Three-Safety Sets Coming
October 4th, 2024
Tactics.
If anyone wasn’t aware that K.J. Britt is not an every-down inside linebacker, last night’s game revealed that to America.
And as bad of a game as he played against the run, there may be an argument he’s not a part-time NFL inside linebacker.
Look, Joe is not trying to kill the guy. Love his work ethic and mentality. But physical limitations will doom a defense. There is a reason one-legged Kirk Cousins went after Britt time and again.
As Joe has pointed out, and it was pointed out to Bucs coach Todd Bowles in his day-after presser, he has used Britt in a rotation for a reason.
You don’t take good linebackers off the field.
So Bowles was asked if he may be open to dime packages where an extra defensive back is on the field and the Bucs could pull Britt in passing situations.
Bowles didn’t deny that is something being considered. However, injuries.
“When [Antoine Winfield] comes back we have those type of packages,” Bowles said. But, he cannot use those because the Bucs are so dinged up.
Joe cannot fully go there. Bowles may not be able to use certain packages. But please don’t tell Joe that the talent the Bucs had on the field last night is worse than what the Stinking Panthers have.
Does Carolina have a Vita Vea? Do they have a Lavonte David? Hell, do they even have a Zyon McCollum or Jordan Whitehead? This season the Stinking Panthers haven’t even allowed a 300-yard passing game.
Bucs can’t say that.
October 4th, 2024 at 12:35 pm
Any update on the injury to Whitehead?
Also, was that not a cut block on LVD??? I thought that stuff was illegal…that couldv’e been bad.
October 4th, 2024 at 12:36 pm
Bucs don’t have Jesse Bates in their secondary and he forced 2 fumbles last night- one of them likely costing the Bucs the win.
October 4th, 2024 at 12:36 pm
Todd gets exposed without all-pros
October 4th, 2024 at 12:39 pm
Time to bring up Kalen Deloach! Britt to the practice squad!
October 4th, 2024 at 12:41 pm
It is imperative that accountability is addressed within the team. It’s concerning that there is focus on holding a punter accountable for a mere one net yard difference from last year while allowing Baker to take the blame for last night’s loss. The issues clearly stem from defensive play calling and performance.
Britt, Dean, or another appropriate party, needs to be put on notice. The performance at the end of the game was disappointing and unacceptable. We must see changes implemented this week to improve our performance moving forward or players need to be cut and/or a coach needs to be replaced
October 4th, 2024 at 12:44 pm
I think I’d start by getting Shaq back An addition to finding a replacement for Britt. We need to have a little bit of push from our outside linebackers.
October 4th, 2024 at 12:47 pm
JTS is a liability and Braswell isn’t ready to start. One thing I don’t like about Bowls defense is I see the outside linebackers dropping into coverage as much as they don’t. Put our speedy guys on the receivers, not our outside linebackers.
October 4th, 2024 at 12:53 pm
If Bowles knew Britt was not going to hold up in coverage why didn’t we play a safety in his place for this game.
October 4th, 2024 at 12:57 pm
Joe stole my genius idea!
October 4th, 2024 at 12:58 pm
Why do the Joe(s) constantly do this. You name a problem but provide no solutions. The Bucs were working on a short week and the main guys are injured! There is no speed, all the speed is hurt! 1 player can screw up a lot, you all have been covering football long enough to know that. Stop being emotional
October 4th, 2024 at 12:59 pm
BucsFan81 Says:
October 4th, 2024 at 12:53 pm
If Bowles knew Britt was not going to hold up in coverage why didn’t we play a safety in his place for this game
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I say, what safety??? That plan would have gone out the window as soon as Whitehead got hurt….you all have to stop being so emotional.
October 4th, 2024 at 1:00 pm
I hope that the questions for Todd get pointed every day.
Why not more 6 and 7 man pressures last night when anyone playing coverage not named Zyon couldn’t cover a dead fly with a coffee cup anyway?
Why was Dean playing 19 yards deep of Mooney on the pass that Mooney dropped? If he caught it, touchdown. Why is Dean even playing at all? I loved the social distancing reference someone made. No place for that kind of soft in the NFL.
A few other thoughts.
