Didn’t Notice Chris Braswell? Todd Bowles Seems To Suggest That’s On Him
August 12th, 2024
Todd Bowles evaluation.
Last week when Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht sat down for the the “Ira Kaufman Podcast,” he explained why fans at Bucs training camp haven’t seen second-round pick Chris Braswell getting after quarterbacks, even though he was drafted for that purpose.
Licht said the Bucs aren’t worried much now about him rushing the passer. He can and will do that. They’ve watned to get Braswell acclimated to the other responsibilities of playing outside linebacker in Todd Bowles’ defense.
As a result, the Bucs haven’t sent Braswell after the quarterback much in practice.
Bowles seemed to suggest Saturday after the Bucs’ first worthless preseason game that the reason many Bucs fans didn’t notice Braswell that night was because the Bucs didn’t order Braswell to “sic ’em” on passing downs.
“I thought Braswell did fine, physically,” Bowles said. “He didn’t get a chance to rush the passer much with the fronts we had him in. He dropped [back in coverage] once or twice.”
As far as other pass rushers, here were Bowles’ thoughts.
Bowles overall seemed happy with José Ramirez.
“I thought José did a good job because he drew a couple holding penalties,” Bowles said. “He got off the ball well.”
As for Markees Watts, Bowles liked his run defense.
“Watts, he had a few chances,” Bowles said. “He got pushed by some, trying to move and trying to get up and under and they kind of pushed him down. But, he did better in the run game.”
Still, Bowles said, all three showed they still need work to be Washington Ready.
August 12th, 2024 at 7:11 am
Understand you want to teach him coverage Todd, but we need someone who can sic em even more. Release the hounds will ya?
August 12th, 2024 at 7:35 am
Preseason means vanilla offense AND defense. They are not going to give Washington’s Hogs some intel on what defensive stunts they may pull with the defensive line.
I do know Washington’s QB looks damn good, so any surprise we can pull on them will be needed, rookie QB or not.
August 12th, 2024 at 7:36 am
Don’t buy Bowles excuse as to why Braswell has been a ghost in training camp and the first preseason game. He may good in a couple years but right now his nickname should be Casper.
August 12th, 2024 at 7:59 am
2nd rounder? Uh-oh.
August 12th, 2024 at 8:08 am
“first worthless preseason game….”
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Gotta hand it to you dudes, Joe. Not gonna give up bad-mouthing preseason, huh? I think I trust an experienced defensive mind like Todd Bowles when it comes to player evaluation.
August 12th, 2024 at 8:10 am
Off topic – my apologies but I gotta know. Can we expect the Joe’s to report to us lowly fans from the joint practices this week up in Jacksonville.
August 12th, 2024 at 8:23 am
Earth to Todd – how about since your pass rush sucks, you let a guy you drafted to boost the pass rush actually rush the fargin passer?!
Defensive masturmind in full genius mode. So much for evolution.
August 12th, 2024 at 8:25 am
Turning a Junk Yard Dog into a Porch Pup…… Will see.
August 12th, 2024 at 8:36 am
TBBF is not impressed with our pass rush at all……the Bengals were all over our QBs..
We may end up just like last year….depending on Vea, Kancey & CB/Safety blitzs to get our sacks…..
August 12th, 2024 at 8:37 am
The problem is thinking the OLB was drafted to do 1 thing, lol what’s rushing the passer going to do for you as a run defender, or in pass coverage.
That’s been the problem the last decade and a half, is trying to reduce a OLB/DEs job to 1 duty in the fan space so you say “argh, he doesn’t have the sack numbers he’s not good” which is
Rushing the passer isn’t going to stop guys like Jayden Daniel or Lamar Jackson chewing your defense up with the leg.
Rushing the passer isn’t going to make you better containing action from their outside shoulder to the sideline.
Also, the few reps Braswell did rush the pusher, he wasn’t all the effective and was coming off the ball way too high for my liking. Also, rookie factor may just be Braswell hasn’t found his plan of attack yet as a rookie.
