“They Need That Tremendously”
April 19th, 2022
Harsh words for Jamel Dean and more.
A former Bucs defensive tackle not named Warren Sapp was on radio yesterday making very bold statements about the Tampa Bay defense and the team’s upcoming draft approach in Rounds 1 and 2.
Joe’s referring to ABC/ESPN football analyst Booger McFarland jumping in studio on WDAE Radio with former Bucs guard Ian Beckles and Jay Recher.
McFarland keeps close track of his Bucs (still lives in Tampa, Joe believes) and had various takes.
Some McFarland highlights:
*All eyes on Joe Tryon-Shoyinka for 2022, per McFarland. He was clear that Carlton Davis is a strong cover cornerback but Jamel Dean is not, as well as Sean Murphy-Bunting. So more pass rush is needed if the Bucs want to be their 2020 selves McFarland says “there’s something there” in Tryon-Shoyinka’s game (in a good way), and this is the year it must blossom and develop into a pass rusher. “They need that tremendously.” He added that offenses caught up to Tryon-Shoyinka quickly and negated his “elite” first step.
*McFarland sees the Bucs either drafting a defensive tackle or a guard in Round 1, and he’s leaning a little toward guard because he believes the Bucs can find a pass rushing DT in Round 2. “Make Tom Brady feel comfortable.”
*Don’t expect Chris Godwin on the field until after Thanksgiving, per McFarland. (Joe hopes he’s wrong!) And don’t look for Vita Vea to ever have an eight-sack season. Be happy with three to five sacks per season from Vea, McFarland said.
*Todd Bowles will make the Bucs more physical than the Bucco Bruce Arians teams, and more run-focused and less no-risk-it, no-biscuit.
*Don’t blitz Lavonte David but let loose Devin White loose more on quarterbacks because he has deficiencies in coverage.
*In a lighter moment, McFarland told Beckles that former Bucs Pro Bowl DT Gerald McCoy was a very good football player who was hurt by fan perceptions and comparisons to Warren Sapp. Joe could feel Beckles’ blood pressure skyrocketing through the airwaves as he argued that McCoy was not very good and had “no instincts.”
April 19th, 2022 at 12:09 am
“McFarland told Beckles that former Bucs Pro Bowl DT Gerald McCoy was a very good football player who was hurt by fan perceptions and comparisons to Warren Sapp.”
.
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This is such a cop-out. I, nor anyone I’ve ever seen comment here, have never used comparisons to Sapp in order to highlight my complaints with his game. They stand on their own merit.
April 19th, 2022 at 12:31 am
Of course Geraldine was hurt — she wanted to be loved and be like Barney. Good football player. No better than Gholston in terms of impact. He made one half a difference making play for the Bucs in his tenure, a half sack against the Falcons in 2015 I believe, he fell down and Ryan’s foot was there so he grabbed it. Otherwise, he vanished in crunch time. I agree 100% with Beckles. Booger probably empathasizes with Geraldine because he also failed to live up to his hype and also wished he were more loved.
Hell we got rid of Culpepper because of him and Booger never matched Culpepper’s production. Culpepper and Sapp had great chemistry.
April 19th, 2022 at 12:39 am
Goatfarmer Says:
“Hell we got rid of Culpepper because of him and Booger never matched Culpepper’s production. Culpepper and Sapp had great chemistry.”
.
.
If I remember correctly, Sapp has a very public and angry reaction to Culpepper’s release. I had never seen that happen before.
April 19th, 2022 at 1:08 am
Booger was so good on radio when he was here, reminded me of the great Patrice O’Neal, had great comedic timing, was funny, had great insight.
That’s why he got the nation job, I believe doing the SEC first, then got the MNF job. But somewhere along the way, at ESPN, they completely cut his balls off and turned him into a complete bore. I haven’t heard him lately, but it’s impossible to believe that dullard on EPSN was the same guy who did Tampa radio and sounded like he was going to be a media superstar.
Booger, whoever told you to tone it down did you a great disservice. It doesn’t matter if you get fired, you’ll just get another bigger job down the road, and it’s not like you’re living paycheck to paycheck and have to keep your mouth shut to pay your mortgage. Go back to being that fun radio guy in Tampa and you’ll soon have that Pat McAfee money.
