Stopping Greg Olsen
October 4th, 2015
How Stinking Panthers TE Greg Olsen fares will speak volumes about Lovie Smith’s defense.
When you know a specific player is coming at you and a defense still cannot stop said player, it says something about the players used to defense said weapon, or the defense employed to stop said weapon.
Either way, it all falls back on one man today. That would be Bucs coach Lovie Smith.
Lovie, currently 3-16 with Tampa Bay, has walked out on a tight rope without a safety net. He took over play-calling duties on his defense — with his players. He’s had since January 2014 to mold a defense with his handpicked roster.
Today, in steps Stinking Panthers tight end Greg Olsen. He torched the Bucs last year (with journeyman nobody Derek Anderson at quarterback, not Cam Newton), catching a combined 18 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown.
One can only wonder what Olsen can do with Newton throwing to him.
Olsen’s talents should not surprise the Bucs or Lovie. They have film of Olsen carving them up. The plays should be seared in everyone’s collective memories (unlike when the gremlins seemingly stole tape of Marcus Mariota at Oregon from the video vaults at One Buc Palace, which is the only logical reason for the Bucs defense being so ill-prepared in the season opener).
If Olsen goes bananas today, that would say a whole lot about Lovie, in general.
If the Bucs can shut down Olsen, then it tells Joe at least the Bucs are learning from their previous errors. That would be a positive.
October 4th, 2015 at 9:41 am
You can’t stop Olsen…you can only hope to contain him.
Okay, sarcasm aside, if this team does to Lovie’s defense what they did last year and the defense continues to look passive and confused, Lovie needs to grab some ice packs for his rear end ’cause his seat’s gonna get hot real fast.
October 4th, 2015 at 9:49 am
Lovie change or adapt? Not a chance.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
October 4th, 2015 at 9:53 am
I can’t believe the Bucs can’t cover this guy.
October 4th, 2015 at 10:00 am
Here’s the Panthers offensive gameplan today:
Run up the middle
Short to medium inside slants
ALL DAMN DAY!!!!!
……this will ensure victory for the panthers
October 4th, 2015 at 10:34 am
We absolutely, positively must put points on the board…..not field goals….let’s open up this offense and score!!!
October 4th, 2015 at 11:03 am
If Olsen goes off today then you can bet the Bucs will see a lot of Bortles to Julius Thomas next week in what could (should) be Lovie’s last game if the Bucs are 1-4 going into the bye week. Hopefully the D finally makes some adjustments….
BTW tampabaybuc g=fan is right: get TDs and not FGs and even more importantly: stop the Panthers if they do get in the red zone! Bend but don’t break, isn’t that the mantra of the Tampa 2????? Bucs D has stopped one drive in the red zone this year for a FG and that was that drive by Houston that ate 7+ minutes in the 4th quarter and di net a 19 yd FG that put them up 19-9. Houston had a 4th and 1 on that FG and I bet they could have got a TD if they went for it, the D is that soft in the red zone…..
October 4th, 2015 at 1:01 pm
Do the joes really expect Loser Lovie to adapt and modify his d? Never gonna happen with this coach