“Easy Fixes”
October 8th, 2024
Breathe easy, Bucs fans.
Don’t look at the weather report and listen to the words of Lavonte David.
You might feel a little better.
The Buccaneers’ fearless leader isn’t worried about the brutal carving of the Bucs defense at the hands of Kirk Cousins (certainly not his feet).
“Easy fixes,” David told the Buccaneers Radio Network. “Defensively, for sure. Small things that we can take care of. Man, being in the position that we was in, we should have ended the game easily. You know, just small fixes that we got to take care of defensively. No reason to panic. No reason to panic at all. Definitely can be fixed. We’re going to get better and we’re going to learn from it.”
David added that Cousins manipulated the defense with his eyes and found “small spaces” in the Bucs’ zone defense.
Joe certainly would quibble with the adjective “small,” but Joe could see on film rookie Tykee Smith getting faked out by Cousins, and Joe can only assume K.J. Britt was struggling with that, as well.
However, Joe is confident the Bucs defense will improve. Aside from it hitting rock bottom on Thursday, Todd Bowles is no rookie and the Bucs have big-time talent returning to the lineup reasonably soon.
As for “easy fixes,” Joe’s not going to swallow that completely. Because if the fixes are so easy, then Joe will fixate on why that degree of issues arose in the first place.
October 8th, 2024 at 9:40 am
The easy fix is to get Britt off the field.
October 8th, 2024 at 10:02 am
This is Lavonte 5th Head Coach, coaching staff
Maybe that’s the “easy fix”.
Lol
October 8th, 2024 at 10:04 am
Man if we get Winfield Kancey and Luke back
October 8th, 2024 at 10:13 am
After listening to Bowles presser the media did a good job drilling him about tje loss of Dennis and Britts play.
IMO, he backs his players emotions more than necessary. Calling Britt a good zone player is a stretch.
When asked about going to Dime, he quoted packages for Dime with Winfield healthy, but with the injuries currently they had to run with their base defense, meaning Britt is on the field.
My question is, I know Bowles might see disaster when he envisions 6 DBs with rookies and newer players, but how much more of a disaster could it have been?
His lack of even trying is what irritates me.
If Britt comes forward to stop the run AT ALL, he is simply not fast enough to get the depth required to play effective zone.
They might fix their eyes and be in what Bowels calls the correct spot, but it won’t matter much against elite QBs.
October 8th, 2024 at 10:19 am
Jets just fired Saleh.
October 8th, 2024 at 10:22 am
“What..me worry?”
Alfred E. Nueman
October 8th, 2024 at 10:24 am
“What Me worry”
Alfred E Nueman
October 8th, 2024 at 10:27 am
It’s clear that Saleh and Rodgers weren’t meshing, and this year and next will be crucial for Rodgers if he wants to keep winning/playing even. If the record doesn’t improve, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a fire sale, similar to whats predicted with the Browns. Players like C.J. Mosley, Sauce Gardner, and Haason Reddick could all be worth exploring.
October 8th, 2024 at 10:56 am
Please hire Saleh, in some way shape or form!! Let’s GO BUCS!!!!
October 8th, 2024 at 10:58 am
We have one of the youngest D’s in the league. They will get better in time. Need a better cover LB than Britt & Jamal Dean needs to improve as well…
October 8th, 2024 at 11:04 am
Levante David is one of my all-time favorites and he may be right. The small spaces thing though doesn’t pass the eye test. Most of the time there wasn’t a Bucs defended to be seen on my 70-inch big screen.
October 8th, 2024 at 11:04 am
Saleh never got the QB right but he is a quality defensive coach! Not sure how bringing him back would help the Bucs though. The philosophy’s don’t match well and there’d be too many cooks in the kitchen.
October 8th, 2024 at 11:07 am
IDK. Except for some missed tackles, I thoroughly enjoyed the game up until the last few minutes. Then, the playcalling was awful because the strategy was horrible. I will not blame the loss on rookies or any of their (expected) mistakes. We would have won if “code turtle” hadn’t been initiated.
October 8th, 2024 at 11:27 am
Lavonte is so positive! Love it.
Agree with Crickett. I thought it was an enjoyable game until the end. Blaming the refs too.
October 8th, 2024 at 11:34 am
Bowles could try transitioning into a HC and hire Saleh as DC….
His Defense in SF was awesome.
