Somebody Must Cover The Tight End
September 28th, 2014
The Bucs have yet to figure out how to cover a tight end this year, evidenced by how Heath Miller ran wild on them today.
Look, Joe is as giddy as the next Bucs fan about this great come-from-behind win at Pittsburgh. Against that team and in that stadium, man, the Steelers rarely lose those type of games.
But the Bucs handed it to them. Did so with defense (mostly) and opportune offense. The one area that damned near killed the Bucs today has been a thorn in their defense all season.
And if the Bucs are to come close to .500, they must take care of this.
What is “this?” It would be stopping the tight end.
One of the few things that Joe predicted would happen today would be that Ben Roethlisberger’s favorite target, unheralded tight end Heath Miller, would tear apart the Bucs.
He did. The Bucs acted as if Miller carried the Ebola virus. What, were they scared of Miller? The dude was targeted 11 times and he caught 10 passes. The lone pass he didn’t catch looked to be a big one, maybe a touchdown. He was so open that Miller committed the cardinal sin of receivers by taking off before he had the ball.
That was simply inexcusable, to let Miller run wild. Did the Bucs not watch tape of Miller? Did they not know he is Big Ben’s long-time favorite target? Do the Bucs not know, for reasons unknown, they have yet to stop a tight end this season?
Geez, it was as if the Bucs didn’t even know he was on the field.
If the Bucs are going to do any kind of damage this year, they must — MUST! — learn how to defend the tight end.
Oh, look: Here comes Jimmy Graham next Sunday!
September 28th, 2014 at 7:39 pm
Boy!…..I sure do miss Myron!!!
September 28th, 2014 at 7:39 pm
The linebackers are biting too hard on the play action and cant recover
September 28th, 2014 at 7:40 pm
You hit it right on then head, Joe. Our defense left far too many open receivers, especially Heath Miller…and, oh yeah….here comes Jimmy Graham next week….YIKES! Gotta fix that by next Sunday!
September 28th, 2014 at 7:41 pm
If Ahmad Black is available we should sign him just to clean Graham’s clock again. It would be a great sight to see that punk ass get the stuffing knocked out of him.
September 28th, 2014 at 7:42 pm
They’ll be okay as long as they continue to let my boy Glennon sling it.
September 28th, 2014 at 7:43 pm
Oh and Brees is going down too just like Big Ben did today.
September 28th, 2014 at 7:44 pm
Don’t look now but the Bucs are only a game back in the division. Just saying.
September 28th, 2014 at 7:49 pm
It’s not just the tight ends. We don’t cover any receiver at all. Very seldom do we jam them at the line of scrimmage and the gaps in our zone are freaking huge. Every quarterback this year is going put up 300 yards against us if we don’t fix this. We made some adjustments on offense this game and opened it up a little. Hopefully we can do the same on defense.
September 28th, 2014 at 7:50 pm
Who covers the TE in this system?
September 28th, 2014 at 7:51 pm
This is the traditional Tampa 2, the TE will be open 5 to 15 yards down field just about every play. This was the Achilles heel of the defense when Dungy was here too, and given how Lovie and Frazier are both such purists when it comes to following father Dungy’s blue prints, this shouldn’t come as a shock.
That being said, i hope they find a way to adjust, but i wouldn’t hold my breath either.
September 28th, 2014 at 7:55 pm
Both our safeties got injured too.
Of Note: Our Punter better do better from here on. He had a horrible game. And PLEASE BRING BACK BARTH!
Our kicker barely had the leg to make that first field goal. Barth would have made it with room to spare.
September 28th, 2014 at 7:56 pm
I agree…WRs have to be jammed at the line. Doing so will buy our Dline time to get to the QBs
September 28th, 2014 at 8:00 pm
No doubt. The play action is getting the linebackers to bite everything. Hopefully mason comes back healthy. Plus they need to due something about the middle of the field. We need a good true free safety. Unfortunately it seems we have 3 strong safety s in goldson Barron and wright
September 28th, 2014 at 8:04 pm
Mike Glennon would pick apart Lovie Smiths defense all day long.
