A New Level For Pocket Crusher Vita Vea
October 2nd, 2023
Manbeast Vita Vea wreaked havoc on the Saints.
More Vita Vea is a great thing. Joe’s been screaming about that for years.
Let the man play! He’s been getting more snaps this year and the results have been fantastic.
Heck, if Bucs coaches were limiting Vea’s snaps previously because they didn’t think he had the stamina, then Joe would understand. But, dammit, Joe thought the team should have challenged Vea to raise his fitness level to play one or two more series per game. Vea’s defensive tackle peers pull it off, even legendary monsters at nose tackle like Haloti Ngata and Vince Wilfork played a bigger percentage of their team’s snaps in their primes than Vea.
Against the slimy Saints yesterday, Vea played 44 snaps, a big number for him. For perspective, he had never logged that many snaps in a postseason game.
Vea sacked quarterback Derek Carr twice, increasing his season sacks total to 3 1/2. Vea led the Bucs with 6 1/2 sacks last season. He’s on a wild pace to rack up 14 1/2 sacks in 2023.
Todd Bowles explained a fresh difference in Vea’s game.
“I think he’s started using his hands more. He’s not trying to go side-to-side; he’s trying to power, make one move and go. And he’s very powerful once he starts using his hands.” Bowles said.
As Joe wrote and said many times all summer, the national pundits were wrong about the 2023 Bucs because the team has so many playmakers. There’s one or more at every level of the defense, and a couple of elite studs on offense.
Now throw in a hot kicker and an efficient and smart quarterback, and the Bucs are a highly dangerous team.
Especially dangerous when Vea is hunting QBs.
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October 2nd, 2023 at 1:10 pm
He + Kancey have the ability to be the best pass rush DT duo in the league.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:12 pm
Using hands may be how he tweaked the pec.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:12 pm
It’s like watching the kool-aid man break through the brick wall like it’s nothing.
Oh yeah!!!!
I love watching the amazing athletic prowess of Vita Vea. What a terrifying opponent on so many levels.
I agree Joe, let the big dog eat. He’s unstoppable and immovable. Love this dude as the foundation of our defensive trenches.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:23 pm
sack totals don’t lie…and he is playing more…
my eyes must have decieved me because I thought he had dropped of a little.
I do like it when the other DT’s get to eat….like seeing diff names get all up in the oppositons face.
waiting patiently for kancey
why so long for a calf..any rumors?
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:23 pm
Great photo Joe. Looks like both Vea and Shaq are being held on that play.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:24 pm
Just wait for that 1st round pick to get healthy also more of Yaya plz he’s a dog like izen let em play
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:24 pm
The defense isn’t even the whole of the defense yet, as seen last week against the Eagles.
They will heal up a little more over this bye week and the younger players will grow a little more into their roles. By season end, barring injuries, this will be a very dangerous defense.
It is great to see Vea being able to make more impact in it. If Kancey pans out it will also allow more outside action and Shaq and Hall look ready for it.
JTS I am not so sure of.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:29 pm
Maybe its a weather thing with the big guy. Makes sense that he gets more snaps in a dome. Its uncanny how he pushes the pocket, and I think an argument can be made that he is held on every snap.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:29 pm
The Saints were holding every single play. The refs couldn’t throw a flag every play so they got away with a whole lot of holding yesterday. Refs were protecting Carr yesterday big time.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:30 pm
I like the tandem of Vita, Kancey and Gaines.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:30 pm
Look at the picture lol, both Shaq, and Vea being held.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:37 pm
Bucsfaninchina -I think thats why so many of us are beyond annoyed with this “precautionary holdout.” I’ve never been so excited for a bye week in my life. Praying we have Kancey, Dennis, Evans and Dean back. Vea taking up space, getting double teamed while our 4.6 under tackle is one on one completely changes our defense. Hopefully White’s groin heals up too so we get that side line to sideline 4.5 speed. Defense could be scary. It stands to reason that Kancey could be back after the ye which may explain why the Bucs havent put him on IR.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:38 pm
That is definitely the Holding they called in the game.