October 8th, 2024 at 11:43 am
Saleh launched? Wow! I guess Rodgers has some pull with the front office and ownership of the Jets. Seems like a bit of a knee jerk response but then again, back in 2022 I sure wish the Bucs launched Leftwich after that Pittsburgh debacle, perhaps they would have won a few more games. Jets defensive coordinator taking over so is he just going to be a yes man for Rodgers and the ironic thing is that the Jets’ D has not been bad it has been the offense. Perhaps Turtle Todd Bowles should take notice though the Glazers have never launched an HC n season though they could make Todd give up his play calling duties……
October 8th, 2024 at 11:44 am
All lies all lies!!! Both coordinators on the field came from the same head coach how could toss Bowles get abused is the first question. Second question how could they get manipulated by Kirk cousins that way, is he saying baker Mayfield didn’t know how to do that to them in training camp and it’s the first time a quarterback did that to them? Still learning how to tackle fearless leader? NO EASY FIXES BECAUSE THE ZONE IS THE PROBLEM AND DREAM SUCKS AT PLAYING MAN COVERAGE AND ZONE AND COACH IS SCARED TO BENCH HIM
October 8th, 2024 at 12:02 pm
Why cant we launch Bowles like today?
October 8th, 2024 at 12:24 pm
😆😆😆🖕
October 8th, 2024 at 12:28 pm
FortMyersDave
I certainly don’t defend Leftwich other than to say the last guy who had a chance to change or affect the play was Brady!!! Bowles was not only handicapped by Leftwich the GOAT had checked out mentally, emotionallly, and physically!
Seriously does anybody here believe that the GOAT didn’t have final say on game plans and play calling? The GOAT had checked out. He was mourning his failed marriage, he was frustrated the Bucs made him HONOR his contract he was already looking at other teams. He was an old man afraid of taking a hit.
In short Brady was great, he brought Buc fans a second Super Bowl!!!
2 things can be true. Thanks for that Tommy but his final year Brady was a load on Bowles not an advantage.
How about we let the season play out before we judge the Bucs unless we wish to repeat last season and give up on them mid season only to have the players believe in Bowles and themselves and turn it around.
October 8th, 2024 at 1:19 pm
BillyBucco … ‘Jets just fired Saleh’.
Mike Florio did a real nice piece on that today on Pro Football Talk titled ‘ets fire Robert Saleh, name Jeff Ulbrich interim HC’. Sounds like Saleh was the scapegoat for the underperforming Aaron Rodgers. And oh ya, that the Jets ownership is very ‘dysfunctional’. For a second I thought he was talking about Carolina.
October 8th, 2024 at 1:26 pm
I think Cousins made about 5 completions into contested coverage. Most of the time it was pitch and catch with a guy wide open that any QB in the league can easily make. We only stopped them when we got a sack. So not sure what Lavante was seeing on tape about small spaces.
Compare that to Baker who made a ton of completions into contested coverage.
Either our players are so bad they can’t cover anybody for more than a second or the zone scheme is leaving gaping holes everywhere and Bowles has no idea how to fix it.
October 8th, 2024 at 1:45 pm
My son’s JV team covers the middle of the field better than the Bucs, just rewatched the game! There was Mac-truck size gaps. his team runs similar scheme in JV’s he was calling out miscoverages. Go Bucs.
October 8th, 2024 at 2:23 pm
Brady’s knowledge of running an offense was (is) probably 12 to 13 light-years (that’s: x 6 trillion) beyond that of either (or combined) Byron the Great or (and) Bowles.
Uh, so, who really thinks that the GOAT had even so much as “veto power” over the play-calling?
For the most part, for example, the only time that Brady could take control of the play-calling, was under certain game-conditions where the clueless play-from-the-bench blew; and Brady extended the play for a come-back, 4th Qtr., red-zone-touchdown-pass to win the game: e g, checkdown to the veteran-smart “rookie,” Rachaad White for two James White-like, closing-minutes-game-winners.
Great? Great is having to deal with horsesh!!t coaching and still winning the division.
October 8th, 2024 at 2:33 pm
No more defensive head coaches please, you can find a coordinator anywhere who does what Bowles does on game day.
October 8th, 2024 at 2:43 pm
Like batting the ball down instead of making a self-defeating interception?
October 8th, 2024 at 3:46 pm
Great point Just Visiting…even GREAT players make mistakes.
Remember Bowles first playoff. They hosted a mediocre and eminently beatable Cowboys team at RayJay. Great start…Brady marches the team down the field and then…tosses an INT into the end zone killing any chance for points. The “boys never looked back in crushing the Bucs after that.
No player, no coach, no freaking HUMAN is perfect. We have yappers here who bust ME13 for his drops. CG14 who has great hands went through a spell of dropsies. Spit happens!
October 8th, 2024 at 4:58 pm
I tuned in to watch a Bucs thrashing of a QB that is not mobile and a division rival. What I got was a track meet crossed with a flag football game. A bunch of arm waving tackling attempts and feeling worse for ever believing in this team to take a major step this year.
Still hope…. but games like this and Denver will sink a team for a decent playoff spot.
October 8th, 2024 at 5:01 pm
Lavonte was a part of that 2012 Buc defense that got a thrashing from Eli Manning. Matter of fact it was similar to the Falcons game.
Eli thrashed them for 510 passing yards
One more than Kirk Cousins
October 9th, 2024 at 1:09 am
Calling Britt a good zone player isn’t a stretch, it’s a straight up lie.