“It Was Glaring In This Game”
November 9th, 2020
Vita Vea
The Bucs got bullied and seal-clubbed on their home turf last night and it started — and ended — in the trenches.
It was stunning against a Bucs front-7 many consider among the best in football.
So what went wrong?
Well, the easy answer is the Bucs didn’t want it enough. And that’s painful for Joe to type. To get crushed that badly, effort issues have to be there somewhere.
Former Bucs, Cardinals, Chiefs and Jets tight end Anthony Becht, a member of the last Tampa Bay playoff team, marveled at the Saints dominance during his chat on WDAE radio today.
“It’s about as dominating a performance as an offensive line can have against a defensive line, and in particular against the Buccaneers that I’ve seen,” Becht said. “The Saints came out and just whipped everybody’s ass up front. I mean on both sides of the football.
“I could tell in the first series how it was going to turn out just on the way the Saints came off the football. And no one’s done that yet; no one’s been able to punch the Buccaneers’ defensive line in the face at every snap, in particular the whole entire first half. It was a great performance to watch from that standpoint.
“And the one player that truly was missed in this situation that would make a difference is Vita Vea. It was glaring in this game.”
The Vea comment is noteworthy, as Bucco Bruce Arians noted the subpar play of his nose tackles after the Giants game. Physically speaking, Vea is irreplaceable, though Joe thinks the Bucs should be fine overall without Vea.
As for the rest of the Bucs defensive line, Joe has no answers.
Interestingly, Becht said no Bucs fans should blame anything on the absence of Ali Marpet. He said the beating by the Saints was that bad and replacement Joe Haeg was ok.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:07 pm
VV is missed but he would not have stopped that debacle from happening. That was a total disaster at every level.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:14 pm
Wasn’t surprised about the loss I said it in here a few days ago the saints do the same stuff they sink and dunk and we get beat on dline and oline every time
November 9th, 2020 at 12:17 pm
If we do not get any d line pressure then our secondary will not hold up… Vita was our true push upfront and it looks like we do not have the personnel to play a 3/4 defense… On the flip side Brady showed the entire world that he can win with no name receivers if he has protection, we have all pro receivers and Brady is the dink and dunk king, so what’s wrong with max protection and 3 wides or a quick pass spread offense to get the ball out of his hand? Anything to make what we have work!
November 9th, 2020 at 12:21 pm
way of base on this. this was a byproduct of horrible coaching and scheme and playing from behind. everyone looks horrible when they’re down 28-0 as they are one dimensional……but I put that on TB #1 and BL #2. can’t believe with all those offensive weapons they were not coming out 4 wide early and a sneak handoff after a few quick slants or posts…
they didn’t even change 1 aspect of their game! and the saints were ready and outcoached the heck out of em….
November 9th, 2020 at 12:21 pm
it’s abundantly clear as teams review film without vea, that vita vea is a pro bowl, all-pro nfl player…
and sorely missed
November 9th, 2020 at 12:23 pm
when vita is sandwiched between suh and the exceptional run stopper gholston, you have clearly the elite front 3 in the nfl…
as shown in the run game numbers until vita went on ir
November 9th, 2020 at 12:24 pm
vita is almost 2 dudes…
suh is almost 2 dudes…
and gholston is elite at run stoppage…
it’s like you have a 3 man front that is equal to a 5 man front…
then the 4 backers are right behind them
November 9th, 2020 at 12:25 pm
If we don’t make playoffs this year I want Licht and BA with both coordinators at a podium with a well thought out apology to fans for getting our hopes up. I want the works with that apology. I’m talking MLA format, cited sources, etc.
Obviously I’m joking but in reality I’d love for them to once sit down and explain to us why they’ve failed. LIKE WHY BOWLES KEEPS CALLING FOR SOFT ZONE COVERAGE WHEN THESE GUYS ARE PRESS CORNERS.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:32 pm
I’ve read all the excuses and reasons why IMO the Buc’s suffered the worse defeat in team history, especially considering the talent management and ownership have accumulated in 2020.
I’m sure there is more to come. The only silver lining as I see it is possibly a sleeping giant has been awaken and between now and the end of the regular season 7 teams are going to pay a high price for last nights embarrassing display. Many key players on this team have not experienced this level of humiliation. I read today that the Packers have a slight edge over the NFC and remember what the Buc’s did to Rogers and company.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:37 pm
Our D-line and O-line both got tossed around like rag dolls the entire night.
Absolutely pathetic.
Bowles seems to have completely forgotten to even put a game plan in, and instead just said “hey go play zone all night”.
And Leftwich showed us what what I’ve been saying for 2 years, he has no idea how to scheme against an opponent. He runs the same boring, predictable playcalling against everyone and just hopes our skill Positions can out muscle the opponent. Zero creativity. Zero misdirection. Zero ingenuity.
I’m now calling them them the “Low-T Buccaneers” cuz this team plays like a guy who is missing his balls.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:39 pm
No one person affected the outcome of this game……this was mostly on the coaching on both sides….
Wake up and smell the roses!!!
Our offense scored only 6 points in the 2nd half vs the Bears
Our offense scored only 6 points in the 1st half vs the Giants
Our offense scored only 3 points in the entire game vs the Saints
Sure….the defense was porous……but it had a very short field on most Saint’s series….our offense going 3 & out….no time of possession…..
I’m blaming this game on the entire offense & somewhat on the defense’s game plan and lack of adjustment.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:41 pm
^ Yup.
Offense was pathetic from start to finish. You’ve got Tom Brady, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, Gronk, RoJo, Fournette plus a bunch of other skills players and that’s all you can do?
Leftwich sucks.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:59 pm
Absolutely no excuse for this team with that much talent ..