As much as guys laude Yaya for his rookie campaign, on all his pass rushing reps last season he & JTS finished with the same 9% pressure rate by the end of the season. Difference being 2.5 whole sacks, but you listen to fans compare the two you’d think one is night and the other is day lol
We didn’t spend a 2nd rounder on a pass rush specialist, we spent a 2nd rounder on a guy with the raw talent to be molded into the equivalent of a 2-way basketball player. Braswell is being put into position to be a rounded OLB who can stay on the field, not a guy who is just good at 1 thing.
August 12th, 2024 at 8:41 am
Seems to me we are going to Watts on the field some week 1. We are going to want some speed on the edges to keep Daniels in the Pocket..
August 12th, 2024 at 8:54 am
What Dude said.
Football is like a chess match. A one-trick pony is not that valuable in this game.
August 12th, 2024 at 9:08 am
Not saying rush him every down.
But in a 3-4, you’re generally gonna rush at least one of the OLBs on every pass.
Maybe how about only dropping him half as much Todd? The great defensive masturmind’s genius is so deep, his 4th worst defense against the pass is merely misunderstood.
Fargin Todd.
August 12th, 2024 at 9:08 am
Dude … Excellent analysis. The part I didn’t understand though was that JTS & YaYa had the same 9% pressure rate. JTS had 13 pressures in 579 def snaps, which I thought would be a 2.24% pressure rate. Similarly YaYa had 14 pressures in 515 def snaps for a 2.72% pressure rate? Nope, not even close.
Effectively they both performed the same; not the point. I obviously didn’t know how ‘Pressure rate’ was being defined. Found a great article on the NFL site (‘Next Gen Stats: How defensive pressure defined the 2023 NFL season’ – 21 Feb 2024) that describes it but more significantly discussed how Todd Bowles manufactured pressure last season. Awesome; he really is a wizard. Pressure rate wasn’t at all what I’d assumed it was. Thanks for getting me squared away.
August 12th, 2024 at 9:43 am
my thing is this…. should pass rushers be dropping back in coverage?
Dont real pass rushers rush the passer?
August 12th, 2024 at 9:55 am
Yes.
August 12th, 2024 at 9:59 am
BucU Says:
August 12th, 2024 at 7:36 am
Don’t buy Bowles excuse as to why Braswell has been a ghost in training camp and the first preseason game. He may good in a couple years but right now his nickname should be Casper.
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I thought he had an interception last week?
Not a world beater by any means but not a ghost either.
August 12th, 2024 at 9:59 am
Oh, joint practices are meaningless……..
August 12th, 2024 at 10:03 am
The bottom line – the Bucs pass defense gives up yards like Halloween candy, and inevitably points given up correlate to yards given up. It’s only a matter of time (and if it’s anyone good, Lions, Chiefs, Niners, etc., they’ve already beaten Todd’s defense like a rented mule).
Sure Braswell is supposed to be the all around player. But if you never rush him in practice or in a preseason game, where the hell and when is he supposed to experience NFL offensive tackles?
Masturmind.
August 12th, 2024 at 10:11 am
Man, it is real easy to pick out the posters who know absolutely nothing about the game on any level with some of these comments lolol.
August 12th, 2024 at 10:15 am
@DR
You’re formula is off, pressure rate isn’t pulled from total snaps it’s pulled solely from snaps against passing attempts. Find
JTS:
280 pass rush snaps, 26 pressures, 9.29% pressure rate, 5 sacks
YAYA:
293 pass rush snaps, 26 pressures, 8.87% pressure rate, 7.5 sacks
2.5 more sack on 13 more attempts isn’t leaps and bounds better, and the reason why I said if you let fans tell it they talk as if it were night and day between the two. This also goes back to what Bowles said about the downside of having a double digit sack guy while others aren’t producing, it’s just that in our case the last few seasons we’ve always had “other guys”.
