Getting Off The Field Is Critical
October 21st, 2024
Strong third-down defense needed.
The voice of reason, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, won’t like this. But for the Bucs to win tonight, they will need to do this.
“Get off the field.”
The Bucs defense (here is a phrase Mushnick would prefer) must force punts. Specifically, force punts by now allowing the Crows to convert third downs.
A sign of a good offense is one that doesn’t reach third downs. That means they are moving the chains on first or second downs. No team in the NFL reaches third down less than the Crows.
And when the Crows do reach third downs, it gets hairy for defenses. As Joe noted Saturday, when the Ravens reach third down, they convert at a league-best 51.47 percent.
So for Joe, the best way for the Bucs to get over on the Crows is to have them play strong defense, specifically on third downs.
Get off the field! Sorry, Mr. Mushnick.
October 21st, 2024 at 4:18 am
Well, we’ll see… I haven’t been confident in the defense on that regard. Depending on how Todd calls the game.
October 21st, 2024 at 6:08 am
Is Vea playing? Be a long night without him.
October 21st, 2024 at 6:12 am
Success for the Bucs’ defense tonight will be holding the Ravens to anything under 30 points. Jackson & Henry WILL get yards, it’s just a question of how many. And IF we keep them to something ‘reasonable’, how badly will we get burnt in other places (like the short passing game, or even worse, the deep passing game?) will probably dictate the final outcome.
If the Bucs’ offense shows up & keeps pace with the Ravens’ offense, we’ve got a chance. But even 1 bad qtr could doom us, because the Ravens don’t have bad qtrs. We all know that they’ve got a great run defense (#1), but it looks like that comes at the expense of their passing defense (#31). They’ve got essentially as many sacks (18) as we do (17), but they blitz a LOT less (81) than we do (225). IF our OLine can hold up, we can pass them ragged IMO, and then maybe capitalize on our running game in the 2nd half. Barring turnovers & injuries to key players, this should be a close but high-scoring game.
October 21st, 2024 at 6:57 am
It’s probably gonna be a high scoring game. Hopefully Kancey shows up if Vita can’t play.
October 21st, 2024 at 6:59 am
Of course Dean gonna be spending time in the tub again since he’s always injured, too!
October 21st, 2024 at 6:59 am
David should spy Lamar on every 3rd down. Bucs 37 Ravens 34
October 21st, 2024 at 7:37 am
Here’s to vea being able to get in the field and mow some lawn!
October 21st, 2024 at 7:40 am
Don’t know if this is a sure sign but vea is highlighted as a “Buc to watch “tonight via the Bucs app so hopefully with that being said he’s playing
October 21st, 2024 at 7:41 am
It’d be nice to start the game defense plays every play like a run play. Try to contain / take away the run even though Henry and Lamar will get there first down here and there. But force them into passing way more than they like and disrupting their offensive flow and allow our young corners and covering linebackers to muddle the passing lanes. Hope V can go with Kancey helps makes a strong front four. Let’s go Bucs, should be a great game to watch
October 21st, 2024 at 7:49 am
Picturing vea playing on bad hamstrings has me thinking of a big snapping turtle with a 3 foot range. Not a pretty sight. I hope our d-line eats its wheaties today. That’s for sure.
October 21st, 2024 at 8:20 am
This feels like a 38 to 15 affair in favor of the Ravens. AFC > NFC
October 21st, 2024 at 8:29 am
lamar has faced NFC teams 23 times in his career and his record is 22 wins and 1 loss. Those numbers are an anomaly and will start going back to the mean tonight!
October 21st, 2024 at 8:32 am
Bucs could not slow Cousins down so why should anyone think they can slow Jackson down?
It’s gonna take a miracle, I am afraid…
Crows > Falcons
October 21st, 2024 at 8:35 am
Very tough for us to get off the field on the Ravens indeed.
