Update Shared On Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey
September 25th, 2024
Rightfully so, Joe has racked up about 3,800 steps pacing the halls of JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters yearning for the return of starting defensive tackles Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey.
The Bucs defense struggled mightily without both on Sunday. It was the first time the duo missed the same game since Kancey was drafted in 2023.
Replacements Logan Hall and Greg Gaines played most of the snaps in the defensive interior and recorded zero quarterback pressures Sunday against Denver — and were just OK against the run and shaky versus quarterback scrambles.
So when are Vea (knee) and Kancey (calf) returning?
Todd Bowles doesn’t know, per his comments to SiriusXM NFL Radio this week: “We’re going to wait until the week progresses a little bit more. They look better. (laughs) They’re walking down the hallway better. But we’ll see.”
Yesterday on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Bowles noted that he must see Vea or Kancey run to get an idea of how close they are to returning.
Getting Vea or Kancey back Sunday against the Eagles would be huge. Philadelphia has fresh offensive line injuries and Joe’s not sure the guys behind Vea and Kancey have the skills to capitalize.
Ira Kaufman Reflects On Sunday’s Beating — What’s Critical And What’s Not — And The Current State Of The Bucs
September 25th, 2024 at 4:52 am
Umm Joe is right but with Bowles?
Joe won’t know till game time and will have to keep on with a few thousand steps me thinks.
Go Bucs!
September 25th, 2024 at 5:18 am
I don’t think they know when they will return. And will they return at 100%?
September 25th, 2024 at 5:29 am
joe you need to get in your 10,000 steps…
then go to forbici in hyde park, for a square pizza pie to go 🙂
September 25th, 2024 at 5:50 am
Not promising
September 25th, 2024 at 6:00 am
Joe … ‘Philadelphia has fresh offensive line injuries and Joe’s not sure the guys behind Vea and Kancey have the skills to capitalize.’
The answer to that one is easy Joe … NO. Gaines is a functional rotational player to spell Vea at NT, but he’s not a lead dog. Brewer, Greene & Stille are adequate Practice Squad players, but not much more than that. Gholston just hasn’t been effective last year or this year (Father Time catching up?). Hall & Kancey both have me shaking my head asking WHY?
The stats for our front-end guys through 3 games are woeful (our defenders have logged 212 total def snaps … 59 Commanders; 85 Lions, 68 Broncos):
o Vea (2 games): 74 def snaps (34.9%) … 0 sacks, 0 QBKD, 1 QB Hurry … 1 QB Pressure … 1 TFL, 3 tackles (2 solo)
o Hall (2 games): 76 def snaps (35.8%) … 0 sacks, 0 QBKD, 0 QB Hurry … 0 QB Pressures … 0 TFL, 2 tackles (1 solo)
o Gaines (3 games): 148 def snaps (69.8%) … 0 sacks, 2 QBKD, 0 QB Hurry… 2 QB Pressures … 1 TFL, 4 tackles (1 solo)
o Gholston (3 games): 68 def snaps (32.1%) … 0 sacks, 0 QBKD, 0 QB Hurry … 0 QB Pressure … 0 TFL, 3 tackles (1 solo)
o Brewer (3 games): 65 def snaps (30.7%) … 0 sacks, 1 QBKD, 0 QB Hurry … 1 QB Pressure … 1 TFL, 7 tackles (3 solo)
o Greene (3 games): 58 def snaps (27.4%) … 0 sacks, 0 QBKD, 1 QB Hurry … 1 QB Pressure … 0 TFL, 2 tackles (0 solo)
o Stille (2 games): 12 def snaps (5.7%) … 0 sacks, 0 QBKD, 0 QB Hurry … 0 QB Pressures … 0 TFL, 1 tackles (0 solo)
o Kancey (0 games): 0 def snaps (0%) … 0 sacks, 0 QBKD, 0 QB Hurry … 0 QB Pressures … 0 TFL, 0 tackles (0 solo)
So all together our 8 up-front guys have recorded 531 def snaps and in there have produced 0 sacks, 3 QB Knockdowns, 2 QB Hurries … for a total of 5 QB Pressures … plus 3 TFLs and 22 tackles (with 8 of those being solo).
Wow, and you were worried about the OLBs pass rush Joe. Look no further than the interior of our DLine to see why our sacks & QB pressures are way down (Bucs NEED the interior ‘pressure’ to free up our OLBs & blitzers. On the good news side though, those 8 have only had 5 Missed Tackles thus far. Britt has 4 all by himself.
September 25th, 2024 at 6:22 am
Kancey is a bum. Soft as Charmin. He’s absolutely useless to this team.
Another week on the couch playing video games.
September 25th, 2024 at 7:19 am
Joe is quick to scapecoat a couple of backup DTs, but for some reason won’t call out our starting OLB YaYa. Before the season when Joe was pining for an edge rusher I said what about YaYa, don’t you think YaYa will be that double digit sack guy for us? Joe’s reply was spot on, until he is, he isn’t. Well it turns out he ain’t. YaYa had a backup rookie tackle getting his first start, and couldn’t win. He wasn’t chipped, or doubled, he was just beat by a rookie. YaYa has as many sacks as his jersey number, ZERO! Time to start calling out guys we were counting on who aren’t producing.