Lovie’s defense can not stop the pass. It doesn’t look good for them. Brees is gonna have a field day as he picks apart Lovies aweful pass defense much like Matt Ryan did.
At least Glennon has the ability to throw the ball down the field with his cannon. 22 tds and 10 ints career with TB.
September 28th, 2014 at 8:05 pm
@ BuccaneerBonza
The first FG that he “barely had the leg” for was tipped and still made it.
I know you are trying hard to find something to bitch about after a win but get the facts straight first.
September 28th, 2014 at 8:07 pm
So our kicker makes a field goal and people (buccaneernonzai) still complain, SMFH
September 28th, 2014 at 8:10 pm
In typical fashion Joe searches for the black linings in the silver colds. Don’t spend a moment celebrating the blocking that gave Glennon time. Don’t celebrate the 5 sacks including 3 by Joe’s favorites Johnson and Bowers. Don’t celebrate the fact the offense opened up by throwing down the field and running some dazzle dazzle. Don’t celebrate that special teams apparently cleaned up a whole lot of problems that had plagued them. Instead focus on the negative. Was the pass defense great? No. Was the run blocking great? No. How about we give the staff a chance to address those issues like they have the others that faced them. Some players appear to be getting healthy while others appear to picking up on the schemes. Savor the victory and let us enjoy the progress we saw.
September 28th, 2014 at 8:12 pm
@ billy buckaroo
BINGO! Most especially Fletcher. Hate to say it, but he had a terrible game. The one thing he was actually good at, stopping the run, he did a horrible job. He is also a major liability in the passing game, so I really look for the bucs to upgrade the middle linebacker position this offseason.
September 28th, 2014 at 8:14 pm
Its not jus tight ends, joe. Its every reciever out there. We give them way to much cushion, what we need to do is press and jam the recievers.
September 28th, 2014 at 8:16 pm
@Andrew1 im thinking the same thing. Lovie needs a good mike for his defense
September 28th, 2014 at 8:21 pm
Where is the post highlighting a signature win for Mike Glennon? The one where some crow is eaten?
September 28th, 2014 at 8:22 pm
All in all though, the defense was not that bad today. We went from 56 points allowed to 24 today, saw the defensive line come alive with 5 sacks, and got some crucial stops when we really needed it. Still have to tighten some things up in the secondary, but no doubt they were much improved today.
September 28th, 2014 at 8:26 pm
MCLEGEND!
September 28th, 2014 at 8:27 pm
Went from 56 pts to 24…. LMAO
September 28th, 2014 at 8:30 pm
enjoy the win. it was a great one. on the road, in a “super bowl contenders” house. this is why we watch football.,
September 28th, 2014 at 8:31 pm
@ Buc Fan #237
lol. Laugh all you want, but honestly I was expecting another blow out. I’m sure a lot of guys were to.
September 28th, 2014 at 8:37 pm
With Pittsburgh’s recent past years success a lot of their games have been on TV. I watched them all and Heath Miller was a thorn in every opponents side, so he is a special player who makes everybody look bad covering him.
