Always Be Aggressive
February 4th, 2023
Drink to being aggressive!
Joe remembers covering the training camp of the old St. Louis Cardinals, Joe’s first big college gig. Joe learned a lot there still in use to this day.
A Cardinals beat writer and columnist in St. Louis liked the way Joe hustled. “You’re aggressive,” he told Joe. “Always be aggressive.”
That works for building NFL teams, as well. Chris Trapasso of CBS looked at recent NFL trends all teams should employ. One is how the Chiefs and Eagles built their rosters. They were gung-ho, aggressive. Now? Both are in the Super Bowl.
Joe would suggest the Bucs started this trend. Bucco Bruce Arians comes to town and he gets Ndamukong Suh and Shaq Barrett. All of a sudden the Bucs went from having a trash defense to one of the league’s best by the time the season ended.
The next year, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht and Arians went boom-or-bust. They landed the biggest fish of them all, Tom Brady. Then came foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown and Playoff Lenny. Boom! Super Bowl, bay-bee!
Of course, aggressively picking the wrong guys can blow up in your face. This season the Bucs were aggressive and outside of Shaq Mason and perhaps Akiem Hicks, the Bucs would have been better off sitting on their hands. Overall, the newcomers didn’t make a lick of difference.
So yes, be aggressive. Always be aggressive.
But always pick the right players.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:13 am
Kick the tires on Derek Carr. I’m not saying he is the guy but with a chip on his shoulders he may be. Don’t tell me Bucs can’t afford him. Guys at OBP are pretty good at their jobs.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:18 am
Bucs were NOT aggressive when they had the opportunity to sign quality starters to replace Jensen and Hicks. What a difference signing JC Tretter at Center and bringing back Ndamakong Suh could have made. Suh will get another ring in a week.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:19 am
Yep…now is the time to be aggressively trading your favorite names to spare them the rebuild.
Time to aggressively rebuild the roster
Oh !
need a proper head coach to mold the young roster next year
and Bowles ain’t it !!!!!!!!!
February 4th, 2023 at 10:26 am
They say Bowles is aggressive……with his constant blitzes…….but actually, I think the blitzing is to make up for the lack of an aggressive pass rush.
He sure didn’t display much aggression on game day……except for that failed fake pun vs Cinn……(absurd)….
Chickened out on 4th downs……opting for a 55 yard FG from Succop….
It should help our aggressiveness to get younger….
Brady, Rudolph, Julio, Bernard, Brate, Hicks, Ryan, Gholston, Succop, LVD
There are 10 players who are all FAs…..let them walk…..bring in younger, aggressive players.
Brady is gone…..that’s a start on getting younger.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:33 am
See Plan 9 from Outer Space…Yes let us start over.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:38 am
Pretty quiet on the Offensive Coordinator hunt..must be getting ready to interview someone from Philly or chiefs after the superbowl
February 4th, 2023 at 10:38 am
Fans have been terribly unfair to Coach Bowles. The season began without Gronkowski and Pro Bowl players at left guard and center Then they lost Barrett, their best pass rusher. Their third and fourth pass receivers were banged up all year. In short, they just weren’t that talented though fan’s, including Joe, bought into the narrative that they were a legitimate super bowl contender. If Barrett comes back healthy, they sign Dean, and they add another pass rusher, this can be a top tier defense. Of course, the QB position will be crucial, but I can see a scenario in which the Buccaneers can be a 10 win team while not endangering their future.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:38 am
In 2023, they will aggressively avoid pricey free agents, aggressively trim cap, and aggressively get younger.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:40 am
@BucsFanSince76 JC Tretter retired before the season started, not sure he would have been much help.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:45 am
Buccanero, the chip on his shoulder comment might make some sense. Carr seems to be such an earnest player that I really do think he would play with a chip on his shoulder. Is he an alpha quarterback compared to some of the other alphas in the league? I’m not sure. Granted, all athletes in the NFL are alphas. And I’m using that word the way it’s tossed around in these threads. But he’s way above anyone on the roster obviously. Price is a concern. But it all depends on how competitive they want to be next season.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:48 am
Hard to be aggressive when u r $53 mil in the red with 23 free agents
More likely we are very prudent this year and hope for the best
February 4th, 2023 at 10:48 am
Suh is going to another Super Bowl. Akeem Hicks, our part time player is sitting at home with rest of the Bucs. Horrendous Bucs error. But good for Suh.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:52 am
Buddah, we’re critical of bowels because he did nothing to help this floundering offense. Leftwich should have never been employed at the bye week. He sucked. Subsequently, our offense sucked. It’s not too late to fire Bowels. It’s inevitable he’ll be fired next season. Why wait. He’s not going to change his stripes now.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:54 am
And the right Head coach. Easier to be aggressive with a boss that supports that.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:56 am
Fill the holes and sign a Brad Johnson type QB. Carr is too much money.