October 21st, 2024 at 8:36 am
Wow. Great stat to pick up on DR. To me, that just shows how little Todd values a good OLB who can rush the passer. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Bucs had the talent to do mostly 4-man fronts to rush the passer… IMO, it also shows that we are not great a blitzing. If you are blitzing almost 3 times as often and don’t have more sacks to show for it, you are not that effective.
October 21st, 2024 at 8:36 am
Not a big deal DR but statistically, I see the Ravens pass defense in yards allowed per game as the worst in the league at 275 yards per game. So 32nd instead of 31st?
October 21st, 2024 at 8:37 am
^^^ it did not print the stat I was referring to…
@DR: “They’ve got essentially as many sacks (18) as we do (17), but they blitz a LOT less (81) than we do (225).”
October 21st, 2024 at 8:43 am
I got the Ravens winning the SB this season. Balt 34 Bucs 17.
I’ll be ecstatic to be dead wrong on this one.
October 21st, 2024 at 8:48 am
Bucs Offense must win this one. The Defense has carried this team for years. It’s long pass time the Offense did them a few favors. You hear me Coen, Baker, ME13, CG14 and posse????!!! LVD will need help with Lamar spying. I’m sure the D knows it. Sic Whitehead on him along with Yaya and others. I sure wish SVD was playing. Anywho, Go Cardiac Bucs!!
October 21st, 2024 at 8:53 am
Todd Blows is a bend but not break type of guy is what I am told when I trash his soft coverage schemes and ultra conservative nature in forums all over the interwebs.
When your strategy is to let teams possess the ball and kick a field goal or hope and pray, they beat themselves you are not going to beat good teams.
October 21st, 2024 at 8:56 am
Bucs defense really struggles on 3rd down. Hell they even struggle on 4th down. I really expect them to have an issue with Lamar scrambling for First downs on third and long. Bowles is too stubborn to change the defense, so I expect Lamar to run wild tonight.
October 21st, 2024 at 9:15 am
The way people talk about the Ravens on here we might as well hand them the Super Bowl trophy right now. They are beatable and I say make Jackson throw the ball, he will make mistakes that way. Keep Henry in check and make Jackson throw, not much touch on his passes.
October 21st, 2024 at 9:35 am
If the Raiders beat them we can do it.
I was diving deeper into some stats because I recall some analyst saying the Ravens pass D isn’t that bad, because they shut down the run so well that teams abandon it and just pass it.
However – just going by yards per attempt allowed they are bottom 5 still (7.5).
Our pass D on the other hand is top 11 in YPA (6.2).
That was kind of shocking but encouraging. Our run D hasn’t been as great as years past though (top 13 right now at least though). Top 13 in rushing YPA and top 11 in passing YPA is pretty solid, especially considering calijah / vea /other injuries.
October 21st, 2024 at 9:39 am
@BakerFan
It’s not that the Ravens are an all-time great team, it’s Todd Blows and his soft defensive mindset. QB’s routinely torch his team then the following weeks are not looking like Hall of Famers. His pass defense has been so predictable and awful against quality QB’s and coordinators
stats don’t lie
Goff in week 2
307 yards
Detroit 463 total yards
33:53 to 26:07 Time of Possession
Following two weeks
199 yards & 292
Nix in week 3
216 yards
352 total yards
32:08 to 27:52 Time of Possession
Following two weeks
60 yards & 206 yards
Cousins in week 5
509 yards
550 total yards
33:37 to 27:38 Time of possession
Remember ATL had not scored an offensive TD in 7 quarters prior to this game
Cousins the following two weeks
225 yards & 232 yards
Todd Blows had Rattler looking like a capable QB then the Broncos a real legit defense smashed him
His SOFT defensive scheme that allows easy completions with an over reliance on zone concepts are pathetic. Clowns who defend him will say but look at the points the defense doesn’t allow a lot of points. When your defense allows lots of yards they are on the field for a lot of plays and that can wear down players and the longer an offense is on the field the better chances of scoring happens. Until Todd tightens up the coverage schemes and challenges offenses he will never beat a well coached team
October 21st, 2024 at 10:39 am
geno711 … It’s a lot easier to be #1 Run Defense IMO if that’s what you set as Job #1 (like the Bucs & Ravens typically do). Like Lord C wrote … ‘they (Ravens) shut down the run so well that teams abandon it and just pass it.’ Teams often compromise their pass defense though when they focus too heavily on stopping the run (like the Bucs being #29 in Passing Yardage Allowed, and Ravens being #32?).
