Sacks Sharing
December 8th, 2021
America’s Jockey!
Jason Pierre-Paul is a shell of himself, as is Devin White. Ndamukong Suh turns 35 next week and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka isn’t the rookie version of Noah Spence or Adrian Clayborn.
The Bucs have gotten little from their nickel blitzes and still the Bucs are tied for fourth in the NFL in sacks.
It feels like a miracle.
Yes, the Bucs average 2.7 sacks per game, tied with the Rams, Cardinals, Panthers and Bengals.
For those wondering, the Buffalo Bills’ pass rush is anemic at less than two per game, lumping them in with the Jaguars, Giants, Lions and other NFL misfits.
It’s been such a team effort from the Bucs’ pass rush that it’s a little easy to overlook.
On Sunday, it was Cam Gill looking explosive off the edge picking up his second sack of the season. In November, fellow reserve outside linebacker Anthony Nelson found a couple of sacks. Will Gholston has a couple and had a third sacks taken away Sunday when Matt Ryan was called for intentional grounding while in Gholston’s arms.
Vita Vea even stopped collecting half-sacks and got two of his own Sunday. He now has three for the season, which ties his career high set as a rookie in 2018.
Yes, the Bucs’ pass rush is a true team effort with Shaq Barrett leading the way with 7 1/2. The group nature of it all bodes well for Tampa Bay sustaining the rush through the playoffs and their injuries.
December 8th, 2021 at 9:45 am
Get JTS and Nelson more snapps and rest JPP for the playoff run.
December 8th, 2021 at 9:47 am
I feel like Shaq has missed out on at least 5 sacks throughout this year due to poor officiating & great qb plays
December 8th, 2021 at 9:49 am
I agree Robert. JTS is more than capable.
December 8th, 2021 at 9:50 am
I’m a little biased, but I really like them rotating Cam Gill in. He really seems to make the most of the snaps that they give him on defense.
December 8th, 2021 at 9:52 am
I’ve been touting Cam Gill. He’s also starting to drop into coverage. Not that he can cover anyone but at least he’s playing the position and not just a pass rush specialist. Watch him log a few more sacks this season.
December 8th, 2021 at 9:54 am
I’d give JTS more snaps this week and see if he can chase down Josh Allen. Get him running around back there and he’s bound to throw a pick or two.
December 8th, 2021 at 10:03 am
JTS is a great pass rusher. Everything else is a bit rough but that doesn’t matter cause as a rookie his instincts at rushing the passer is there.
December 8th, 2021 at 10:04 am
Any word on Gholston? How bad is the knee?
December 8th, 2021 at 10:07 am
Ian Beckles said this week that he’s never heard of Cam Gill until last game. Cam had a sack in the Superbowl last season.
WAKE UP IAN BECKLES
WAKE UP IAN BECKLES
December 8th, 2021 at 10:10 am
I’d like to see Gill get more snaps. He is actually faster than JTS. Let JPP heal up a little.
December 8th, 2021 at 11:43 am
First Falcons series: Patterson left end 7 yds. Patterson left tackle 39 yds. Davis left tackle 17 yds … Touchdown. That’s 63 yds on the only rushes (3) in that 1st series. Falcons ran 23 times in the game for 121 yds (5.3 YPC average), but after that 1st series their remaining 20 times netted only 58 yds (2.9 YPC). IOW Bucs’ defense tightened up A BUNCH after getting punched in the nose on that 1st drive.
Still though, the Falcons controlled the clock for almost 33 mins TOP in the game … on only 9 drives. Bucs’ D only allowed 1 FG after that opening TD, but about half of those drives (4) were LOOONG (15, 11, 11, 9 plays) & allowed the Falcons to make over half (9 of 17) of their 3rd down conversions, and gave up 21 first downs all together. That seems abnormally high considering that we sacked Ryan 5 times and pressured him 14 times in that game.
Yet Ryan still completed almost 75% of his passes (30 of 41) for 297 yds (259 net). Looks to me like our pass defense is a sieve UNTIL the field compresses near the end zone, then they tighten up. Ryan tried throwing deep early on, but was 1-for-4 by early in the 2nd qtr, then Falcons gave up on that until the 4th qtr when he was 2-for-2 deep.
Our problem seems to be that we can’t stop the short stuff. Don’t know if it’s because of the defensive scheme, or too much blitzing, or too many guys playing at less than 100%, or just not being very good at pass coverage. Whatever the reason, Bucs need to tighten up in short pass coverage or it’ll be a short playoff series.
December 8th, 2021 at 11:55 am
@DR: that is the very essence of “bend but don’t break.”
