Breathe And Bounce Back
September 12th, 2018
BY IRA KAUFMAN
Let’s not rush to judgment on this Buccaneer defense.
Mike Smith’s group took its lumps in New Orleans, but hey, it’s the Saints. Since Drew Brees and Sean Payton united in 2006, the Saints have set the NFL standard for lighting up scoreboards.
If the Eagles drop 40 on Sunday, we’ve got trouble, right here in Guava City.
Nick Foles isn’t Drew Brees, Jay Ajayi isn’t Alvin Kamara and Nelson Agholor certainly isn’t Michael Thomas. The strength of the defending Super Bowl champs resides on the defensive side of the ball — and that was evident in a season-opening victory against Atlanta.
Winning a shootout against the Saints was perhaps the most unlikely scenario heading into Week 1. But it happened because for one glorious afternoon, Ryan Fitzpatrick turned into Aaron Rodgers.
Except for one overthrow to Chris Godwin that should have been yet another long TD connection, Fitzpatrick was virtually flawless.
As Fitzpatrick returns to Earth, it’s up to Gerald McCoy and company to generate those chants of “defense, defense,” that once characterized fall Sundays at Raymond James Stadium.
The Need To Feed
The Buc offense clearly earned McCoy’s gratitude at the Superdome, where Fitzpatrick’s magical third-down conversion with his legs late in the game avoided a potentially devastating setback.
“Our offense always had a lot of talent,” McCoy said after the stunning upset, “and we’re proud of them. Our defense definitely needed them because today wasn’t our day. But we did enough to win and like Coach Koetter says, it don’t matter how you get it as long as you get it. This is a hard place to win and we got a win.”
It wasn’t all depressing news for the defense. The Bucs posted two takeaways, scoring on one, and Kamara never got going on the ground.
There’s no shame in seeing Brees light up your secondary, especially when your best defensive back doesn’t make the trip. Still, Buc fans expected more from an overhauled defensive line.
Vinny Curry & friends have strides to make
So did Brentson Buckner.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do up front, communicating and feeding off each other, reading what the other person’s doing,” said McCoy. “One thing we did well is we made them one-dimensional. They threw a lot of passes. We can’t get frustrated. We hit Brees, but he gets it out so fast that he’s not going to let you sack him.”
The bitter truth is the Buc defense has earned its reputation as a porous unit. Since 2016, Tampa Bay opponents have scored at least 20 points on 22 occasions out of 33 opportunities, a 67 percent rate that should keep Smith reaching for the Maalox.
An ugly streak of allowing 20 points or more has reached eight consecutive games as the Eagles prepare to land in Tampa this weekend.
Foles has had Tampa Bay’s number in recent years, so it’s time to make a defensive stand and silence all those front-running Philly invaders at RayJay.
Airs Friday & Saturday through the season on JoeBucsFan.com and at The Identity Tampa Bay. (click through to view The Identity site)
Now in his 40th year covering the NFL, Ira Kaufman is the most revered sports personality and writer in the Tampa Bay area. He scored a full-time seat at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters in July of 2016. Tampa Bay’s only Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, Ira busts out columns here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and his award winning podcasts fire Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can also hear Ira on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio Wednesdays at 5 p.m. Also a TV star, see Ira now on Mondays at 10:30 p.m. on Spectrum Sports 360 (aka BayNews 9). Ira also is part of the FOX-13 Tailgate Sunday NFL show and enjoys beet salads, Riesling, tennis, Chiefs victories and needling Joe.
September 12th, 2018 at 10:35 am
WHY THE HELL HAVENT WE SIGNED BREELAND YET!?!
September 12th, 2018 at 10:36 am
Well at the rate things are going this season Matt Patricia should be available next year for DC.
/I am kidding of course. Thank god for the Lions being all around terrible because it takes the spotlight off of the Bucs defense.
September 12th, 2018 at 10:42 am
Ira, the pass defense has been terrible for almost a decade. It’s not a rush to judgement. We suck defending the pass. Simple as that.