Run defense will be huge for both teams tonight IMO. Ravens run more than any other team (#1 in Attempts) AND do it very well (1232 yards for 5.9 YPA & 10 Rushing TDs). Bucs aren’t THAT good, but we’re not slouches either (821 yards for 5.3 YPA & 5 Rushing TDs in 54 FEWER rushing attempts).
October 21st, 2024 at 10:49 am
Bend don’t break won’t work in a game where the Ravens have scored a TD in the red zone every single time but one and that was Likely’s Big Toe out of bounds against the Chiefs. You can’t EXPECT them to make a mistake eventually. Go get the freaking ball and zone should be man eventually. It can’t look like a basketball game, this is football.
I do think we see a swarming defense early so if the Bucs continue their fast starts and we jump up to a 2 possession game, I like our chances.
October 21st, 2024 at 10:52 am
@First name
I’d say the Denver & Falcons games were pretty disappointing for the defense. But D has been solid other than that IMO.
Top 11 in passing YPA
Top 13 in rushing YPA
That’s pretty efficient. And we’ve played a lot of top offenses.
Spencer Rattler had one good half before anyone had any tape on him/them/what they were going to do with him, and then he was shut down in the 2nd half. And Denver is a top 3 NFL defense this year.
We had some pretty solid outings outside of Denver & Atlanta.
Detroit 16 points vs averaging 30.3
Eagles 16 points vs averaging 22.3
Washington 20 points vs averaging 31.3
October 21st, 2024 at 10:59 am
NO GETTING RID OF BOWLES IS CRITICAL!!!!!!!!!!!
October 21st, 2024 at 11:36 am
You people are sorry , fake fans ! Defense was/is dealing with injuries to star players since the start of the season , and you complain about being a first place team ? Bucs defense completely shut down the AINTS in 3 of 4 quarters. They beat the Lions in Detroit . They had 1 terrible game against the Falcons, and should have won that game if not for the refs ! Stop complaining about winning or go root for the AINTS !! Go Bucs and Todd Bowles !
October 21st, 2024 at 11:40 am
Bucs might be the best team in the NFC , and have a great chance at walking away with the best record in the NFC. If they are going to lose a game , I’d rather it be tonight against an AFC team, and then beat the crap out of Falcons and 49ers . After the 49ers game , schedule gets really easy compared to the first half. Go Bucs
October 21st, 2024 at 12:51 pm
I really appreciate posters like Defense, Lord C, and TampabayDJ. I feel that you all are very pragmatic and not overly emotional. Injuries play a huge part in what happens on the football field, and to not mention them when it comes to certain things that happen is not helpful.
As the defense gets healthier we may see a much better product on the field. But it cannot be stated enough that Britt is a huge liability and Dean has not played well this year. Posters complain about playing zone but you literally have to when Britt is on the field, this is not Madden.
October 21st, 2024 at 7:51 pm
Very precise Tombs. Do you think Britt can cover the slowest TE when they’re in the 3TE set? There’s just no way to cover up this deficiency without exposing something else. Middle of the field will be a TE paradise all night. I don’t understand why we can’t find someone on a practice squad or a trade. You can’t go through the whole year this way. Either Licht or Bowles is stubbornly holding on to him. Time to cut bait. We can’t have this guy ruin a playoff game. Trade deadline soon.
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