The Streak Continues
September 10th, 2018
Still hasn’t missed a start.
The Ironman of the Bucs is still streaking.
Often, Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith records himself for his Instagram followers, singing while driving down the street. Now, Smith has something to sing about.
Smith, who was drafted in the second round in 2015, has yet to miss a start. That streak was in jeopardy yesterday when Smith sprained a knee in training camp. But when the Bucs trotted onto the field to start the game, there was Smith playing left tackle.
And don’t be fooled by his serenading of followers while he drives with his moonroof open, Bucs center Ryan Jensen said. Smith, said Jensen, is a tough SOB.
“‘Donny’ is a tough guy,” Jensen said of Smith’s streak of starting games. “That [streak] shows a lot and shows his toughness to play through all of that to start.”
Just before yesterday’s kickoff, general manager Jason Licht called Smith’s consecutive-starts streak an “amazing feat” and said Smith proved he has “great DNA” for coming back so quickly from his injury.
To date, Smith has only missed one half of Bucs football. He sat out the second half of the road game at New Orleans last year with a foot injury.
Well, if Smith is a tough guy as Jensen said, and the offensive line is becoming ornery like Jensen, that’s a helluva combination.
September 10th, 2018 at 8:17 am
Alot of ppl don’t recognize we have a gift in a young guy like this and don’t credit him enough. Yesterday the OLine held up better than anyone would’ve ever guessed. The way this season is starting I honestly don’t mind if we end up making a playoffs run and being recognized for our offense powerhouse instead of defense. The defense needs work but still did a great job with keeping Kamara in check in his rushes. I mean what do you expect when you have THEE DREW BREES?!That dude 10 out of 10 times is gonna carve up ANY defense. Anyone in the south knows the only way to be a Drew Brees team is to win a shootout.
September 10th, 2018 at 8:20 am
Snap count? Looked like evan smith was playing RG
September 10th, 2018 at 8:36 am
The whole offensive line looked great! The defense played very well against a high powered offense until the last quarter when we had a couple ding ups, lost VH3 and everyone was getting tired because of conditioning so early in the season. Everyone needs to relax and see how this new team shapes up. Things are definitely different this year! Go Bucs!!
September 10th, 2018 at 8:38 am
O-line was awesome
Thank god for Jensen and the attitude he brings to the line
……they’ll have a tough task against the eagles
September 10th, 2018 at 8:39 am
He wants that streak cause it will help in negotiations on next big contract. Him and marpet looked like that are meaner from hanging with Jensen. Love it
September 10th, 2018 at 8:56 am
Kept the streak alive. – Happy for him on a professional level
COMMITTED NO PRE-SNAP PENALTIES!!!
Played LIGHTS OUT against the Saints aggressive OLBs and DEs.
COMMITTED NO UGLY HOLDING PENALTIES!
It was quiet as hell regarding the o-line during the game AND I LIKE THAT! Sure, there was a Ryan Jensen shout out during a scrum, but totally acceptable and THE LINE PLAYED GREAT!!!!!
Man, if Mondays are like this the rest of the season…..
September 10th, 2018 at 8:56 am
By far the most overrated linemen we have on the team, but I guess being on the field can be a valuable trait.
September 10th, 2018 at 9:16 am
Smith played well. The entire Oline played well.
Amazing how this offense “clicks” and our play making receivers look uncoverable when the Oline does a good job…
September 10th, 2018 at 9:27 am
Big Don!! Not too long ago so many comments were trashing this guy on how bad he is and how he sucks blah blah blah now looky here! Glad y’all couch GMs can only be that while playing Madden! Let’s Go Bucs!!!
September 10th, 2018 at 9:28 am
It’s very early but this OL seems to be developing an ID. Right side played well but the left side and Jensen are where the Bucs wanted to run. Marpet and Smith form a great duo with Jensen holding down the center.