The past two games no energy at all..the coaches need to figure this out quick..this is all on Arians..time to take play calling away from leftwich..what the hell happened to our defense?
They all of a sudden can’t cover anyone!
November 9th, 2020 at 1:02 pm
Can we talk about how pathetic Bradley Pinion is? It’s bad enough we suffered through kicker woes for years and now we’re going through it with the Punter? At what point will the fans of this shameful franchise catch a damn break?
November 9th, 2020 at 1:09 pm
The 3rd Down playcalling is a MATHEMATICAL ATROCITY.
It’s absolutely ridiculous to EVER throw the ball 20+ yards on a 3rd and short. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
The Bucs should be running a lot more high percentage short routes to pick up first downs on 3rd and short.
What happened to quick outs to Mike Evans? Or quick inside slants to Scotty Miller? Or a short down and out with one of our solid TEs?
AND OH YEAH… when your porous Zone Defense is getting lit up by Drew Brees, maybe switch to more man-to-man coverages to have a catch at coverage sacks.
It’s very hard for the D-Line to have enough to time to hit Brees when he’s throwing quick passes at the moment a WR hits the open space of our consistent Zone.
November 9th, 2020 at 1:34 pm
VV wouldnt have made a difference….
saints came to play…bucs came to see whos playing…..
GO BUCS!!!!!
November 9th, 2020 at 1:54 pm
You can try and put this on the offense only if you wan but you are wrong. This defense has been doing what it has. The secondary is leaving receivers wide ass open. They are missing tackles. It looks like they have one thing in mind. Interception To hell with everything else. In the mean time receivers blow past them or fool them on routes.. Just look what was going on last night. A perfect chance to punch Brees in the mouth and? Yup. Goes for the int misses the entire play. And a receiver wide open in the end zone left uncovered? The book is wide open on these guys now. Yes it is time for BA to take chare of the offense but they are not all to blame far far from it.
November 9th, 2020 at 2:03 pm
Vita Vea is irreplaceable. He is a bolder in the middle of a stream. Everything goes around, because nothing can thru it.
That doesnt explain why we were so bad last night.
It does explain our dominance with him.
The saints are a horrible matchup for us. Their game, on both sides of the ball, plays to our weaknesses. Quick passes defeat our pass rush. Runs up the middle
Negates our linebackers speed- and emphasizes their lack of size.. they can outrun linemen. Not fight thru them.
Their pass rush is fast off the ball, and pushes up the middle. Brady has always hated pressure up the middle. Always.
I always thought he liked Tampa, because of our Guards and Center ussually can hold the middle.
Not last night.
November 9th, 2020 at 2:48 pm
We simply aren’t deep enough on either side of the line to lose a Marpet, and a Vea. We also don’t have the talent with the rest of the guys. Smith has not stepped up, Haeg isn’t a guard. Jensen has been dominated, Cappa average at best, Wirfs the rookie, is a rookie.
November 9th, 2020 at 3:22 pm
We need to seriously draft and sign trench players on both sides of the ball. Suh has had his games where he shows up big, but we will see how far that goes in second half of the season. Great career, but time might be catching up. Kinda wondering if JPP might not be too far behind. Donovan needs to be replaced and we need depth on both lines. If Suh/JPP want to be here and willing to take team friendly deals I’m sure they could still help us out even if part time. We just need a complete overhaul of both lines.. minimum 3 picks in trenches and a signing or two. Skill positions on offense we’re fine, on defense better hope our secondary grows up or sign a vet. I hate that I’m already talking draft, but I also don’t think we’re superbowl bound. Would be nice to see a playoff win though
November 9th, 2020 at 7:24 pm
I have been a coach for over 20 years and unless something chaotic happened in the locker room prior to kickoff, which I don’t think so, the reason why my Bucs were beat so badly is very simple.
Someone knows their playcalling, their strengths and weaknesses. Someone has been friends with players on both sides of the ball and knew the players trigger points. And someone was hurt that he was let go, not traded, but let go…. Jameis Winston.
Sadly the secret sauce to beating the Bucs is out- go back and watch the game my friends, the blocking schemes, types of routes run is not what NO normally does, I can elaborate if you like but for now, trust me Jameis beat our arse last night on both sides of the ball.
November 9th, 2020 at 7:34 pm
We lost this game, when we played the Giants, who exposed us.
The win by the Saints was no accident, they are a much better team, and they proved that in our home stadium.
If we do not win in Carolina, this team is going to unravel and implode.
Sorry to say, we just are not as good as we thought we were.
November 9th, 2020 at 11:05 pm
One game at a time, it was 1 loss, not a season. Vita the Rhino has been missed the last 2 weeks. Giants able to run well and the Saints. Just like many people here have said, run quick hitting plays, get the ball out of Brady’s hand. It is not that complicated. To many long developing plays. Play to a your strength not the other team. The Bucs could have done exactly what the Saints offense did. This is on the coaching, and scheming. The same for T Bowles, the scheme was a slow and painful death sentence on the defense and Buc Fans. Sit back and concede first downs, let Hall of Fame QB have all day to pick you apart, with a very simple plan to get the ball out. Like I said we could have done the same thing on offense. We can blame BL and TB but the Buck stops with BA. He could change what they were doing in a moment, but he, like the other coaches sat in hot water like a frog and slowly got cooked. Time to be honest and adapt. GO BUCS!!!!
November 10th, 2020 at 11:33 am
It was an off game on O and D. It happens, it was one game. Get over it….there’s a lot more football to play!
November 10th, 2020 at 7:17 pm
Vea is fun to watch and I have no doubt that our defense would have played better with him in the lineup. We still would have gotten our butts kicked though and I just don’t understand how we can smash the Packers but look pathetic against one of our arch rivals. Weird team man.