February 4th, 2023 at 11:25 am
TBBF … Brady’s retired, and agree with letting Rudolph, Julio, Bernard, Brate & Succop walk on offense. That’d leave us with 19 offensive players from last season’s offense … 1 QB (Trask), 5 WR (CG14, ME13, Gage, Thompkins, Geiger), 3 RB (Fournette, White, Vaughn), 2 TE (Otton, Kieft), 8 OL (Jensen, Wirfs, Mason, Hainsey, D Smith, Goedeke, Molchon, Walton). Add 2 QB, 1 WR, 1 RB, 1 TE & probably 2 OLinemen (Leverett & Stinnie) and that puts us up to 26 offense, almost all of whom would be fairly experienced. Biggest question in there once we sign a quality OC? QUARTERBACK of course. But that’s OK, whoever wins the job should have some decent support around him.
Defense is a whole nuther matter. We’ve got a few starters to build around if they can get healthy (Vea, Shaq, White, Davis, Winfield, JTS) plus several question-marks IMO (Hall, McCollum, Britt) but that leaves gaping holes in every position group (so much for chemistry?). I’d like to re-sign several of our own FAs (Dean, Nelson, Edwards, Ryan, Hicks, Gholston, RNR, Nassib?) but only if they can be signed at very reasonable salaries. Other than that, it’ll all depend on what they can do with the salary CAP mess.
February 4th, 2023 at 11:25 am
TVAN101
Research your facts and you will see Tretter only retired after no team showed interest , which Bucs GM Jason Licht should have done immediately upon Jensens’ injury. Oh and can a player unretire? yes he can.
February 4th, 2023 at 11:25 am
Buddha, in most cases one would agree but in 2021, JPP, LVD, Shaq, the entire secondary was hurt throughout the season, yet one play from a potential back to back SB despite of Bowles entire blitzing Stafford.
The D gave up the same amount of points on average since 2020 21 to 23 per game. That means the D was average at best.
The O was far above average in 2020-2021 scoring 30+ points/ game. Once they fell below seas level the wheels fell off. Was it because of BA, Gronk, AB, Jensen, Marpet (can’t say Cappa he didn’t play in 2020) or ALL of the above? The fact is something changed and was never fixed or remotely fixed. That’s on the HC. Poor play calling, situational football, poor game management, predictability etc, needed to be addressed.
I rewatched the 2020 SB and noticed obvious passing route differences and PA something not seen much this season.
Bottom line, if the O didn’t average 30+ points in 2020 & 2021 there was no PO’s let alone a SB. Also can’t blame the line, in 2021 they almost went to the SB without Wirfs, Jensen bad ankle, Wells on one foot. Todd Bowles is your failure!!!
