“Defense Does Not Win Championships”
August 11th, 2011
Arguably the great Bucs defensive player of all time, Warren Sapp, dropped so many quality nuggets during his visit to One Buc Palace yesterday, Joe still has more to share.
This time it’s Sapp glowing about the Josh Freeman, his “MVP candidate,” and offering an education to Bucs fans who yearn for the days of Sapp and his teammates.
“I’m going dispel the rumor. Defense does not win championships,” Sapp said via video on Buccaneers.com. “Defense gives you a chance, and the offense will win it for you. And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a franchise quarterback in Josh Freeman.”
“Boy, you give me Josh Freeman, and we might have about four of these things, [championships] around here,” Sapp said, referring to the Bucs teams of his era.
Sapp also was clear about what he expects from the Bucs in 2010. “I don’t care what anybody says. This is a playoff team.”
Joe’s pleased that Sapp has high expectations. Joe also agrees that there’s no reason for the Bucs to take a step backwards in 2011.
August 11th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
I still put a bit more emphasis the defense. I have never seen a team with an awful defense win a SB.
Giants, New England, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Bucs, Saints and Colts all had quality defenses at the time of their respective runs.
In no way is Brad Johnson nor Trent Dilfer the reason Baltimore and the Bucs won their Super Bowl.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
The Rams won with offense.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Mauha, I think Sapp meant the defense has to be there, but it is reall up to the offense. Remember he used to say, give us 20 points and we will win the game. No matter how good your defense is, if you just cannot score you will not win. Of course, our Super bowl showed that the number 1 defense beat the nuber one offense…those yahoos should have changed Gruden’s playbook too.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
There’s a misquote in the article. Sapp actually said, “I don’t care what Thomas 2.2, Eric, Patrick or Capt Tim says. This is a playoff team.”
August 11th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Their great defense spoiled me, so if people aren’t being stopped, sacked, intercepted, etc. and scoring more than back in the day, I’m going to get mad. So yeah, I want to see some actual defense. When Gruden got here he wanted the offense to step up to match the defense; now the Bucs have got to get the defense back closer to our now potent offense.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Nicely played FLBoy.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Well defense alone doesn’t win championships. Defense + franchise QB does. With the exception of a couple guys(Dilfer, Rypien, Hostettler, B. Johnson) its always taken a franchise QB to win it all.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
I think this is why the wind has been sucked out of Capt. Tim’s sails. We are so used to having great defensive teams, and the occasional mediocre offense, that Capt. Tim does not see the outstanding offense being built. The defense is also on its way but is a year behind the offense. Like when sailing Capt., patience my fine pirate friend. It really is not as bad as you might think…Uh, at least I do not think it is. This offense will carry the defense this year while they mature a bit. Plenty of skeptics said the Bucs were crazy for going so young on offense last year. Let’s let this thing play out a bit. Sapp seemed pretty impressed by the team in general, as well as Clayborn.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
BecklesHeartRuud
That list is more than you think! Besides the 4 you mentioned, don’t forget Doug Williams, Steve Young, Kurt Warner, and Drew Breez! 8 out of 30 Super Bowl winning QBs, that’s 26% or a quarter that were non-franchise.
August 11th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
This is why the team will take a big step back. I can’t believe that Joe or Steve White has not written an article about this yet. Last year we surprised alot of teams ( not to mention that these were bad teams as well ) We had 1st year players on offense that made plays. Now that our offense has put a years worth of Game Tape for other teams to see our offense, our tendencies and how to slow down the Offense. This is the NFL. Other teams will learn from success and now out team will have to adjust.
August 11th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
“Just give us 17 points”
I love the Sapp daddy.
I agree, we should all expect the playoffs. Three years is plenty of time to “rebuild”. Look what the Falcons have done since 1-15.
August 11th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
@FLBoyInDallas
Now that was funny!
I understand what Sapp is saying. The truth is it takes both. But in order to win with just offense you’d better be the top one.
Because it will be a shootout without a defense to stop the other team from scoring.