If Lavonte bats the ball down instead of intercepting it, Bucs take over on the Falcons 16 yard line. Even two holding penalties and they’re still in FG range. Too bad LVD wasn’t a tad more aware at that point.
If the Bucs wrap up the receiver on the last play before the spike to set up the FG with one second left, and drag him forward a few yards, Falcons run out of time.
Coaching situational football is something Todd doesn’t believe in apparently. That and an edge rush.
All preseason he was dropping Braswell in coverage instead of letting him rush the passer. Guess what? He’s a pass rusher who needs experience rushing the passer. Enough dropping big dudes to cover quick shifty guys. Good grief.
So much more was painfully exposed last night about Todd as a head coach / defensive uncoordinator combo.
October 4th, 2024 at 1:07 pm
Nope. Todd Bowles had no updates for any injuries suffered last night. Still running tests, etc.
October 4th, 2024 at 1:23 pm
TombsEN, thank you.
Not sure what people expect from back ups to back ups.
We aren’t talking what do they do well. By the time you get to the end of the bench it’s what do you suck at the least. Ok, do that.
October 4th, 2024 at 1:35 pm
It’s the NFL, and I expect players to perform at the highest level. The backups should be standouts from their high schools and colleges. If you’re good enough to make it to the NFL, I expect professionalism—an ability to learn from mistakes and work hard to improve. These players are getting paid a significant amount of money to play a game.
Britt has shown that he struggles physically, despite his strong spirit and potential. I was rooting for him, but he hasn’t been able to overcome his limitations. We didn’t have a safety, but we had Grier Jr, who played well in college and made some impressive plays in preseason. Given his physical attributes, it would have made sense to give him a chance instead of watching Britt get consistently exposed on the field. Dean has shown he’s too scared of getting burnt deep. What would it hurt to try the other guys we have in Funderbunk and Grier Jr? Look at what Mcccollum has done with the opportunity so far.
October 4th, 2024 at 1:42 pm
Todd Bowles Confidence Poll:
I vote Zero Confidence.
October 4th, 2024 at 1:53 pm
TombsEN … ‘You name a problem but provide no solutions. The Bucs were working on a short week and the main guys are injured! There is no speed, all the speed is hurt! 1 player can screw up a lot, you all have been covering football long enough to know that. Stop being emotional’.
Kudos Tombs; one of the best analyses I’ve seen in a looong time. On the Oct 2nd Injury Report, the Falcons had 5 guys (1 Out; 1 Questionable; 3 Limited/Full Participation in practices during the short week).
The Bucs had 14 guys on the same Injury Report (5 Out, 9 Limited/Full Participation in practices during short week). Of the guys Out, 2 were starters on defense (Winfield, Kancey). Of the 9 Limited, 2 were starters on defense (Vea, Hall) & 2 others were key rotational players (Gaines, Gholston). And then of course we lost Whitehead during the game. Bummer.
The Bucs’ starters & key rotational guys are talented, but the amount of current injuries is ridiculous, on both defense and offense. We KNEW back in the Spring that we needed to bring in pass rushing help & LB help, but we didn’t. This is the cost of inaction.
October 4th, 2024 at 1:56 pm
TombsEN
Haven’t seen you here before but WELCOME. You’ll be in the minority because it’s a lot easier to hurl insults than engage in some realistic evaluation as you have justs done!!! THX!
“The Bucs were working on a short week and the main guys are injured! There is no speed, all the speed is hurt! 1 player can screw up a lot, you all have been covering football long enough to know that. Stop being emotional.”
AMEN brother. Rack up Whitney Houston for many of these guys…”I get so emotional baby”. Great to have fire and passion and I was cursing at the screen like most of you…but it’s over time to move on and in additioin to being emotional…throwing the baby out with the bathwater is never productive!!
October 4th, 2024 at 2:03 pm
Really, do we have 3 healthy safeties. We have Izien, Merryweather, a hurt Whitehead and an injured Winfield. I guess it can’t be worse than the pass defense we sent out last night
October 4th, 2024 at 2:12 pm
@Sheen – that was absolutely an illegal block on Lavonte. Of course the officials didn’t call it.
Just like the blatant face mask on Irving, which torpedoed our final drive bc they called holding instead.
As a Bucs fan I’m used to heinous officiating, but last night was even worse than normal.
