Bucs Defense Had 25 Plays Sunday Where Lavonte David Was Only Linebacker On The Field
December 10th, 2024
Icy image broken.
Joe understands a lot of Bucs fans seem put off by Todd Bowles because in public, he fronts the image of someone who has less of a heartbeat than Bill Belichick when he was forced to do his press conferences in New England.
But the ice on Bowles — who is a borderline gregarious guy when away from prying cameras — broke yesterday when it was mentioned to Bowles that on 25 defensive plays, the only inside linebacker Bowles had on the field was Bucs icon Lavonte David.
Bowles actually broke out laughing when this stat was pointed out to him — and acknowledged the intel was correct.
Joe finds this move both funny as hell and very, very savvy.
What is Joe’s common saying (stolen from Nick Saban) about offense? Get the ball in the hands of your best players. Well, on defense, what’s the best way to play defense? Get your best 11 defenders on the field.
With the inside linebackers so beat up with injuries, the Bucs turned to Vi Jones, who had been on the roster for some 11 months before Bowles deemed him “ready” to be on the active roster.
So who would you trust on the field? Another outside linebacker (hey, at least those guys have experience — not sacking the quarterback, but experience nonetheless), an experienced defensive back or someone who is green as grass?
Or, instead of a stiff of an inside linebacker who more likely is an albatross, why not use a Bucs’ defensive back who has played a lot of snaps this year?
So what did Bowles hope to accomplish with only one linebacker on the field? After he finished laughing he explained.
“Smoke and mirrors [laughs], smoke and mirrors,” Bowles smiled. “We have a couple packages that were kind of unorthodox that we’ve been practicing. The safeties do a good job filling in at linebacker.”
What Bowles referred to as an “unorthodox” defense included him thinking safeties and nickel corners would cover Raiders tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer better than a practice squad inside linebacker who just recently became “ready.”
“I thought between ‘Izzy’ [Christian Izien], [Kaevon] Merriweather, Tykee [Smith], Tavierre [Thomas] – they did a very good job covering up and making those plays,” Bowles said.
Joe thought this was a very, very savvy and smart move by Bowles.
Where is there an 11th Commandment that a linebacker must guard a tight end? There isn’t. Bowers is like a big wide receiver so why not have quicker defenders on him?
Hats off to Bowles for thinking outside the box with his defense in a pinch.
December 10th, 2024 at 7:11 am
Great job Coach Bowles, the defense was ready to play and they showed it by only giving up 13 points. They were robbed of two of their interceptions by a BS technicality, what a great Team win. GO BUCS!
December 10th, 2024 at 7:24 am
Just go ahead and put his name and number in the Ring of Honor before the next home game!
I am serious!
December 10th, 2024 at 7:41 am
I bet there will be less comments on this article. Only the loneliest trolls will attempt to criticize this move.
Great job Bowles!
December 10th, 2024 at 7:45 am
If Britt was healthy, he’d have been in there, getting lit up. Hopefully he can’t play against the Chargers either
December 10th, 2024 at 7:50 am
Where’s the run Todd out of town crowd now not only did his plan work we closed out a bad team with the same defenders yall cried about all year. This is 2 games Winfield went down and he had a savvy plan in place to not play down to the opponent.
December 10th, 2024 at 7:51 am
I’ve thrown plenty of crap at Coach, but this right here is pretty cool. Go Bucs!
December 10th, 2024 at 7:55 am
The Chargers are not the hapless Raiders guys. They are a good football team. As you shall soon find out. Bucs need all hands on deck for this one. And I’m afraid this may not be the case. We do not fare well on the west coast. Prepare yourselves…..
December 10th, 2024 at 7:59 am
Kudos to Coach Bowles! Merriweather, Izzy, Smith, and Thomas did well. It worked.
December 10th, 2024 at 8:09 am
Good job by Bowles, bad job from Licht. Jason never replaced D. White. The Bucs knew Britt’s a backup, and David is close to being done yet Licht did nothing. No trades, no signings in the off season, didn’t even draft a MLB. Captain obvious could’ve told Licht depending on China Doll Dennis, Britt, and a late round pick from FSU wasn’t the best plan for replacing a former first round pick in the middle. I would guess ILB will be a priority next season.
December 10th, 2024 at 8:12 am
Will this coverage work on a team with more than two wins?
December 10th, 2024 at 8:22 am
I have been extremely critical of Bowles as of late, but I cannot say anything about him too much this week. Solid plan.
December 10th, 2024 at 8:28 am
I hope Bowles is dumbing down his defense so the new guys can play to the strengths they have.
December 10th, 2024 at 8:52 am
I am so tired of fans saying Bowles is a bad coach.
He did a great job there. Will it always work? No it won’t but the team we were playing has a poor running game. The only way they did get some yards running was to bring in their big back that smaller guys have a hard time tackling. This system will not work for teams with strong running backs but it worked on the Raiders. That was a very good adjustment by Bowles.