September 25th, 2024 at 7:51 am
“Joe’s not sure the guys behind Vea and Kancey have the skills to capitalize” Polite way of saying they suck?
September 25th, 2024 at 7:53 am
looks like philly is gonna run all over this dline on sunday
September 25th, 2024 at 7:57 am
But wait, per the fans on this here site, we didn’t need our star players to roll Denver? “Injuries happen.” “Next man up” etc etc. First of all good job by all with the ubiquitous, eyeroll cliches as if it brings about some newfound enlightenment. You guys are probably pretty sweet at LinkedIn posts, with all the horrible/cringe/vomit inducing cliches posted by 25yr old try hards thinking their start up tech company is a “rocket ship” headed “to the moon.” It’s ok tho Calijah, take half the yr off KINNNG, you too vita. We only need yall for the back half of the year. Wait, what…Oh…so we DO need our key players? Injuries DO matter? Key players that tend to be injury prone IS annoying? Since some of you love cliches so much, here’s another one: “availability is your best ability.”
September 25th, 2024 at 7:59 am
I don’t think YaYa is in football shape. He was injured and idle for most of this off-season. It’s like he’s weeks behind.
September 25th, 2024 at 8:14 am
Maybe that’s where this Tennessee ready trickled down attitude comes from. L were 2-2 after this. I guess it’s funny to Bowles or he doesn’t think he needs his star players.
September 25th, 2024 at 8:22 am
c’mon Licht!!!!!!!! make a move!!!!!!
trade for dexter lawrence!!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 25th, 2024 at 8:46 am
Do something, anything.
September 25th, 2024 at 8:47 am
In other words they’re not playing against the Eagles.
September 25th, 2024 at 9:02 am
The Bucs are going to play it safe with their starters. They are not going to rush them back.
September 25th, 2024 at 9:04 am
I was optimistic the Bucs would win 9 games. Looks like 6 or 7 at the most.
September 25th, 2024 at 9:36 am
Kancey and Vea are not the saviors of this team. Kancey is a bust and Vea can’t stay healthy. Trade Dean, Hall and White for an edge and another DT.
September 25th, 2024 at 9:58 am
I don’t get how some of yall are calling kancey a bust. Injuries happen. Vea has bin hurt lvd has bin hurt windfall elf has bin hurt Brady has bin hurt. So that’s how we tell if a guy is a bust if they get hurt come on it football. Evans use to pull the famous hammy every season. Yall calling people bust and yall ain’t even make it out of pee wee football smh
September 25th, 2024 at 10:25 am
Lmao our dreadful Dline is the reason that Bowels and company felt that our Oline was fixed. They practice against each other so when the Dline was doing just as they do in the games(NOTHING) it made the coaches think the Oline was special. News flash THEY BOTH SUCK… This team needs to find some true ballers on both the offensive and defensive lines. Please stop with the small school dramatics and the switching of positions. We need guys that come in and play the positions they excelled at in college.
September 25th, 2024 at 10:56 am
So right now all they can do is slowly amble down a hallway? Sounds like they’re weeks if not months away from being ready
September 25th, 2024 at 10:59 am
The Bucs placed their Long Snapper on IR with an hamstring injury. I don’t know what is up with these rash of injuries!!
September 25th, 2024 at 11:17 am
Pelsbuc61
Honestly Vea is not injury prone, that would be Carlton brittle Davis. Kancey is in year 2 you idiots can’t call him a bust because of a non season ending injury. Football is a violent sport if you ever played you would know how freakish injuries are.
AND
Who would ever give up a starter for Hall and white or trade for Dean salary if you as a fan even thinks he is trash. Save your gm advice for franchise mode in madden, that’s the only universe where a trade like that would happen
September 25th, 2024 at 11:26 am
We’re going to lose when the iggles are having oline issues and their top 2 wrs are out.
September 25th, 2024 at 12:12 pm
Calijah Kancey has already missed 3 times the games SUH missed in his entire career. And that was after being suspended for stomping on a guys leg.
September 25th, 2024 at 1:35 pm
How long did it take to come up with that stat? Suh has never been injured in his career! Suh is retired and you’re already comparing Kancey 3 games in on his second year lol wow you guys are impatiently pathetic. Should they rush him back because you’re scared to play without him? Dude has to get back in game shape even if he is ready.
September 25th, 2024 at 4:02 pm
Maybe there’s an issue with the strength and conditioning coaching. Most fans believe that a large part of the issue is that the starters aren’t really playing during the pre season.
I know it’s rough to call KC brittle already in his 2nd year but the kid is in what his early 20s and hasn’t been healthy for the start of both of his seasons or maybe he doesn’t know the difference between being injured or simply being hurt. Whatever the case may be it’s definitely frustrating to see it happening 2yrs in a row when these guys have access to the best of everything when it comes to health and nutrition.
September 25th, 2024 at 4:41 pm
Another week without them = a loss. Simple as that.
Unless our offensive line finally decides to show up. Then maybe, just maybe, we can win a shootout.
Otherwise we are effed and about to be a .500 team
September 26th, 2024 at 9:22 am
This team is done. Losing to the Broncos set the tone for the entire season. It’s time for change all around. Even Jason licht