A Factor In Timing Of Secondary Clicking
August 7th, 2021
Joe is convinced that the further away we get from the Bucs’ curb-stomping of the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, the more monumental that performance will become.
Only a handful of times in Super Bowl history has a team not scored double-digits. For a powerhouse offense like the Chiefs and Pat Mahomes to be throttled like that is really, really amazing work.
A major key was the Bucs’ young secondary balling out like they never did before.
Earlier in the week, cornerback Jamel Dean said he couldn’t quite put a finger on why the secondary clicked after the bye week. But it sure did.
The next day, Joe heard Bill Belicheat on SiriusXM NFL Radio say he could tell the development of some of his younger players — the normal jump from rookie year to second year or second year to third year — was stunted by no offseason last year.
Belicheat said the players did eventually turn the corner like they normally would, it just happened much later due to a lack of practice snaps, position meetings, etc., due to The Sickness.
So Joe asked Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians yesterday if that was a factor in the secondary turning the corner later in the season. Arians is convinced it was.
“Oh, there’s no doubt,” Arians said. “When you miss all that time, technique-wise and just the study of film for two months of what you did, and then come back to training camp and you’re learning all over. You don’t get a chance to go back and watch all that tape like you would in a normal offseason.
“So it set back a lot young [players]. We’ve missed about three years of young player development in the last three years.”
Now Joe is not sure how Arians calculated three years. But Joe does understand what Arians (and Belicheat) said. The more you play football, even practice football, the better you get. That’s pretty much a no-brainer.
And when you look at the receivers, tight ends and quarterback the secondary faces in practice, that’s a helluva bar to clear.
It almost makes Joe’s mouth water thinking how dominant the Bucs were in the Super Bowl may be how they play this year.
Damn, what a difference a year can make when you have good coaches.
August 7th, 2021 at 8:51 am
What a difference an elite front 7 providing a legitimate pass rush does for a secondary.
Leaders of the Grave digger secondary = Shaq – JPP- D White
GO BUCS!!!!!
August 7th, 2021 at 9:01 am
I think that the inconsistency of the secondary was a big problem most of the year. Some pretty astute posters here have analyzed the problem very well. Lots of reasons. Experience, quickly adopting needed coverage strategy changes, plus a better pass rush, seemed to be the main factors in the improvement. I think (and hope) the D coaches are savvy enough to figure it all out. Is so (and I think they will) the super bowl D may be the one we’ll see all season. Great year ahead.
August 7th, 2021 at 9:06 am
Pass rush definitely big factor
Gaining deeper understanding of Bowles scheme big factor
Tom Brady leadership big factor
Long physical corners that can cover and tackle
Young guys on back end chip on shoulder
Energy from 45 !
We’re building a very good defense
Gravediggers !
August 7th, 2021 at 9:20 am
You have an average secondary. If the chefs had a healthy o line, the game would’ve been different. It was the pressure that allowed your avg. secondary to succeed. Y’all had better pray that your front stays healthy. If not, your secondary will be exposed.
August 7th, 2021 at 9:42 am
Ben green Says:
“”It was the pressure that allowed your avg. secondary to succeed.”
.
.
That’s kinda how it’s supposed to work. The 3 levels of the defensive TEAM have to work together. You’re catching on!
August 7th, 2021 at 9:49 am
Many have said it and it bears repeating, Complementary Football.
Everyone has a job and when all or most are doing their job well if not excelling, then everything runs smoothly.
A smooth running, well tuned engine will always get you to the finish line. Too rich or too lean will usually knock you out early in the race.
August 7th, 2021 at 9:59 am
Thanks Ben Green. See you in the Super Bowl! Oh wait, whos your team?
August 7th, 2021 at 10:14 am
Hey Bush’s, I played free safety in college for an sec school, so don’t tell me about football. I’ve got the headaches and arthritis to prove it.
Of course that’s the way it’s supposed to work. My point is you can get by with an average secondary because the front is so good. If you’ve got deion and revis back there, you don’t need pro bowl pass rushers to create pressure.
