Mindset Is Right, Execution Sometimes Isn’t
November 24th, 2023
Talking sacks.
Lavonte David is all about mindset.
He often brings up “mindset” or “mentality.” It’s a big thing with him.
And apparently, this mindset or mentality is working for the Bucs’ pass rush, per Todd Bowles. But something gets lost in the transition between envisioning what to do and actually putting a quarterback on his ass.
“The mental makeup we have is very good,” Bowles said earlier this week. “They get after the quarterback. Sometimes they win and the ball is gone. Sometimes they don’t get off of blocks, and we have to get off of blocks better.
“Just because you win, doesn’t mean you’re getting a sack. We’re more concerned with the pressures, as far as affecting the quarterback, more than the sacks. Obviously, the sacks are great, but if you can get incompletions and cause turnovers, that’s great.”
Joe has a hunch Bowles said this because of the almighty turnover. A quarterback can’t throw a pick if he gets sacked. smh
Moments later, Bowles was asked if a quarterback pressure is more important than a sack. Bowles didn’t agree. He did try to take heat off Bucs pass rushers (Joe can guess for whom Bowles was trying to cover).
“Again, there’s a lot of factors involved in that – DBs have got to cover longer, we’ve got to beat blocks, some of them get double-teamed,” Bowles said. “Other times, we’ve got to get there.”
Joe will once again offer up the research over a three-year period from 2020-2022 from Warren Sharp’s 2023 Football Preview about how vital, important and absolutely necessary sacks are for a defense.
Trust Joe, good quarterbacks are barely fazed by pressures. They are very much fazed by sacks.
Hey, if the Bucs were getting excellent secondary play (besides Antoine Winfield) and Devin White was playing like he did in 2020, or they had four (five?) Hall of Famers on defense like in 2002, maybe the Bucs could get away a huge sacks total.
Problem is, that was then; this is now. This is the Bucs in 2023.
Sacks cover up for a lot of stink elsewhere on the defense. And the way this defense has played at Houston and at San Francisco, it has an ugly habit of leaving a nasty stench on the field and on the scoreboard.
November 24th, 2023 at 5:54 am
Joe,
Aren’t you tired of the excuses?
I read Bowles comments as: ‘we have the mindset, but our execution sucks’….
There are no more excuses. Bowels is in his 5th year here and Defense has regressed – with the exception of David and Winfield – they are not good sound football players- And that’s talent AND coaching.
November 24th, 2023 at 6:30 am
Joe … ‘Sacks cover up for a lot of stink elsewhere on the defense.’
How could anyone NOT agree with that statement Joe. Put a QB on his arse & it doesn’t matter how bad the coverage was. The pass rush is the point of the spear IOW.
Like the Sharp quote says … ‘Drives where a QB was sacked just one time ended in a punt 56% of the time, and scored points at a rate of 22%.’ That’s nearly double the punting percentage (31%) & double the scoring percentage (42%) if the QB wasn’t sacked at all. THAT’S a big impact.
By the same token though, I can clearly see why coaches prefer takeaways: they end the opponent’s drive then-and-there AND give our offense a chance to score, especially if they get a short field as a result of the turnover. That’s a double whammy & a POTENTIAL turnabout of 14 points on the scoreboard in a minute or 2 of playing time. THAT’S an even bigger impact.
Problem for DCs like Todd Bowles is that takeaways happen at roughly half the rate of sacks. Bucs had 45 sacks last year, but only 20 takeaways. This season we have 29 sacks thus far to 16 takeaways. Plus not all takeaways are equal, except in that they all end the opponent’s drive immediately (I’ll take Pick-6’s every day of the week if given a choice). So there’s a certain amount of comparing apples-to-oranges in that regard.
BOTH are impactful. Given a choice though, I’ll take 4 takeaways in a game over 4 sacks in a game every day of the week.
November 24th, 2023 at 6:55 am
Bowzobabble.
November 24th, 2023 at 7:03 am
Coach McKay said it best:
What do you think of your team’s execution coach?” To which McKay replied, “I’m in favor of it.”
November 24th, 2023 at 7:25 am
All I hear now when this guy talks is Charlie Brown’s teacher going wah wah wah.
November 24th, 2023 at 9:23 am
“We didn’t run well today but we made up for it by not blocking”
November 24th, 2023 at 9:30 am
Bowles is really struggling to manage some of the personalities on his team. I think he is too player friendly and its causing issues with accountability on the field. He made comments in the past about guys not putting in the effort riding on their superbowl fame and then there was the DW situation where he wanted a trade and the LB coach said DW has champagne problems. Arians didn’t put up with this BS. Bowles needs to hold the problem children accountable and if he can’t get a coach that can and will.
November 24th, 2023 at 9:52 am
Do not have Devin White start give him something to think about instead of loafing on way to many plays.
November 24th, 2023 at 4:02 pm
DR, we got 4 sacks in the last game. Bucs are probably in the top 3 defenses in that particular stat. We lost cos Canales is still an idiot with what we have on offense. See if the bozo wakes up Sunday.
November 24th, 2023 at 6:15 pm
I thought you could get a sack and a take away on the same play? Huh, what’s that play called again; that’s right it’s a sack fumble and the defense recover. Shoot I think that we’ve even seen the defense score points on plays like these. If your a numbers guy, here’s some for you. 14% of sacks result in a fumble of those fumbles 51% are recovered by the defense. QB pressures result in a turnover less than 10% of the time and less than 5% of those plays result in points. I would argue that a sack is more important than wb pressures.