist the urge to pass…pass…pass and instead burn some clock with our running game. I really thought this was THE perfect game to give a team a double dose of Lenny/Rojo but instead we kept predictably slinging it up and down the field.
Hopefully now folks realize, there are no “gimme games” in the NFL. If we play our best we should beat the Giants but we haven’t played our best all season evidenced by the alarming rate of penalties. We are giving our opponents extra opportunities, field position, etc via turnovers and penalties. That has to stop yet after a bye week against a 2-6 team with their back up QB, we find a way to give the game away. This team started hot but is probably looking at going .500 the rest of the season if all things remain the same.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:06 am
The Bucs are every teams Super Bowl. Beating Brady is every players dream. It’s time that this team starts realizing they are the bully on the block and no longer the darlings of the NFL. Every week they should come out punching early in the game and let the opposition start rethinking their pre game confidence.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:11 am
Francisco, you nailed it!! Todd’s logic is to wait till we are 2-3 TDs behind going into the 3-4th QTR to make adjustments. I’ve been preaching that since the KC season game last year. I still say, “how in hell can they come off a bye and get a penalty on the first frickn play. and jump offsides. BA and Todd needs to get the Oline and Dline together in a meeting and show all of them a football and say “we all learned as kids to watch the ball.” Raise your hand if you don’t understand this; “defense, if this ball doesn’t move, YOU don’t move” Go ahead, raise your hand. I think Mr Magoo really helped by call the team stupid. Good job Bruce!!!!!!!!!
November 15th, 2021 at 9:16 am
WFT is dead last in pass defense????????? HUH???? Did they add a 33rd team and didn’t tell anybody? hahahahahah
November 15th, 2021 at 9:22 am
Brady was rushing passes yesterday. Oline was giving more time for him, but he consistently rushed passes. We need to throw defenses off once in a while and let Brady roll out left or right once in a while like Rams do with Stafford.
Our defense is still hurting. We really need to get early leads for the D right now. It’s time the offense starts to create some different looks for opposing defenses. And please don’t try jet sweeps lol. I’m also waiting to see us fake a WR screen, and then taking a big shot down the field.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:22 am
So what if they have two deep safeties? Isn’t that what intermediate routes are? Shouldn’t there still be shots over the middle? Is t that what teams sir to us last year before we smartened up? Believe the word used was setting up a tent with the defense, playing sidelines and safeties deep.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:24 am
Coburn can our coaching staff adjust during the game? That’s a big mystery.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:32 am
Maybe we should have drafted a cb in the second round, instead of a qb
November 15th, 2021 at 9:53 am
Looks like someone ate the biscuit, so they were left with “No Risk It”
OJ got everything bad started on the first play and no one wanted to break the cycle.
Bucs need to challenge the secondary early and often. That is why they keep Cyril Grayson, to blow the top off the defense. He wasn’t in one play yesterday.
Run him long with ME or CG3 following and get 20 yards every time.
I’ll diss Lenny some other time; 47 yards against the 29th rated run defense basically sux.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:54 am
Hindsight is 20/20. We would be saying the same if we had a slew of injuries at any other position like that. Our #2 corner is by most metrics playing lights out, our #4 corner is playing average among league corners, which is as good as can be expected. It’s our #5/6/7 of whatever dee Delany and Pierre Desir are that is being picked on
November 15th, 2021 at 9:54 am
It looks like Arians/Leftwich game plan was to keep their head in their behind. Stupid people have no clue, creativity and solution as to whats in front of them. and simply put the blame on others. Dumb!
November 15th, 2021 at 9:55 am
If anything i was uncomfortable entering this season counting on guys like Suh and jpp to not show their age
November 15th, 2021 at 9:58 am
Medicated Pete Says:
November 15th, 2021 at 8:27 am
TB12 doesn’t trust Evans. Its clear as day
Agree with you 100%!!
November 15th, 2021 at 10:11 am
Brady looked gun-shy after he got blasted by Allen on the first drive.