April 19th, 2022 at 1:15 am
Dean has the potential to be a great cover corner. The jury is still out on if he has the desire to put in the work on his craft to do so. The speed and instinct are there. The intangibles aren’t quite there yet. SMB is a playmaker. He’s always looking for the opportune play. Going to get burned. Going to also have game defining plays at critical times. Know what I’m saying Aaron Rodgers? I’m fine with the diversity of that secondary. The pass rush needs to improve but this secondary is severely undervalued.
April 19th, 2022 at 1:36 am
Sure hope he’s right about Joe. I think we pickup suh after draft unless we get a stud in the first two rounds. Would love a guard but unless there’s a year one pro bowler then we take one in the 2nd or even 3rd as you can find, and we’ve proven we can develop such. Wouldn’t mind another DB, and with our history well be grabbing a couple in the first 5 picks
April 19th, 2022 at 1:45 am
cmurda: Dean has instincts? I guess I’ve seen it at times, other times he literally looks like he’s never played football before.
April 19th, 2022 at 2:11 am
Vita is not expected to be a high sack guy playing nose in a 3-4. He creates space for our Ends and Olbs.
April 19th, 2022 at 2:54 am
cd3 is very consistent…
while dean and smb are consistently inconsistent…
this is the year to grab the consistency bull by the horns…especially in a contract year for both of them…
it will be interesting to see after the year which one will be signed on for a future contract, because only one out of 2 will be signed imho
April 19th, 2022 at 5:04 am
Joe in Michigan
I agree, Dean plays as if he’s fresh out of high school. I question his instincts n aggression because I haven’t seen either. One of the things he’s consistent with is slow to react to the play/ball. During crunch time, he often has a dean, my bad, dear in the headlight look. On simple plays, he looks surprised n in shocked as if “I don’t believe I made that play”. For a player with his intangibles, he plays timid, passive, n confused. He lacks the mental aspect of the game. The td int he got on ARod in 2020 was two fold, rare bad throw mistake by ARod n JDean’s luck to be in right place at right time.
April 19th, 2022 at 5:53 am
cmurda … Excellent analysis. Agree with you about both Dean & SMB. I’m not as high on Davis as many seem to be, although I will concede that he usually draws the short straw in having to defend against the opponent’s best receiver.
To compare apples-to-apples (to some degree at least), look at the performance of all 3 over the past 3 years.
o Davis: 38 games … 292 targets – 163 completions – 55.8%
o Dean: 42 games … 188 targets – 101 completions – 53.7%
o SMB: 41 games … 214 targets – 148 completions – 69.2%
In those last 3 years though, Davis has given up 14 TDs; Dean has allowed 6 TDs and SMB 13 TDs.
If you analyze their performance PER GAME, certain aspects of their games stand out:
o Targets/Game: Davis 7.68 … Dean 4.48 … SMB 5.22
o Completions/Game: Davis 4.29 .. Dean 2.40 .. SMB 3.61
o TDs/Game: Davis .368 … Dean .143 … SMB .317
So yes cmurda, Dean ‘has the potential to be a great cover corner’. SMB? Not so much. What Dean lacks IMO is consistency like you said. But so do Davis & SMB. One of the major issues I think is that all 3 have been beaten up in the past 3 years, have surely played hurt, and that has to impact overall performance. Bucs have played 49 regular season games in those 3 years; Davis’ availability has been 77.6%, Dean’s 85.7% and SMB’s 83.7%. Good thing we signed Logan Davis.
April 19th, 2022 at 5:57 am
Hmmm, better make that Logan Ryan (have no idea who Logan Davis is).
April 19th, 2022 at 5:59 am
With the talent we have on defense we should of done much better even with the coverage injuries
April 19th, 2022 at 6:26 am
Bbro … Ranking in the Top-5 in terms of Points Allowed last year was impressive given all of the injuries we had on defense, BUT the schedule helped us out a whole bunch.
Bucs played 6 Playoff teams last year & had a 5-1 record against them (only lost to the Rams in regular season). Most of those games were very close though, and we beat them because our offense out-scored them (we averaged 28.8 PPG against those 6 teams). Unfortunately our defense allowed 26.7 PPG against those same 6 teams (gave up 160 points). Main reason: those were the better offensive teams (average ranking #6 offensively).
Against the other 11 non-Playoff teams our defense did very very well (our 8-3 record against them belies the fact that 2 of those losses came against the dreaded Saints). Still, in those 11 games our defense only allowed 17.5 PPG average (193 total points). What helped? The average offensive ranking of those 8 teams (11 games) was #25. Huge difference in terms of offensive performance between playoff and non-playoff teams, and our defense surely benefitted.
