Calijah Kancey’s Regular Season Begins Today
November 10th, 2024
Calijah Kancey is ready to rock.
For defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, the regular season sort of starts today against the 49ers.
The Bucs’ first-round pick in 2023 has been playing solid ball, getting better by the week. That’s basically because Kancey just finished his preseason and training camp.
Kancey got hurt in training camp (again) and injured a calf (again). This put him on the shelf for a chunk of training camp, all of the worthless preseason and the first five games of the regular season.
So basically, Kancey is now ready to roll.
“I definitely feel good now that I’ve had my fourth game played,” Kancey told Joe. “It’s football now.”
Kancey admitted in his first game back facing the slimy Saints, he was on a pitch count. The next three games he was not. Now he feels his training camp and preseason are over.
Kancey admitted the Bucs’ strong offensive line has helped him get back to 100 percent and prep him for games. So much so that Kancey admits if something works in practice for him, he believes it will also work in a game.
“Big difference when you go against those guys in practice,” Kancey said. [Difficult moves] “becomes natural. Everyone else you go against, it kind of makes it easy.”
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November 10th, 2024 at 12:21 am
More evidence that the Bucs have substandard coaching led by a two-franchise-losing head “coach” — disgrace — Jason and the Glazers will fix and finish.
November 10th, 2024 at 1:07 am
It sure helps having him back. Go Bucs!
November 10th, 2024 at 3:14 am
Kancey … “Big difference when you go against those guys in practice. [Difficult moves] “becomes natural. Everyone else you go against, it kind of makes it easy.”
Calijah just hit the nail on the head about why the Bucs’ offense has improved so much, and why the Bucs’ defense has regressed this season … TALENT LEVEL. The drop-off in talent level beween 1st-string and 2nd-string is marked at the NFL level. Practicing & playing against quality 1st-string talent makes other quality talent better (like Kancey said … ‘BIG DIFFERENCE’).
Our offensive line is getting better & better … together. They’re a more talented OLine this year than they were last year, and now they’re gelling as a unit (took less than half a season). That’s the foundation of our improved offensive production IMO.
Our defensive line doesn’t have near that same talent level (check the number of ‘explosive plays allowed’). And on top of that, injuries to Kancey, Gaines & others have taken a toll. But even they seem to be improving, to a degree (Vea’s increased availability & getting Kancey back … two 1st Rounders … is definitely helping). Also doesn’t help that our LBs (interior & outside) don’t have the same talent (and experience) level they’ve had in recent years.
But hey, let’s just blame it on ‘substandard coaching’ like Fruit Loops does. And let’s applaud those responsible for stocking the cupboard in the first place (‘Jason and the Glazers will fix and finish’). Ya, that’s the solution for sure: applaud those who created the problem. Follow Fruit Loops’ advice and we’ll be back in 2009 in no time, looking at another decade in Joe’s ‘Den of Depression’.
November 10th, 2024 at 4:13 am
zzzzzzzz…..
November 10th, 2024 at 5:45 am
I’m with DR.
I enjoy your input. Thanks!
Go Bucs!!!
November 10th, 2024 at 6:10 am
A win today would go a long way… Lots of finger 👉 pointing going on.
We need a big win hopefully Russell plays more on passing down and fills in the hole in the over the middle
November 10th, 2024 at 6:16 am
Yep Baking with Coen I’m with DR also. He dazzles me with stats but you’ve got to read between the lines to understand what he’s saying. Obviously he’s an old football mind like me. He says the OLine is the foundation of our offense. I think the OLine is the foundation of the team. We need a good defensive draft this year but the sky is not falling. DR says our DL even seems to be improving. We’re close everyone – really close.
November 10th, 2024 at 7:03 am
I will respectgully add to DRs spot on post.
Good teams have solid depth players. Great teams have depth players who could start on other teams. We have serious depth issues on defense. Some of our defensive depth guys would be hard pressed to make other rosters. We have at least one starter who won’t make an NFL roster next year and one former starter who did not stick this year.
Go Bucs!
November 10th, 2024 at 7:24 am
Were the second youngest team in the NFL. We’re going to fix the depth issue in the draft. Let’s enjoy the progress this year and next year we should be contending. The Bucs are fun to watch again and they’ll be real fun next year.
November 10th, 2024 at 8:15 am
Good Lord now we have factions of posters going into full filibuster mode. Just spent the last month in a political forum looking forward to coming back here and leaving that crap in the rearview mirror. Kind of looks like “deja vu all over again”. “Who ya going to believe me or your lying eyes”.
November 10th, 2024 at 8:22 am
Gets 2 sacks today!!!
November 10th, 2024 at 8:59 am
Defense rules and Joe Mac, well said well thought out and laid out I agree wholeheartedly. And I think Bobby’s without the point gets lost in the shuffle a whole lot we are an extremely young team picker Mayfield is one of the old guys
November 10th, 2024 at 9:12 am
@Defense rule – spot on. You can’t “coach up” and be “creative” when the talent isn’t there to begin with.
