Changing With The Times
May 21st, 2023
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
Change is inevitable.
Those who don’t change and don’t keep up with the times are dinosaurs.
From time to time, Joe will get a compliment how he tends to keep pace with fast-changing technologies (aside from Joe’s ignorance of video games).
Joe’s response is usually, “You can choose to keep up with technology or you can choose to get run over by technology. Joe has no desire to get run over.”
So for those who haven’t paid attention, more and more NFL offenses are either incorporating college spread offenses or trying to flat out copy a spread-option. Why? Very few teams in college run pro sets.
So if a team is looking for strictly pocket passers, those cats are getting harder and harder to find. And in the NFL if you don’t have a top-shelf quarterback, to quote Junior Soprano, you can just go ahead and “sh!t in your hat.”
Just look at the NFC South. The Stinking Panthers selected Bryce Young as the No. 1 overall pick. Maybe because of this, directly or indirectly, Bucs coach Todd Bowles said this is why he loaded up on speed on defense in last month’s draft, not so much beef but speed, as documented by Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com.
“We’ve been much bigger up front and in the middle,” Bowles said of his defense. “We’ve still got some size in there but we’ve got more quickness now.
“You’re playing more college quarterbacks and college people every week and we had to get faster up front – not necessarily 4.4 [40-yard dash time] fast, but faster at certain positions. We thought we did that.”
So that’s why Bowles got guys who, one observer detailed, are chase-and-run guys.
Joe gives Bowles props for this. He saw how NFL offenses are changing. And rather than be stubborn and claim “this is my scheme” or just stick to what worked in the past, Bowles is building a defense that can cover more real estate quicker, and contain more mobile quarterbacks.
May 21st, 2023 at 12:17 am
Pair speed and intelligence together, and we’ll have an elite defense again.
May 21st, 2023 at 1:17 am
If Canalas can come through calling offense, Bowles could be a huge impact HC and DC.
May 21st, 2023 at 1:33 am
All great points-solid write-up Joe
May 21st, 2023 at 4:14 am
There’s got to be some balance between size and speed.
May 21st, 2023 at 5:38 am
Joe…correction, you need to remain on the bleeding edge of technology. Engineer speak.
May 21st, 2023 at 6:20 am
Strength and speed is the key that we took care of with Kancey and Ya ya.
May 21st, 2023 at 6:40 am
Got to have the smarts to go with speed. Devin White runs fast, but sometimes runs past his target.
May 21st, 2023 at 7:27 am
Sounds like “Pro” ball is devolving into “allstar” college ball to make it easier to transition the young players into their new positions and schemes rather than developing them into pro’s.
I guess this will make it easier for college coaches to make the transition as well.
Interesting.
May 21st, 2023 at 7:42 am
TODD BOWLES & JASON LIGHT: START SIRVOCIA DENNIS NEEDS TO BE GROOMED TO START IN PLACE OF DEVIN WHITE..WE NEED “AUSTIN ECKLER” TO FORTIFY OUR RUNNING GAME ( IT’S AS PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE’S..PLEASE TRADE DEVIN FOR AUSTIN & HELP DAVE CANALES IMPROVE OUR RUNNING GAME WITH THIS PROVEN PRODUCTIVE PLAYMAKER & UNLOAD A LOCKER ROOM CANCER AT THE SAME TIME ! ( DON’T LET THE RAMS OR ANY OTHER CONFERENCE FOE BEAT YOU TO THE PUNCH ON THIS ! SIRVOCIA DENNIS CAN STEP IN & PLAY AS WELL AS DEVIN AS A ROOKIE ! SO WE NEED TO MAKE THIS TRADE SOON WHILE ECKLER IS STILL AVAILABLE ( CHECK OUT HIS STATS,WATCH SOME FILM ON HIM OVER THE LAST TWO SEASONS YOU’LL ALL AGREE WE NEED HIM TO ACCOMPLISH OUR GOAL OF WINNING THE DIVISION & MAKING THE PLAYOFFS..I TRULY FEEL “HE” IS THE MISSING LINK WE NEED TO GET OVER THE TOP…AVOID THE HIGHEST PAID ILB BS NOW & NIP IT IN THE BUD,WE CAN MAKE THIS WORK, I KNOW WE.CAN !..DO IT NOW, PLEASE ! ! !
May 21st, 2023 at 7:57 am
• Little Confidence
May 21st, 2023 at 9:06 am
JOE: “NFL offenses are changing”
Not those that win Super Bowls. 100% of QBs are pocket passers first, with very few having some running ability.
May 21st, 2023 at 10:26 am
Yes Bowles is definitely a dinosaur. Three yards and a cloud of dust.
May 21st, 2023 at 10:42 am
LOL, when you are constantly missing tackles, you need speed to run down the players you missed the tackles on.
Not that Speed isn’t important, but we flat missed plenty of tackles last year.
May 21st, 2023 at 10:42 am
LOL, when you are constantly missing tackles, you need speed to run down the players you missed the tackles on.
Not that Speed isn’t important, but we flat missed plenty of tackles last year.
May 21st, 2023 at 10:49 am
HMMMM, so I guess everyone is rushing out to by electric cars and there is no use for my V8 Decile anymore.
Technology these days is used to control consumers. HECK, you don’t need even need grocery stores really.
Its all about convivence anymore.
A running QB on a passing league. Sounds like an oxymoron to me. But hey, technically says its better, so it must be.
DOPE!!!
May 21st, 2023 at 10:50 am
Lol… why am I thinking Shaun Payton
It gonna be a dark dark season
May 21st, 2023 at 11:00 am
I agree with this approach because TB defenses have been torched by speed. You can never have too much speed.
May 21st, 2023 at 11:18 am
The best quarterbacks with the greatest longevity may in fact come out of college ball as “running quarterbacks” or “dual threat quarterbacks” but they inevitably get coached to become pocket passers. If they don’t they tend to have short careers. The guys in recent years who made a name for themselves as relying upon called runs also missed quite a few games due to injury. It is very tough to win a Super Bowl having to play the backups a lot.
May 21st, 2023 at 12:06 pm
Having our Bucs is fun from the start. Zero wins was still fun. If we go with zero wins it will still be fun. It is fun just to have an NFL team good or bad. it makes football season great. Much better than college football.
May 21st, 2023 at 1:43 pm
Most losses by a Bucs team is 14 in a season. I wonder if Bowles is looking to break that record this year.
May 22nd, 2023 at 8:50 am
We shall see Mr Bowles.
I have sincere doubts about this quicker lighter approach.
Quickness is great for linebackers but not so sure about DTs.
See Logan Hall for more info.
May 22nd, 2023 at 9:32 am
I think with so much diversity in our chess pieces, our defense will be much better than last year… and possibly better than the previous few years as well. My biggest question mark is Zion McCollum and if he can adequately play the nickel corner role. He wasn’t good in coverage last season and his tackling looked worse than Justin Evans’ college tape. Dude couldn’t get anyone on the ground… but he has loads and loads of talent.
May 22nd, 2023 at 11:01 am
If you’re not big, you better be fast. If you’re not fast, you better be big.