“… If You Use It Sparingly”
December 5th, 2013
Gerald McCoy dove deeper into his opinion of the Bucs’ frequent use of defensive line stunts
All that dancing along the Bucs’ defensive line (aka line stunts) is a head-scratcher and really needs a nickname it’s become so comical.
“The Rutgers Shuffle?” “The Sack Sucker?”
How about “The Te’O Tango?”
The Bucs do it too often with too little results. It’s the 2013 Benn’d Around.
Gerald McCoy prefers to rush the quarterback in old school style. This is well known. McCoy elaborated on WDAE-AM 620 last night.
A caller to the Buccaneers Radio Network last night asked McCoy what he thinks about all that dancing and if he’s been on a team that stunts so often.
“I think stunting is effective. I think it works if you use it, you know, sparingly,” McCoy said. “You have to hit a team with a surprise stunt. But stunts are useful. The Bucs of old with those great defenses, they stunted, but they used it sparingly. A lot of the time, they were just man on man, ‘Let’s see what you can do against me.'”
“No, I’ve never been on a team that stunts this much.”
Joe only has one issue with all the stunts; collective they’re not very effective. Obviously, Bucs coaches can see that but continue to employ them. The question is, why? Joe has to imagine a candid answer from Greg Schiano would include a supreme lack of confidence in the Bucs’ edge rushers.
But the deeper issue now, Joe believes, is the defensive line’s lack of confidence in the scheme. McCoy is their leader, and he hasn’t bought in with his soul. That can’t be good.
December 5th, 2013 at 9:19 am
I agree Joe, The question is Who has more lack of confidence, The players of the scheme or The Coaches of the Dline.
December 5th, 2013 at 9:32 am
Stunts or no stunts….scheme or lack of scheme….our lack of talent is not performing. You can blame it on the scheme or stunts but the bottom line is our players are being beat on the D-line week in and week out!!!
December 5th, 2013 at 9:33 am
I’m sure the players had plenty of confidence in the stunts until they didn’t work for 6000 plays in a row. Why the hell would they have any confidence in it at all when the no stunting worked so well.
The players have more reasons to not trust the stunts than the coaching staff has to not trust the players.
It just burns my ass to see Clayborn do so good in college at bullrushing then see him in the pros covering TE’s and running a loop de loop all the friggin time.
Why even draft him if you aren’t going to use him the way he was used that made him a first round pick.
December 5th, 2013 at 9:36 am
If I’m the owners, and I have the (arguably) best DT in the league on my team and we’re rendering him ineffective with the stunts, that doesn’t bode well for the coach.
I mean seriously, who goes? Coach or best DT in the league? LOL
Schiano is a dead man walking.
December 5th, 2013 at 9:38 am
Love the idea of a nickname! That is Great!
Maybe the D-Line coach should take notes from Bill’s D-Line execution.
I think the stunts will be pulled back on the last game of the season if not by coaches by players. They should say the hell with the stunts I’m going after the QB!
December 5th, 2013 at 9:39 am
@Chef Paul – you’re right on the DE covering a TE crap. I mean, WTF? Graham, Gonzalez, Olsen in our division and we run plays where the DE drops in coverage on them? LOL Uh, Ok. These coaches kill me.
December 5th, 2013 at 9:46 am
@bucfanjeff – I’m not sure that we as fans are seeing the coaching structure for what it really is. A head coach is more of a CEO level management where the OC and DC are more like directors. The CEO isn’t supposed to step in and get in to the minutiae of how things are being run. If he’s doing that then he’s doing his job the wrong way. We kill him for being a micromanager and what we’re asking for by saying that he should step in and change something is asking him to be a micromanager. He’s responsible for overseeing all of it and holding people accountable for results, as well as being the face of the organization and bolstering business by making appearances and whatnot. He’s not as in the weeds as the other coaches. If the game plan doesn’t bode well for anyone it doesn’t bode well for the coordinators. Especially since they’re not Schiano’s guys.
December 5th, 2013 at 9:53 am
@bucfanjeff – I agree. Thought that was why we drafted Barron
December 5th, 2013 at 9:56 am
The worse thing is all the blitzes that are leaving free receivers, 1 on 1’s or mismatches.
December 5th, 2013 at 10:00 am
If Sheridan was the real deal.The Giants wouldn’t have thrown him to the curb.Dude is either blind,stubborn or dumb. Maybe a ill of all these things.Kinda like having Peyton as your QB, and running the ball every play.Makes no sense
December 5th, 2013 at 10:02 am
Maybe the problem is, not the stunts, but that the Bucs don’t do them well. When I am watching other teams (up here in Jax., we don’t get T.B. real often), their twists & loops allow free runs to the QB on occasion.(A small NT like Spence should be ideal for stunts, if he is in on passing downs.) Maybe Brian Cox needs more say-so; according to PFF, T.B. is the worst in the NFL at generating line pressure, but the best at linebacker rushes.