February 4th, 2023 at 11:36 am
DR
I’m thinking going cheaper on defense……avoiding Dean & LVD…..trying to sign Nelson, Nassib, SMB…….maybe RNR & Edwards…
Draft CB, LB, TE, S, WR, Edge (no specific order) Pick up an UDFA RB
February 4th, 2023 at 11:37 am
This is a good article Joe. Further proof that Nice guys finish last! Football players should be aggressive. Its a good quality to measure when evaluating. Can Licht figure this out?
February 4th, 2023 at 11:43 am
Great that Blowes didn’t want Suh. Now he’s in the Super Bowl again, and played way better than Hicks. Our headless coich. Moron.
February 4th, 2023 at 11:51 am
Goat, I never got the anti Suh choice. He was the best Bucs DL in 2021, never missed a game and same if not less than Hicks. Still don’t get it.
February 4th, 2023 at 11:54 am
Suh is a coach ON the field. The Dee sure missed his leadership this year!
February 4th, 2023 at 11:58 am
Suh was and is a ‘bad man’. He held gap containment freeing up linebackers to make big plays. We all knew that except those that didn’t. Something’s I’ll never quite understand to this day.
February 4th, 2023 at 12:10 pm
Toad thinks he is smarter than everyone. And, he may be. But that doesn’t mean he makes any correct decisions. We can count on the Toad to make the wrong one. Every. Time.
February 4th, 2023 at 12:18 pm
JOE SAYS: “How the Chiefs and Eagles built their rosters.”
Based on what I read here on JBF, there is no way the Eagles’ journey to the Super Bowl is one the Bucs would ever follow.
1. The Eagles drafted Jalen Hurts in 2020 in the second round with pick #53 (sound familiar, JBFers?).
2. He sucked his 2020 rookie season, playing in 15 games (with the starters!) and finishing with 6 TDs to 4 INTs and a lowly QBR rating of 33.8.
3. The next year, in the Eagles 2021 training camp, Hurts struggled. Headlines appeared such as “JALEN HURTS HAS WORST DAY OF PRACTICE AT EAGLES TRAINING CAMP” (sound familiar, Joe?).
4. Then, “GOING INTO THE 2021 SEASON, NEARLY EVERY ANALYST IN THE NFL WAS CRITICIZING JALEN HURTS” (sound familiar, JBFers?).
5. Hurts improved his second season, 2021, finishing with 16 TDs to 9 INTs.
6. Hurts improved again his third season, 2022, finishing with 22 TDs to 6 INTs – an almost 4:1 ratio – and he and the Eagles are going to the Super Bowl and the Bucs are not.
Now, compare how the Eagles handled Hurts to the incessant vitriol on this website directed to a similar draft pick who has not been given anywhere near the snaps or exposure Hurts was given by the Eagles over three seasons. It is not a mystery why the Bucs have never developed a quarterback.
February 4th, 2023 at 12:26 pm
Time to cut bait and rebuild. This roster is bad in the trenches outside of Wirfs, Vea, and Jensen.
February 4th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
Interesting how Suh is in the Super Bowl. He’s good enough for best team in the league but not this clown show dumpster fire. What a disgrace
February 4th, 2023 at 12:43 pm
We have no LB on the roster who can do the pass coverage that LD is tasked with every game…youngers are all to slow
February 4th, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Tbbfan
Counting his chickens already. If suh does get a ring it won’t be because of his play. Right place right time trumps everything.
February 4th, 2023 at 1:17 pm
Goatfarmer … ‘Great that Blowes didn’t want Suh. Now he’s in the Super Bowl again, and played way better than Hicks. Our headless coich. Moron.’
Another one of your baseless rants I see. Suh came to the Bucs BECAUSE OF TODD BOWLES back in 2019 & played 3 years in Bowles defense. Knowing how much Bowles hybrid 3-4 depends on stopping the run … which Suh excelled at … why would anyone with half a brain believe your accusation that ‘Blowes didn’t want Suh’? Not to mention Suh’s leadership on the DLine. What a bunch of horsepuckey your accusation is.