Becht was on the radio saying Evans was wide open at least 6X when Brady checked down. Brady was going to the checkdown early and often.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:58 am
Brady is a take what the defense gives you QB. If a Defense puts safeties over the top. Brady wants short to intermediate passes. And he can bleed a defense dry. Call plays that have three or four guys in short or intermediate routes. I just felt like Leftwich wasn’t calling plays that reflected that. So Brady checked it down. After that first quarter when the defense was on the field for the majority of time played. I felt they were gassed from then on. I dunno if Brady didn’t discuss what he wanted with Leftwich? Or if BA told Leftwich this is my game plan follow it. But failure all around.
November 15th, 2021 at 11:12 am
@joebucsfan it’s WFT, not WTF. Aa much as we’re all saying WTF, it doesn’t change the initials of the Washington Football Team.
November 15th, 2021 at 11:15 am
They are who Joe types they are. Joe wants to refer to them by their real nickname but Google doesn’t like that — and hits Joe where it hurts.
November 15th, 2021 at 12:16 pm
Brady seems to be afraid of safeties all of the sudden…
Maybe because he keeps throwing the ball directly to them? Is his age finally catching up?
That was a disgusting and pathetic performance by the offense yesterday.
I mean we already know this defense absolutely sucks, but wtf happened to the offense?
November 15th, 2021 at 12:54 pm
Brady looked gun-shy after he got blasted by Allen on the first drive.- I agree with this 100%
I also think our routes are too deep at times. We need to run shorter routes – let Tom feast and then let him pick his spots off of play-action.
I’ve got the same feeling last year…hope we can turn it around – fast!
November 15th, 2021 at 12:55 pm
Were on to the Giants 👉🏻
November 15th, 2021 at 1:26 pm
BA, what a piece of work.
His wife burned the roast and walked out in the street and told all neighbors (who don’t need to know what he thinks)
My wife is a bad cook.
He not coach, he is a narcissist.
Not my fault, it’s Tommy’s.
That’s not coaching.
He is useless except to take credit he didn’t earn.
Just the way I feel.
Win together, lose together.
Work on it together.
November 15th, 2021 at 1:41 pm
Very predictable offensively. Godwin wasn’t full speed yesterday. Why didn’t Tyler Johnson get more snaps. Evans still hasn’t adjusted his route running to get open quickly. He is very one-dimensional at this point. He used to be a beast at getting the ball on the sidelines and making tippy-toe catches. Brady expects to get the ball out in rhythm, Leftwich and Arians need to get Evans to shorten his routes and get open fast instead of running so much vertical routes.
November 15th, 2021 at 1:57 pm
Because Leftwhich is a garbage playcaller. I said it last year that he needed to be fired. You can’t have a vanilla office and hope raw talent bails you out all the time.
November 15th, 2021 at 2:00 pm
Watch the game again.
The receivers didn’t step up (ie NOT OPEN)
The playcall was vanilla not utilizing the personnel Bucs had out on the field.
Brady had no other options but to check down to open things up.
Game tone setter: OJ false start, Brady decleated on the 3rd play (come on, he is 44 years old), Lenny dropping ball on 2nd drive when he had so much space to run after the catch…
Deleany REALLY SUFFERED ALL AROUND. Todd B needs to come up with alternative scheme to make up for the OBVIOUS deficiency repeatedly showing up. Can’t bang head against the wall multiple times and expect the different results.
November 15th, 2021 at 3:09 pm
If ya really paid attention so many holding calls were not called against Washington. Then a few balls were dropped and under/overthrown. = loss.
November 15th, 2021 at 7:56 pm
Here is the problem. BA doesn’t like that Tom makes so many adjustments at the line of scrimmage. Tom makes those in order to find best possible match ups. BA’s approach is to call the play, line up and execute. Tom knows that finding the best match up is the key, the same way he used to play in New England, hence all the audibles he uses right before the snap. Remember Dallas game on national TV when Brady shut down the play he was given and audibled to another one? BA surely did not like that. Yesterday, Tom used plays he was given, made no adjustments to prove the point and it ended up very badly. Hopefully, BA realizes that Tom should have the freedom to audible out of plays that are called. Otherwise, a couple more losses and BA will be fired. If you ask me, Bill O’Brien will be Tampa Bays next HC. O’Brien and Brady, despite that big blow out on the sidelines many years ago, like each other enough and would be way more effective.
November 16th, 2021 at 12:20 am
@GOFORTHEFACE30- THANK YOU!! Took the word’s out of my mouth
November 16th, 2021 at 8:47 am
Leftwich makes the calls, ask him