September 12th, 2018 at 10:44 am
Well done Ira. I agree 100%.
September 12th, 2018 at 10:58 am
We need to press the damn receivers more! Foles has been very inaccurate and why give him the short easy throws?
September 12th, 2018 at 10:59 am
the defense has been horrible….and that’s being kind…..
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!…#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
September 12th, 2018 at 11:04 am
More Jerrell Worthy please
And thank you
September 12th, 2018 at 11:14 am
You are absolutely right Easy, unfortunately Mike Smith has no idea what press coverage is.
September 12th, 2018 at 11:19 am
This will be a defensive battle.
I agree, we took away the Saints’ running game, pressured the QB, 2 turnovers, and a defensive TD! It SHOULD be a long day for Nicky Foles and an inferior-to-Saints Philly O. That’s the baseline. Just hope Fitzy can stay upright long enough to get the ball out. We’ve got a chance.
Also, it has been confirmed in these threads, that Fitz, didn’t overthrow Godwin, the DB tripped Godwin as the DB bit the turf with the ball already in the air. It was a perfect pass.
September 12th, 2018 at 12:07 pm
Soft cover two loses games..I don’t understand why they don’t just play more aggressive. They did play slightly tighter Sunday but not all of the time and there were a or of mistakes made. This defense is.poorly coached. Nobody is rushing anything, actually it’s taking too long to come to the conclusion he can’t coach it.
PRESS THE WIDEOUTS!!!!!
September 12th, 2018 at 12:09 pm
The bitter truth is the Buc defense has earned its reputation as a porous unit. Since 2016, Tampa Bay opponents have scored at least 20 points on 22 occasions out of 33 opportunities, a 67 percent rate that should keep Smith reaching for the Maalox.
An ugly streak of allowing 20 points or more has reached eight consecutive games as the Eagles prepare to land in Tampa this weekend.
RUSH TO JUDGEMENT????
September 12th, 2018 at 12:32 pm
Ira, Do you watch the games? McCoy was invisible, yet again. If you know the other team’s throwing while you’re up by 20 and you still can’t rush the passer then you’re not any good.
I won’t use Sapp, as it’s an unfair comparison, But you can’t name the other pro bowlers that would’ve generated a pass rush in that situation. Stop sugarcoating what it is
September 12th, 2018 at 12:36 pm
Marc Says:
September 12th, 2018 at 10:35 am
WHY THE HELL HAVENT WE SIGNED BREELAND YET!?!
——————
Why do you guys think he hasn’t been signed by us or 31 other teams? Obviously, there’s an easy answer to that and it’s either regarding injury, ability, or attitude or all three. Stop asking, it makes you look stupid. If he was ready to play right now, somebody would have signed him. He wants to play, but as of right now, nobody wants him. Let that sink in. Maybe the NFL GMs know more than you do.
September 12th, 2018 at 12:49 pm
Brandon…… Good point on bree land….. But you were little harsh with the delivery
At this point…… Any serviceable cb is good
I am dreading the play of the secondary come this Sunday
September 12th, 2018 at 1:12 pm
Smith scares up some decent blitz packages with the 3 Buccaneers: LVD, GMC and Kwon, we have a chance. I want the offense to finally EXPLODE! I’ve been waiting for 3 years.
September 12th, 2018 at 1:17 pm
Frankly,
I’d be happy to see Beckwith in the Middle..Better hitter, better tackler.
He’s not eligible until after the bye right?
September 12th, 2018 at 4:13 pm
I don’t have an issue with tipping my hat to Drew Brees – but our coverage is so soft. Guys were WIDE Open – make him earn it at least…then tip your hat. If you know he gets the ball out fast then rush 3 drop 8 – mix it up. We’ve seen the same $hit over and over – its not going to change.
Why do we draft corners that excel at man coverage?
September 12th, 2018 at 9:41 pm
The question I have is were the Saints defense playing soft off coverage or do you suppose their corners were playing press. Please chime in.