The Critical Miss
November 15th, 2021
Lots of issues with the Bucs defense yesterday, but perhaps none was bigger than the 3-and-14 whiff of a tackle by cornerback Jamel Dean.
The screen shot above shows the situation. Washington QB Taylor Heinicke threw the checkdown to J.D. McKissic two yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Bucs blitzed, Heinicke spit the ball out and all Dean had to do was make the sure tackle to force a punt or a 55-yard-or-more field goal.
Instead, Dean missed the tackle, McKissic picked up 11 yards and Washington went for it on 4th-and-3. A few plays later, Heinicke threw a beautiful touchdown pass as backup of a backup cornerback Dee Delaney was beating by a half-step. Why Todd Bowles didn’t blitz on 4th-on-3, Joe cannot answer that one.
That put the Bucs down 13-0 and while the offense responded and got to the red zone, Tom Brady didn’t see a wide open Mike Evans in the end zone on second down. Instead, Brady threw incomplete to Giovani Bernard and the Bernard had a third-down drop before the Bucs kicked a field goal to trail 13-3.
With the aid of another bad missed tackle on third down (Devin White on Ricky Seals-Jones) and offsides calls on Ndamukong Suh and Will Gholston, the Bucs allowed Washington to respond with a clock-eating, 11-play drive to bump their lead to 16-3.
So many little things and big things went wrong for the Bucs yesterday, but Joe definitely has to put tackling high up there on the list.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:48 am
I liked BA’s approach better. OJ’s brain fart to start the game. Not to call out his name but to define this one game. Of course tackling was an issue, remember how mr. “I want to be DPOY” let Gibson go…
November 15th, 2021 at 9:49 am
Pete’s so demented after this game that he’s worried he’ll threaten his family w/ a Turkey Leg again at Thanksgiving dinner
November 15th, 2021 at 9:49 am
Commentators were touting Bowles as blitzing on 1st and 2nd to get them into 3rd and long then playing them more straight up. Methinks he needs to rethink that strategy. Clearly something is wrong on 3rd and 4th downs. Playing too conservative
November 15th, 2021 at 9:51 am
Another week of too many missed tackles.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:52 am
Didn’t Dean say he knew what they were going to do? Smh and the defense still played a steaming pile of stool.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:57 am
It wasn’t the only one, but where are our safeties? That play is the reason to keep a safety high. It was like there was no game plan because they were going to cruise through it.
Better get it together quick, Giants are better at opportunism than the WTF. Wentz has found his game again, and so on. Other teams are progressing, we aren’t.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:59 am
This was such a horrible play, and what made it worse was how the announcers talking about how great the gang tackling was on it by the Bucs. They don’t talk about Dean’s whiff, but great gang tackling 8 yards later. Crazy how fast this team has fallen the last few games.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:11 am
This team is like me…old, bored and tired.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:14 am
Won’t have to see any more memes about Dean having the lowest QBR against. What a joke that is. Dean blows.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:17 am
Dean had the sideline which is supposed to be used as an extra defender. You angle to pin the ball carrier towards the sideline and push the mofo out of bounds. This is High School Football 101.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:21 am
It’s The Curse
Of removing Gruden from the RoH
I warned you
November 15th, 2021 at 10:22 am
I’m gonna have a shyte fit if they lose to the Giants.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:23 am
It’s the Curse of removing Gruden
From the ROH
I warned you
November 15th, 2021 at 10:24 am
Have we stopped convincing ourselves that Jamel Dean is a good player yet? Dude just lacks the aggression the rest of his guys have.
He may be playing injured, but he’s like Rojo – when he’s on the field he is a mistake waiting to happen.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:25 am
Tackling was terrible. Does anyone have a number of how many missed tackles? I was about ready to throw my remote through the wall when Devin White missed on an attempted sack, luckily the QB fell down.
