“Mentality” Was Lacking
December 2nd, 2015
So what went wrong with the Buccaneers’ defense Sunday?
Plenty of opinions are swirling, and one belongs to starting middle linebacker Kwon Alexander.
“We wasn’t on our keys,” Alexander told WDAE-AM 620 of the failures in Indianapolis. “We wasn’t playing like we was playing the last two weeks. We just got to get back this week and have the same mentality we had [against the Cowboys and Philadelphia].”
Joe is always troubled when he hears players talk about a shaky “mentality” in a critical game, a game in which the team was leading at halftime.
Yesterday’s chat with Alexander is below via the 620wdae.com audio. Kwon would not comment on his looming suspension for using a performance enhancing substance.
December 2nd, 2015 at 9:10 am
What went wrong with our defense was a total collapse of the offense in the second half with how many 3 and outs?
I get that we have a high standard for defense around here. That SB defense was soooo great they could carry a horrible offense like ours on Sunday.
This defense is a long way from that but c’mon man..that defense already has TWO member in the HOF. Our talent level is nowhere near that and in fact is there a SINGLE position on our defense that’s even worth mentioning in the same breath. GMC and LVD are the closest and yet they are a LONG way from Sapp and DB55.
The offense lost the game against Indy it’s a simple as that. Two FG’s the first half…horrid play by the O in the 2nd half and we were still within six until very late. Our D just got worn down physically and mentally.
Our D is not stout enough to win games like the SB D…but they didn’t suck as badly as portrayed until they simply ran out of gas. And the good news is they’ll get better with a good draft.
December 2nd, 2015 at 9:46 am
Yeah I agree the offense has to step up and score more than 1 TD a game. The defense wasn’t perfect but not terrible either a few passes that Hassleback dropped over Sterling Moore were just perfectly thrown passes. He was in position to make a play but Hassleback just hit his WR right in stride and placed the ball where only he could get to it. 38 is a different story he had a rough day at CB and towards the end it looked like they started to go after him. Hopefully he was just having an off night or had a bad matchup.
December 2nd, 2015 at 9:52 am
The offense had an ‘off-day’ against the Colts, especially in the second half to be sure. You don’t win many games scoring just 12 pts in the NFL nowadays. But the Colts defense deserves a bunch of credit for that. They adjusted beautifully at halftime and the Bucs didn’t have an answer for those adjustments.
The defense didn’t play as well as they’d been playing either. The DLine did another great job shutting down the run, but didn’t get consistent pressure on the QB. Penalties at critical times obviously killed us, as did the Colts’ success deep against our secondary. Bucs still have too many weaknesses to be an elite team … offense or defense. But given 1-2 more excellent drafts and we’ll get there. I can see improvement just about every week. Last week wasn’t one of those weeks unfortunately.
December 2nd, 2015 at 9:55 am
We need a goal line back. Getting inside the five with 3 downs to score and coming away with FGs is killing us. I would like to see us trade Bobby Rainey’s roster position for a goal line back and let one of the receivers take over punt return duties.
December 2nd, 2015 at 10:13 am
This is the second half of the season. All teams are stepping it up. The D needs to be consistent from game to game. Apparently they couldn’t even ‘see’ that they were not hitting their keys or they didn’t know how to correct their mistakes (real concerning that they themselves can’t adjust during the game). If the D had stepped up, the O would have had more opportunities to get in the end zone and the outcome could have been different.
All I’m really saying is that both sides of the ball have to step it up and perform consistently during this second half of the season. We can expect our opponents to do that.
December 2nd, 2015 at 11:11 am
@Bama Rich. What about Mike James who sits on our practice squad? He fits the bill of a goal line back.
December 2nd, 2015 at 11:25 am
cmurda
I like Mike James and think he should be given the opportunity since he is a down hill runner. Our red zone plays consist of two viable options pass or naked bootleg.
December 2nd, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Frankly, if they can’t get “their mind right” with the possibly of making the playoffs on the line; then they really shouldn’t make it to the playoffs. The team that wants it more should and will be there. I will be disgusted of that is what keeps them out…their old losing mentality. God help us!
December 2nd, 2015 at 12:45 pm
The Bucs lost to the better team, period.
December 2nd, 2015 at 1:24 pm
My problem with the defense was the ridiculously long drives they allowed. You cant allow multiple 15+ play drives in a game and expect to be rested or the offense to maintain a rhythm.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:35 pm
kwon, i know you’re a linebacker and not a scholar, but as a guy who will be interviewed a ton and who will be using the pronoun “we” several times in each interview, can you please try to learn the words “were” and “weren’t\were not”?
December 2nd, 2015 at 4:24 pm
@Bama Rich
I couldn’t agree more. We need a back that can go into “beast mode”. Like Cmurda I’ve always wondered about James but he can’t seem to get on the field so all I can guess is that he’s not a goood practice player.
@Atlanta
That was an excellent point. It is that time of the year when teams step it up…the Colts did a better job of that..we have a young team and the vets we have still have to break out of the loser culture…but it’s coming. I can’t wait to see this Sunday then we’ll find out if our guys are capable of ‘stepping it up”.