Low Bar For Defense
July 13th, 2019
Improvement.
Joe has run out of proper adjectives to explain just how rotten the Bucs defense was last year. The only word Joe can think of that aptly describes it is “atrocity.”
Just think, the Bucs had nine interceptions in 16 games. Just nine! That was sixth-worst in the NFL.
And the schedule the Bucs played last year facing Ben Roethlisberger, Nick Foles, Baker Mayfield, Eli Manning, Andy Dalton, Dak Prescott and twice locking horns with Matty Ice and Cam Newton, it wasn’t like the Bucs were facing a bunch of wishbone offenses. These guys loved to light up the sky with passes.
The Bucs had enough chances to pick off passes. They were so pathetic, they couldn’t. The pass defense was so bad, it couldn’t cover itself with a blanket on a cold winter night.
Joe has written the Bucs could still have the worst defense in the NFL and yet be better than last year’s defense. It was that awful.
The lack of interceptions mostly facing pass-happy teams is an example of how that can be.
July 13th, 2019 at 8:09 am
The corners started off with 8 to 12 yard cushions on every single play regardless of the situation. That falls on coaching. 3rd and 3 and the corners are 12 yards back. THATS A LACK OF COACHING!
July 13th, 2019 at 8:15 am
Which is why there is actually hope for THIS year’s team. Considering our offensive capabilities, sans turnovers, we need the defense to just be average and we will win more games.
To think that someone (ahem, Realist!) actually wanted to retain Smitty after back to back seasons of the worst defense we have ever seen!
July 13th, 2019 at 8:23 am
Bucs stand in the back of the end zone, so they can’t get behind you. Touchdowns don’t matter strategy?
July 13th, 2019 at 8:40 am
“Our Burnt Biscuit secondary will be torched for 6 games of over 40 pts
Bucsfans thinks all NFL plays man and zero zone coverage
*very few teams play man and MOST teams have zone defenses
*90% of all 3rd downs are defended by zone coverage”
Kobe Faker
July 13th, 2019 at 9:01 am
Going to be painfully hilarious if the corners are 10-12 yards back this year…
…because when it comes down to it, we do not really know what this defense will look like. We can make some educated guesses, yes, but this is the kind of coaching staff that adjusts to the talent.
July 13th, 2019 at 9:09 am
Coach Bowles won’t tolerate that krap. He’s not that guy. They’re going to b a lot better. I don’t know if they’ll be 17 points per game better, but I’d bet they average under 20. I’m expecting good things from this defense. Speed kills and they have a good deal of it now, something that has been sorely lacking. It’s good that the staff recognized that glaring problem. Koetter and Smith were incompetent and that’s being nice.
July 13th, 2019 at 9:20 am
Defenses have to be “Mulitiply” in others words show a variety of formations, man and zone coverages, present man press then drop into zone, play a mix of man one side of field and zone on the other half, and QB pressure must NOT come from the same 4 defenders, never allowing the OL and QB to get comfortable. Defense must line up and have different positions rush the passer. Finally cannot present the same look on every play and even if we are ahead be prepared to adjust your game plan and anticipate changes your opponent will make.
July 13th, 2019 at 10:11 am
“Joe has run out of proper adjectives to explain just how rotten the Bucs defense was last year. The only word Joe can think of that aptly describes it is “atrocity.”
Love the opening line candor. And stating they could be vastly improved and still have the worst in the NFL. Classic. Gosh, hope that’s not true though.
And add that’s why I’m skeptical of any of the talk, especially the “all fixed” statements, from guys heralded (prematurely?) as “real coaches” who have not coached a snap.
Great dose of reality. Sometimes the truth sucks.
July 13th, 2019 at 10:12 am
“Burnt Biscuit secondary will be torched”
Funny as he11. Hope it’s doesn’t turn out to be true.
July 13th, 2019 at 10:58 am
I don’t think there is a thing called “proper adjective” but surely, atrocity is a noun.