What will be done about it? Nothing. Refs will continue to make their bad calls and no calls and the decide the outcome of games while teams and players get screwed. They could so easily institute a replay system for it, but they refuse. Even the announcers were going on about it. That’s when you know it’s blatant.
F Goodell and F the NFL
October 4th, 2024 at 2:33 pm
There is a reason AWJ makes more than Tykee Smith.
And about the officiating, I will never complain about missed calls. It sucks, but it happens. I’m not a Saints fan still griping about PI in 2019.
However, I would love an explanation as to why the late hit call Baker got was picked up. I am way more bothered by that one
October 4th, 2024 at 2:34 pm
This situation is very noticable with all the injuries to the defense. Time for something different! Or that next road game will be another disaster!
Soft zone, please use less. Dime yes. With SVD8 on injured reserve please find a suitable substitute, either another linebacker or safety! Please. TB don’t use the bad tackling as an excuse to do more of the same or you may very well GET MORE OF THE SAME!!
October 4th, 2024 at 2:35 pm
If you watched the broadcast you can see whitehead say he pulled his groin.
October 4th, 2024 at 2:40 pm
I think everyone is underselling the number of injuries, I’m not sure you have enough players left – and you can’t just role in a corner off the bench and have them play a role they don’t know.
I’ve bashed Britt more than anyone on this board, said all offseason he’s going to get you killed in the passing game and RBs would just run around the edge – and all of that has happened.
But last night, Britt was playing because there wasn’t any other options. Dennis was supposed to be the fast pass coverage LB, if not him, you could use Winfield who you can play anywhere on the field. If not him, Whitehead…
Britt sucks, shouldn’t be starting for sure, but at some point you just run out of guys.
Thankfully, however, Todd made sure training camp was Camp Cupcake, if he didn’t do that, can you imagine all the additional injuries we’ve had?
October 4th, 2024 at 2:41 pm
* “Dennis was supposed to be the fast pass coverage LB” – Obviously I meant after David.
October 4th, 2024 at 2:45 pm
If you’re used to looking at box scores, go look at the Bucs defense stats, and look at how short that list of players is.
The Falcons literally have 9 additional players on the defensive stat sheet.
Depth matters, injuries matter.
The Bucs had the game won before the refs took that W away, the fact they did it with all the injuries, is impressive. I know the reactionary simple thing to do is to throw a fit about the defense, but you can not look at that box score list and not realize what bad shape the defense was in.
October 4th, 2024 at 3:02 pm
Hot Rod
Wow we agree completely! I’m probably not quite as cynical as you about the refs I thinks it’s more simple incompetence and mistakes as much as any conscious attempt to effect the outcome.
But indeed the refs SUCKED last night. And like DrunkBucs fan I think picking up the roughing call on on the late hit on Baker was HORRIBLE. Replay was very close in terms of whether Bakers feet had made contact with the white yet…but it’s not a scoring play and the purpose of the call is to keep the game from getting out of hand. How many other dirty plays did the Falcons make?
The block at LVD’s knees made me livid. Rod if I was like you I’d say they should have just sent Britt after that OL’s knees for the entire next series!!!
October 4th, 2024 at 3:32 pm
The really frustrating part of the bad calls is. I saw it, the announcers saw it, the players saw it, it clearly showed on the replay. And the refs? What a joke! Yet no one could fix the call to make it right. Let the players decide the game. Not the refs. One of the reasons i cancelled my season tickets and the 1pm heat bowls that apparently the team asked for 4pm games and was given one. Who is running this clown show with a tainted product? I do believe the nba has figured it out better than nfl. O well. On to the aints. Go BUCS!
October 4th, 2024 at 4:06 pm
Thanks Defense Rules and Stpete, I agree with you all and other posters about how much of a liability Britt is. I truly think Tampa is one more offseason away from truly competing, you just can’t have the amount of dead money that we have had and not expect holes on the team. I say spend money in free agency on a MLB, Edge, or Guard.
October 4th, 2024 at 4:08 pm
Thisisouryear,
Bringing Shaq back is an outstanding idea.
He would be a huge help
October 4th, 2024 at 4:08 pm
stpetebucfan – I don’t actually think the refs were paid off or got their orders from the NFL, I agree they’re just completely incompetent.