August 11th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Actually all it takes is Adam Vinatieri. has played in 6, and won 4 superbowls.
August 11th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Sapp says we will make the playoffs,anyone who dont believe him is a idiot right? But that only refers to Ruud.Come on Thomas twist this around and find a way to make this fit your opinion ,we want to hear from you now.
August 11th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
wow buc_realist, what an original thought. so is the rest of the league just choosing not to study up on guys like peyton manning and tom brady? pretty sure olson and freeman are capable of making adjustments too.
August 11th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
OAR- Those are some QB’s with some mighty impressive credentials that you are claiming weren’t franchise QB’s. I’ll give it to you that Doug Williams wasn’t quite a franchise QB. Now Steve Young, Kurt Warner, and Drew Brees? Sorry your crazy if you don’t consider all three of those guys star QB’s. I went back and looked at all 45 Super Bowl winning QB’s and the only ones I found that you couldn’t make a legit argument for being a franchise QB were Dilfer, Mark Rypien, Jeff Hostetler, Brad Johnson, Doug Williams, Jim Plunkett, Len Dawson and Jim McMahon. Thats 8 guys out of 45 that weren’t superstar QB’s.
August 11th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
And he was way before my time and I hadn’t heard anything about him before but I just went and looked up Len Dawson’s career achievements and I don’t think you could argue against him being a franchise QB either.
August 11th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
Beckles…
I don’t put Kurt Warner as a Franchise guy, he came from the arena leauge but fo’the guy above to not include Steve Young is false. He was awesome just sat behind a top 5 QB of all Time, for a little bit. And Drew Brees just because he isn’t tall doesn’t mean he’s not Franchise. He’s got one of the best “touches” ever he’s always been great. Playin in the slow big ten but on the lower end of the little ten ladder….he played great.
Buc Girl….
What are u doin for the game? Come over to Clearwater and watch it with me. What do u say?
August 12th, 2011 at 12:08 am
sambizle, 3 super bowl trips, one win, and i believe 2 nfl mvp awards? kurt warner will be in the hof but he wasnt a great qb? give me a break!
August 12th, 2011 at 3:23 am
Defense’s wins games. Offenses wins the championship. But u have to have both that are pretty good.But at least 1 side needs to be the juggernaut.
August 12th, 2011 at 8:25 am
Oakland had the #1 offense and Tampa had the #1 Defense in the o2 Superbowl, and we all seen how that turned out. Sapp is just making excuses for our defense in advance. As good as freeman is he can’t win if the other team outscores him. And lest you forget, we are playing much better quality teams this year. The season starts soon, and we will be able to see how good Sapp’s theory is.
August 12th, 2011 at 8:38 am
Tampa 2, you have alomst a good point…Take away gruden’s play book, and it may have been different. I think TB would still have won, but his point is that if D always won championships the Bucs would have several under Dungy and Gruden. In fact, we may have never had Gruden here if it were true. Whoever said you need one to be pretty good and one to be dominant is right.
Beckleshearts is right on the numbers.
August 12th, 2011 at 8:47 am
BecklesHR
45 Super Bowls, yes, but not 45 different QBs. Nice try! Some of those were won by a QB multiple times. There were 30 different QBs that played in Super Bowls.
BTW Aren’t franchise QBs drafted and stay with one team? Since when are Free Agents considered franchise? I guess our definitons of franchise QBs is different? Was Joe Namath a superstar QB? Or Ken Stabler? Both threw more ints than tds. They sure seemed like franchise QBs to me. If my definiton of a frachise QB is wrong, then thats fine, but only 30 QBs played in 45 SuperBowls. Even using your 8 non superstar QBs, still means my 8 out of 30 is correct.
August 12th, 2011 at 8:48 am
I also forgot to mention Tampa 2…Sapp is not known for holding back or making excuses, even when he was a player. Of course, I would not expect you to know or care about such things. I still remember when you asked on TBO why people think Morris knows anything about the Tampa 2, of which you named yourself. You still have absolutely no credibility.