Burying CeeDee Lamb
September 12th, 2022
It’s rare when a box score tells a story, but this one sure did.
Pro Bowl Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb was held to two catches for 29 yards last night on 11 targets.
Joe wrote Saturday night how cornerback Carlton Davis would be the low key most important cog to victory. Tampa Bay had many stars on the field last night, certainly on defense, but Davis balled out in a Pro Bowl way as he teamed up with corner Jamel Dean to lock down Lamb.
Joe won’t go too crazy about what Davis accomplished. Lamb had three I’m-invisible games last season, but last night everyone knew Lamb would get the targets as the No. 1 Cowboys option, and it was Davis who was up to the challenge under the road-game pressure and Dallas playing from behind.
Damn, that Bucs secondary is loaded. Depth in previous years was represented by Ross Cockrell and Pierre Desir, two guys out of football. Now guys like Sean Murphy-Bunting and Keanu Neal are coming off the bench.
Joe will say it again: general manager Jason Licht must be flexing big-time this morning.
September 12th, 2022 at 11:13 am
The gravediggers showed up. In particular Davis & Winfield played exceptional!
September 12th, 2022 at 11:14 am
Davis.
September 12th, 2022 at 11:17 am
Let’s goo CD3!!! Now it’s time to lock down Michael Thomas next week!
September 12th, 2022 at 11:19 am
If he can do it to Michael Thomas I will be impressed. The Cowboys looked like a USFL team that was playing to get the first draft pick.
September 12th, 2022 at 11:23 am
i didnt see #23 murphy bunting on the field. and i think murphy bunting is probably the best ball hawk, he catches a lot of picks. but bowles is comfortable with ryan out there right now, and i must say the defense played fantastic.
Dean was Great … Davis was Great … Edwards played Great.. Winfield is a dog out there. I really like this group on defense with Todd Bowles.. Great Team WIN !!!!
September 12th, 2022 at 11:27 am
The play of our secondary was as good a surprise as the O line play. Kudos to all the DBs and their coaches. Well done.
September 12th, 2022 at 11:29 am
And, not one DPI penalty……..played very tight coverage…..Carlton Davis was spectacular…..
September 12th, 2022 at 11:30 am
I was impressed with secondary the entire game, damn it was fun to watch. I have never thought that about Bucs secondary except the superbowl 2020. Very aggressive play and very effective.
September 12th, 2022 at 11:37 am
Yep, looking forward to finally seeing the rematch of CD3 and “Slant Mike” next week…
Folks may not remember but last time CD3 played against him a couple of years ago before Slant Mike’s injuries hit him, good ole Slant Mike had 7 catches for only 23 yards 😂😂!! Davis was a beast that day on him!!!
That’s when Davis knew he owned this guy!!
Hope he follows him all over the field next week.
September 12th, 2022 at 11:46 am
Nothing better than lamb extra rare, with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
September 12th, 2022 at 11:52 am
So far, so good, but I still need to see more. If we get through our next three games without being nuked, I’m drinking the “our secondary is good” kool aid.
September 12th, 2022 at 12:32 pm
cd lamb chops is a little overrated tho
September 12th, 2022 at 12:35 pm
Also it’s worth noting that Davis had great coverage on CC’s first catch, it was just amazing ball placement by Dak. The other catch, if memory serves me right, was on 3rd and the Bucs were playing a soft zone defense way off the 1st down mark, was a really stupid playcall by the Bucs (I think that was the 2nd CC reception).
September 12th, 2022 at 12:44 pm
So Winfield is the slot corner and Ryan comes in on 83% downs in nickel.
September 12th, 2022 at 12:51 pm
Davis had a Great Game !! Balled Out !!!
September 12th, 2022 at 1:16 pm
The Bucs’ defense snap counts for last night’s game seem to tell a very interesting story. I’ve got a hunch it’ll be indicative of what we can expect this season. Cowboys ran 69 plays against our defense; 6 Bucs’ defenders were on the field for all 69 (LVD, White, Davis, Dean, Winfield, Edwards). What’s interesting though is that Logan Ryan ALSO logged a bunch of def snaps … 57 to be exact (83%). IOW the Bucs used 2 ILBs & 5 Secondary for 5 out of every 6 plays.
Not sure exactly where Logan Ryan & Logan Hall were lining up though. Looks like we used 3 OLBs total in the game (Shaq, JTS & Nelson) but they only got 119 total def snaps (Shaq 49; JTS 48; Nelson 22), leaving the designated OLBs 19 def snaps short of the 138 you’d expect for 2 OLBs. Logan Hall also logged 20 def snaps, so I’m wondering if he was lining up primarily outside. And also if we were using a Nickel CB the majority of the time.