This year the schedule promises to be MUCH harder. Gut feel is that our offense better be a LOT more productive than they were last season (30 PPG average), because our defense is gonna get lit up without some MAJOR improvements in our Front-7.
April 19th, 2022 at 6:52 am
So Defense Rules Says:? Do we need more pass rush? Or more depth in Backfiels?
April 19th, 2022 at 6:54 am
good point on the Gholston impact to McCoy…who had a better career/impact? …by far Gholston! and no pro bowls for him….McCoy is THE most overrated player ever!
April 19th, 2022 at 7:06 am
2022 Year of the GOAT RETURN … Aw come on, jumping straight to the conclusion takes the fun out of it. Besides that, out of your 2 options, Joe would choose what’s behind Door #3: draft a OG.
April 19th, 2022 at 7:21 am
Bring McCoy in for one year minimum salary cheaper than Suh.
April 19th, 2022 at 7:23 am
Surprised Booger is down on Dean. Other than nagging injuries that cost him playing time, Dean has steadily improved each season and his measurables bear that out. And running back his first pic six against Aaron Rogers I remember they clocked him at 22 mph. Not a lot of guys can do that.
April 19th, 2022 at 7:27 am
Also surprised Booger would give props to GMC. That guy was a poser, never made an impact in crunch time, was soft. Suh at the end of his career is still the better player.
April 19th, 2022 at 7:54 am
I just remember when he was on the panthers and drew that phony 15 years unsportsmanlike penalty. Just felt so forced. Like, where was that energy years ago?
I don’t think he was the problem with the franchise by any means, but after he got popped for PEDs I will no longer defend him and don’t think he belongs in the ring of honor
April 19th, 2022 at 7:58 am
My Take….want to make the secondary better in this pass happy league? Get a better pass rush! We need to put pressure on the QB’S! Make them uncomfortable in the pocket and make them hurry throws without constant blitzing. We need to rebuild the D-Line with speed, speed, speed! Vita can tie up 2 O-lineman every play and that opens up the holes. Get another stud tackle and rush the ends…1st round pick needs a D-Lineman! Stopping the run is good but we got burned so many times last year by the passing game. Just Saying…
April 19th, 2022 at 7:58 am
Hmmm, tell us something we didn’t know.
April 19th, 2022 at 8:47 am
Lol what are these guys watching?? Dean was probably better or at least on par with Carlton Davis. Dean was, at a minimum, head and shoulders above SMB. Deans problem has been injuries, but other than that he took the biggest step forward of all DBs not named Winfield.
April 19th, 2022 at 8:48 am
I read somewhere years ago that Monty and Sapp aren’t that close because Monty prefered Booger over Sapp late in Warren’s career. That’s when Sapp went to the Raiders and had 10 sacks and Booger was Booger.
April 19th, 2022 at 9:08 am
Started much earlier and the issue was how Sapp was used. Can’t remember the specifics but Sapp went to Dungy about it and that was that but Sapp has a very long memory and no, he is not tight with Kiffin. (Sapp worships Rod Marinelli.)
April 19th, 2022 at 1:16 pm
Dean was the best of the three CB’s last year, and I’m not sure it was even that close of a call.
April 19th, 2022 at 2:10 pm
McFarland was one of the BIGGEST disappointments and WORST decisions the Bucs EVER made keeping him over the great Warren Sapp !! Booger & Beckles both
April 19th, 2022 at 3:04 pm
People who think Dean doesn’t have instincts clearly don’t know much about football…
You don’t lead the league in passes defended if you don’t have instincts. And DR just highlighted how he actually gives up less TDs compared to Davis and SMB, while having the most availability out of any of them.
Is he inconsistent at times? Yes. So are all of our DBs if we’re being honest. Dean has the most natural instincts out of any of them though. He just needs to stay healthy, and avoid those 1-2 plays each game where gets turned around by a WR.
April 19th, 2022 at 7:40 pm
Titans drafted Jevon Kearse one spot after McFarland. Dungy said he was grooming him to take over for Sapp when the time came ( when and why is another story) Booger never did pan out but Kearse was an absolute monster and would have negated the need to tie up so much capitol by signing Simeon Rice. Dungy was quizzed by the media if he regretted the signing but stuck to his story that he was drafting for need. I hated that pick and I still do.