How Much Will The Bucs Miss Shaq Barrett?
November 22nd, 2022
Filling the void.
Last week Joe did a double-take like you would see in a Looney Tunes cartoon. With the sound effect and everything.
Joe looked at the sack totals for NFL teams and saw the Bucs ranked in the top five. What? Yes, it’s true. the Bucs are currently tied for fourth with 32.
And that’s with two full games after Bucs sacks king Shaq Barrett blew out his Achilles.
Shaq played in seven games and had three sacks, eight hurries and five knockdowns. Those are OK numbers. If pushed out to 17 games, that’s maybe eight sacks.
So clearly the sacks were coming elsewhere. Is this a result of teams focusing so much on Shaq and not everyone else? Joe’s certain that’s a factor, but how big is just a guess.
The Bucs have been creative about getting heat on opposing quarterbacks. and they may have to get even more creative without Shaq. It was comforting to see Joe Tryon-Shoyinka be so active against Seattle.
Interesting that on the first start minus Shaq (win over Los Angeles), Akiem Hicks returned. Good timing.
November 22nd, 2022 at 11:36 am
Who knows……we went 3-5 with him……2-0 without him…..but I think Hicks is the reason….
I think it really depends on the health of the other OLBs…….Nelson, Nassib, JTS
November 22nd, 2022 at 11:42 am
Does not matter
He’s gone
November 22nd, 2022 at 12:12 pm
Shaq is a beast, but with his injury and contract, hes likely to be another cap casualty. They may be enjoying success without Shaq currently as there is not a lot of tape of the replacements being successful. I anticipate that to change as offenses make adjustment later into the season. I did notice that the team was getting pressure from more than just Shaq this season, and hope that is a sign of things to come. Clogging up the line and letting 45 and 54 roam does seem to be a recipe for success.
November 22nd, 2022 at 12:13 pm
@SB~LV —
He’s gone? Doubtful.
He’s still due a ton of guaranteed money. After an achilles injury that’s not a tradable contract, and they’re not going to release him and eat the contract unless he’s physically just not able to do it anymore.
November 22nd, 2022 at 12:23 pm
Agreed @TBBF also to add that we’re 4-0 when Hicks has been active, and whether it be Dallas, NO, LA, or Seattle our D has had some of its’ better outings with Hicks on the field.
I feel, we’re playing better team ball on D this season in comparison to 2021. Partly because we’ve been mostly healthy and I think we still have guys in our rotation that can help facilitate the pass rush. We don’t have that 1 individual in Shaq with the rep for getting sacks in bunches, but we’ve also had 13 different players who’ve recorded at least one sack through 10 games. Guys like Nelson, Nassib, Hall, Senat, & Nacho(FINALLY!) collectively have 8 sacks and none of those guys are getting a starters portion of reps, yet. I’m more confident in the scheme providing opportunities that’ll keep the pressure up, but I don’t think we’ve had as many games as we did last season where teams were exploiting our mash unit in the secondary.
November 22nd, 2022 at 12:31 pm
Hicks is the motor of the D Line. If Hicks stays healthy, the Bucs D will continue to be formidable. Shaq was on the decline and should be cut after the season. Time to move on.
November 22nd, 2022 at 1:19 pm
Its always the interior of dline. Hicks and vea keep two guards and center leaving blitz and outside one on one. Imo forces opposite offense honest in keeping a TE to block leaving the back end defense in good position.
November 22nd, 2022 at 1:31 pm
I think they’ll be fine without Shaq. It wasn’t like he was a wrecking ball out there. He played great against the saints, and was having a great game against Baltimore. Other than that, he was largely invisible. Bowles is blitzing less this year. I think that’s a factor in how well they’ve played. Maybe because they haven’t played with many leads. Like had been said, if Hicks and Vea stay healthy, running against us will be tough. Go Bucs!!
November 22nd, 2022 at 1:53 pm
VITA VEA
Vea has been a game wrecker the past two weeks. Joe LOVES to dump on the big man for his snap count. Time to put some respect on his name.
Better hurry up, too.
Vea leads to team in sacks and on pace +10 sacks this year.
November 22nd, 2022 at 2:03 pm
NT Vea and ILB White have combined for 1/3 of our sacks this year – which obviously takes pressure off the Edge rushers to put up big #s when looking at total sack #s for the team.
November 22nd, 2022 at 2:12 pm
As long as I see an opposing QB getting hit and going down, I don’t care who does it.
I’m an equal opportunity fan, lol!!!
Just keep bringing pressure…
November 22nd, 2022 at 2:27 pm
Shaq is an All-Pro out there. He is phenomenal and impossible to replace. However we can still get our pressure in other ways which have already been mentioned. And one guy in particular has stood out to me. Who is this Avery guy. He had a sack against the Rams and he gets pressure on the QB. Have the Joe’s written anything about him?
November 22nd, 2022 at 2:37 pm
Had a losing record with him on the field.