On Baker, I didn’t have an issue with picking up the flag, it was the correct call to pick it up – but then they call that nonsense early in the game vs Britt where he gets a PF on a BS call. As for the low hit on LVD, I didn’t think it was dirty, that’s just football, but if the Bucs thought it was dirty, they should have went out and chopped Cousins in response. Perhaps if David had been hurt and out, maybe they would have, but of course if the Bucs do that, the response is to chop Baker, and so-on and so-on. Thankfully David was OK, but had he not been, I’d have wanted revenge.
But the call at the end of the game is just inexcusable. Not just missing a blatant facebook, but also calling a phantom holding call on the same play – a 25 yard swing and taking a 1st down off the board with only a minute and half left, and the ball should have been at about the Falcons 10-yard line. The game is literally over, the Bucs just run out the clock. The refs stole that W from the Bucs.
The Bucs can only do so much, they were the better team, they were missing half their roster, they won the game – that’s why I’m just mad about the outcome, but not really all that critical of Bowles and the defense. They won the game, they made the big-time stop when they needed to when they forced the Falcons to go 4-and-out with a turnover. The game was over. Then the refs changed the outcome.
October 4th, 2024 at 4:23 pm
Rod I can definitely meet you halfway on the penalty thing. If you are going to pick up the one for Baker because you “let them play” you darn sure need to pick up when a guy FALLS ON Britt
October 4th, 2024 at 5:46 pm
@Rod – I agree, but here’s why the stuff with refs makes me angry:
The NFL could easily, immediately rectify these terrible officiating disasters right now if they wanted to. They already have instant booth replay to call down and review change plays for specific situations.
October 4th, 2024 at 5:47 pm
They could easily do the same with penalties, especially something so egregious that every single replay shows it.
No, I don’t want to them calling down to call holding on every single snap, but personal fouls? Yes, they should be able to get that right, 100% of the time. ESPECIALLY at such a critical juncture in the game.
It destroys the competitive fairness of a game.
October 4th, 2024 at 5:59 pm
Drunk Bucs Fan Says:
October 4th, 2024 at 4:23 pm
Rod I can definitely meet you halfway on the penalty thing. If you are going to pick up the one for Baker because you “let them play” you darn sure need to pick up when a guy FALLS ON Britt
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Agreed, that’s what I mean, the refs were trash. They call that cupcake garbage on one play, then pickup the flag on another.
October 4th, 2024 at 6:02 pm
unbelievable – Can wait until next week when the Bucs get the letter from the NFL saying, opps, our bad, the refs shouldn’t have called that. Sorry about knocking you out of 1st place and giving the Falcons a 2-game lead in the division.
October 4th, 2024 at 6:34 pm
Tackling was trash. Couldn’t stop the pass. Man v man we played better and zone we got demolished yet we kept playing zone. Bowles got demolished by a first time play caller. Also we went conservative in the 4th looks like Bowles is reverting back to his old ways. Down right trash.
October 4th, 2024 at 7:36 pm
I almost forgot about that dirty dive tackle at Lavontes knee. What the hell was that!? I kinda missed it live and the beginning of it on the replay so maybe it wasn’t as bad as what I saw but no where near the play and David was almost taken out.
October 4th, 2024 at 9:11 pm
Yup
October 4th, 2024 at 9:38 pm
I’ve heard so much crap today about the Falcons today in the media. You wouldn’t even know the Bucs played in that game. They are never mentioned in the media and now the Falcons are a Top-5 team. The Bucs had a lead most of that game, the Falcons never stopped them and the Bucs led with 1-second to go. It took a missed call, a bad fumble and some horrible play calling for the Falcons to get to that 1-second. And then a scrub receiver gets free for a 40-yard TD run and a bad rule that doesn’t let the Bucs get the ball, who by the way were never stopped by Atlanta. All that to eek out a win. Mayfield had a better qb rating than Cousins too. I think Cousins will be hurt within the next 3 or 4 games.
October 5th, 2024 at 4:18 pm
Alanbucsfan or Jessie Bates, actually better, is AWJ. He’ll be back soon, don’t worry
October 5th, 2024 at 4:19 pm
Our** sorry