Back when Johnson was coaching the Boys, the talking heads never mentioned it, but quite often I would see the Dallas’ D-line play it straight in the 1st half, then do a lot of games in the 2nd–no half-time adjustment; the other teams’ O-line had to try to adjust on the fly.
December 5th, 2013 at 10:05 am
Joe- remember when Raheem was here and, during his first season, it became apparent that Jim Bates just was not going to work out and he “defrocked” him, as you coined it..and we saw results when Raheem took over the defense. Schiano has stated he lets his OC and DC put together the gameplans and call them-anyway, I wonder if Schiano has given any thought to canning Sheridan in the same fashion? If Schiano survives till next season, I’d hope it’s mandated he fire Sheridan, who was AWFUL with the Giants.
December 5th, 2013 at 10:17 am
Evil Keneival Shuffle
(Check spelling)
You are welcome 😉
I agree 100% with Gerald. I don’t think the stunts should be removed entirely, but I think they should be an occasional trick play…somethink to be pulled out when not expected.
Btw…those saying things like “Schiano is a dead man walking.” You would e better suited to put “I think” before such statements. The way it is presented makes it sound like you make such decisions, which we all know you don’t. So instead of sounding like you think you do, you make it obvious that you are stating an opinion.
Unless you really do believe you make the decisions. If so, which Glazer are you?
December 5th, 2013 at 10:17 am
Why hasn’t our press asked the same question we have been asking…..”Why do so many stunts when they are ineffective?”
And…not let Sheridan off the hook with a BS answer.
December 5th, 2013 at 10:40 am
@TBBF
it kinda was answered when Sheridan asked our chirping fans to go at 7:00 AM to assist in the planning. Which of course he re-fused. I actually want someone to ask a veteran and real DC what the bucs are doing wrong. Sheridan has the complete blame because that’s his department. However if Schiano has been so nit picky and telling Sheridan what to do then that’s where the issue lies.
My theory is Schiano controlling the line, if he gives orders to McCoy then he sure gives order to the coaches. Schiano never loosens up or changes schemes and thus why our performance has been predictable. We pound the ball middle and we stunt every down, and send Clayborn to cover a guy (whats his skill level at doing so?). Coaches are improperly using our players, remember Martin going deep against a 6’+ defender?????
December 5th, 2013 at 10:47 am
This is my thing. During the 3 game stretch when won we were not running as many stunts at least in the Dolphins and Atlanta game and what happen we got to the QB. Against Detroit and Carolina we went back to stunts and didnt get to the QB. I just dont get it, I hated the hire of Sheridan and he is proving that he is not very good at putting his best in a situation they will succeed.
December 5th, 2013 at 10:52 am
Holy Hell!!!!
How many times must it be stated that SHERIDAN is running SCHIANO’S defense….
https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=81270
Its the same defense that was run at Rutgers. Emphasis on stopping the run primarily, with stunts and blitzes then leaving DBs out there alone. Remember last year, when the excuse for us getting passed on and around (like an Amsterdam window worker) was because we didn’t have the talent in the backfield to stop the pass. Knowledgeable fans knew that it wasn’t JUST the talent (definitely a part) but it was also the scheme. 1st in the league in RunD but last in PassD? that CLEARLY shows a schematic problem.
The ONE coach i wish would’ve been a hold-over from the Rah era was Keith Millard. I think him working in conjunction with Bryan Cox would’ve been magical on our dline.
December 5th, 2013 at 11:22 am
It is outrageous that we make suck terrible decisions with this team.
A commitment to excellence? Please.
Not only is their a strong air of incompetence emanating from one Buc, we have to watch the slow moving train head toward the inevitable falls, knowing that they are not going to fix it. We do things in slow motion here.
Gotta just hope we bump into the right people and that they want to be here. Otherwise we will keep hiring long shots and continue to expect to be disappointed.
For now, you know the Bucs are going nowhere, and according to some, that should be okay with you.
/ Barf
December 5th, 2013 at 11:51 am
If anybody thinks we have championship caliber coordinators they don’t watch much football. Or any football.
December 5th, 2013 at 2:12 pm
2011
1&2&6 1st JJ Watt
3&4 Justin Houston
5 Richard Sherman
7 Chris Harris
7 Doug Baldwin