Refs missed several others as well
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:39 pm
One quarter of the way into the season, and there are only 2 undefeated teams left (Philly & San Fran). Quite a few 3-1 teams though (Bills, Dolphins, Ravens, Chiefs, Cowboys, Lions & Bucs). Of those 8 other top-tier teams, Bucs get to play 5 of them this year. Didn’t folks say months ago that we had an easy schedule this year?
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:40 pm
Vita Vea played in 13 games his rookie year…a full season in year two and then only FIVE games in his 3rd year.
He’s been on a fairly tightly managed snap count as Joe pointed out.
Is there anybody out there who believes he was not worth a first round pick?
Really? Because there was a lot of carping after those first 3 seasons!
I point this out for imbeciles who have ALREADY soured on Calijah Kancey after only four games in the schedule. The 11 plays he was able to get in he showed amazing speed and when he gets healthy perhaps all the losers who make up sorry nicknames because he got INJURED will finally quiet…just like they have for Vita!
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:40 pm
Also Go for the Face doesn’t White run a 4.3?
Way better than 4.5 unless you are thinking Lavonte David?
If his groin wasn’t hurt, he takes that pick against the Eagles to the HOUSE.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:41 pm
Yes…. The only thing that has changed is that he sees the game now!
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:41 pm
Vea was being held a lot and I think it was only called once? Hall also played a good game. I really want to see Kancey lining up next to Vita against Detroit.
October 2nd, 2023 at 2:19 pm
Should be terrifying when Kancey gets in there and gets his feet under him.
October 2nd, 2023 at 2:31 pm
And he gets held damn near every play.
October 2nd, 2023 at 2:31 pm
Haloti Ngata and Vince Wilfork didn’t play in Tampa HEAT! those 2 played up north big difference when you’re playing that big
October 2nd, 2023 at 2:48 pm
Glad he found his hands, also good for shedding/avoiding those offensive linemen holding on and wearing you down. Vea is truly professional. He seems to always be improving (leadership, power, hands, stamina….)
October 2nd, 2023 at 2:55 pm
There was a closeup shot of VV yesterday you could see his right hand had pinky and ring fingers taped together and bloody, w plenty of blood on his jersey and pants. Dude is a beast and likely gutted through a hand injury that clearly stopped no one.
October 2nd, 2023 at 2:57 pm
pffft, I play through those daily. It’s a bi*ch on a keyboard!
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:28 pm
Love Vita. Critical to our success. As for our newest porcelain doll Callijah Kancey let’s not rush the poor little baby’s 2 month and counting calf strain.
Until proven otherwise he’s a bum. As is his Pitt buddy. Delicate flowers those 2.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:30 pm
Game over rtime for the LIONS hey we won OK what about next SUnday?
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:37 pm
That’s holding in that picture, but so what? The Eagles juggernaut was doing plenty of it too, on both sides of the ball, but they still were the better team. JTS gets reamed on here, but I’ve listened/seen him line up close to VV. All hell breaks loose and JTS gets a sack or disrupts the backfield. I would love for Bowles to figure out a play where Kancey and JTS line up with VV at the same time. Not sure it’s possible though.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:41 pm
I hope Kancey is good to go after the bye, that would be huge to get him back if he’s healthy. He only played 11 snaps this year, but man did he leap off the screen in those 11 snaps when you watch it from ALL22. He is so fast and explosive off the line, he’s going to be a real problem for offenses, in particular when paired with Vita.
And let’s face facts – the Bucs weren’t getting any sort of pass rush yesterday. Carr held the ball forever before the pressure ever got to him for most of the day. I’m no fan of the vastly overrated Carr, but he clearly wasn’t healthy, and was even more of a Checkdown Charlie than he normally is.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:58 pm
How come Trey Palmer got called for holding on White’s long run (Palmer had his hands inside and bowled him over, YET this isn’t holding on Vita pictured above. It’s not always about accuracy, but just consistency in calls and consistency calling it both ways for both teams playing.
We seem to get held a lot in the trenches and it’s never really called, yet we get ticky-tacky calls like Trey Palmer and the Izien hold/PI near the goal line.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:05 pm
Vita used to play with no gloves.