CJBucs, please don’t count chickens. The injury bug will bite this team in the ass. You losers will be back where you belong in 2 short years. My team has Mac Jones and the greatest coach in league history. You’ve got an old drunk and roflmao, Kyle Trask rah ha ha ha.
August 7th, 2021 at 10:29 am
Enjoy your season while you can Ben…. It might end quicker than you think!
August 7th, 2021 at 10:45 am
Love how Ben Green calls a 7x Super Bowl winning qb a drunk. Especially when he won 6 of those super bowls for “your team”. Think it’s hilarious you feel the need to make an account on the best Bucs website in the world. So what SEC team did you “play” for?
August 7th, 2021 at 11:48 am
Let us enjoy all of this. It is like a dream. We need to enjoy this dream team while we can. Pinch me is this real?
August 7th, 2021 at 12:08 pm
Hey everyone. Ben green played football once
Yup. Nobody cares
You have to be a pretty big tool to go into another teams fansite just to act like a troll and post negative comments
Over /under Ben Green has 0 friends
😂
August 7th, 2021 at 12:23 pm
@Ben Green
Our secondary went from below average, to average, to good in the span of one season. That’s called good coaching and something that was sorely missing by the chiefs going by the pathetic performance they put up in the superbowl. Since you are making excuses for the chiefs, I’m going to assume that that’s the team you follow. Mahomes got exposed in the Superbowl and is not all that he is touted to be by the mostly brain dead sports media. Top to bottom, the Bucs have a far better team and better coaching to boot.
Your talk of playing college ball falls on deaf ears dude. I mean, I could say that I am the reincarnated Queen of Sheeba and I’m typing this from my spaceship in orbit around Neptune. No one here gives a damn and there is a reason why people have monikers like bucktoothfred or fuzzynuts or whatever.
I usually ignore doorknobs like you, but when you get on here and call the folks on here losers, I feel compelled to say something. Pi$$ and moan. Make all of the excuse you want, but in the immortal words of one of the Joe’s…Scoreboard sucker. 😜
August 7th, 2021 at 5:57 pm
Sounds like Ben Green is experiencing what life is like without the GOAT… roflmao ra ha ha ha biyatch!
August 7th, 2021 at 8:03 pm
I still think if the Chiefs receives showed up at all that would not have been curb stomping, how many BIG drops did they have?
August 7th, 2021 at 8:48 pm
Mike…they were getting their helmets handed to them. Were they in shock? Yeah. But they rely on some wide open easy catches. There were none in that game.
August 7th, 2021 at 9:33 pm
Mike…. LoL.
What the hell game did you watch? Holy football ignorance Batman!
The Chiefs were absolutely dominated in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Their receivers dropped one, one pass (and that was Travis Kelce), that wasn’t deflected or defended with hands in their face.
They were just dropping stuff that was an easy catch.
As long as you’re saying what if… it goes both ways.
What if a couple calls went their way is what I keep hearing…. Well, what if the Buccaneers actually got holding calls in their favor while pass rushing?
Pretty sure Mahomes would’ve been sacked about 4-5 more times.
What if’s don’t matter. Knowing football and watching the game- that’s what matters.
Scoreboard was 31 to 9 and it could have been worse. It was total domination in the trenches
August 8th, 2021 at 3:33 am
The “Nosepickers” Bucs Secondary haven’t proven JACKSQUAT yet.
They gave up 300+ yards in the playoffs against WFT to an XFL QB. They got bailed out by our pass rush playing against backup linemen.
How quickly fans forget how many times Davis/Dean/SMB got TORCHED last year.
They are the weakest link on this team by far.
August 8th, 2021 at 8:57 am
Brady…they are mostly made up of third year guys that didn’t have a regular offseason last year. The secondary is a work in progress…but what looks like it could be a great work. No one is resting on last year. Todd is pushing them. They have the raw talent. So I have no reason to believe they won’t do what we need to be tremendously successful as a team. Some days the O may step up stronger…some the D. But just keep grinding and don’t worry about it.
August 8th, 2021 at 2:09 pm
Mark2001,
The same was said about Hargreaves.
My point is… let’s ease up on the HYPE until these guys can play consistently for several games in a row. Especially some games when the pass rush isn’t absolutely dominating beat-up O-Lines.