September 28th, 2014 at 8:57 pm
Agreed that LBs are biting WAY too hard on PA but hasn’t the TE been traditionally the responsibility of the Nickel Corner in the Tampa 2? Leonard Johnson anyone? Day late and a $ short.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:13 pm
great win today, glennon showed alot of poise there at the end however dane fleatcher looked lost out there
September 28th, 2014 at 9:27 pm
Actually the one “drop” miller had was actually a pass defended. It was tipped right before it got to miller, and caused it to be miss handled by miller. A pretty good defensive play. But the article is on point, we get shredded in the zone by TEs. We play too soft and TEs easily find the empty zone.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:31 pm
Andrew 1 , I noticed how Fletcher several times filled precisely the wrong gap on run plays. Not the most instinctive guy, I reckon.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:35 pm
Robert7, I paid attention to what David was doing on some of these passes to Miller, & he seemed tp let him go, & was caught in no-man’s land, doing zilch mostly. I don’t know why this was so hard to cover for the Bucs.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:43 pm
phattitudes Says:
September 28th, 2014 at 8:10 pm
In typical fashion Joe searches for the black linings in the silver colds. Don’t spend a moment celebrating the blocking that gave Glennon time. Don’t celebrate the 5 sacks including 3 by Joe’s favorites Johnson and Bowers. Don’t celebrate the fact the offense opened up by throwing down the field and running some dazzle dazzle. Don’t celebrate that special teams apparently cleaned up a whole lot of problems that had plagued them. Instead focus on the negative. Was the pass defense great? No. Was the run blocking great? No. How about we give the staff a chance to address those issues like they have the others that faced them. Some players appear to be getting healthy while others appear to picking up on the schemes. Savor the victory and let us enjoy the progress we saw.
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Nice post, and agree completely. Last week, the Bucs looked lost in all 3 phases of the game; O,D, and ST. This week the pass rush seemed much improved. More gang tackling. Even a few passes defensed. Overall the pass blocking seemed good as well. I believe the rushing offense will pick up as soon as the opposing defenses see a more effective downfield passing game, allowing more effective play-action as well. Even though the defense still has some holes, the players seemed much more comfortable in this system. Props to LVD, who looked back to his usual self. I, too, am waiting for Joe to post his picture of the broken down “cannon” from the old F Troop series. LOL
tickrdr
September 28th, 2014 at 9:56 pm
Whatever the Cowboys are doing tonight is hopefully our blueprint for next Sunday. The Cowboys “D” was supposed to be awful but they are doing a great job.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:11 pm
there is difference from letting them running free in that crease and them catching it and paying by taking vicious hits…the bucs made them pay…i can live with that
September 29th, 2014 at 2:32 am
Dane Fletcher is awful.
September 29th, 2014 at 2:49 am
If you remember- the Bucs stated that Mark Barron was drafted specifically to handle Jimmy graham and Tony Gonzales.
But we won- despite Miller.
It was beUtiful. I’m gonna enjoy it.
Glennon is the Bucs QB. Let the Ginger Cannon roar
September 29th, 2014 at 3:32 am
The scary part is that we let Heath Miller and Greg Olsen tear us up. We have to okay Jimmy Graham twice a year who makes every other tight end in the league look like average joes. Hope Lovie has something up his sleeve to stop Graham or we are screwed. Who can cover him? Barron hasn’t been able to, Verner is way too small, Banks is too thin, none of our linebackers besides Lavonte has a chance and still Graham has a huge height advantage there. If you have Graham in your fantasy team be sure to start him against us
September 29th, 2014 at 7:01 am
I thought that is what Mark Baron is here for?
September 29th, 2014 at 8:36 am
@billy buckaroo The LBs are getting hung out to dry by the lack of rush, once that comes around, they’ll get better. Heath Miller will beat any LB every time if the QB has all day. Lansanah should help. They need Foster back ASAP. Fletcher has filled in admirable but really isn’t good at all in coverage.
@phil Not in anymore, it’s a different scheme. It’s up to the LBs now to cover TEs.
September 29th, 2014 at 9:18 am
@Mike J They ran that against Carolina and made luke kuechly look stupid. Not Fletcher’s fault, it’s a well designed run play.
September 29th, 2014 at 10:35 am
andres, he did it several times; the play was right in front of him. I am, however, still not certain he isn’t an upgrade over Foster; an over-rated guy, to me.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:53 am
In four games tightends have been killing us. Now we have to face one of the best in the business this coming Sunday. I hope Lovie has taken notice of this flaw in the defense and is preparing to adjust the LB’s and defensive backs to account for TE’s.