Could the reason why Adrian Clayborn and the Bucs haven’t terrorized quarterbacks be because the Bucs place too much emphasis on rush defense?

Aside from the race for the first pick in next spring’s draft, the biggest item that has Bucs fans rolling around in bed at night, unable to sleep, is the simple lack of pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Joe has thought long about this subject as well, and Joe thinks he is on to something. Since the day Bucs commander Greg Schiano was first hired, he pledged to stop the run. That’s virtually all he talked about when breaking down defenses: Stop the run first.

This mentality — Joe is not being dismissive here — has permeated Schiano’s players, which often happens no matter who the coach is. As the Bucs ready for their 10th game of the season, here are a couple of quotes from Bucs players:

“I think it’s very important for us to [stop the run],” Bucs defensive end Adrian Clayborn said. “First of all, stop the run, because that was the thing the last two weeks, was keep running the ball and pounding the ball and we kept them to zero yards on first and second down, so that was very good for us and it allowed us to pass rush and put pressure on the quarterback.”

“That’s big for us, that’s one of our goals – stopping the run, of course, and no explosive plays,” Bucs safety Dashon Goldson said. “We did both of those; they [had] two yards rushing and no [passes] over 25 yards. That’s big, especially against a good football team. Whenever you do stuff like that, the sky’s the limit and your chances of winning are very high.”

Now this really isn’t a novel concept, but could it be that maybe, perhaps Schiano’s strong over-the-top emphasis on stopping the run, and using all of these silly stunts, which may help on the run but implode rushing the quarterback may be what ills the pass rush?

Yes, it is important to stop the run. Joe doesn’t think anyone who isn’t on a bender would argue. But in this goal to shut down the run, maybe Schiano and his staff are subconsciously neglecting the pass rush?