Vea (42 def snaps for 61% availability) & Hicks (40 def snaps for 58%) each got about as many snaps as I was expecting (about 60% each), with Gholston (25 def snaps for 36%) & RNR (23 def snaps for 33%) also getting about what you’d expect. So largely it sounds like we were using 2 big guys in the interior most of the night, plus 2 OLBs, 2 ILBs, plus 5 Secondary.
MAYBE that’s why the Cowboys had so much trouble passing? Makes me wonder why Dallas didn’t just keep pounding the ball using Elliott, to force us to beef up our Front with 1 more.
September 12th, 2022 at 1:43 pm
Defense Rules – good stats, thanks for posting.
Vita, however, should be out there for around 75% of defensive snaps, 61% is hopefully his low point of the year and he can stay on the field without needing to come out as much. Still think if he lost like 30lbs, he’d still be just as an effective as a run stopper, but a better pass rusher and could play more downs.
September 12th, 2022 at 2:27 pm
Defense played great. The cowgirls hurt us a little with their power running game, which I am sure the Saints will try and duplicate. It will give the Bucs defense something to work on before the Saints game.
September 12th, 2022 at 2:40 pm
Rod … The primary reason I’ve wanted to see Ndamukong Suh back in the fold is that for Vea AND Hicks to be at their best (assuming they’re healthy of course) they can’t be on the field for more than 60-65% of the def snaps IMO (and even that might be too much). They’re 2 HUGE guys & they’ll need a lot of breathers (puffing oxygen most likely) to give 100% when they do hop onto the field. Gholston & RNR will probably be getting the rest of the interior snaps for the most part. Also, looked like we mostly used a 2-4-5 last night), although I’d often see 4-6 on the line pre-snap.
My suspicion is that Bowles intends to keep Logan Ryan on the field most of the game as a Nickel, and to use Logan Hall (for now at least) more as a DE/OLB than as a DT. Hall only got 20 def snaps last night, but admittedly I didn’t really key on him to see where he was lining up. Maybe someone who reviews these games 10 times afterwards can figure that out & pass it along.
September 12th, 2022 at 2:51 pm
LakelandSteve … IF we really were only using 2 of our big guys inside on most of the plays, that could explain why the Cowboys had some success with Elliott running quite effectively (especially in the 1st half). Ezekiel had …
o 27 yds on 5 carries in the 1st qtr;
o 5 yds on 1 carry in the 2nd qtr;
o 18 yds on 3 carries in the 3rd qtr;
o 2 yds on 1 carry in the 4th qtr.
Why they limited him to 10 carries when he was running so effectively boggles the mind. That allowed us to keep playing 5 in the Secondary, which made it a LOT easier I’m sure in pass defense (and especially with the healthy starters that were out there).
September 12th, 2022 at 4:35 pm
Craig, CD3 has made Slantboy invisible before. I expect more of the same.
September 12th, 2022 at 6:47 pm
DR –
“Logan Ryan ALSO logged a bunch of def snaps … 57 to be exact (83%)…Not sure exactly where Logan Ryan & Logan Hall were lining up”
Hall was lining up inside every time he was in there from what I saw. Winfield was playing slot CB a good bit of the game – pretty sure Ryan’s snaps were mostly at Safety when Winfield was playing nickle with Edwards playing all the other Safety snaps….
“Looks like we used 3 OLBs total in the game (Shaq, JTS & Nelson)”
I for sure saw Nassib on the field for at least a couple/few snaps and doubt he was playing anything but OLB….
September 12th, 2022 at 10:17 pm
Pickgrin … I do remember seeing Winfield playing slot on some plays. I thought I saw Nassib too, but the snap counts don’t have him with any for some reason.
If Hall was lining up inside, then maybe Bowles did use 3-man fronts some. Maybe the ‘shortage’ was in the OLBs, or maybe one of the DBs was lining up out there. Whatever he was doing, it sure seemed to have caught Dak Prescott off-guard.
September 13th, 2022 at 10:37 am
Defense rules…
Logan Ryan was employed primarily as one of two deep safeties in the nickle. Winfield played the slot and was near the LOS on almost all plays.
Logan Hall played all over during mostly pass situations. The Bucs didn’t line up in 3-4 a ton… they ran a lot of 4-2 nickle and often times they’d line up with three guys on the interior and only one DE split out past the OT in a wide 9 angle. Similar with most plays in the Super Bowl, the Bucs often pull an interior rusher in the nickle and play a 4-2 and keep their best pass rushers on the field.