One thing I noticed in previous games was a Buc defender grabbing an opposing player and not bringing him to the ground, like they’re waiting for a whistle, as the guy fights for a couple of extra yards. The same thing happened with Gibson near the goal line, I could be wrong but it seemed like the Bucs defenders were just grabbing him without even trying to tackle him to the ground, and he gets pushed into the end zone. I don’t get it. If you have him around the waist, fall to the ground…You know, tackle him.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:32 am
Oh, and I only remember Bowles blitzing once on 3rd down, and never on 4th down. That was weird. Like clockwork, the Bucs blitzed on 1st and 2nd down, putting WFT and Heinecke in a hole with must-pass 3rd down situations. Despite the success of blitzing on 1st and 2nd downs, Bowles abandoned the Blitz on 3rd down which repeatedly led to WFT conversions. What am I missing here? Why the hell did he repeatedly abandon what was working on 1st and 2nd downs?!?
It worked on 1st and 2nd downs because it helped cover the deficiencies among the Buc CBs, which is manned by a half-wit (Dean), special teamers, and street free agents. Once Bowles stopped blitzing, that assemblage of practice squad talent was exposed.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:39 am
I think Dean doesn’t have the synapses going from point A to pint B because he is terrible and has been consistently terrible as long as he has been a buc
November 15th, 2021 at 10:46 am
People need to stop crapping on Dean because of one or two bad plays hers and there… Everyone has their moments. He is far from the overall problem right now and the metrics back it up. I don’t expect that to suddenly change after one bad whiff. See Delaney gave up two TDs himself
November 15th, 2021 at 10:52 am
But why not push him out of bounds instead of trying to tackle him? The sideline is his best friend in that instance.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:58 am
Based off what you mentioned, Tom missed Mike Evans twice yesterday for Td’s. I’m so depressed about the game. And now, I have to go to work all week and hear about Cam and the Panthers. Please pray for my mental health.
November 15th, 2021 at 11:43 am
This is easy …
The team got TB12 and fought to win a Super Bowl.
The NFL is difficult and they don’t really care about #2.
It is what it is.
November 15th, 2021 at 11:47 am
I enjoy Vita’s 50% snap rate and seeing 58, 90 and 9 repeatedly drop into coverage.
November 15th, 2021 at 12:48 pm
So right now this team:
– Cant catch
– Cant tackle
– Cant block
But hey, we sure are good at celebrating a stop on 1st down… too bad we can stop anyone on 2nd or 3rd…
November 15th, 2021 at 12:48 pm
… or 4th, apparently
November 15th, 2021 at 1:32 pm
Jamel is stiff and very robotic out on the field. He has no real football instincts to be a really elite cornerback. We definitely have to look elsewhere next year for a more complete player at this position.
November 15th, 2021 at 1:52 pm
If Bunting is guarding the sideline on that play we get the stop. This setup their 1st TD.
Their 2nd TD was setup by a flag on Deleany. If we got Carlton Davis in. That play probably doesnt happen.
Im not writing this defense off just yet. I think if we can get healthy we start clamping down in the redzone…….And we probably get more picks. We are not getting turnover from the secondary like we are used to.
November 15th, 2021 at 4:47 pm
Its impossible to expect a cornerback to tackle a RB in the open field when they are not going to the sideline or something. All you can hope for is to slow him down long enough for the gang to arrive. That aint on Dean.
November 15th, 2021 at 6:33 pm
Where is Defense Rules when you need him. Interesting stat, Bucs lead the NFL with 12 TD’s while blitzing. Guess what Bowles, it AIN’T working.
November 15th, 2021 at 7:11 pm
Ken: McKissic is 5-10, 195. Dean is 6-1, 206. This was not an Earl Campbell vs. Deion Sanders matchup. The least Dean could’ve done is tackle him.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:49 pm
But Dream said we know exactly what they’re going to do. Lmao
Joe don’t forget the slant that he gave up towards the end of the game where he was in press coverage and got beat inside. I think Whitehead or someone came and laid a nice hit on the WR but he held on for the 1st down.