The Lockdown Continues
September 10th, 2021
Talkin’ trash.
Joe is not going to break out in hives writing about the Tampa Bay pass defense on Opening Night. Maybe this afternoon.
For now on this glorious early morning, Joe will celebrate the continued domination of the Tampa Bay run defense.
Enter stud running back Zeke Elliott? Exit Elliott with 11 carries for 33 yards. The Bucs made him look like Peyton Barber, as Elliott added two receptions for six yards.
Dak Prescott can scramble, but he was held to four rushes for 13 yards, as Tony Pollard added 14 yards.
Obviously, the game was tight and Dallas dominated time of possession. But it wasn’t on the ground. Depite every opportunity to stay balanced and drained Bucs defense, the Cowboys couldn’t run the rock.
There’s a reason the Bucs led the NFL in the two major run defense categories in 2019 and in 2020. -3
Yeah, the Bucs defense was gashed overall, but that won’t continue. The pass rush talent is too good and Todd Bowles will figure out how to stop getting his back-4 exposed.
What’s the over/under on Falcons running backs’ total yards a week from Sunday? Thirty-one yards? Perhaps 27?
September 10th, 2021 at 12:48 am
C’MON! POST SOME MORE OF LAST YEAR’S “STATS” SHOWING HOW GREAT OF A COVER GUY THAT JAMEL DEAN IS.
We could use some humor!
Or how great SMB is. Dude was burned so many times and missed tackles BEFORE he got hurt.
September 10th, 2021 at 12:49 am
Pete can’t believe how much Tryon played. Teams see Vita Vea & Suh in the middle & say “screw the run game”
September 10th, 2021 at 12:51 am
Vita for president
September 10th, 2021 at 12:51 am
NEWSFLASH:
Teams don’t need to run the ball when they know how easy our secondary is to pick apart. That “Run Defense” ranking & stats from last year is highly overrated due to the Weak Secondary.
When the pass rush doesn’t get to the QB the secondary gets DESTROYED. That’s exactly what happened last year and led us to 7-5. it’s exactly why we gave up 300+ yards against WFT in the wildcard game and could have lost to an XFL QB.
No one wants to talk about how our pass rush dominated with an ‘extra’ bonus of PRO BOWL linemen being hurt on both Green Bay and Kansas City.
September 10th, 2021 at 12:52 am
Pete
People been throwing all over us for years.
We have the Socially distanced secondary.
September 10th, 2021 at 1:00 am
@BradyBucs
When the pass rush isn’t there, the secondaries get exposed. That’s how defense works. Especially here in Tampa.
September 10th, 2021 at 1:03 am
Teams will try to run in the beginning b/c its an easier way to win the game if u control clock & line of Scrimmage
September 10th, 2021 at 1:04 am
Unbelievable,
Of course, but decent secondaries don’t get beaten as often even when their pass rush doesn’t get to the QB. That’s the difference. Ours is swiss cheese.
September 10th, 2021 at 1:09 am
The gameplan seemed off to me. Typically when you blitz you don’t want the qb to have a quick easy read. But they constantly blitzed AND played off coverage, allowing a quick outlet pass. Hard to tell if it was scheme or bad decision making by Dean, but that seemed super off to me.
September 10th, 2021 at 1:12 am
Vita was a bright spot on the defense. The play where he plowed the olineman into dak really sparked the team.
September 10th, 2021 at 1:23 am
The cowboys have an excellent offensive line and did a great job of picking up our blitzes. The defense was on the field way too long, especially considering it was the first game. They didn’t quit though and played hard and forced Dallas to kick field goals.
September 10th, 2021 at 1:48 am
Lol Lakeland Steve, did you watch any of the pregame evaluations. Everyone expected the cowboys o-line to be a weakness and prime for being exploited on the right side. So the question becomes were they much better than expected or were our guys not ready to capitalize ?
September 10th, 2021 at 1:54 am
Joe just like Chris Collinsworth said “It is almost comical, they are avoiding the front seven of the Bucs D and just playing outside”
Not fun to see a script ( avoid front 7 and play outside) that is going to be repeated by other teams against the Bucs D. The Bucs better get answers, because tonight they were exposed.
As I have said before, teams will be relentless in attacking the Bucs secondary. No pressure tonight for most of the game by the front 7, and sloppy play by the offense with turnovers to many times.
This is a game they usually lose, BUT TB12 is in the house……
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 10th, 2021 at 3:07 am
Everyone is going to play them like Dallas did tonight until they show them it won’t work. It was a smart game plan to avoid the Bucs strength at DL by doing quick passing out on the perimeter.
September 10th, 2021 at 3:26 am
Hey Joe…We Won. Case Closed.