Let me quote the words of rookie 2nd round corner back Sean “Murphy’s Law” Bunting, “In football, anything that can possibly go wrong, can and will go wrong!”
Kind of like what the late great Leo Durocher said, “When bunting, anything that can possibly go wrong, can and will go wrong!”
Words to live by.
July 13th, 2019 at 11:56 am
Even Dungy lost the first half of his first season but won the rest that year and never had a losing season; so it may take awhile for our new secondary to jell and our new Offense may have some growing pains, but BA went 10 – 3 his first season after taking over a losing culture at Arizona so He may also hit the new season hitting on all cylinders. I can tell he is doing his level best to make that happen here! He even scouted the DBs before the draft and personally interviewed Bunting himself and has kept all the rookies during this break studying their plays and will be giving every player meaningful reps so he knows who to start and those will all be in pads too. Tell me another Buc’s Head Coach that has done all that?
July 13th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
And Who…is replacing Pierre-Paul ? Everybody seems to want to…avoid this question. You can only blitz so much. Teams got remedies for that once they
get your Defense on tape.
July 13th, 2019 at 12:02 pm
BA Fan, no doubt all impressive things for a coach to do, but I don’t doubt that’s what most/all do. You are right on Dungy, and I maintain he’s the best HC this team has ever had, with McKay being second best, and then Gruden. But so far BA has done nothing for results, so we have to wait and see. It’s good to optimistic, but we have to have some tempered reality in there too.
July 13th, 2019 at 12:22 pm
Even without JPP and with the current crop of rookie DB’s I think the Bucs will game plan better on the D and be a lot more effective. We will miss JPP and maybe even Smith in the backfield and on special teams, but coaching counts. Look forward to seeing the Bucs play the 3-4 again.
July 13th, 2019 at 1:09 pm
Ghost said it so I don’t have to…
July 13th, 2019 at 2:20 pm
Can’t wait to see the failures this season!!!!! Some even wonder when todd bowles defense will be called the toilet bolwes defense by week 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 13th, 2019 at 2:35 pm
The bar is always set low at one buc place…. glazers have trained low standard bucfan to hang onto one year wonders who they laughably call legends… while the franchise is collecting basement titles and rubbing fans noses in dog poo every offseason with false hope oinly to go out and embarrass the sport of football once again… you cant rewrite history delusional ones…. there will still be a couple of circus like events before training camp… ba may resign…. bowels may join Ricky Williams in the eternal search for ganja especially after realizing what a minor league roster he has…. anything comical is possible when you are a bucfan only thing guranteed is failure and excuses
July 13th, 2019 at 2:40 pm
Bucs’ defense is what’ll save the season. That’s right … the defense.
Bucs offense scored 2nd most points in team history last year: 396 points (an average of 24.8 PPG). That’s Over 50 points on the season MORE than what the Bucs averaged for the 3 seasons prior to that with Jameis as our QB (343.7 points average for those seasons, or 21.5 PPG). Will the Bucs’ offense duplicate last year’s production? I personally doubt it … I think we’ll fall back to the 22-24 PPG range. Why? Because of our 1st game against the Saints where we scored 48 points. Take away that ONE game and we averaged 23.2 PPG on the season. That’s more in line with what this offense is capable of doing (22-24 PPG).
Bucs defense allowed the 2nd most points in team history last year: 464 points (an average of 29.0 PPG). That’s gross IMO. Bucs defense gave up 40 or MORE points in THREE games last year (Saints, Bears & Panthers). They gave up 30-40 points in another FIVE games. Take away those 8 games and the Bucs defense gave up 161 points in the other 8 games (20.1 PPG average).
So why the huge disparity between those two 8-games sets? I’d contend that it’s because of turnovers.
o In the 8 games that the Bucs defense allowed 30 or more points, our defense only had a total of 4 takeaways. At the same time, the Bucs offense committed 20 turnovers. That’s a MINUS 16 net. You don’t win with those kinds of numbers.
o In the 8 games that the Bucs defense allowed less than 30 points, our defense had a total of 13 takeaways. At the same time, the Bucs offense committed 15 turnovers. That’s a MINUS 2 net. Not great, but a lot better than the other 8 games.
