Fun With The Pass Rush
May 8th, 2024
Getting creative?
Joe is trying to teach himself, will himself, not to stress about the Bucs’ pass rush. It’s sort of like going cold turkey on coffee. Joe has the shakes.
One way Joe is searching for mental zen is thinking of the pass rush as a puzzle.
The interior defensive line may allow the Bucs, specifically head coach Todd Bowles, to be creative. (Joe will explain more in a bit.)
So while Joe is trying to self-medicate from blowing a gasket thinking about an edge rush, the PFF tribe has picked up the slack. Zoltán Buday believes the Bucs’ weakest link in the wake of the draft is a pass rush.
Where will the pass rush come from?
Last year, the Buccaneers recorded just 247 total pressures, 26th in the NFL, yet the team recently released edge defender Shaquil Barrett, whose 56 pressures led the team last year.
Among the remaining interior and edge defenders, only one played a significant number of snaps in 2023: interior defender Vita Vea.
Although rookie edge defender Yaya Diaby led the team in sacks, the Buccaneers need him to be more consistent on a snap-by-snap basis in his second season.
Well, Joe has stated it’s concerning that once YaYa Diaby was named starter last season, his production declined. Is it as simple as waving that off as a rookie wall? Or did opposing coaches, once they had enough tape on Diaby, figure out how to gameplan against him?
Here is how “this Joe” is navigating these treacherous waters of mental anguish over a lack of an edge rush.
Joe thinks the Bucs will use a three-man rotation on the edge: Chris Braswell, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Diaby. Joe guesses the Bucs will give JTS 4-6 games to demonstrate he belongs in the lineup and get his act together.
If JTS is the same ol’ JTS by Week 7 or so, provided Braswell and Diaby are showing they can produce, then Joe will guess JTS’s snaps drop drastically.
But here’s the fun part: Vita Vea shed a bunch of weight. Ostensibly, that is to keep him on the field and perhaps extend his career.
However, Vea takes a few snaps at edge rush on passing downs every year. When he did last season, he fully manhandled the left tackles trying to block him. Those tackles didn’t want to deal with that smoke!
Could it be that one reason the Bucs seemed way too content with sitting on the sidelines watching other teams acquire by trade or free agency quality, proven edge rushers is that Licht and Bowles had a trick up their sleeves? That Calijah Kancey and Vea will take more snaps from the edge on passing downs?
Kancey took edge snaps last year, too, and the initial results were promising. Tackles are not used to dealing with quick guys as strong as oxen like Vea and to a lesser degree Kancey.
And yes, Joe is 110 percent stoked to see what Kancey does after his first full training camp. Joe genuinely believes Kancey will be a gamewrecker.
May 8th, 2024 at 9:12 am
We lost Shaq, but we did sign Gregory, and we did spend a second round pick on Braswell. Had we traded for Reddick, we wouldn’t have Braswell, or McMillan. Next year with more cap space, and, or using a #1 pick on an edge rusher would be the way to go.
May 8th, 2024 at 9:12 am
I wonder where Joe gets his pressure rate from.
Pro Football Reference, I think is a go to for football stats.
They have team defensive stats.
In their category of “Pressures”
They define it as “hurries” + “knockdowns” + “sacks”
Last year they had the Detroit Lions with the most pressures of 187.
Last year they had the Carolina Panthers with the least at 90.
Last year the Buccaneers were in the middle (18th) with 134.
May 8th, 2024 at 9:14 am
Correction. I should not say where did Joe get the pressure rate.
But more fairly why does Joe more than anyone else on this site rely on PFF to get his stats when there is the much better respected Pro Football Reference.
Actually, Joe uses Pro Football Reference and NFL.com so often, like many other media outlets, Joe defaults to their numbers and doesn’t feel the need to cite them. When Joe references PFF, Joe will mention their name.–Joe
May 8th, 2024 at 9:17 am
The pass rush is directly linked with pass coverage
May 8th, 2024 at 9:22 am
The problem is all of our guys are ranked like 70th and beyond for the position. No real studs or quality starters unless someone makes a jump.
May 8th, 2024 at 9:26 am
Minus Vea we have one of, if not the worst starting D line units in the NFL. However we have good depth because everyone is somewhat decent just not game changers yet. Hopefully the guys make some serious improvement this year.
May 8th, 2024 at 9:27 am
We will pin our ears back and get after ‘em, Coach! Bucs in thr Backfield will be such a beautiful site this season. 11-win season incoming! Go Bucs!’
May 8th, 2024 at 9:29 am
Didn’t Yaya suffer a shoulder injury that hindered him late in the season and into the playoffs? I think he was playing injured more than it was teams figuring him out.
May 8th, 2024 at 9:58 am
Hopefully Markees Watts can step it up, he flashed.
May 8th, 2024 at 10:16 am
Once YaYa was named starter, The Toddster undoubtedly gave him 4 options each with three variants on what he was supposed to do, given the opponents’ formation, personnel grouping, the Bucs personnel and then the Toddster’s Laplace Transformative play call.
If Jason would hire a defensive coordinator who wasn’t hellbent on proving to the world what a genius he is, maybe all the guys would be able to play better.
May 8th, 2024 at 10:36 am
Licht would first have to fire the head coach for that to happen. Generally — there are never any absolutes — but generally head coaches hire their own assistants.
May 8th, 2024 at 10:44 am
@bucsfan Yeah, Yaya did have an shoulder injury that combined with him being a rookie I think was the reason why his production fell a little. Expect a leap from him this season, so excited for this season to start, go bucs!!