September 10th, 2021 at 6:50 am
Containing Elliott meant that other players were allowed to roam free. Amari Cooper had 13 receptions for 139 yards and 2 TDs. The Bucs defense had to choose its poison, but he was not covered very well from the very beginning of the game.
September 10th, 2021 at 6:52 am
@JMark
Just curious which team you root for? Seriously. Which team are you trolling for.
We just complete a remarkable 8 game season ending win streak with a freaking SB and this is the weak spit you come here with…
“People been throwing all over us for years.
We have the Socially distanced secondary.”
Clue…NOBODY cares about years past. This is the 2021 Bucs and as unbelievable says no pass rush lead to plenty of completions on ALL SECONDARIES!
Meanwhile give the ‘Boys some props. Yes they were missing a star guard but two tackles missing last year returned. What round was those guys taken?
What is their NFL Rep.
And Zeke Elliott OWNED D White when he blitzed. Elliott may not have put up yards but he was a beast picking up the blitz.
Where were out vaunted LB’s last night? Again the ‘Boy’s Oline and Zeke neutralized them! I prefer to give props to the ‘Boys and I’ll worry about LVD and DW45 if the trend continues.
I also thought Bowles was largely outcoached last night…a rarity and so we take the win and CELEBRATE! 1-0 baby.
September 10th, 2021 at 6:55 am
Prediction…we may see this matchup again in the NFC Conference Championship.
They have a STUD OL…a great QB…and a great RB and a great set of WR’s!
Weak defense is their achilles heel but even there their LB corps is very talented and gives them hope for improvement…as does Dan Quinn a terrific DC.
So yeah we played poorly…stupidly with penalties..turnovers but give the ‘Boy’s a little credit. They definitely showed up last night.
September 10th, 2021 at 7:14 am
Yea our pass defense needs has got to tighten up big time. They get to many penalties which some were deff not penalties but most were and people are running wide open. Same thing happened in the super bowl fortunately for us the Cheifs dropped a lot of passes. Also before SMB left the game he wasn’t looking so good. We got some pressure on the QB but not nearly enough. This deff has got to tighten up or the offense is going to have to put 30 plus points again which they can easily but do we want to have a shoot out every game. Plz noo.
September 10th, 2021 at 7:57 am
We made the Cowboys one-dimensional. The biggest issue was the lack of pressure up front. It exposed the secondary and they exploited it. Credit to the Cowboys and Dak.
The TOs made this game closer than it should’ve been because we had little to no problem moving the ball.
September 10th, 2021 at 8:49 am
I have a sneaking suspicion that the Cowboys are a bit better than originally advertised. Dak isn’t a chump, and neither are his receivers. That line seems to be pretty good too.
September 10th, 2021 at 9:39 am
So much hatred. Some people just can’t allow themselves to enjoy a win. How quickly we forget how often we’ve lost games like that. Lighten up Francis.
September 10th, 2021 at 10:00 am
The defensive scheme hurt the secondary. Constant blitzes exposed them. Dak and his receivers ate up soft coverage all game. Bucs are not great in man coverage! Bucs should have cut back on the blitzing in the second half.
September 10th, 2021 at 11:09 am
godlovesbucs touched on it. How to beat this way to beat the Bucs is to avoid the front seven is to play press coverage so those quick outs aren’t there automatically. Stop blitzing so much and playing COVID “Social Distancing ” coverage. When they played close up, Dallas’ receivers weren’t getting open instantly. While playing zone I wish our Lbs would be more aware of the receivers they allow to run thru their zone because they should know the receivers will be running to the soft spots. If there’s no one in front of you why ” horse blinder” yourself to keep staring at the qb??? Either keep the receiver from freely running to their spot OR slide more to the spot you should know where that soft spot is to give them a better opportunity to make a play before it gets there.
September 10th, 2021 at 12:05 pm
Hey it wassnt the defense it was the 4 turn overs!!!! Rojo needs to be benched he does this alot!! And at the worst places on the field. The defense held them on the fumble but my god the very next play dallas was on the 20 again Stopping the run game is crucial it doesnt allow the opposing team to con trol the game! We need to fix our pass d but turn overs will kill us
September 10th, 2021 at 1:39 pm
We won last night but we shouldn’t of have with 4-turnovers and way to many penalties but this what we do now is find ways to win. SuperBowl Champs 1-0, 9-games straight….
September 10th, 2021 at 2:35 pm
@BradyBucs – they don’t have to get there every time, but more than once a game.
Still gotta apply pressure… Otherwise most secondaries will not hold up. Especially against a trio of fast, excellent receivers.
September 10th, 2021 at 7:09 pm
Year in, year out, our secondary never seems to improve.