Cornerbacks Unit Wowing In OTAs
May 28th, 2015
New Bucs cornerback Sterling Moore
Via covert drones and ground operatives, Joe brought word yesterday that former Pro Bowl cornerbacks Alterraun Verner and Mike Jenkins were early standouts through the first two days of Buccaneers OTA practices.
But another guy is wowing even more.
Joe has learned the regime is extremely impressed by what it has seen from Sterling Moore, the free agent from the Cowboys who is slated to play nickel back, an especially critical position in Lovie Smith’s defense.
Joe’s not expecting much of a “battle” between Moore and returning Leonard Johnson, whose speed has consistently held him back through his NFL career.
In all, the Bucs are more than pleasantly surprised by what they’ve seen from their cornerbacks through two days of underwear football.
During these no-pads, no-hitting practices, it is always the receiver/cornerback matchups that give the closest simulation of real game action.
May 28th, 2015 at 8:43 am
On a side note ESPN is at it again with a headline “Winston will not participate at OTA”
The reason is benign in that he is required by the NFL to go to the rookie symposium, but ESPN tries to generate clicks by their headline.
May 28th, 2015 at 8:48 am
Duke lead the cowboys in pass deflections and didn’t relinquish a touchdown pass all season. I fully expect him to win the nickle job.
May 28th, 2015 at 8:50 am
I think we finally have some depth at CB…..and, if Jenkins acturally beats out Banks to start (and I don’t think he will)…..think about how good that really is for us.
Sterling Moore, “America’s Nickel Back”
May 28th, 2015 at 8:56 am
And this is why the Bucs need more speed at WR.
May 28th, 2015 at 9:02 am
Nice to hear, but unless the d-line gets pressure, not even the best corners in the league can cover for more than 3-4 seconds.
Simple as that.
May 28th, 2015 at 9:07 am
should be good competition let the best man win, im glad this guy came in here looking to take someone’s job
May 28th, 2015 at 9:08 am
The CB’s should look even better today with Glennon (America’s backup) throwing the ball.
May 28th, 2015 at 9:17 am
Joe, you really opened up a can of worms with this “America’s this or that” experience. Just snatched that America’s team BS away from the cowpokes. Good job!
May 28th, 2015 at 9:20 am
Weren’t McCown, Johnson and Collins “wowing” at OBP a year ago? Get some perspective.
May 28th, 2015 at 9:29 am
Joe makes a good point. While OTA”s or underwear football can’t really demonstrate how good your OL or DL will be, DB”s and receivers can show a lot of rout running, pass defense, speed and catchings skills applicable to real game situations.
May 28th, 2015 at 9:38 am
Wish we had film of this …
May 28th, 2015 at 9:45 am
WAUSA- They also put this headline up “Marcus Mariota showed anticipation, threw to tight windows on Day 2”. For everyone on here that talks about how Joes all over America’s Quarterback. We need that cause ESPN is all over Mariota. And from the looks of it so far (underwear football) America’s Quarterback was the correct choice.
#Givemesomeday3OTAnews
May 28th, 2015 at 9:56 am
Our corner back depth is really underated
May 28th, 2015 at 10:01 am
ander- what exactly has this cornerback unit done lately to warrant a higher rating or greater respect? They were violated regularly in 2014 along with rest of this Lovie Smith defense.
May 28th, 2015 at 10:19 am
I like Nickleback.
May 28th, 2015 at 10:24 am
If the dbs play 5-7 yards off when the games count it won’t matter a bit. Lovie sucks, I hope the next coach brings in a aggressive d that attacks offenses
May 28th, 2015 at 10:47 am
@Tampa Tony
I agree but watching the db’s play 5-7 yards off because lovie knows they suck wasn’t as bad as greg schiano letting them play man press without touching the receiver or letting receiver run at them full speed and waiting until the receiver passes by to turn and run with them. no flyzone got beat through the air short mid and long range and game every game including revis
May 28th, 2015 at 10:53 am
dallasbuc so what are you saying. You must be some sort of mr perfect. I doubt it though. But you speak as if you could have been doing something in a particular profession for years have a new management group come in give you phamplet and tell you do it like this now and all your companies consumers are looking at you as if their should be no drop off. Not for a second. Please… But then again maybe you could pull it. You come across like a WWF wrestler I use to watch as kid. Mr. Perfect.
May 28th, 2015 at 11:13 am
@Dallas. McCown never wowed. The only time McCown wowed was when he dunked the ball in a charity game of basketball.
May 28th, 2015 at 11:14 am
“DallasBuc Says:
May 28th, 2015 at 9:20 am
Weren’t McCown, Johnson and Collins “wowing” at OBP a year ago? Get some perspective.”
As far as I can recall no. The only hype we heard that I remember is over Mike Evans impressing with crazy catches and ASJ looking like a beast man.
This is just proof that you’re a pessimistic a**hat. No one was hyping Collins in OTAs lol. Who hypes offensive tackles in non-contact drills? How does that make sense? Same with DEs.
In preseason the offensive line looked like sh*t and no one was hyping them. We had a lot of hope with Michael Johnson but I don’t recall any articles about him dominating in camp or in preseason.