You & I both know who didn’t want Suh … Jason Licht because HE DIDN’T WANT TO PAY HIM. He’d much rather spend $6 mil on Julio and $10 mil on Gage plus give Fournette his $7 mil a year (for 3 years) so that his offense could have enough ‘weapons for Brady’. And then trade for Shaq Mason at an annual salary of $9 mil per year. In case you can’t add, that’s $32 mil alone to support Brady, not to mention re-signing CG14 at an annual cost of $20 mil per year. Ultimately JL had zero money left for the defense, although we did end up having to cough up $8 mil in a 1-year contract for Hicks, who everyone knew wasn’t nearly as durable as Suh.
Several of us pounded the drums for Licht to sign Suh, to no avail. Same thing with signing a replacement for JPP, which they never did. Instead Licht drafted what’s his name, Hall? Ya I’m impressed. Not. At least have the guts Goatfarmer to put the responsibility where it REALLY belongs. The only MORON appears to be you with your baseless accusations.
February 4th, 2023 at 1:20 pm
beano … Exceptional breakdown on Jalen Hurts. I’ve followed Hurts since his days with Bama. Not the biggest, nor the fastest, but a really smart ballplayer. Impressive to me how the Eagles were patient with him & built their attack to fit his strengths. Wow, what a concept.
February 4th, 2023 at 1:45 pm
You heard it here first, folks. lil b beano…Trask Force ™️ secretary and former Teen People moderator has declared Trask the next Jalen Hurts! Well why didn’t he say so earlier?! I’m all in now! Trask will likely be better/more mobile come to think of it. I smell Super Bowl!
February 4th, 2023 at 2:00 pm
For all you Suh lovers, teams weren’t exactly beating down his door, especially not for how much he wanted to be paid. The Bucs could not afford him, and they wanted to get quicker. Philly didn’t pick him up until pretty late in the year, and he’s a backup player. Sure, he’s a good presence in the locker room and the Bucs missed that but the just couldn’t afford to bring him back. Simple as that. But don’t let reality impinge on your desire to b!tch and moan and criticize.
February 4th, 2023 at 2:05 pm
DR spitting some hot fire today!
Do we know how much Suh ended up signing with the Eagles for ?
Re: The Bucs and Suh, I wanted him back too, but my understanding was the team was down his play in 2021, and thought Hicks would provide more (if healthy). I seem to remember other folks who cover the league saying Suh was weaker against the run in 2021 as well, although I didn’t really see that personally.
February 4th, 2023 at 2:08 pm
One more thought regarding the Defense- they also signed Logan Ryan and Keanu Neal, Nassib and resigned Carlton Davis to a big deal in addition to Hicks, so it’s not like Licht completely neglected the defense.
IMO not having a replacement for JPP was the bigger deal. Going into the season with just Shaq as the only real pass rushing threat was a huge mistake, and I screamed about this for months. Gifting JTS a starting role was the height of stupidity. Bowers 2.0
February 4th, 2023 at 2:35 pm
Defense Rules,
Thanks. It’s nice to know there are sober, rational Bucs fans here.
Compare the ever infantile Winny Testicalverde. All those pesky facts I threw out about the Eagles’ patient handling of Hurts hit too close to home, hence her hissy fit. We expect that from her, though; what’s strange is why the Joes don’t get it either.
February 4th, 2023 at 2:56 pm
Unbelievable … Not my intention to be ‘spitting fire’ but Todd Bowles deserves better than being labeled ‘headless’ and a ‘moron’ by certain folks who just keep spitting out one unproven accusation after another. I’ve said a number of times that he’s made his share of mistakes, but it gets irritating when he gets falsely blamed for others’ screwups.
