Pressure On Tom Brady? Point A Finger At Backup Receivers.
December 20th, 2021
Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians.
Now Joe is not saying Scotty Miller and Jaelon Darden balled out last night. They did not.
Miller, though he has been hurt for much of the year, has done little since catching that bomb just before halftime in the NFC title game that proved to be the difference in the Bucs watching the Super Bowl and the Bucs winning the Super Bowl. For that, major props to Miller forever.
And yes, Miller had a key fumble recovery on special teams in Indianapolis. That has nothing to do with catching footballs.
Jaelon Darden? Outside of one or two plays, someone is going to have to do one helluva sales job on Joe to convince him Darden is an upgrade in any way from Jaydon Mickens.
Joe is to the point that on punt returns, rather than having Darden attempt a return and do his best bad Dexter Jackson imitation, the Bucs would be better off with an extra rusher.
Darden is little better than just a warm body as a receiver. Joe thinks Darden is still coming to grips with the fact NFL defenses aren’t exactly like facing Conference USA talent.
So when the Bucs had to turn to Darden and Miller last night, two guys who are anything but physical, the slimy Saints defensive backs absolutely mauled them and rendered them just a hair better than worthless.
And it is for that reason Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians said after the game last night that Tom Brady getting jostled, mocked and robbed with pressure was on the receivers because Brady had to hold onto the ball.
“It was all coverage,” Arians said of his backup receivers not getting open. “We like to have the ball out of our hand quickly. [The slimy Saints] play that tight man and two deep safeties. They took some of those [routes] away and made us hold the ball.”
Joe has a very bad feeling the slimy Saints broke the Bucs last night. And here comes the kicker: Since the slimy Saints demonstrated how to shut down the league’s best (?) offense, the Bucs are going to see a whole lot of man coverage the rest of the way out.
The slimy Saints may have just released the blueprint to beating the Bucs before a national TV audience.
The sad thing is, now the Bucs need Darden and Miller to be physical and fight off man coverage to get open.
That’s like asking Joe to go backstage at the Miss USA pageant and pick up women.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:34 pm
Worst case scenario, next game will have AB and Perriman
December 20th, 2021 at 1:37 pm
Hmmm, so what was his excuse in the 1st half when Evans and Godwin were still playing?
Does any reporter have the stones to ask Bullchit Bruce why his teams are consistently unprepared and play soft during prime time games? Every. Single. Time.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:38 pm
With Antonio Brown and Breshad Perriman coming back, and potentially Mike Evans next week, this is a non-story.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:38 pm
unbelievable:
Godwin was having a nice game until he got hurt. And you can’t say the team was unprepared. The defense was solid last night.
Simply put, the Saints are in Brady’s head.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:39 pm
Point a finger at your OC for continuing to throw all game instead of pounding the rock or running some screens, or draws to get the rush to calm down. Instead we’ll just throw the ball against their 4 man rush and tight man coverage. Then when we do get into a manageable down and distant lets throw a bomb to Darden. Smh
December 20th, 2021 at 1:39 pm
The Bucs didn’t have to turn to the backup receivers, they chose to.
The game plan was pathetic- it was obvious the Saints plan was to pressure Brady, so what did Bucs do? Played right into the Saints’ strategy.
Bucs should’ve beefed up the OLine with an extra lineman and Howard and run it right at them.
They were having success running the ball.
But I guess Leftwich and Arians were “gassed”.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:40 pm
This was an awful game and everyone had blame but I am not pressing the panic button. AB and Perriman are good enough plus ME13 may not miss much time. Easy schedule should allow us to win out while getting healthy hopefully. I do not ever recall such a rough season for injuries.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:40 pm
Also Tyler Johnson did not play very well but I did love his 4th quarter catch for a 1st down while getting interfered. More of that is more than welcome!
