The Bucs And Opposing QBs
August 26th, 2019
Tall task.
Joe got quite a few Twitters Saturday night when it was learned that Andrew Luck threw in the towel on his NFL career as his body couldn’t bounce back from the beating it has taken through the years.
(Joe’s homework assignment for readers: Who was one of the offensive line coaches in Indianapolis while Luck was getting pounded prior to 2018, and what is he doing now?)
And what were those Twitters? Well, the Bucs face the Colts later this year. The Luck-less Colts. Advantage Bucs?
Not so fast, pilgrim. First, Joe brings word from Mike Sando of The Athletic that the Bucs still have one of the strongest quarterback-loaded schedules in the NFL, Luck or no Luck. The Bucs, Sando types, faced the toughest quarterback-laden schedule before Luck retired. And it is still damn tough.
This schedule’s toughness could vary depending on the health situations surrounding Cam Newton, Jimmy Garoppolo and Marcus Mariota. Murray is another wild card. The Buccaneers are expecting a big improvement on defense this season and might get it, but the lineup of opposing quarterbacks isn’t doing them any favors.
Sando now has the Bucs with a quarterback-strength of schedule as the No. 5 in the NFL.
So let’s take a look at the 2019 opposing quarterbacks.
Drew Brees (twice): Hall of Famer. Lethal. Bucs killer.
Russell Wilson: Excellent but beatable. Bucs have had good success facing Wilson. Better than most teams.
Matt Ryan (twice): Lethal. Has regularly carved up the Bucs.
Matthew Stafford: Jameis Winston of the north. Dangerous but his team struggles to win games.
Jared Goff: Sneaky good though he had a rough Super Bowl.
Deshaun Watson: Perhaps the most underrated quarterback in NFL.
Pouty Cam Newton (twice): A baller but it seems all the hits he’s taken are starting to catch up with him. Gimpy ankle, surgically-repaired throwing shoulder.
Nick Foles: Beatable.
Jimmy Garoppolo: Jimmy GQ is having a rough training camp/preseason.
Eli Manning: As Toby Keith once sang, “I ain’t as good as I once was.” An old warrior that maybe should have been put out to pasture by now. Very beatable.
Marcus Mariota: The worst of two worlds, a brittle China doll runaround quarterback. If you are going to run around in the NFL, better be able to suck it up. He can’t. May not beat out Ryan Tannehill for starting gig!
Kyler Murray: Even though a rookie, very dangerous. This guy is lightning quick outside the pocket and has a Howitzer for an arm that is deadly accurate with downfield throws. Think a quicker, shorter version of Deshaun Watson.
Jacoby Brissett: Backup for a reason. Joe isn’t buying the spin out of Indianapolis.
Many Bucs fans Twittered Joe about how some quarterbacks the Bucs were to face are not having a good preseason. Newton isn’t 100 percent. Jimmy GQ struggled but look strong Saturday. And now, Luck retired. Should Bucs fans start getting excited?
Joe had to, sadly, tap the brakes on this. Normally, all of this would be a good sign. However, last year the Dixie Chicks and Stinking Panthers had unexpected, lousy seasons and the Bucs were so horrible they couldn’t take advantage even though a wild card was offered on a silver platter.
So the way Joe sees it, the Bucs have to worry about their own house first before they can start chugging beers over the malfunctions of opposing quarterbacks.
August 26th, 2019 at 12:07 pm
Very young secondary.
That has to learn real quick…..
And that’s if any of them are any good.
Yay Go Bucs! 🙂
August 26th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
How many times have we seen a nobody back up carve up the Bucs???
August 26th, 2019 at 12:15 pm
Love this young secondary and how they’ve looked. They’ll make mistakes for sure in coverage assignments but I bet they’ll make a ton of plays too…
August 26th, 2019 at 12:23 pm
Jimmy G lit it up this weekend in a “real” game condition. The bucs give backup qbs big time contracts and paths to the hall of fame from derrick anderson to case keenum
August 26th, 2019 at 12:59 pm
‘Bucs have to worry about their own house first’. There-in lies the bottom-line to this whole season IMO. Can’t do much about what other teams have or do, but we can control how we respond. Whoop ’em mano-a-mano and we’ll win our share of games. Lie down & play dead like our OLine did Friday night and we’ll be 5-11 again at best.
August 26th, 2019 at 1:14 pm
Most will say Brees will prove to be the tallest order on that list. But his numbers all were in decline after week 4 last season. After him I don’t an issue with dealing with any of those dudes.
August 26th, 2019 at 2:05 pm
ALL QB’s get happy feet after a few hits.
August 26th, 2019 at 2:14 pm
If there was no Baker Mayfield last season we would not be even talking about Kyler Murray. J Goff please without his coach making the defensive reads for him he is toast we all saw that,
August 26th, 2019 at 2:16 pm
miken Says:
August 26th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
How many times have we seen a nobody back up carve up the Bucs???
This x1000, unfortunately.
Here’s to hoping that Bowle’s new scheme is the real deal and our young guys can grasp it quickly!
August 26th, 2019 at 2:31 pm
Our old 4-3 zone defense was always going to give up short passes to ANYONE including backups. 4-3 zone is predicated on front 4 at least hurrying the QB and without a hint of pressure playing 10 yards off creates college level windows to throw into.
Now playing a one gap 3-4 man press coverage every throw will be contested and the window will shrink into a 3 x 3 ft square to throw for a completion now will require an NFL read and throw. The same positions will not always be the ones rushing the QB.
August 26th, 2019 at 3:39 pm
@Bruce Blahak I agree with you. At least they will be going 100MPH!
August 26th, 2019 at 5:26 pm
Bonus homework:
Joe Gilbert – currently ringing Capps/Dotson a new one
August 26th, 2019 at 5:28 pm
Cappa*
August 26th, 2019 at 5:56 pm
The Bucs were the only team in 2018 to allow opposing QB’s to complete over 70% of their passes. Get it down to 65% and we are talking knocking 3 or 4 points off a game.
August 26th, 2019 at 8:24 pm
Garoppolo had a pretty good game on Saturday.
Goff is beyond sneaky good, he’s just really good.
Watson is underrated? By who? The guy is one of the top QBs in the NFL – at least in terms of production.
Anyways the Bucs defense is going to need to be good to get it done, and we still have no idea what is going to happen when the games are real. They looked against Cleveland, but Cleveland also sat their starting WRs and starting TE, so they looked good against backups.
August 26th, 2019 at 9:10 pm
[Nope. Joe uses “Twittered.” Don’t care what @Jack says. — Joe]