Defense Did Its Job
December 20th, 2021
Not to blame.
Yeah, Joe would like to see Ndamukong Suh blast that gadget Wing-T quarterback of the slimy Saints, Taysom Hill, about 20 rows up into the north end zone seats.
But this was not a game where the defense got taken to the cleaners by a scrub backup.
You pick the opponent. If before the game some Svengali tipped you off the Bucs would only give up nine points in the first 53 minutes of the game, you’d bet the Bucs any time, anywhere.
No, this game was on the offense.
Joe knows the Bucs lost their three best-skill position players not named “Rob Gronkowski” or “Tom Brady” tonight, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Playoff Lenny. Still, the Bucs had the greatest quarterback of all time, the greatest tight end of all time, speed demons at receiver and a second-round pick of a running back who, when his head is screwed on straight, can produce quite nicely.
And you get shut out?
The real killer was Brady fumbling inside Saints territory late in the third quarter. If the Bucs kick a field goal there (it was third down) it’s a three-point game.
No, there is no need or call to call out the defense. Outside of a pick-six or a scoop-and-score, Joe doesn’t know what more they could have done.
This is all on the NFL’s best offense.
Or, formerly best offense.
December 20th, 2021 at 7:09 am
D backs hold their own n the line did as well but Wtf it looked like those slimy bass turds were going after our offensive play guys with helmets to the knees look back at several of the hits.
December 20th, 2021 at 7:16 am
Bbro
It did seem like there were a lot of shots at legs. I wouldn’t say it was dirty though,
December 20th, 2021 at 7:18 am
CUT JAEYLEON DARDEN NOW
December 20th, 2021 at 7:24 am
I only made it through the first half , but did notice the tackling and hitting was the best I have seen from the Bucs all year and that had been my biggest criticism.
December 20th, 2021 at 7:27 am
Bbro … ‘it looked like those slimy bass turds were going after our offensive play guys with helmets to the knees’.
You can let your opponent dictate the type of game you play OR you can make them play YOUR game. Saints dictated the type of game last night (and in our first meeting) and our offense didn’t respond in-kind. Simple … if you can’t run with the big dogs, get back on the porch.
December 20th, 2021 at 7:29 am
Brady has not looked like last year for some time now. Reluctant to throw deep, not seeing open receivers. Dink dink dink. The Saints stacked the box against the short throws and jammed the middle. Their pass rush was awesome and their defensive backs are tough as nails, play very tight coverage and tackle hard. The Bucs D played good enough to win the game. No shame in giving up some fgs. We have a finess qb and offense. They got beat down big time.
December 20th, 2021 at 7:29 am
Todd Bowles will be a head coach again.
Todd Bowles has shown consistency since he’s been here.
Kudos for Todd Bowles…..he gets an A++++++
FAIL for Byron Leftsuck… He gets an F———
December 20th, 2021 at 7:36 am
………….I’ve been watching and noticing this from afar Joe…………this is not the same offense we saw last year
This offense is far more conservative and it’s just Dink-n-Dunk all game long
All the saints did was take away Tom Brady’s short game which account for 95% of this offense every year.
If you gotta throw it to your RB (Lenny) or a slot receiver (Godwin) which accounted for 95% of the offense for most of this year………then that’s a problem…………A HUGE PROBLEM.
I’m surprised noone on this website has even mentioned this or called this out amongst the offense.
Tom had actually some touch on the deep ball and was spreading it out more last year…………but he’s not doing that this year.
It is the summation that Tom has lost velocity and accuracy this year and this Bucs coaching staff has recognized this hence = short game/dink-n-dunk offense.
December 20th, 2021 at 7:38 am
After Brady, Gronk, Suh retire and Godwin signs a big fat contract with Lefty’s new Jag coaching gig and BA leaves citing health reasons. That leaves us with Bowles new head coach and a decent defense and basically a rookie QB. As John Lennon once wrote Just Like Starting Over!
December 20th, 2021 at 7:44 am
@ Anthem. I agree totally. Been saying awhile now that Brady does not look like last years awesome self. Dink and dunk does not beat strong defenses. And NO may have the best dbs in the game. Very tight coverage and hard tackling. And Godwin has been used and abused too much this season.
December 20th, 2021 at 7:48 am
Brady really heeded BA’s words over that whole no scrambling edict eh?
December 20th, 2021 at 7:49 am
Defense played super. Keep it up.
December 20th, 2021 at 7:58 am
I was high on Darden during preseason but he’s showing signs of former Bucs 2nd round pick wr bust Dexter Jackson. He’s timid n seems scared each time he anticipates contact which leads to him stumbling n falling before contact. Our entire offense got punked n bullied by the saints D. OJ Howard is a joke, he continues to get pushed over n disrespected. He’s good at helping his teammate up off the ground after a tackle for loss was the result of his poor blocking. TJohnson n KVaughn does not play with a next man up mentality. Why was Perriman not in the game? No way they stop AB from getting open to make a play.
December 20th, 2021 at 8:10 am
Defense played awesome Kudos bowles.