Grouping snaps where they defended runs is why your pressure figures are so low, because it’s accounting for snaps that there was no pocket to pressure because they were run attempts.
“Sure Braswell is supposed to be the all around player. But if you never rush him in practice or in a preseason game, where the hell and when is he supposed to experience NFL offensive tackles?”
Who says he’s not getting pass rush reps in practice? The staff focusing on Braswell doing something he’s not quite good at, is how you broaden Bras” skillset. Otherwise, when he’s not doing the 1 thing you think he should be good at, you cannot call him a 1-trick pony. Do you get it?
August 12th, 2024 at 10:22 am
Being able to have Braswell play the run effectively is far more important than sacks right now. When we play the run-centric teams I’ll be looking to see if Braswell gets any reps.
This is just getting our rookies used to playing NFL caliber football – last two pre-season games is where we can determine whether any of the off-season upgrades we did are going to actually be proven.
August 12th, 2024 at 10:32 am
Dude … Make a lot more sense using just passing attempts for sure, but don’t know where to get the numbers to plug in (pass rush snaps for each individual player, as well as pressures). Pro-Football-Reference must be using a different definition also, because they only credited JTS with 13 pressures and YaYa with 14 last year.
Todd Bowles doesn’t play 1-trick ponies. Diaby didn’t really start getting a lot more snaps until TB saw that he’d become a more all-around player. And the same will be true with Braswell I’m convinced. I get the feeling that Todd learned from how they brought YaYa along last year, and is applying those lessons to Bras’ development now.
August 12th, 2024 at 10:35 am
White Tiger … ‘last two pre-season games is where we can determine whether any of the off-season upgrades we did are going to actually be proven.’
LMAO. You obviously didn’t run that by Joe first. Everybody in JBF World KNOWS pre-season games are worthless.
August 12th, 2024 at 10:46 am
“I get the feeling that Todd learned from how they brought YaYa along last year, and is applying those lessons to Bras’ development now.”
That’s why the focal point is figuring Braswells’ comfort level playing in space. Also have to account for the fact he comes from one of the most talent laden football teams, not just defense in all of collegiate sports so there’s alot of deficiencies that get masked because the overlap in talent makes it easier to mask.
What Bowles is doing with Braswell is a stress test, for anybody who’s ever broken a dominant limb/appendage you start to feel the difference in strength when you have to rely on your off hand/foot/leg to do what your stronger side would otherwise make up for, this is no different. Bowles is trying to mold Bras into a rounded OLB, because it means more opportunity. The sooner or later is up to Bras and how his play stacks up to his peers.
August 12th, 2024 at 11:13 am
So now we’re on the “hope” strategy for Braswell. Give him limited to no experience rushing the passer in a preseason game, and according to JBF practice notes and Todd, he’s rarely been used to rush the passer because they want a well rounded player. Which includes rushing the passer, last I checked. So by not giving his pass rush reps, the hope is he can do it. OK.
Eyes on Todd and Braswell against Jax this week.
August 12th, 2024 at 11:35 am
jarrett Says:
my thing is this…. should pass rushers be dropping back in coverage?
^^ HE DOESN’T GET IT ^^
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Y’ALL REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND OLB IN BOWLE’S SCHEME
When you read, “Bowles defense confuses the QB” ask yourelf: 1) If defenders do exactly what you think they’re supposed to do, is that confusing the QB? No, that wouldn’t be very confusing would it. 2) So, where does the “confusion” come from?”
Bowles defense asks players to perform different rolls. A Safety, Corner, MLB, OLB might pass blitz, run blitz, play zone, or play man coverage. JPP used to drop into zone all the time. The big man would get low, sit in a passing lane, and watch the QB’s eyes. Then he’d pop up if the ball came his way. DYK: JPP had 2 INT in 2020 dropping into coverage.
The team is using the preseason games to assess players can/can’t do and familiarize them with different concepts. Turns out preseason games have value but only to those who understand the complexities of football.