My bet is that the Bucs’ defense will create significantly more turnovers this year. We only had 17 TOTAL takeaways last year … barely 1 per game. All but 2 of those occurred in the first 2 games (both wins) and the last 6 games (2 wins). In the intervening 8 games we only had TWO takeaways … and we went 1-7 in that stretch. More takeaways will be the difference-maker in the season. If combined with fewer giveaways, the Bucs could be deadly.
July 13th, 2019 at 5:13 pm
For a change, I like the way we’re going into this season. It will take opposing offensive coordinators several weeks to figure out the new schemes the Bucs will be deploying on defense, aside from the personnel. That should be to our advantage and rack up more wins than might otherwise be expected. Vea and Suh should bring extra heat up the middle and corners playing press coverage will result in fewer dink and dunk passes. Better coaching should but all of the defensive players we do have in better position to succeed. I mean for the last couple of years, expectations have been off the charts and that has resulted in fan gloom and doom. So it’s good going into the season with either low expectations or just plain uncertainty. I think it will be fun to watch. Can’t get any worse than last year. Can it?
July 13th, 2019 at 6:09 pm
Joe, you mentioned Cam Newtown, I do believe out of those nine interceptions, 4 came against a broken wing Cam
July 13th, 2019 at 6:34 pm
No one is going to replace JPP’s sacks or all-around play. No one one will replace the kind of player he is.
Sacks and big time pressures will have to come by “committee” this year based on who we have available. Nassib, Barrett, Spence and our newbies will have to contribute at OLB. David, White, Minter and Cichy will have to come through at ILB. Bucannon, Brice, Whitehead, Evans or other newbies can add a few more from our DBs. Oh, and we might expect a some more from the likes of Suh, Vea, Allen others lined up on our front!
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Go Bucs!!!
July 13th, 2019 at 6:41 pm
Now regarding interceptions we will have to play terrible again to not double the total for last year. Tripling the number might be the lowest number to start from for our expectations.
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Go Bucs!!!
July 13th, 2019 at 6:46 pm
rinse – spin – repeat
July 13th, 2019 at 8:41 pm
@Mike
I get your understandable anxiety. I would simply point out that NOBODY is irreplaceable…in any situation..not even a stable genius or talented defensive lineman.
I do not like to think in terms of replacing JPP. That is not really the issue. The issue is simply replacing his sacks. The issue is getting pressure on the QB. I do not care where that comes from. Other teams around the league use a variety of methods to accomplish this and it’s not always with a DE. There are two DE’s on each team with nine teammates. Joe is OBSESSED with ONE position on the D to get sacks.
So google which NFL position gets the most sacks and Linebacker comes up. So statistically at least White was a far far better pick than Allen who is nothing more than a very talented glorified Outside Linebacker. I’m not saying DE’s are not critical to any defense. I’m simply stating that are only a part of the defense.
50% of the top ten sackers were DE’s…30% LB’s and 20% DT’s including the number one guy Aaron Donald.
My point is not so much to diminish the importance of DE’s or how much money the NFL thinks they’re worth…they’re hard to find…they are however NOT the only position producing sacks.
July 13th, 2019 at 9:56 pm
Bucs had 4 interceptions in one game. So 5 interceptions in 15 games. Beyond atrocious
July 13th, 2019 at 10:41 pm
Lol…this stinkin D is whats gonna get Bowles back in to head coaching considerations.
Bowles could have picked us or the Bears to go work for, yet he chose Tampa. He has nowhere to go but up being the 32nd worst D in the league last year.
This man is gonna smile all the way to the bank. His Defenses are known to produce take aways and generate pressure using spare parts. Those crying about JPP, life ain’t fair or perfect. Next man up, Go Bucs!
July 15th, 2019 at 6:25 pm
Ok we probably be garbage this year. Its a rebuild on the defence. They need to rebuild the offense next year.So if they do good ill be surprised.