“Continue To Hunt”
June 29th, 2021
DeAngelo Hall played 14 seasons, went to three Pro Bowls representing the NFC at cornerback. and always had plenty to say about it.
Now he gets paid to talk on NFL Network and Hall was adamant last week that the Bucs defense should do a more consistent job to “own their identity” in 2021.
Hall didn’t like how “Todd Bowles sat back at times” last season, and he wants to see more of the savage and relentless blitzing Bowles is known for.
“Continue to hunt” like you did in the postseason, Hall bellowed.
Joe somewhat agrees with Hall, but certainly not completely. The Bucs’ front-four was so damn good through much of the postseason, Bowles often called off the blitzing dogs for good reason; he didn’t need them.
However, defenses certainly will adjust to how they attack the Bucs this season, and that’s where Bowles’ prowess will come into play: getting creative and mixing things up.
Joe expects a ton of blitzing next year again even if the front-four stays dominant with Vita Vea’s full-time return. The Bucs have too many blitzing playmakers — hello, Devin White and Antoine Winfield, Jr. — to pass on those opportunities.
June 29th, 2021 at 12:17 am
Bucs defense played Chiefs totally different the 2nd time which is why the trophy is sitting @ One Buc. Has D. Hall ever won anything?
June 29th, 2021 at 12:42 am
Blitzes work better when you don’t see them coming.
June 29th, 2021 at 1:27 am
The Chiefs also had a completely different offensive line in the SB, don’t forget that, since it was a huge deal.
But the Bucs defense was totally dominant by that point and they got hot at the right time of the year. However I don’t think that’s the defense we’re going to see for most of the regular season, I don’t see seem them being able to keep up that level of play, not that they need to so long as they can get hot again for the playoffs.
So for the regular season I do believe they’re going to need to blitz quite a bit. In that first KC matchup, at the end of the game when they needed to make a stop to get the ball back, they instead sat back in a soft zone and let KC run the clock out. They can’t allow something like that to ever happen again. If you’re going to lose, go down swinging, not dropping 7 people back and letting Mahomes run for 8 yards and 3rd and 5.
June 29th, 2021 at 5:01 am
Jordan Whitehead has the fastest 7 yard dash I have ever seen.
He is insanely quick in the first 5-10 yards.
He should blitz twice per game.
June 29th, 2021 at 6:36 am
Devin White actually had more sacks than Shaq…I think they can send him a LOT more
June 29th, 2021 at 6:40 am
Our CB blitz is largely ineffective….the stats indicate that Bunting, Davis & Dean had zero sacks last year……that needs to improve.
June 29th, 2021 at 6:42 am
In Todd Bowles I trust.
Got feeling that Bowles did a lot of ‘experimenting’ during the regular season, and that the ‘soft zone’ was a part of that experimentation. Winning the SB makes it easy to forget that (1) the Bucs were 7-5 when they got to the BYE after 12 weeks; (2) that our last 4 regular season games (Vikings, Falcons, Lions, Falcons) were against teams that all had losing records; and (3) that our offense was just starting to peak AFTER those first 12 games (nothing opens up a defense like having a strong offense that’s kicking arse).
It’s interesting to me that the one team that really gave us fits during the playoffs was also the team that we HADN’T PLAYED during the regular season … Washington. Most everyone thought that we’d walk all over them, but we didn’t. If you relook at that game, they played us tough on BOTH sides of the ball, especially after the 1st qtr when we were up 9-0 (we only won by 8 pts).
But the other 3 teams (Saints, Packers, Chiefs) we’d played 4 times in 2020 … and lost 3 of them. And yet in the playoffs our offense averaged 30 pts against each one of them & our defense held them each in check. Yes we got Vea back for those last 2 games, but I think the biggest factor was Todd Bowles. He learned from those regular season losses and adapted beautifully in the playoffs IMO. Our defense neutralized 3 of the best QBs in the game today & all 3 will almost surely end up in the HOF. That’s no small feat.
June 29th, 2021 at 8:52 am
Hall never was the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Did Hall even watch the Super Bowl?
June 29th, 2021 at 9:37 am
Everyone has injuries munch.
June 29th, 2021 at 9:56 am
Davis and Dean will lockdown the outside….
I like Dean to led the team in INTs this year….
GO BUCS!!!!!
June 29th, 2021 at 6:32 pm
The shift to defensive dominance ACTUALLY occurred after D.White requested more blitzes from Bowles.