December 20th, 2021 at 1:41 pm
“Saints are in Brady’s head”
-such a clever cliche’ that disguises the coaches’ ineptness.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:44 pm
Will
Leftwich’s consistent calls for deep passes on 3rd and short and 4th and 1 drove me up a wall last night. Bucs were playing like they were down 30 with 30 seconds left. It was a winnable game for 55 minutes.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:44 pm
Cmon. You have to have the players to do it…blueprint or not
The saints defense has the horses to do it. And They know what we are running too. So obvious we are predictable and boring. We cant scheme guys open like good coordinators. Players have to beat their man. Saints have IMO the best secondary in nfl.
Did brady suck …sure. Whatever.
What do you expect. The dude cant scramble like most qbs and saints defense know that so thats another advantage. So you drop back brady to throw 50 times to darden/ scooter and johnson? Good luck. He was a sitting duck. Guys werent open. They Took gronk out. So he took the beating as expected
And why did we not try to run ball until second half.
Crap everywhere
But we got 3 games against substandard teams. Games will be tough with injuries. But we need to get healthy. If we are healthy , i have hope. Just no saints in playoffs 😂
December 20th, 2021 at 1:45 pm
Again with this blueprint crap. We got blown out several times last year with similar coverage. And teams have played that coverage this year which resulted in more dink and dunk. It’s nothing new. And with Antonio coming back I’d like to see them use the same tactics. I suppose we’ll see soon enough.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:45 pm
And yes, the strategy of going for a deep pass when you simply need a few yards for first down is maddening. And not working. Throw it out already.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:46 pm
Such overreaction… Antonio Brown is coming back this week… good for the Saints they can shut down two fast WR’s who can’t run good routes and are not QB friendly and shut down another WR who is slow and an average route runner. Sure the blueprint to beating that Bucs team was shown but that’s not who teams are up against in the playoffs.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:48 pm
Joe
Defense was prepared to play an offense without starting tackles, starting QB or starting WRs.
When starters go down, coaching has to pick up slack too.. NO beat us without starters. We couldn’t manage a FG.
The Goat is the goat , but he was bad from the FIRST PLAY.
Pen and mic club needs to grow a set, like the reporter in Jax who asked why his Oline gets paid a lot, and gets their ass kicked. Media here too busy sucking up.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:51 pm
Credit does need to go to the Aints defense in this game. They knew our plays better than our young depth receivers knew them. So what does that tell you. COACHING. 1000% coaching. It’s not a surprise that Payton’s Aints routinely beats the Bucs whether or not he has the better team. Simply because he out-coaches the Bucs coaches. BA can try to coddle and protect Lefty all he wants but the 2 of them are very responsible for the offensive debacle. The offense was not put in position to win. Instead of knowing what to do, it felt like Lefty was grasping at straws. Look, Lefty is entitled to his own clunkers but this needs to serve as a wake up. Most teams are going to play us exactly like the Saints did. 2 of 11 passing to Gronk. The resume of both of those players speaks for itself. I feel like the gameplan and adjustments were just terrible. The injuries were terrible but not an excuse especially to put up a gooseegg.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:54 pm
Morph into a run first ground and pound offense , because the O’line and TE’s are a strength. Running makes you a more physical offense on the field and inside your own head-deliver the shots instead of taking them. Let your defense carry your team-they can do it as they get healthy down the stretch.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:55 pm
rayjay, i’ve been watching for 6 decades and i’ve never seen so many injuries. somehow I’m wondering if it’s lack of training. It’s like there was a sniper mowing them down. The play calling didn’t help. 3rd and 2 and you throw a bomb. Think that’s bad? 4th and 1 and another bomb. I’m screaming at the TV “what the hell are you doing!!!! just get the 1st down. miss the long pass and you’re on the bench. Do you guys realize that Tom completed 54% and Cletus completed 48% and we got our ^$# kicked.”
December 20th, 2021 at 1:56 pm
@Joe – you are correct about the defense. Sorry I was just referencing the offense being unprepared… but every primetime game under Arians it seems it has been one or the other. “Energy”, “effort”, whatever you wanna call it…
And while Godwin did make a few nice catches, the offense still did absolutely nothing before he got hurt. Same with Evans and Lenny, maybe we picked up a few more yards but we still had a big fat 0 on the scoreboard. That’s simply unacceptable. They were being pushed around all night.