November 10th, 2024 at 9:49 am
@DR, normally I’m drinking your Kool aide, but your logic (based on the following quote) is a bit of a reach on this thread.
Kancy implies he is improving due to the quality of the OL he practices against and you extrapolate that he proves your point that there is a dearth of talent on the D side of the ball. While I absolutely agree that the D is severely limited by its quality of talent, I cannot draw that conclusion from CK’s quote. Imo, if we apply a basic Bolean logic (e.g. if A=B, and B=C, then A=C), then the entire DL would be improved by the quality of talent they face in practice and the OL would actually be regressing due to the lack of talent they face in practice. So, in this case, A does not equal C: the OL iIS improving regardless of the talent they face in practice. As such, it is purely conjecture to imply the quote proves a lack of defensive talent, as much as it would be fallacious to imply it says there is a lack of coaching talent on the defensive side of the ball.
Whew, having said all that, I agree with you there is a lack of talent on Defense. However, our HC is currently the longest tenured coach on staff, multiple drafts during his tenure picked D early, and I find it hard to believe that Licht is picking the likes of Hall & JTS in a vacuum void of Bowles’s input. Imo, JL is to blame for his HC hires, passivity in fa/trade deadline, and for not forcing a more robust edge rush agenda on Bowles. And, any defensive regressions or lack of player development over the past 5 years is strictly on Bowles.
November 10th, 2024 at 9:52 am
Agree with @DR spot on analysis as always. I still think Bowles is not a great HC. Too many clock issues and other bad decisions like Britt. He’s Steve Deberg..
Just good enough to get you beat. Admittedly he is an upgrade from the cavacade of fools we have endured at head coach. Arians being one of the few exceptions.
November 10th, 2024 at 10:37 am
ChiBuc just did a mic drop
It’s a little bit of this and little bit of that and the coaching just can’t put it all together.
To many bone headed decisions, in too many games. Let’s start with Blunderful Todd and go from there.
November 10th, 2024 at 11:30 am
Ive been in charge of the defense for years and yes we have invested a ton of draft capital on that side of the ball but hey its not my fault we suck…… Hmmmmm
November 10th, 2024 at 11:49 am
49ers oline gonna block your ass. Go and prove youre AD 2.0
November 10th, 2024 at 12:11 pm
As Belichick said, “Look at all that space.” It’s not a “talent” issue and if it is, then the HC/DC is culpable, for not insisting that the GM fortify the defense with free agency and tradecraft. Then we see the worst game management decisions in the modern NFL.
The offense is clearly minus talent — WR1, WR2, WR3 all down. Bucky with the toe issue. And yet they are overperforming. Difference? Ray Charles can see it.
The Glazers and Jason have demonstrated before what they do when you have a potent offense and a severely underperforming defense. Corrective action.
November 10th, 2024 at 12:13 pm
ChiBuc … Love your analysis & agree that the entire DLine (and yes, the entire defense) SHOULD be improved because they’ve faced the NFL’s #5 offense in practice all this year. And who knows, MAYBE they actually are better than they would’ve been if they’d been practicing against the #32 offense all year.
Like you, I also doubt that Licht is picking the likes of JTS & Hall without input from Bowles. How much input is anybody’s guess though. We had 7 picks in the 2024 draft & used 5 of them on offense (Barton, McMillan, Irving, Klein, Culp) and only 2 on defense (Brasswell, Tykee Smith). The reality IMO is that we had 5 picks in the Top 4 Rnds, and all 5 are contributing, significantly. Graham, McMillan & Irving have logged 1004 off snaps to date, while Brasswell & Smith have logged 615 def snaps. The other 2 (Klein & Culp) have a total of 2 snaps together. That’s actually quite good for a rookie class. Plus several other undrafted rookies have contributed over 300 snaps on offense or defense. That’s close to 2,000 snaps from JUST our rookies, and we’re only halfway through the season.
November 10th, 2024 at 12:27 pm
Ol’ Boy … ‘To many bone headed decisions, in too many games. Let’s start with Blunderful Todd and go from there.’
So why not take your ‘analysis’ a step further Ol’ Boy and share YOUR recommendation for who the new HC should be, the new DC, the rest of the staff, etc. Not fair to expect the new HC & DC to be forced to keep the staff that ‘Blunderful Todd’ selected, is it?
And exactly WHEN do your new guys take over? Right after the 49ers game maybe? So we’ll get the hardest 10 games out of the way, with a 5-5 record (yup, I’m predicting that we’ll win today), and then the ‘new guys’ get the ‘easy’ schedule. Ya that’s a good way to do it.
Oh BTW, please don’t pick Belicheck. The 2-7 Pats got rid of him for a reason. Might’ve had something to do with him being 29-38 after Tom Brady left after 2019. Add in that he was 36-44 without Tom Brady as Cleveland’s HC and his record without Brady isn’t all that sterling.