December 8th, 2021 at 12:31 pm
We are blessed to have Shaq Barrett. The one guy our D can’t afford to lose. Imagine our pass rush rotation without him.
December 8th, 2021 at 12:35 pm
I agree Cobraboy. We’ve seen that for many years with the Bucs (starting with Monte Kiffin?). Not really a bad strategy … until folks start scoring more consistently on you.
The part of our pass defense that drives me nuts is when opposing teams consistently convert 3rd-and-long. Falcons converted 5 of those Sunday, although thankfully Gage fumbled after making more than enough for 1st down yardage.
December 8th, 2021 at 1:04 pm
Think we’re going to have to score a lot.
December 8th, 2021 at 1:05 pm
yeah the sacks are really being spread throughout this season…
not a bad thing…
the group might have to go to shaq after the season and explain to him that he has to divvy up his salary between the gang, like a christmas pot for all the shafted porters in a big building that get ignored tip wise during the holidays…
if shaq can sack – shaq giveth the funds to the worthy ! 🙂
December 8th, 2021 at 1:14 pm
White needs to get healthy and Tryon needs to step it up because I can’t see JPP getting any better.
It isn’t like he can rest and feel better, he needs surgery and they’re putting it off.
December 8th, 2021 at 1:21 pm
Defense Rules Says:
Yeah, it’s frustrating.
But this is by NFL design. This is what the NFL Overlords WANT, and some rule changes enabled it:
*5-yard bump rule. In the days of REAL NFL football, a DB could bump and run all over the field. No more. A DB is virtually required to give a receiver open space after 5-yds.
*Unnecessary Roughness calls. This especially applies to receivers over the middle where Jack Tatum, Ed Reed, and John Lynch knocked the snot bubbles out of receivers. No more. Gotta pattycake them to the ground after the catch. No fear in receivers anymore, a real fear that used to make receivers get alligator arms.
*Roughing the QB calls. Cripes, you can’t even breathe on a QB, so QB don’t get rattled like in the past. He can stand there like a statue and fund the open man downfield, and the pass rushers can’t be as aggressive as in times past.
*Pass Interference calls. A DB can’t hand ‘rassle like before without a flag. This makes aggressive DB play a thing in the past.
*QB slides. Once upon a time, a QB was afraid to run because he’s get smashed to the ground and bloodied up. No more. All a fancy-pants QB has to do is slide with no contact. It’s one thing for a slow-hoofed TB12 to run and slide because he’s no real offensive threat. It’s a completely different story with a RUNNING QB isn’t allowed to take hits. Think Murray, Watson, Hurts, and Jackson. If they were allowed to have their clock cleaned, you’d not see them take off and run with impunity. I doubt they’d finish the season. I mean, heck, running and sliding is like mocking the defense.
*Neutral zone infractions. Usta be a D player could go into the neutral zone, and if he got back before the ball was snapped, no foul. No mas. This was done to prevent pass rush timing. Think of all the times Lawrence Taylor jumped and got back with no calls. That 5 yds. on 3rd down is a killer.
The league WANTS offense, so that means many more third-down conversions, long or short, than in years past. The points go up, and D’s get more frustrated.
Frankly, I’m surprised when any team does not pick up a third-down conversion, long or short.
It is what it is.
December 8th, 2021 at 1:43 pm
Even Shaq does not bring it every game. The front 7 seems to have taken a half step backwards this year, and the secondary a solid 2 steps back.
December 8th, 2021 at 6:34 pm
Don’t know what you all are seeing with JTS but he’s coming along decently. Seen a few times I’ve seen him taking really good angles on perimeter runs down field and he broke thru a triple team to force Wentz out of the pocket when we only rushed three guys. Absolutely tired of Shaq jumping offsides and losing contain and JPP just isn’t getting it done. He’s too injured to be effective enough. These sacks don’t mean anything when they give up 1st downs on 3rd and L O N G ! I would rather they pressure into misses or errant throws leading to interceptions. At crunch times they just don’t get enough pressure.
December 8th, 2021 at 9:47 pm
Is it my imagination or are sacks down this year? Is it in the quality of the Offensive Linemen, the Quarterback quick release or lack of dominant pass rushers?
December 9th, 2021 at 8:36 am
Shaq Barrett has earned his salary the last few weeks. He is our best all around edge rusher because of extremely high IQ in recognizing screens and WR sweeps. He is not ultra aggressive the way he was the last two years in terms of reacting to the snap count and jumping off before the opposing OTackle even gets out of his stance. But he got flagged for that at least 2 out of 3 times anyway. So it is good he is playing more balanced and impacting the game in many positive ways.