Time To Light Up The Vikings’ Secondary
September 10th, 2023
Big game today from big-time duo?
The first game of the 2023 season will be an interesting test for both new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales and head coach Todd Bowles.
These guys want to run the ball. Turn back the clock to the 1990s with Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells. Make a statement. Establish the run.
Joe is much more concerned with what some seem to consider a very trivial matter.
Win the friggin’ game!
Just win, baby. If it takes a ground-and-pound attack, good. If it takes going Air Raid, good. Just do it. Just win.
Per Eric Moody of BSPN, the Vikings have a porous secondary.
Last season, wide receivers caught 66% of their targets and averaged a league-high 192 receiving yards per game against the Vikings’ secondary — which is still Minnesota’s biggest weakness.
Well — Joe checks his notes — Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are healthy and ready. Joe isn’t saying the Bucs should put up the ball 40 times a game because with Baker Mayfield that’s begging for a disaster, but dang it, if the Vikings show they’re soft against the pass, stomp on their throat through the air.
You have star players. Use them if you have to.
September 10th, 2023 at 12:41 am
Let’s do this!
September 10th, 2023 at 12:45 am
You are absolutely right. The Vikings were not stellar against the run last year either. They gave up 4.5 yards per carry. Their pass rush was their strength on defense. The Bucs just need to be more balanced and less predictable . This is what slows down a good pass rush as much as good blocking Keep them guessing, and hopefully they guess wrong enough to open up big plays for our team.
September 10th, 2023 at 1:10 am
Vikes entire defense is suspect from what I have read here and elsewhere. Coming out fast and physical is what I think will be the key to all our wins this year. We will not win many games playing come from behind ball this year.
Go Bucs!
September 10th, 2023 at 2:13 am
bowles is still the HC………
September 10th, 2023 at 3:58 am
This article seems to follow up the previous article nicely. Should we call this game Pittsburgh 2023? Hopefully with a better result.
September 10th, 2023 at 5:08 am
‘Joe doesn’t care how you win a game. Just win, baby. If it takes a ground-and-pound attack, good. If it takes going Air Raid, good. Just do it. Just win.’
That right there is the bottom line for every game: ‘Just win’. A great defense can keep you in the game, but you still have to put points on the board. And we didn’t do that often enough last year.
Minnesota lost only 4 regular season games last year. In each of them, they lost because their strength … their offense … didn’t put enough points on the board (they totaled 50 points in those 4 losses … 12.5 PPG … but 374 points in their 13 wins … 28.8 PPG). In each of those 4 losses, their opponents ran the ball down their throats (48% of the plays average), won the time-of-possession battle very handily, sacked Cousins 15 times total, and oh ya, ‘lucked’ into 10 takeaways (and won the Turnover Battle in each of those games).
No rocket science here. Vikings’ opponents outplayed them handily on offense AND defense in each of those games. Gee, someday someone might even coin the phrase COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL to describe something like that. Bucs know how to do that. We got this.
September 10th, 2023 at 6:32 am
The sole reason there is a special emphasis on the run this season is because last season there was no run game for the Bucs, ranking dead last in the league. Emphasizing the importance of a quality run game this season does NOT mean abandoning the passing game. Seriously, who besides JBF thinks that will happen? SMH.
JBF is engaging yet again in straw man argumentation, it’s silly.
If the Bucs actually intended to abandon the pass they would have traded both Evans and Godwin for quality running backs and run blockers. Which of course is ridiculous.
It certainly looks to this reader like JBF is searching for pre-excuses for what he fears will be a failure by Baker Mayfield, his beloved pick for starting quarterback all off-season and pre-season long. I can hear it now:
“Mayfield wasn’t given a chance to succeed because the Bucs forced him to hand off the ball, or to take it and run the ball himself.”
I think most actual Bucs fans sincerely hope that Baker Mayfield was the right choice to start … and none of us want to see the Bucs rank dead last in the league again in running yards. We all want the Bucs to succeed.
And finally, all real Bucs fans are tired of all the yakking about how terrible the Bucs will be this season – it’s all extremely annoying. Enough with the yak. Just play the damned games and we’ll soon see how good this season’s Bucs actually are.
September 10th, 2023 at 7:10 am
Trey Palmer bout to splode!
September 10th, 2023 at 7:14 am
The team that turns it over the least will win this game. I am not a Mayfield fan , but I would like it if he forces me to become one.
September 10th, 2023 at 7:24 am
I just hope this doesn’t become the Pittsburgh game last year. Where the Steelers had Uber drivers playing in the secondary. What did the Bucs do they tried to run, run and run instead of attracting the weakness.
September 10th, 2023 at 7:34 am
Clueless Todd will insist on playing into the Vikings strength on defense. Look for the Bucs to run over and over failing again and again. Evans and Godwin will combine for 75 yards receiving. White runs for 80 yards and the Yucs get ROCKED! Vikings 40 Bucs 16.
September 10th, 2023 at 7:49 am
Son give your mom her tablet back silly negative boy
September 10th, 2023 at 8:04 am
The Bucs should pass to open up the running game. I hope they don’t try to do it the other way around. Today we will see if Bowles is a coach that tries to force his will on the opponent or take advantage of their weaknesses. If he runs repeatedly on first and second downs we will know why last year’s offense was so terrible.
September 10th, 2023 at 8:44 am
Vikings have had poor defense for 5-6 years now, yet they keep blaming their misfortunes on Cousins. Last year they were 31st, while somehow winning 13 games
September 10th, 2023 at 8:57 am
“In the annals of history , they will be talking about three things: The creation of fire; the invention of the submarine ….and the 2023 Bucs!” J. Moon
Let’s get this party started!
September 10th, 2023 at 9:11 am
Let’s hope Canales has cured Todd’s fear of scoring more than the other team
September 10th, 2023 at 9:21 am
LFG
September 10th, 2023 at 10:13 am
Attack weakness. Use your best weapons most often. Use what works best over and over again. Take what the opposing defense gives you and shove it down their throat. Just win baby. Do whatever it takes!