November 22nd, 2022 at 2:42 pm
Apparently we are doing fine without him. I thought we we going to decline with him gone, but we are playing some of our best ball now. Like everyone else is saying, were 4-0 with hicks. Thats a very interesting tidbit of info.
HEY JOE, on another note, is there any possibility that you know if nick leverette will keep his job now with horrible godecke back. I mean all you need is a brain and one iq point to know levertte should be the starter from now on. Not sure what will happen when jensen comes back. Does hainsey play left guard? Bucs are back in pads tomorrow. No indication yet that Leverett is healthy enough for a full practice. Hard to believe they’ll pull Leverett, though. –Joe
November 22nd, 2022 at 2:45 pm
Bucfan1988 … ‘Just keep bringing pressure’.
Therein lies our problem Bucfan. We’re not bringing the pressure, at least not like in 2020 & 2021. Our sacks are fine … 32 in 10 games would be 54 in 17 games IF we stay consistent. That’d be better than in 2020 (48) & 2021 (47).
Where we’re really lagging is in QB knockdowns & QB hurries. Thus far we’ve got 30 knockdowns in 10 games, which would be 51 over 17 games. We had 77 in 2021 & 68 in 2020, so we’re well behind those paces.
And thus far we’ve had 27 hurries in 10 games, which would be 46 hurries in 17 games. We had 95 hurries in 2021 & 73 in 2020, so we’re way behind those paces also.
That means that we’re on pace to get 151 Pressures in 2022. We had 224 Pressures in 2021 & 193 Pressures in 2020. However, it looks like the pace has picked up somewhat in the last couple of games with Hicks back, so we’ll just have to wait & see how this plays out.
November 22nd, 2022 at 2:49 pm
@Buccos
Avery got drafted by Cleveland and has had stints in Philly & Pittsburgh. We picked him up a back in August a day or two after the Steelers released him and I think he was brought in to fill the void made when Cam Gill got injured. Averys’ motor jumps off the screen and he was really close to having 2 sacks in that Rams game with a near miss after bull rushing the left tackle who had a noticeable size advantage on him. IDK if Joe has written an article about Avery, mentioned him in passing, but other commenters have share your sentiment on him also. His motor is ridiculous, but I figure that’s how he thrives as a 6’0 OLB having played in 3 schemes that have had him at the LOS more often than not.
November 22nd, 2022 at 3:55 pm
I don’t think it will be nearly the loss that losing Vea or Hicks would be. I like Shaq but even in the Super Bowl season his best games were against back ups and remade O lines (see GB game and KC Supper bowl). I don’t think he would have had the succes in the that GB game if Bakhtiari hadn’t missed the game. GB Moved Billy Turner from the Right Side over to LT and Turner historically has 5 snaps per game he looks lost. KC, well that O line was a mess for the Super Bowl.
November 22nd, 2022 at 4:17 pm
Bucs miss a whole lotta guys. Even Suh. This is not a championship team by any means. They might make it to the 2nd rd of the playoffs though.
November 22nd, 2022 at 4:33 pm
The Suh position aka Hicks helps it all. The Suh position has not been reliably filled. It is thin ice. Hicks is a ding away from going out. Vea is always a question mark. Logan Hall has not done much, and as a rookie, assumptions of instant impact are overblown.
Losing JPP left Shaq the only legit edge pass rusher. Shaq was invisible, and now he’s out. That is essentially where we are right now. JTS is ridden out of plays consistently, then runs back in as plays end. Nassib, Nelson, JAGs.
“Creavitity”? Bowles blitzing, blitzing, more blitzing.
The team and the press are getting ahead of themselves based on a win over a streaky rebuilding Seahawks team. Nothing has been done about the basic problems of a few weeks ago. We will see how the rest of the season goes.
November 22nd, 2022 at 4:43 pm
yes avery is making a little noise out there…
i like him as well
November 22nd, 2022 at 5:30 pm
JOE WHEN YOU SAID YOU WERENT SURE IF LEVERETTE is ENOUGH, You do mean godecke right? From what i remember. Leverette is healthy.
November 22nd, 2022 at 6:12 pm
Watch Avery #59 guys🤙🏾
November 22nd, 2022 at 8:11 pm
you really just gotta hope shaq makes it back and moves well…
achilles injuries change and end careers sometimes…
oj never really bounced back when he tore his sh!t up…
and now he currently resides in the land of the lost with lovie
November 22nd, 2022 at 9:56 pm
Next man up.
November 22nd, 2022 at 10:37 pm
I hate to say this, but we are almost better with Shaq gone.
Look how good we are playing lately ?
Many of our blitz schemes were designed around Shaq, and he did not get to the passer more times than not.
So, in some ways, he hurt us!
With Shaq gone, it seems more of our other players are getting to the passer, indicating to me that Shaq is expendable.
Well, he would be expendable, but he has this huge guaranteed contract.
But honestly, I see no drop off in our team since he has been gone.
November 23rd, 2022 at 12:02 am
@Chris, I agree. Shaq wasn’t getting it done. Healthy DTs helps, and Bowles has been getting DBs in there. A healthy Winfield will add a few too.