Smith just keeps moving up the food chain of left tackles in the NFL. Yesterday he held a player being touted as a DPOY candidate to NO sacks and no batted passes. If you look at Cam Jordan’s stats from last year double digits in both sacks and passes batted down at the line…Smith played a GREAT game.
Most of the negative things I’ve read about Smith have to do with his occasional lack of focus…lack of consistency. As he’s gotten older he seems to be improving in that area as well. Nobody questions his ability. NO stupid dead ball penalties yesterday…perhaps he’s finally completing his game.
September 10th, 2018 at 9:57 am
His block in the back penalty on the screen to Hump was HUGE at the end of the half- could’ve blown the roof off the dome with a score going into the half–otherwise, he and his line mates were outstanding yesterday.
September 10th, 2018 at 10:28 am
The dude has earned my respect and that’s not easy to do.
September 10th, 2018 at 10:31 am
Frank
Agree that the penalty stopped momentum. But that wasn’t a lack of focus that was a competition penalty. I can live with those…but dead ball fouls like offsides or lining up improperly drive me nuckin futs.
Overall the Bucs seemed to have absorbed the Discipline Driven chant of Koetter during the preseason and TC.
September 10th, 2018 at 10:34 am
I rewatched the game very early this morning. I slowed down every snap to watch the battle at the line of scrimmage. Some notes…
– Donovan Smith was an absolute bully in the run game, and had no trouble in the pass game. He had one snap where he lost focus and whiffed on a run block but was essentially perfect. Best game I’ve seen from him. His kickback in the pass game looks much quicker and balanced.
– Demar Dotson was a beast and showed incredible heart finishing plays. Doesn’t appear to have slowed at all from age or his knee cleanup.
– Benonoch played well and has good chemistry with Dotson. His snaps decreased throughout the game as it seemed he was gassed from missing much of preseason. He gets much better push than Evan Smith. Evan doesn’t make many mistakes, but is a liability when trying to run.
-Can’t say enough positive things about Ryan Jensen. It’s been a long time since a Bucs center has gotten that kind of push. Made everyone’s job easier. He had a couple pancakes and loves driving defenders into the turf. He tried a couple chop blocks that whiffed.
DLine
– We actually used more of a rotation that I realized on first sight. Jarel Worthy spelled McCoy quite often, and was uninspiring. He doesn’t get pushed around, but doesn’t shed blocks at all. Carl Nassib got more snaps as the game wore on, and showed some ability. He’s quick but very stiff, with little bend to get around the corner. Stronger than I thought, and was used on both ends. Spence had a few snaps in the fourth quarter on one drive and tried to run around the tackle like usual, getting one pressure. Gholston played a lot in the second and third quarter in place of Curry and was ineffective.
– Beau Allen ate a lot of double teams fairly well, freeing up McCoy. McCoy was disappointing early, but then really started to gain momentum. He plays better when he initiates contact then uses his quickness. He become easy to block or misdirect when he tries to shoot the gap.
– Vinny Curry and JPP both played well I thought. In a game against most non-Hall of Fame QBs, they’d have had a couple of sacks each. Sure we’d like to see JPP splash more, but I’m not worried. He played tough and bullrushed well.
– The biggest surprise defensively for me was how poorly Lavonte David played. He looked way slower than usual, was very lost in pass defense, and took bad angles v the run. His tackles were of the mop up, 5-15 yards downfield variety. Kwon struggled v the pass as well, and we’re going to need more from our undersized LB corps in stopping the pass. The game made me miss Beckwith a lot.
– VHIII hustled his ass off, but my God he gets lost a lot out there. He drops into his zone even when there’s no one nearby.
– We played a decent mix of press coverage and soft cushion. Problem is, it’s usually predictable based on down and distance. First downs and favourable down and distance and you can be sure of soft zone. Brees threw to the guy with the most space more often than not.
