Players Applaud Jim Bates’ Absence
November 30th, 2009
The scoreboard told the story yesterday: Dixie Chicks 20, Bucs 17.
It also told the story of the Bucs’ hideous franchise record six-game streak of the defense — Jim Bates’ defense — allowing 25 or more points a game coming to an end.
Woody Cummings and Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune tag-teamed on a notebook where the Bucs defenders claim Bates’ exit and the end to the horrid defensive slide was no coincidence.
“It was different schemes and the way (Morris) presents those schemes,” Talib said. “It makes you believe in both.”
Even with the last-minute loss to the Falcons, Talib said there is reason to think better days are ahead.
“We definitely took a step forward,” he said. “We did a pretty good job on the run, pretty good job on the pass. We just have to make that last play.”
If the Bucs defense holds the quarterback-less Panthers to under 25 points, then Joe will be a believer. Right now, Joe’s happy and sees progress. Let’s just hope it continues.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
As I posted on another board, I’m going to reserve judgment on the defense until I see a similar and consistent effort over the next couple of weeks.
I think part of the problem with Bates’ scheme is that the players didn’t by into it mentally. Imagine if someone came into your workplace, where you’ve been doing the same thing everyday for a number of years, and said “I know you guys have been very successful in the way you’ve been doing things, but we’re going to revamp the entire system and go with a new process”. You’re initial reaction would probably be to get pissed off and resent/reject the idea mentally. I think some of these guys did exactly that. Hovan in particular came right out and stated “I’m NOT a 2-gap player, have NEVER BEEN a 2-gap player, and NEVER WILL BE a 2-gap player” after the change was made last week. He set himself up to fail before he even began, and this is coming from one of the TEAM CAPTAINS. I’m sure there were quite a few other guys on defense that followed along with that same mentality.
Having said that, I think these guys are now much more comfortable and on-board mentally with going back to a familiar way of doing things. One of the most obvious signs is that they were actually winning their one-on-one match-ups, which was something that wasn’t happening previously and has nothing to do with the scheme they were running. That is strictly a mental and physical battle. If they can bring that same effort week-in and week-out, then I’ll be happy to give credit where it’s due. The true litmus test will occur once teams have tape of what Rah is trying to defensively and have a chance to respond to it. The next Saints and Falcons games will be a good barometer of where we’re really at defensively.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
*trying to do defensively