Todd Bowles: SirVocea Dennis Hasn’t Been Unleashed Yet
August 8th, 2023
Full potential untapped.
While he has cooled off a bit of late, this SirVocea Dennis is a dawg.
Dennis is highly athletic and intelligent. Pretty good combo for an NFL linebacker. And as Bucs defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers said about Dennis, the ball finds him. Dennis always seems to be around it.
That’s what you want in a defensive player.
To hear Bucs coach Todd Bowles speak about the rookie from Pitt, none of us have seen the full Dennis.
“He’s a very good blitzer, actually,” Bowles said. “We hadn’t started to do that yet.”
So let Joe get this straight: Dennis is always around the ball and there is an element to his game you haven’t tapped into yet? Wow.
Joe expects Dennis to get a lot of snaps on Friday night. While “this Joe” considers preseason games worthless, watching Dennis (maybe blitzing) might be a reason to watch.
August 8th, 2023 at 3:46 pm
Hoping for good play from Mr. Dennis. Sounds like a stud so far.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:06 pm
Joe … ‘While “this Joe” considers preseason games worthless, watching Dennis (maybe blitzing) might be a reason to watch’.
Let me see if I’ve got this straight Joe. ‘This Joe’ is really ‘Negative Nelly’ and ‘That Joe’ is really ‘Positive Pablo’? Am I in the ballpark? I’d like to know what to expect next time I see ‘This Joe’ in quotes.
It’s great to hear Bucs’ coaches rave about Dennis. Our ILB position group is pretty thin after you get past 33-year-old LVD and soon-to-be-a-FA Devin White. Dennis gives me hope for the future.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:18 pm
Do you think coaches consider preseason games worthless? How about posing that question to a few of them?
August 8th, 2023 at 4:21 pm
Trade White give this man the snaps he deserves. He can cover White cant.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:25 pm
“This Joe” is retarded for referring to preseason games worthless. It’s live game action against another team for young players. It helps weed out the practice stars from the guys who can turn it on in games. They’re not super valuable for experienced starters, which is why they play a lot less. The bottom half of the roster benefits greatly from these games though. That’s hard to deny.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:37 pm
SirVoccea gets a pick Friday night.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:52 pm
That would be awesome if Urkel turns out to be a good player. His workout numbers are very good – he slipped in the draft because he’s undersized, which is a trait of most Bucs LBs who have been amazing.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:52 pm
Wolford will be qb by week 8
August 8th, 2023 at 4:52 pm
In advance of his HOF career, let’s just call this young pup what he is:
Sir Dennis. Add a sword, watch the ears, and voila!
August 8th, 2023 at 4:53 pm
Nick2 Says:
August 8th, 2023 at 4:21 pm
Trade White give this man the snaps he deserves. He can cover White cant.
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Right, take your all-pro interior pass rusher and trade him because he’s not good in coverage. You’re a genius.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:53 pm
^^^ Rod,
That’s Sir Urkel to you.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:55 pm
Nick2 Says:
August 8th, 2023 at 4:21 pm
Trade White give this man the snaps he deserves. He can cover White cant.
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What we need to do is trade away Simeon Rice because he’s not a top flight run defender. Who cares that’s he’s one of the best edge rushers in the game, if you’re not a complete player, you need to be replaced.
Moron.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:55 pm
D-Rok Says:
August 8th, 2023 at 4:53 pm
^^^ Rod,
That’s Sir Urkel to you.
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Sorry, I’ll add that to the title in the future.
August 8th, 2023 at 5:17 pm
Although during most seasons, I view preseason games as almost unwatchable, this year I will be glued to the screen. There are so many question marks, new players, new offense and a QB competition the team hasn’t had to experience in quite some time. How could these games be anything BUT compelling?
August 8th, 2023 at 5:20 pm
Curious how SirVocea is pronounced?
Sir – voch – ee – ah
Sir – vos – ee – ah
Sir – vos – ee – ay
Anyone know?
August 8th, 2023 at 5:25 pm
Rhyme it courvoisier.
August 8th, 2023 at 5:26 pm
With.
August 8th, 2023 at 5:46 pm
Dennis will make Devin White expendable in very short order. He’s too good to keep off the field. May even consider a 4-3 defense. Monte Kiffen would make this defense top 5 easy lol.
August 8th, 2023 at 5:55 pm
This man is a dawg, but he is not a dog. That’s some hard hitting journalism.
August 8th, 2023 at 6:54 pm
Preseason games are only meaningless to a select few. Most practice camp meat get this chance to put their stuff on film in real game action. To me and most people these games arnt meaningless. Not only do they help out practice camp meat it gives the starters a few tune up games. I’ve come to like more n more preseason games to watch our later rd draft picks play. Can’t wait to watch Dennis tucker Palmer flame broil chicken yaya and rameriez play and a few others. Joe don’t you want to see what these guys got in preseason instead of reg when the games don’t matter so if there that bad we don’t lose to many meaningful games lol
August 8th, 2023 at 7:18 pm
Sir vo seeah
August 8th, 2023 at 9:46 pm
To Rod Munch you can call him All Pro but he’s a liability in coverage and gets caught loafing when games are still in question. Then he whines and post cg of himself in an Eagles jersey??? l He had one good year you call him all pro ill call him an underachieving malcontent. Apparently our G.M isn’t sold on him either but your a genius lll.