When one half of the team looks like they don’t want to be there, that has to fall on coaching at a certain point.
December 20th, 2021 at 1:58 pm
Can we get over this whole bucs are broken? this happens each time we play the saints. you also said the same thing after Washington. terrible terrible loss but this is a week to week league. we go crazy after one win. freak out after one loss. every thing is copied in this league and it isn’t like the first time weve been stopped. pressure any QB and you lose lol. skip the hyperbole. the team is still in good position to get the #2 seed. RELAX
December 20th, 2021 at 1:59 pm
blame? you might want to throw our O-line into it. They were horrible Tom was pressured on every down. Everybody knows what happens when Tommy Boy is pressured. That will go into the “L” column
December 20th, 2021 at 2:00 pm
So coach up the backups you blowhard. You have the biggest freaking coaching staff in the history of the NFL. Damn near a coach for each active player, do your job. I get it. Lots of guys got hurt. This offense was a flaccid dong in the beginning of the game before anybody got hurt, so what was the excuse then?
Is the play sheet written in crayon so Leftwich can read it?
The one silver lining to having a bunch of these guys out on offense is it might force these coaches to actually put together a game plan rather than just say send out a bunch of superior talent to win one on one matches all game long.
December 20th, 2021 at 2:00 pm
Saints have run thru door practices i bet
We have walk thru practices
They were more physical and it showed
December 20th, 2021 at 2:17 pm
I don’t think that the Saints broke the Bucs. They just had a good plan and executed it very well, playing with focus and intensity.
Like Joe, I don’t use the refs as an execuse. But the strange way the zebras conducted the game was just perfect for the Saints. Not an excuse, just a fact.
Saints’ players performed admirably and the Bucs performed below their normal. It happens in sports. Even the greatest have bad days.
The Saints also get lucky as hell. On the other side, the Bucs were abnormally unlucky. It happens too in sports.
And, above all, BA and BL had a terrible night. They simply didn’t adjust the offense and insisted in concepts that were not working at all.
Imho, this game was a perfect storm.
The Bucs will be fine, AB and BP (who was born to be a Buccaneer) are good enough to carry the load against the Panthers and the Jets, and the starters will be back for the playoffs, hopefully with the #2 seed.
Go Bucs!!!
December 20th, 2021 at 2:17 pm
Most teams in the NFL don’t have secondaries like the Saints do nor that kind of DLine
December 20th, 2021 at 2:18 pm
Conditioning is not where it needs to be ;; all yr its been.: quad pulls ,calf muscle , how many hamstrings ..+ you got a 25 yr old rb who gets “gassed “after 3 running plays & has to come out ?? REALLY !!!
the 1st round of playoffs is in 27 days… Hamstrings don’t heal up very quicky…
Yes AB is back , so he’ll play alongside with Darden & Miller;; GUESS who gets double teamed ??? we are not above loosing another one …
December 20th, 2021 at 2:19 pm
WalkdaPlank
BL play calling when we’re down is atrocious. Instead of leaning on the run he abandons it and just drops back and tries to fling it every down. Players go down and he sticks to his game plan. 10 straight passes to start the game. That’s your game plan against them. Smh choke yourself
I wish one of these reporters would ask why this has been his plan when things aren’t going well. Brady getting happy feet and being harassed why don’t we settle things down by leaning on the run for a bit and dink and dunk our way down the field. Go to the hurry up or something. Was just horrible watching our offense last night.
Hat tip to the defense even though Joe thought Shaq was going to have a great game. Dude had as many tackles as I had last night.
December 20th, 2021 at 2:22 pm
“Joe is to the point that on punt returns, rather than having Darden attempt a return and do his best bad Dexter Jackson imitation, the Bucs would be better off with an extra rusher.“- Joe
“Why in the hell don’t we go all out to block the kick?! It’s not like Darden does anything other than fall down or run into a crowd of tacklers?” – Me, talking to my Dad last night
December 20th, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Darden needs the bench and keyshawn vaughn needs the bench
probably give OJ another try at the apple. Perriman time! Scotty Miller time.