I believe OLB is the most complex position in Bowles defense. AND NO! They don’t just rush the QB.
August 12th, 2024 at 11:46 am
“JPP used to drop into zone all the time.”
He was on the app formerly known as twitter yesterday marketing himself as still able and with all the youth we have in that room JPP imo would be a MUCH better(and available) veteran presence than Gregory.
Honestly, I know JPP likely doesn’t have much left physically as his best days are behind him but he’s also sitting on 94.5 career sacks and I’d bet money he’s chasing that last 5.5 to get to 100 career sacks to try to sneak into the HOF. Not beating the table for it or saying it’s likely, but what better scheme/team would there be to benefit from what he can provide as a veteran to our youth movement and give him that shot at getting his 100th sack.
Quick hint, it ain’t the Giants.
August 12th, 2024 at 11:54 am
None of that coach camouflage gives me any peace of mind. Did u draft Braswell to put pressure on the QB or set the edge. We all know the answer. You can get a nose tackle to set the edge.
August 12th, 2024 at 12:05 pm
“Did u draft Braswell to put pressure on the QB or set the edge.”
It’s not a this or that thing lol to frame it like that is kind of comical. That’s like saying basketball players are drafted to pass or shoot, sounds simple and it’d be cool if the game were that simple, but it’s not and no talent evaluator should be thinking that way cause it’s short-sighted.
August 12th, 2024 at 12:46 pm
SlyPirate … ‘Turns out preseason games have value but only to those who understand the complexities of football.’
OK, NOW I know why they call you Sly Pirate. Slid that one in with barely a snicker. Nice.
August 12th, 2024 at 1:34 pm
Hold up guys, this is preseason, we don’t want to give up our secrets, and we don’t want to chance our players to get hurt in a game that don’t count, that’s why most starters are not playing. We will have plenty of injuries come season time but let’s keep the hounds tied up and make them hungier, until it’s time to attack.
August 12th, 2024 at 1:43 pm
Last two seasons, our defenders were more confused than opposing QBs. Lots of that was on Diva White and Ryan The Stump Neal. Good riddance.
So as Todd evolves his “confuse the QB” pressure packages, let’s hope he has the teaching and measurement systems in place to ensure the players know what the hell it is they’re supposed to be doing. Every. Play. And if they make a mistake, the mistake gets corrected.
And especially against the load of top QBs Bucs will face through the gauntlet.
August 12th, 2024 at 1:53 pm
Not worried about him in the preseason. Don’t want to show what’s he’s capable of until reg season. If he’s a no show then we’ll have a problem.
August 12th, 2024 at 3:44 pm
@Dude, I agree with much of what you wrote. But Yaya is a MUCH greater pass rusher than JTS. Yaya may only have gotten 2 1/2 more sacks than JTS but he did it in half a season!
As far as Braswell is concerned, he should be fine but given the depth we have at that position, Bowles isn’t going to rush him into the rotation before he is ready. Diaby, our best pass rusher now didn’t become a starter until later in the season last year. It might be the same for Braswell.
August 12th, 2024 at 4:31 pm
Really nice stuff from Sly Pirate and Dude. Appreciate the thoughts.
August 12th, 2024 at 5:22 pm
“Diaby, our best pass rusher now didn’t become a starter until later in the season last year. It might be the same for Braswell.“
You realize Yaya logged defensive snaps in very single contest last season, right?
And the data I presented kind of shows there wasn’t much seperation between JTS & Yaya as players last season. I’d even argue of all their sacks, JTSs’ at the end of the Carolina game WK 17 was as important a QB takedown as any QB takedown all of last season. Got our struggling offense the ball back, protected a shut out, and helped punch out ticket to the postseason. I hope we can get the most out of BOTH OLBs for the duration of the season, whatever happens after is up to how we get to that point.
August 12th, 2024 at 7:07 pm
If OLBs can contain & just force QB up into the pocket, you may see most sacks coming from the inside positions