Get some perspective.
May 28th, 2015 at 11:44 am
Tampabaybucfan Says:
May 28th, 2015 at 8:50 am
I think we finally have some depth at CB…..and, if Jenkins acturally beats out Banks to start (and I don’t think he will)…..think about how good that really is for us.
Sterling Moore, “America’s Nickel Back”
____________________________________________
Isn’t NickelBack a Canadian Band?
May 28th, 2015 at 11:52 am
Has anyone thought about moving Banks to safety? Just thought I would throw that out there since an awesome coverage FS would be GREAT.
May 28th, 2015 at 12:09 pm
Nole- I never said I was perfect but I screamed loudly about all of the very poor talent evaluation and decision-making all last off season. The archives are available if you care to dispute. I was one of the few cautiously objective fans not glamoured by the new do-no-wrong Lovie Smith leadership.
May 28th, 2015 at 12:15 pm
Lord Cornhole- all 3 of the top free agents were hyped by media and fans all off-season all the way through the horrible pre-season. In fact, the bloom had not come off the rose until a bout 3-4 games into the regular season.
Deny it all you want but once again the JBF archives are available for you to go back and dispute. Burden of proof otherwise is on you. My memory of last off season is crystal clear.
May 28th, 2015 at 12:45 pm
DallasBuc- you really need to find a new team to troll. Lovie is our coach and real fans will be pulling for him to make it. He has already proven that he is a great coach. Sorry if taking the Bears to the Superbowl with Rex Grossman as his QB is not good enough for you.
May 28th, 2015 at 1:19 pm
Buccos
How can you call lovie a great coach when he has a lifetime 3-3 playoff record which is hardly great. He LOST the super bowl nearly 10 years ago. Lovie has been a head coach 10 years and has only been to playoffs back to back once. Again hardly great accomplishments.real fans have standards and want to win. Lovie is hardly a consistent winner much less great head coach.
May 28th, 2015 at 2:26 pm
Looks like the last bag of Summer’s Eve was just picked up by the new fan Sheriff laying down the law on the way “real fans” should think and the things they say! Buccos is such a martyr for the cause standing up to “trolls” like me because I happen to not agree with him and his merry band of incompetent Lovie Smith excuse riddlers.
It’s cool tough guy. I’ll simply remind you of his actual record as the Buccaneers HC:
McCown
Collins
Johnson
Omameh
Cousins
Zuttah
Penn
Bobbleheaded lapdog GM
2-14
May 28th, 2015 at 2:48 pm
DallasBuc GTFOH!! We had no offensive coordinator last year you idiot!! How can any offense be productive without a quality OC??? You’re nothing but a hater and a troll and funny enough you’re from Dallas, what a coincidence! Go troll a cowboys website! The rest of the NFL totally disagrees with you about Lovie Smith
May 28th, 2015 at 2:50 pm
Joe, any word on how Banks has looked so far?
May 28th, 2015 at 4:23 pm
KMAC- so, you are the approved spokesman for “rest of the NFL”? Name calling is all you can come with tough guy? I’m not going anywhere and I am speaking directly to people like you who find it acceptable to hold sad scapegoats like Arroyo responsible for the abject failure of one Lovie Smith.
Why would I spend time and energy on a Cowboys site if Im a Bucs fan. Have you ever considered thinking about the things that you say or are you saddled with a lack of inner monologue? Poor guy!…funny tho
May 28th, 2015 at 5:39 pm
Dallas every post you write is throughly annoying and you are a level five hater. The definition of the word troll! America’s troll.
May 28th, 2015 at 5:52 pm
@JOE
Leonard “I got burned again” Johnson’s NFL career hasn’t been held back. As far as I know he’s still on the roster and has been for a while. Which in turn has fattened his bank account. I don’t consider that “held back.” When he starts getting cut and out of a job then we can say that. In the meantime his lack of speed and skill will keep holding the YUCS back not himself.
May 28th, 2015 at 6:11 pm
Snugglefuk- aww did I annoy you? You know what annoys me?…adults who use the word “hater” which is generally reserved for teeny girls under the age of 16. It also annoys me when tough guys like you can’t come up with a sensible argument and instead come at me with petty name calling as the basis of their contention. Hater and troll…good one!!! What could I possibly say to that?
May 29th, 2015 at 4:32 am
DallasBuc- Errrr, “hater” is a pretty common international term, especially in sports.
And people were saying that nobody was being hyped during OTA’s, the whole world thought we had a great off-season. Once OTA’s started the only player we started to hear positive press about was Mike Evans. I specifically remember wondering why we weren’t hearing anything positive about guys like Michael Johnson, and his terrible season answered that question pretty well.
As for out CBs last year, they were one of the best parts of a defense that got gradually better as the season went on (remember the Tampa-2 defense isn’t easy to learn). Verner was good for us and Banks stepped his game up as the season went along.
We had Barron and Goldson holding us back for most of the season though, luckily they both got the boot.
May 29th, 2015 at 2:47 pm
DallasBuc haha you blame everything on Lovie Smith then go and say we cant blame the offensive problems on Arroyo!! haha way to contradict yourself IDIOT!!