December 20th, 2021 at 2:24 pm
I have never seen anyone comment about how Winston literally went to the Saints with the BUCS ENTIRE PLAYBOOK. Like think about this, the only two defenses that held us under 20 we’re both led by staff that knew exactly what Brady was about to do (pats/saints). You can’t tell me Winston has not been sitting in the film room with Saints coaches letting them know exactly what plays Arians offence will be trying to run and what they look like. This would explain how they always perform like champions against us then go on to stink it up elsewhere, especially without Brees.
December 20th, 2021 at 2:32 pm
Divis
The playbook they used for Winston and the playbook they use for Brady are not the same thing.
December 20th, 2021 at 2:35 pm
This team is too pass happy. Somebody mentioned it above. We played right into the Saints’ hands.
BALANCE, need more balance.
December 20th, 2021 at 2:36 pm
Division
That wouldn’t explain all the other losses to the Saints. This just didn’t start happening. They’ve owned this division for the past how many years?
December 20th, 2021 at 2:48 pm
The Saints exposed what an amateur Leftwich is. We averaged 5+ yds per carry but throw the ball 48 times in a game that didn’t reach 10 pts in total?!….Brilliant.
Also….how is your back up RB gassed after 8-9 carries? I just don’t understand how a player that we might have to rely on is that far out of game shape.
December 20th, 2021 at 2:58 pm
Tyler Johnson should’ve stepped up but didn’t. Miller is a one trick pony and Darden is a joke.
December 20th, 2021 at 3:01 pm
Point the finger at the largest coaching staff in the History of the World, and their moronic game plan.
10 straight passes? Brilliant. Way to establish some toughness, not to mention play action…
December 20th, 2021 at 3:40 pm
Brady has been in tough games before and you ALWAYS see him and McDaniels coaching the team up and making adjustments on the fly. All you see if BA standing clueless playing with that Sony Walkman strapped to his chest and BL looking stupid with his hat pulled over.his eyes. When do you ever see those two coach? At least Bowles is active and doesn’t look comatose. All talk no action. Sorry Bucs.fans I hope I’m wrong but this team ain’t going anywhere. Take the SB and NFC South trophies and be happy with those.
December 20th, 2021 at 3:41 pm
Him being Belichick and McDaniels coaching up.
December 20th, 2021 at 3:43 pm
In last 100 minutes of footbal; Bucs scored ONE touchdown-with ME, CG & Fournette…There’s something wrong in the locker room.. Could it well be BL’s lack of game planning??
But , with Gronk & AB close to sun setting great careers. don’t be surprised if TB12 calls it a day after playoff..
December 20th, 2021 at 3:51 pm
Brady is done..
You could see that in the pre season. He’s not fond of a team with 0 discipline 0 plan.
December 20th, 2021 at 4:09 pm
JMarkbuc, if you can read minds as well as you think, you’ve missed your calling by wasting those talents on an internet message board.
December 20th, 2021 at 4:37 pm
Sorry Sparky, Jmark may not be far from the truth.
December 20th, 2021 at 5:01 pm
Sparky
You’d have to be blind as a bat not to see it in his face, body language and pressers, along with his general demeanor.
Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
December 20th, 2021 at 5:58 pm
IMO the only way Brady was coming back next year was if we won the SB again this year (or at least play in it)…
I’ve doubted our chances of doing that all year. Said repeatedly that this looks like a one and done team in the playoffs, based on their inconsistency each week and inability to play a full game.
Though maybe things were turning around after the Colts game, but we’ve been bad through the last 6 quarters straight, and it seems the endless list of injuries will all but ensure this remains the case.
December 20th, 2021 at 5:59 pm
*Thought that maybe things were turning around
December 20th, 2021 at 8:24 pm
we still don’t need OBJ? too much letters?