Suh signed with Philly for $2.0 mil but that doesn’t mean much IMO since it was very near the end of the season. He played for us in 2019 for $9.3 mil, then in 2020 for $8.0 mil and again in 2021 for $9.0 mil. None of us know what he was asking for in 2022, but I remember a number of reports felt it’d be around $8 mil for the full season. And since we ended up paying him $6.8 mil in 2022 dead CAP money (for his voided contract because we kicked the can down the street in 2021) it would’ve been very simple to work a contract for him. But noooo …let’s go with Hicks for, oh ya, $8.0 mil. Brilliant.
Did we miss his play on the field? Probably somewhat. Did we miss his attitude & leadership? Oh ya. Same with JPP, and don’t forget that we lost Steve McLendon on our DLine also. We lost Suh (17 games, 717 def snaps, 6 sacks, 19 pressures), JPP (12 games, 601 def snaps, 2.5 sacks, 14 pressures), and McLendon (12 games, 253 def snaps, 0.5 sacks, 6 pressures) and replaced those 3 with Hicks (11 games, 399 def snaps, 1 sack, 4 pressures), Hall (17 games, 403 def snaps, 2.5 sacks, 8 pressures) & Nassib (13 games, 251 def snaps, 3.5 sacks & 7 pressures)
It’s not really that hard to figure out why our defense didn’t perform as well overall in 2022 as in 2021. Same number of games (41) for the 3 each year, but the performance doesn’t equate (1571 def snaps versus 1053, 9 sacks versus 7, 39 pressures versus 19. Oh and 1573 rushing yards allowed (#3 ranking) versus 2052 allowed (#15 ranking). Obviously a lot of compromises were made elsewhere in the defense. But hey, it was all Todd Bowles fault so we’re good.
February 4th, 2023 at 3:02 pm
Sasquatch … I almost always agree with you, but not on Suh. We paid Hicks the same amount that we probably would’ve paid Suh for a whole season, knowing that Hicks had an injury history & Suh didn’t. Look at Hicks’ 2022 numbers (11 games, 399 def snaps, 1 sack, 4 pressures) and our significant slip against rushing attacks (#3 to #15) and it’s obvious to me that Suh was missed.
Good point about his locker room presence BTW. Based on how soft we played at times, maybe we could’ve used some of his & JPP’s fire.
February 4th, 2023 at 3:15 pm
I want nothing to do with Carr. He had plenty of weapons and a good OC. The Raiders want nothing to do with him. Hurts has arguably the best roster in football surrounding him. His shoulder injury nearly derailed the whole thing. That’s the catch with these running QBs. But for a couple idiotic coaching decisions, Mahomes would be sitting home too. Look at Lamar. It’s too risky. Hurts is the outlier. None of these guys will play anywhere near as long as Brady. They don’t understand self preservation. A pocket QB, with the ability to move within the pocket is far more advantageous IMO.
February 4th, 2023 at 3:29 pm
@DR – yea I know he signed super late / is part time with Eagles, was just curious the amount.
The dead Cal hit is a good point, I can’t imagine he was asking much more than 7 – 9 mil… Hicks was good when he was played, but considering all the time he missed I think Suh would have been better.
At the same time, it wasn’t just the Bucs who didn’t want to pay Suh whatever he was asking… no one did. Hence the late Eagles signing.
At the end of the day, our defense may have been slightly better, or more consistent, with Suh. But I doubt it would have amounted to more than maybe 1 additional win, which would not have been the playoff game lol. It is what it is.
February 4th, 2023 at 3:31 pm
Defense, disagree on Suh. Go look at his next gen numbers his last season here. Believe what you like, but wasn’t very effective. Lots of garbage time stats you’re referencing. Are you really trying to defend Bowles? The guy that cost us a chance at another NFC title game because he wouldn’t stop blitzing Stafford. He’s a career DC masquerading as a HC. Let’s get real. The defense would have looked very much the same this season with JPP and Suh. You’ll get no argument about Hicks. Hindsight is a beautiful garment. You can wear it without the ability for a counter. It’s all speculation. Suh may have a great superbowl, but it’ll be because of what’s around him. Not because he’s a dominant force anymore.