December 10th, 2024 at 8:54 am
Was a great defensive game plan because the Raiders had little to nothing to be afraid of in the run game. Unfortunately, the Chargers are the opposite of the Raiders. They will bulldoze you at the line of scrimmage. Put you to sleep with the run up the middle game then go over top when you’re not expecting it. Their D gives up very few points so they’re happy slow rolling it up and down the field.
December 10th, 2024 at 9:13 am
Let’s face it, TB had to do something different. Average QBs were throwing for 300 yards every game. Hopefully he keeps this going until SVD8 returns. The chargers have a good run game. These extra dbs better be prepared to tackle.
December 10th, 2024 at 9:28 am
Where were all you Bowles lackey’s when they lost 4 games in a row or the blown wins with Atlanta? I’m glad he came up with a gameplan to compensate for the mass injuries to the linebackers and safeties against the Raiders.
Come up with a winning gameplan against the Chargers and maybe Todd will get some love from us doubters.
December 10th, 2024 at 10:01 am
Thanks Mike Johnson, we didn’t know that a loss was a possibility smh
December 10th, 2024 at 10:19 am
he musta read my posts hehe
December 10th, 2024 at 10:24 am
Young team, TON of injuries, (lost our best overall player this year, CG) wins against lions, eagles, Washington….. took KC and SF to the limit….. the only team that they can’t beat probably won’t be in the playoffs (atl). L F G !!!!
December 10th, 2024 at 10:34 am
Was at the game and I called it my brother said it’s crazy no it’s not
They did it let the TE score Smith is a stud and Izien played lights out
December 10th, 2024 at 10:37 am
And Buc you, I was at the stadium screaming my head off.
December 10th, 2024 at 10:58 am
Wow, credit to Bowels for doing the thing many have been saying to do for months now. So brave. His stubbornness has lost us more games than his adjustments have won. Let’s see if he truly rights the ship in this last month.
GO BUCS LFG
December 10th, 2024 at 11:05 am
Bowles is still a mediocre coach regardless of all the beta boy behind sniffing on here. Admit you are happy with mediocre football and we can all move on.
December 10th, 2024 at 11:26 am
@Jeebsthehoneybear and @permanentlymoderated Whatever you were put through, please know that it wasn’t your fault. You are important and loved. The world is better because you are in it.
#GoBucs!
December 10th, 2024 at 12:06 pm
I’ve been a hardcore Bucs fan since 81 when I left the BIG D and the then hapless lions up. So sick of the whining here about Bowles and the what if no BAKER crowd. Get over it, back the coach. BAKER AND THIS ENTIRE TEAM OR GO BACK TO N. O. OR ATL FANS THAT YOU WERE BEFORE LAST SB WIN! LONG RULE AND GO BUCS NO MATTER WHAT!!!
December 10th, 2024 at 12:19 pm
“Hats off to Bowles for thinking outside the box with his defense in a pinch.”
Took some courage to post that here!!! While I agree with you there are many here, perhaps a plurality, who think Bowles can’t coach defense. They give total credit for the SB to BA and Brady without realizing how important the Bucs D was in that title!
AGAIN! There are excuses and there are REASONS. Mistake these two and you frequently throw the baby out with the bathwater and actually set the franchise back.
December 10th, 2024 at 4:19 pm
Can’t deny he did a great job patching together a cohesive unit from a lot of spare parts in this game. Good job Todd !
Next week will definitely be a stiffer test but for now it’s a positive sign 👍🏼
December 10th, 2024 at 4:26 pm
stpete, good to see you back here in the desert. Hope DR comes back, too. Hodad, go shove it. I am sick and tired of phony fans! Thank you, Coach Bowles for letting my man Izien go nuts Sunday. Please let him loose as in sacks in LA. And tell Coen to get his OC head on straight regarding Mayfield and the Offense. He’s had PLENTY of time to suss his players out including Baker Mayfield. Go Bucs and win #4.
December 10th, 2024 at 4:39 pm
Hmmmm… My “Little Confidence” vote creeped up a little. I was wondering why Brock Bowers had only 3 catches for like 39 or 49 yards. Good job coach and good job Joe for letting us know about this.
December 10th, 2024 at 5:38 pm
I’ve been wanting more 3-2-6 sets all year, if only we had enough healthy safeties to do it more often lol
December 10th, 2024 at 9:10 pm
Tell me where the Defense is Ranked? After 3 years it’s still Subpar. Bowles is Smart, but you can’t Blame Injuries for 3 yrs of No Improvement.
December 10th, 2024 at 10:11 pm
Last year we were 6th in scoring defense and 4th in red zone… Probably the 2 most important stats.
We’ve definitely taken a step back this year but we HAVE been decimated by injuries. Our defensive “stars”, outside of Vita, haven’t really played like stars and new guys (rookies and 2nd year) have yet to make much impact aside from Tykee and fairly solid play by Zion.
It’s Todds defense so he’s ultimately responsible but damn, guys going to home depot to find people to play LB and safety at this point. It was actually pretty amazing coaching job imo. Will be more than amazing if our defense can back that up with another solid performance and help us get more W’s
December 11th, 2024 at 12:12 am
This should have happened weeks ago.