August 8th, 2023 at 10:13 pm
Rid Munch —Simeon Rice was a top flight run defender as well Devon White is not.
Moron
August 8th, 2023 at 10:18 pm
You don’t trade good players, this why you draft and develop every year, “every year” I’m inclined to see if D White can continue to get better more as a tackler than as a pass defender (some things just take time). Let’s see if he can take the leaders roll and become the face of the DEFENSE….a $100million dollar man would definitely be a true LEADER OF MEN! Sir8Covisa-versa should take some snaps from whomever the starters are, which would be a great way to help keep an older L David on the field running from side line to side line! Let’s see if D White has developed into the $100milli on n dollar man ….if not, we continue to Draft And Develop! Go Bucs!
August 9th, 2023 at 12:26 am
Nick2 Says:
August 8th, 2023 at 9:46 pm
To Rod Munch you can call him All Pro but he’s a liability in coverage and gets caught loafing when games are still in question.
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Here’s how you fix that… don’t play him coverage. WOW, what an idea.
Also he was literally an ALL PRO, thus the reason I said that. In his ALL PRO season, what was he doing all year? Rushing up the middle, causing chaos, playing aggressively – not sitting back in soft zones because Bowles lost the Rams game and turned into a coward last year.
August 9th, 2023 at 12:44 am
Since White can’t cover…blitz him a lot instead.
August 9th, 2023 at 2:13 am
His name is pronounced Sir VOSS ee A if you are a teetotaler.
August 9th, 2023 at 2:54 am
Fred … ‘Since White can’t cover…blitz him a lot instead.’
That seems to be the prevailing preference IMO Fred , but that makes White little better than the RB who is a great runner but can’t pass protect. When he’s on the field, it’s kind of a ‘tell’ to the defense. And since White is on the field literally 100% when he’s not injured, that hurts the defense overall.
This is now the 5th year that White’s worked in Bowles’ defense. Being smack dab in the center of that defense, Devin has huge responsibilities against BOTH the run & the pass. The earlier he commits to defend one, the more vulnerable his area is to the second (kinda like the soccer goalie trying to defend against the penalty kick? Make the wrong choice & you give up the goal AND look pretty bad in the process).
Personally I think we blitz White too much. It worked quite well in 2020 when Vea went down & we needed White blitzing to compensate for the loss of Vea’s pressure up the middle. But even then his success (9 sacks) came in clumps (3 sacks against the Raiders, 3 sacks against the Falcons, & 1 each against Packers, Giants, Lions). White blitzed 91 times that year, but his coverage was yuck (84 targets, 70 completions for 83.3%).
Bucs tried to do that even more in 2021 (White blitzed 133 times), but Devin was far less effective (3.5 sacks) even though Vea was back. Again though he only had sacks in 2 games (2 against the Commanders & 1.5 against the Bills). Maybe other teams caught on? And in the process his coverage still sucked (78 targets, 64 completions for 82.1%). Too much blitzing?
So the Bucs backed off in 2022 (White blitzed only 65 times; less than half as much), and White’s sacks went UP (5.5 sacks). He had 2 sacks against the Cowboys & again against the Seahawks, 1 sack against the Saints & 0.5 sacks against the Browns. And in the process his area was targeted less & his coverage actually improved considerably (60 targets, 46 completions for 76.7%).
It’s not so much that White’s bad in coverage IMO (LVD allowed 75.3% completions for roughly the same amount of targets but blitzed a lot less). It’s more that the short area is tough to effectively defend, and it gets even tougher if your MLB abandons it to blitz. Bucs have to find other ways to pressure the QB … like pressure from Vea & Gaines & Kancey up the middle, or better pressure from our edge rushers?), THEN periodically let White blitz to keep the offense off-balance. Or maybe use 3 ILBs (bring on Dennis?) & periodically blitz 1 of them to create confusion.
August 9th, 2023 at 4:50 am
^^^^Defense Rules …I like that!
August 9th, 2023 at 8:17 am
Totally agree with you on White DR
His blitz ability is the only part of his game that has been of any value. Short of the 3 playoff games in 2020. Otherwise he has been from average to a liability. Yet Bowles says he is his best player?
That alone makes me discount most of what Bowles says about any player till I see it for myself.
Go Bucs!
August 9th, 2023 at 11:25 am
Joe, we’ve heard SRV is good in pass defense. How’s he doing in the running game? Can he shed or side-step blocks in the run game? How does he handle backs coming out for passes?