Bad move bro.
He’s having hand issues now because he refused to wear gloves his first few years.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:08 pm
I definitely noticed the extra snaps Vita took. He’s playing well and there’s not a huge drop off when Gaines comes in. The Aints tackles held their own against our OLBs but their interior struggled in pass pro. They also did well in pass pro vs our blitzes. It seems they have figured out our blitz packages.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:34 pm
Billy – yes he was timed at 4.38 or whatever it was pre draft but frankly he hasn’t played anywhere NEAR that fast since the 2020 playoffs. 40 times in a vacuum is very misleading anyway, athletes spend months specifically training for it, training on technique and the first 10 yards to move up the draft boards. Don’t get me wrong he’s fast for his size when healthy but him running a 4.3 and JaMarr chase for example running a 4.3 isn’t the same thing. He ain’t catching Ja’Marr in any kind of foot race. Anyway doesn’t matter, to your point about the INT return (and something I also mentioned a handful of times) a healthy Devin white takes on the stupid quarterback, trucks him and sprints to the house
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:50 pm
Did I see someone mention Kancey. Who’s that? That’s right our number one draft pick who played a couple of series in the first game. Until he gets on the field and be dominant week after week I don’t think we know what we really have in Kancey. Like and old coach used to say, in the NFL, the best ability is availability.
October 2nd, 2023 at 5:13 pm
You can tell Vita is still not 100 or even 90 yet with that Pec injury. I was watching the NFL ticket Sunday and they did a closeup a couple times where he was grimacing.So this off week will definitely do him some good. Dude is just beastly in the middle.
October 2nd, 2023 at 5:17 pm
Devin White runs a 4.42
October 2nd, 2023 at 6:38 pm
Vea has been a great first round pick for the Bucs
Only time Jason Litch completely wiffed was Vernon Hargraves
It’s a Bucs life
October 2nd, 2023 at 6:40 pm
Maybe we can bring Sapp back & put him with Vita.😀
October 2nd, 2023 at 6:56 pm
Pretty sure old man (32 y.o.) Fletcher Cox leads the Eagles d-linemen in % of snaps played, but as others mentioned not in the Tampa heat and humidity.
According to the NFL there are roughly 125 offensive plays per game.. All things being equal, call it 62 plays for the defense on each team to be on the field.
(Averages per NFL game)
100% = 62 snaps
90% = 56 snaps
80% = 50 snaps
70% = 43 snaps
60% = 37 snaps
50% = 31 snaps
Thru 4 games, Logan Hall has the most snaps at 164 (62.6%) for our D-linemen. Vea is second with 159 snaps (60.69%). Shaq has 156 snaps (59.54%). Green and Gaines are both at 112 snaps each (42.75%). Gholston has played 68 snaps (25.95%)
I think that because Vita Vea is such an impactful guy when he’s out there that it just “seems like” he gets more rest than he does in reality. For him to jump from 60% (where he is now) to 70% would only take 6 (6.2) more snaps per game.
I’d love to see the big fella out there 100% of the time like LVD and DWhite (both at 98% btw) but I think the coaches have been managing the snap count pretty consistently through these first 4 games.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:20 pm
Vea is a beast. So glad we drafted him. Really want to see kancey get out there and play with him and Shaq. Deff could be lethal but he’s gotta get on the field 1st. I also gotta remind myself that Dlinemqn don’t make that much of an impacted their 1st year. So if kancey doesn’t wreck havoc when he comes back then it’s not the end of the world but dude flashes big time in the few snaps in his very 1st nfl game so maybe he does ?
October 3rd, 2023 at 12:36 am
yeah imagine sapp and vita playing together…….whoa
vita will break his 6.5 sacks this year…he might even get double digits…
like 10-11……….that would be something
October 3rd, 2023 at 1:52 am
If double V gets 11 plus sacks this year, the Bucs will be eating a bunch of W’s that’s for sure! As for kancey, that’s a big unknown, but rumors are flying that he’s a ‘bad man’ on the football field. I hope them thar flying rumors are spot on. Can you imagine?