February 4th, 2023 at 3:45 pm
Redeemer … ‘He’s a career DC masquerading as a HC. Let’s get real.’
FWIW, I agree with you. Bowles is a much better DC than he is a HC. That having been said however, it was BA who walked away at the very last minute (31 March) and passed the torch to Bowles. From previous JBF articles, Bowles sounded as surprised as any of us. Seemed like he was fully expecting to be BA’s DC this year. But like you said Redeemer, ‘it’s all speculation’.
IF someone offered you a chance though to become one of 32 HCs in the NFL … and pay you a lot of $$$ … would you say no? Especially when you knew it could be your last chance to move back up to HC? The decision to elevate Todd Bowles rested with the Glazers, Jason Licht & Bruce Arians. Bowles first (and major) mistake was in dual-hatting himself as HC/DC (if in fact he was the one who made that decision; we don’t know that for sure; may have been a condition of him accepting the HC gig).
As an aside, I really have no problem with Hicks … IF he can stay healthy (a big IF). Even at 33, he can be a force (although his 2022 numbers were nowhere close to Suh’s 2021 stats). And yes, Suh is on the downside (may be why he waited until December to sign on with the Eagles?).
February 4th, 2023 at 6:10 pm
A healthy Suh over accident prone Hicks any day. Foot problem don’t go away.
DR, I agree 100% for the same money keep Suh. Think back folks and Redeemer it wasn’t garbage time, he caused the last fumble in the Rams game. His stats went down because Vea played the whole season, part time for full pay but the entire season, in 2020 he never played in the regular season. Of course Suhs stats would be higher. Compare career stats and they are not close.
February 4th, 2023 at 6:21 pm
DR apparently doesn’t know what a fog index is. Setting the record for most words typed on JBF must be something to take pride in I guess.
Nor has the capability of realizing that some are blowing off steam and here for entertainment purposes. Not to mention, the wrong decision was to pay Hicks and not Suh. How do we know? Look at results.
If I want to read a 10,000 word essay, I can read a summary of War and Peace.
February 4th, 2023 at 6:57 pm
There are different kinds of aggressive. Smart aggressive is great. Stupid aggressive, Bowles’ brand, is what we’ve gotten. The playoff loss vs. the Rams, that turned a Brady triumph into the all-time loss, in mere minutes, the classic example.
The Bucs were not aggressive smart at all last offseason. In fact they were insipid. They passed on dozens of better options in free agency, drafted poorly, and retreated to the (aggressive stupid) overhype of in-house JAGs. The stupid aggressive moves for Julio, Hicks, Kyle Rudolph, Gage, Nassib were the result of poor evaluation, misguided priorities and bad ideas.
The chance to rebuild should be an exciting project. The problem is Bowles and his leftover parts. They have to be gone before there is hope. He is going to build himself up for 2023, so that total reboot won’t happen until he’s gone.
February 4th, 2023 at 7:19 pm
@Goatfarmer
Realizing that I’m even guiltier than D.R. for writing longer posts I have a simple question. Do you know how to use the scroll wheel? Do you see any irony in taking up an entire paragraph to vent when you could have simply used the scroll wheel.
I’m certain people scroll past my stuff all the time. That’s cool because people who don’t wish to read that much shouldn’t. I don’t expect anybody to read my stuff if they don’t want to.
BTW Goatfarmer and others..if you’re still reading LOL…Is Jameis Winston totally out of the picture? The Saints have given up on him and he should be much more affordable and hopefully has learned to check his ego.
February 4th, 2023 at 8:03 pm
As soon as we signed hicks and let Suh walk the season was in trouble. Suh and Vea let the outside rush be amazing.
February 4th, 2023 at 9:37 pm
I have heard people mention if Monken becomes OC, Jameis would be a QB he might want to work with. I can’t see the Glazers, Jason Licht, teammates or,fan base being happy about that but, yeah.