Anthem – what are you talking about. Collingsworth even picked up on it. They play a deep shell with safeties most times deep. They moved guys up when evans and godwin went down. The one play it didnt happen brady threw deep down left sideline . Problem is …it was darden against lattimore. But where else is he going to throw. Scooter ? Johnson ? Gronk had 2 guys most snaps. Guys on replay were not open. So what do you do with that pass rush getting their quick. You fail. Brady is not mobile. So he is a shooting duck. Saints defense has our offense crying parley. Simple as that. They are the more physical team. Lenny was only guy throwing elbows last night until injury.
This brady sucks …brady sucks… is laughable. Dont worry all – he will be gone soon along with all his boyz that came here to play with him and we will be irrelevant again.
December 20th, 2021 at 8:20 am
Only way Bucs can win on offense vs the Saints defense would have required a much better performance by the offensive line and a stronger running game.
The quick passing game was stunted by New Orleans compressing the field.
Probably the worst offensive decisions were in key situations trying to get the ball to Vaughn and Darden. Those long balls when they needed 2 yards to keep drives alive were covered. Cameron Brate and OJ Howard need to be off the team next year. Way too much salary cap money tied up in that position.
Darden cannot stay on his feet, he falls and slips. He is a liability on offense.
December 20th, 2021 at 8:33 am
Not counting the OT td pass to Perriman, that’s 3 points production in last 6 quarters… wakeup time.
December 20th, 2021 at 8:36 am
Notice how horrid the rest of the offense is outside of gronk (though including last night he was bad) A bunch of stunted mental midgets honestly.
They make mistakes you cannot make. They are soft Rojo, OJ are the softest players I have ever seen. Darden can’t return punts after looking promising for a bit. It’s like the offensive players are afraid of contact.
December 20th, 2021 at 8:36 am
D was nice all game I just cant understand why Rogers and other QBs can win games with less talent. Even when we are winning the scheme is just so predictable it’s like Leftwitch only has 10 plays on his sheet.
December 20th, 2021 at 8:45 am
Yeah, I agree about Darden, but that’s not who lost this game. Even before Evans and Godwin went out, the offense just didn’t look like it was in sync. Gronkowski looked like he was on drugs. I’ve never seen him drop so many catchable balls. The o-line was as porous as I can ever remember since Brady has been here. Brady was hit or miss on his throws. All around bomb on offense. And to think before the game, I was fuming over Harbaugh’s decision to go for 2 instead of tying the game and going to OT (Packers-Ravens). Based on last night’s performance, the Bucs have no business being the No. 1 seed.
December 20th, 2021 at 8:48 am
Can somebody here tell me why they stopped running RoJo? I thought he was doing fine and was gonna break one for 6 at some point. Did he get hurt?
December 20th, 2021 at 9:05 am
@dmatt… Perriman is on COVID list.
December 20th, 2021 at 9:09 am
kamara ran for almost nothing…
balsam hill also ran for almost nothing…
d did it’s job…
bowles did his job…
offense don’t fail me now
December 20th, 2021 at 9:11 am
LVMYBUCS….Exactly! I thought Rojo was the only bright light on offense.
December 20th, 2021 at 9:13 am
Wild Bill agree Brady looks more like dink and dunk Teddy.
December 20th, 2021 at 9:15 am
I’m not so sure the defense last night was all that remarkable. We played a backup qb on a coachless team that has only one notable skill player on offense. And they picked our secondary apart when they occasionally decided to throw mid to deep against us. Whatever. The story from last night is that our offensive game plan was WAY predictable. So gee, who’s responsibility is it to mastermind offensive strategy? ….Jags can have that guy next year. Good riddance I say.
December 20th, 2021 at 9:28 am
Buccedup Dink and Dunk Teddy would have managed to put up some points last night. This failure is mainly on the coaches because the last 3 years it’s been the same thing get embarrassed horribly by the saints in the regular season.
December 20th, 2021 at 9:35 am
Yes they looked much better against a back up QB with very little QB skills and 2 second string TE’s. Yes they were good but it wasn’t
Mahomes, Roger’s, Allen or anywhere close to a elite QB or offense. FYI, GB dodged a bullet against a back up QB yesterday with ALL back up corners, the 3 tops seeds all should of lost yesterday.
December 20th, 2021 at 11:45 am
When the oline didnt instantly lose to just their front four wr didn’t have the talent to get themselves open and the coaching staff didn’t adjust to it and scheme some guys open just for a lousey 10 points just a complete failure
December 20th, 2021 at 12:20 pm
Defense did its job against a second string quasi QB, an offensive line missing both tackles, and a receiving corps without a bonafide NFL starter.
Good job!
December 20th, 2021 at 1:23 pm
What Jmark just said!
The Saints defense is the 6th ranked D overall and the number one run defense in the league. They deserve some R E S P E C T.
Doesn’t mean we played well. It was a total team disaster..Coaching..QB..OL..WR’s and TE’s and the OL.
What I don’t understand was when Brady did have time…and there were plenty of instances where that occured..nobody seemed to get open or perhaps Brady had a really bad night seeing the field.
I don’t absolve the OL but against the #6 D..#1 rushing D they were adequate IF…and perhaps all of these things…the coaches had schemed better and called a better game…if Brady hadn’t had a poor night…and Gronk missed at least three catches..a couple of which would have been tough but catches he normally makes.