December 20th, 2021 at 10:01 pm
If Darden can’t play, get rid of him. Sorry but same with Scotty. Produce or go home. Some players need to be cut. Better wake up before it’s too late. OJ for sure.
December 20th, 2021 at 11:12 pm
Bruce Arians has NEVER beaten the Saints in the regular season in 3 years, that is an 0-6 record folks! He is 0-6 to a divisional foe that you get 2 cracks at each season. Credit where it is due, he did beat them in the playoffs last season, but my goodness, 0-6 against the Saints?!?!?! The Saints did not trot out anything before a national TV audience last night, they have been doing it to Arians for 3 straight years.
December 21st, 2021 at 7:32 am
Man coverage & 2 high safeties?! What a concept? Our defense should try it sometime.
News flash coach, they were blanketing our starters too, for three years now.
Darden is not an NFL player; stop selling him to us, coach!
If your passing game is struggling, for any number of reasons; such as a strong pass-rush, missing starters, QB struggles, good coverage, you may-MAY just want to RUN the frickin’ ball!!
December 21st, 2021 at 4:20 pm
AB is the only “elite” WR on the team. ME and CG are very good. Their size and strength give them an edge on contested throws. The problem is that it seems Brady is always having to thread the needle to them because they don’t create real separation when running their routes. Some of that could be poor schemes on BL’s part with poorly designed routes that play into the coverage (lack of motion and play action doesn’t help Brady diagnose the defense either). But I watch ME run his routes and he looks lethargic. What sets AB apart is how he runs his routes. He isn’t faster or significantly quicker than CG or ME but he runs crisp routes and when he fakes an inside cut and then breaks on a go route, he doesn’t just shuffle his feet and bolt…he sells the fake. With his head and eyes. He looks back toward the QB as if he expects the ball then, as the DB bites, AB is gone. Watch some old clips of the WRs from earlier games and you’ll see. And Scotty Miller? He hasn’t shown me anything. Yes, he’s fast but so are DBs. He got wide open on that bomb he grabbed against Green Bay last year because the Bucs caught the defense sleeping thinking they were going to run out the clock before the half. The only thing he had to do was not drop a perfectly thrown pass. He ran a GO route a couple of weeks ago. His idea of creating separation was to trot at 3/4 speed for 10 yards or so then “turn on the jets”. The defender wasn’t fooled and stuck like glue to the “speedster”. He was covered and Brady overthrew him because he had to be perfect or long because the coverage was there underneath. The Bucs need better schemes from BL to help Brady and the receivers and the receivers need to get back to the basics of route running. It sucks watching other teams with far inferior WRs and QBs complete so many wide open, uncontested passes against very good defenses. The offense’s problems are on BL. Better practices, game plans, fundamentals and in-game adjustments are needed IMHO. It would also be nice to see BA get involved on the sidelines with his position coaches and light a spark under their arses when needed. The OL coach especially Sunday night. They should have had an extra TE, guard or tackle in there before halftime. Smh. And yeah, run the damn ball and be creative with it.
December 22nd, 2021 at 11:25 am
FAKE FAN’S !!! WE LOST 2 OF THE BEST WRs IN THE NFL , ONE OF THEM GOT HIS KNEE BENT SIDEWAYS CUZ THEY WERE TRYING TO HURT OUR PLAYERS. WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT DID TO THE REST OF THE OFFENSE ?? IT SURE SEEMED TO BOTHER BRADY THAT HE THREW A BALL AND HIS FAVORITE TARGET GOT A SHOULDER IN THE KNEE WHEN HE CAUGHT THE PASS !! LOOKED LIKE THE BACKUP WRs WERE PLAYING SCARED BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY THOUGHT MIGHT HAPPEN TO THEM . NOT MAKING EXCUSES FOR MILLER OR THE WORTHLESS AND FRAIL J. DARDEN “And all 160 pound’s of him” , BUT IT SURE LOOKED LIKE PAYTON PUT THE GREEN LIGHT ON THE BUCS , AND WOULDN’T BE THE FIRST TIME !! BUCS STILL WIN SUPER BOWL