May 8th, 2024 at 10:48 am
Every OLB on the roster should make significant improvement this year, except maybe Nelson, who will probably continue to be steady. Add in Gregory and the Bucs are going to be set unless all the youngsters flop.
I wonder if they’ll use more four man fronts with the skinnier Vea, too. They might be thinking Kancey is better with guys on both sides.
May 8th, 2024 at 11:20 am
SACK PREDICTION – 51 (Top 5)
CK – 10
Yaya – 9
JTS – 7
Braswell – 6
Other – 5
Gregory – 4
Winfield – 4
Hall – 3
LVD – 3
May 8th, 2024 at 12:23 pm
I can’t wait to see Kancey this season. High hopes that calling him a game wrecker is right on the money. Vea and him take a lot of attention. No excuse for our edge guys to not get back there and pressure. Should be able to keep them fresh in rotation.
May 8th, 2024 at 12:29 pm
Joe … ‘Last year, the Buccaneers recorded just 247 total pressures, 26th in the NFL, yet the team recently released edge defender Shaquil Barrett, whose 56 pressures led the team last year.’
Have to agree with geno711 Joe, those stats aren’t really close to what the Bucs (and Shaq) actually got, at least according to Pro-Football-Reference.
Bucs: 47 sacks + 42 QBKD + 44 QB Hurries = 136 pressures
Shaq: 4.5 sacks + 8 QBKD + 6 QB Hurries = 19 pressures
May 8th, 2024 at 12:29 pm
i tallied up about 45-50 sacks for us on another thread the other day…i think we’ll get about what bowles usually generates from his defense…
but 56 pressures is a pretty high number from shaq – a guy who didn’t do much else last year…
ida guessed him at about 35 by looking at the rest of his numbers…but he seemed to generate a decent amount of pressure to the qb’s…someone’s gonna have to step up big time in that dept.
May 8th, 2024 at 12:33 pm
yeah it certainly didn’t “feel like” shaq got 56 pressures last season from seeing every game…
it didn’t feel like 19 either… ^^^
more like, say 2 a game on average…equaling around 35-ish…
i’m sorta just guessing now…
but 56 seemed really high for him
May 8th, 2024 at 12:33 pm
Randy Gregory is most likely going to be in the rotation as well. My guess is it will be mostly Gregory, YaYa, and JTS rotating, with Watts coming in on some passing downs. I think as the season goes on, Gregory and JTS playing time will fade and Braswell will increase. I think Nelson is a prime cut candidate to save money on the cap.
May 8th, 2024 at 12:46 pm
If a defender gets push and gets close but the pass comes out quick by design is that a pressure?
As more teams go to the high percentage screens and short passes the defense will have to adapt and focus less on sacks and more on limiting screens to losses or minimal gains. Second and 11 from shutting down a screen is the same as stuffing a run up the middle.
May 8th, 2024 at 12:49 pm
SlyPirate Says:
SACK PREDICTION – 51 (Top 5)
CK – 10
Yaya – 9
JTS – 7
Braswell – 6
Other – 5
Gregory – 4
Winfield – 4
Hall – 3
LVD – 3
these numbers might be a little on the high side because if it works out this way, we will have more like 60…because you have to add in vita and nelly…and they should be good for about 8-10 between them…say at least 4 each…
and your ( other – 5 ) will still be there…here below would be an example of the other 5…
britt – 1
gill – 1
watts -1
whitehead – 1
gaines – 1
so these high numbers really have us at like 60…a bit too high imho…
hall could have 0…let’s be for real…
jts could have 4 or 5…
4 could be high for winfield…
braswell could have 3…..or 9…who knows…
gregory could flame out…or get 6…hard to tell…
it’ll be interesting to see how we generate qb pressure this year
May 8th, 2024 at 1:35 pm
Agree 100% Calijah will be dominant and a gamewrecker this season and going forward. Im getting a Kancey jersey, before the new season begins
May 8th, 2024 at 1:51 pm
Yaya had a significant lower leg injury as well
May 8th, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Putting Gaines or Ghoulson in the middle and having the now-svelte Vita Vea at one EDGE on passing downs could be one way to go.
May 8th, 2024 at 2:38 pm
Joe,
Can we get a better pic of kancey? I hate seeing that falcon in the background
May 8th, 2024 at 2:40 pm
Send Plan 9 back to Outer Space.
May 8th, 2024 at 3:53 pm
none of these stat projections mean anything if bowles has to blitz constantly to do it
May 8th, 2024 at 4:38 pm
HC Grover Says:
Send Plan 9 back to Outer Space.
—
when joe sho pinballs himself off a tackle he is literally bounced so far out of the play that he is somewhere near saturn…
and if he is buried under a pile of players after being steamrolled, his head can be as far up and away as in uranus 🙂
May 8th, 2024 at 8:57 pm
Keep in mind with both Diaby and Kancey that most edge rushers don’t blossom their rookie season. Second year is the big step as being a consistently productive edge rusher is an art.
We do need to figure Randy Gregory in rotation. He can be a guy that spells others effectively so he doesn’t get gassed.
JTS (OLB) and Logan Hal (DE)l have been disappointments. JTS still has possibilities but must be more consistent.
May 9th, 2024 at 11:30 am
Joe imo is understandably letting the lost decade scare him, we should be fine on defense, even without a very good running game.