September 10th, 2018 at 10:38 am
Frank Pillow, that block in the back was a very marginal make-up call. It was from the side but the defender’s momentum made him fall forward. It was an unnecessary block though and very costly.
September 10th, 2018 at 11:04 am
Pretty good analysis Radsy. I haven’t re-watched yet – but always keep focused on the line play when watching live anyway – and I agree with your takes.
September 10th, 2018 at 11:08 am
Yes, I’m gonna say it. If JW plays yesterday, Bucs would have lost. He would not have had the accuracy to hit the long ball nor would he have run like Fitz did especially at the end of the game to ice it. Not to mention JW would have thrown a bonehead interception or two or fumbled. Even at 35, Fitz is more accurate and mobile than JW. Defense, well that’s another story.
September 10th, 2018 at 11:29 am
U just knew somebody when say some dumb shiat
September 10th, 2018 at 11:29 am
Would
September 10th, 2018 at 11:42 am
I for one will admit that I am eating some delicious crow. I was like many people who wanted to run this guy (like how others wanted to run Desean for some reason) – but in any case, we’re super blessed to have such a stud left tackle.
September 10th, 2018 at 12:05 pm
I am not down on Winston but I don’t know if ANYBODY could’ve played better than Fitzpatrick did yesterday. He was dead on accurate with his throws and runs yesterday. It’s pretty hard to improve on perfection.
That being said, the Smith block in the back call at the end of the 2nd quarter was ticky tacky at best. He barely placed his hands on a defender as he slid by out of the play, it made no difference and there was no impact on the player. Not a good call. The OJ Howard OPI was pretty weak as was the Cam Brate one. We definitely had some bad calls go against us and saw quite a few holds on our DLine (around the neck) that weren’t called. I’m not totally down on the D. We were so good on O that the Saints had to play catch up and we went into a soft mode early… a lot of those points and yards were the result of us being too soft and Brees being Drew Brees. If nothing else, this game proves that no lead is safe against the Saints and teams should never quit firing and to go for the jugular early and often.
September 10th, 2018 at 12:10 pm
The entire line looked good but that left side looked great with Smith, Marpet, and Jensen in the middle.
September 10th, 2018 at 12:12 pm
^^No balls thrown that even looked like they would be intercepted from a collapsing pocket.^^
September 10th, 2018 at 12:56 pm
I haven’t been his biggest supporter. He played like a man with a new contract in sight. I was impressed with how he treated the rookie like a rag doll all game. He should do that, but he seems to play up or down to his competition. Yesterday was very impressive for me.
September 10th, 2018 at 1:29 pm
Personally I’d rather tag him then give him an extension, I just see untapped potential out of him and this is his 4th year in the league. I’m not convinced he can be the guy for us at LT for the next 5-8 years just yet.
September 10th, 2018 at 2:53 pm
Good for him, he should be the starting LT for the next 5 years at least, and if you don’t think so it’s because you’re an idiot.
God bless.
September 10th, 2018 at 3:06 pm
Franchise tagging Smith for 2019 and drafting a Tackle in 1st or 2nd round next year to see what shakes out might just be the way to go.
If Smith continues to be an Ironman and continues to improve and be more CONSISTENT – over a two year period – then yea – lock him up for years and pay him his $15M per or whatever. I would not be anxious to sign Smith to a long term deal right now though – unless it meant getting a legit “discount” off what you would expect to pay him down the road if he DOES prove himself as a legit franchise LT that deserves to be paid like one. That hasn’t happened yet – although yesterday was a nice step in that direction.
Keep it up big guy. Coaches say you have the potential to be a top LT. Lets see it week in and week out this year.
September 10th, 2018 at 8:03 pm
Every year is different…better offensive line, a productive running back, different play caller, great pre-seaon play from all QBs!!!
Preparation time for N.O.
Great win, great job with Fitz, and no doubt JW would have performed the same or better!
So let’s not get it twisted Fitz is a back up and has nothing to lose…Jameis is the future he needs to be involved!