Bull Rush

Not much to say about the game yesterday.

But I will say this, if the Bucs don't get back to having everyone in their gap on run fits then it won't matter whether you call it Tampa 2.0 or any other nickname you can come up with, it ain't gonna work.

I don't give a damn how many blitzes you call.

Oh and boy did Coach Morris call them.

32 by my unofficial count.

And yet after all that the Bucs still didn't have any sacks, no interceptions, and very few pressures.

If you can't play your base defense eventually its going to come back to haunt you.

It wasn't as if the Lions came in with some kind of exotic blocking scheme. They ran basically what the last few Bucs opponents have run at them, zones, split action bellies and Iso belly cut backs (AKA The Saints' play). And yet the defense still hasn't seemed to fix it.

Every time one of the Bucs defensive ends face a kick out block its a potential for disaster. Either the End doesn't get under the block and the running back runs straight down hill into the secondary, OR the defensive end DOES get underneath the block but then the guy who is supposed to cover his back doesn't and the running back gets into the secondary on the perimeter with the potential for a big play.

No matter how many times teams have run kick out blocks against the Bucs this season it seems like one of these scenarios continues to play out several times during the game each and every week. And the run defense continues to get carved up.

I'm just going to give a few more comments about the defense and then the individual breakdowns.

- It appears that the injuries finally truly caught up with the Bucs. For one when you look and see Myron Lewis and Elbert Mack playing important roles in dime then you know there's a problem. Mack just is not a good secondary. Lewis has the potential to be but its obvious he isn't ready right now.

Nothing to be ashamed about there, most rookies aren't ready to play their first year. Ask Ronde Barber about whether that's such a bad thing.

But unfortunately because of injuries the Bucs don't have a choice but to play both guys.

With Lewis his technique is just so bad right now that him making any plays at all would be a massive feat. He turns the wrong way when looking for the ball, sticks out the wrong arm when trying to make a play on the ball, is not the greatest tackler. And yet the Bucs don't really have anyone else.

So you try to hide them with big cushions. But then a team picks on them BECAUSE of the big cushions. So you put them up in bump and then teams bomb them out of the stadium. It's clear to me that those guys being out there would severely hamper what any defensive coordinator in the world's play book.

Similarly with Gerald McCoy out now there is no big time pass rusher inside for the Bucs. That means that on first and second downs its not as likely that the defensive line will get a pass rush all on their own against play action. Do you blitz to help out with the pass rush? If you do then you might leave Lewis out there on an island by himself.

Is that really a risk you are willing to take?

But then again even if the Bucs play zone and rush four the fact that the quarterback won't be pressured means that the secondary will still be stressed.

That's the conundrum that Coach Morris is faced with because of the loss of McCoy.

And lets not forget about the free safety position where the Bucs have gone from a potential Pro Bowler, to a helluva late round gem, to a guy who has ball skills but just isn't very physical.

You put all that together and you have what we all saw yesterday.

It is what it is.

- By the way, the people who continue to make asses out of themselves complaining about Barrett Ruud will look particularly silly when they try to pin the terrible run defense on him this time. I don't think he was out of position the whole game. But hey, for some folks in this area it doesn't matter whose play it actually was, its still Ruud's fault, smdh.

- It still bothers the hell out of me that the Bucs defensive line isn't good at running pass rush games. Yesterday Mike Bennett and Tim Crowder try to run an EX. Crowder sets the guard up beautifully with a fake bull rush. Crowder, however, gets up field too much to come in and pick the guard so both he and Crowder ends up stuck in their one on ones.

Alex Magee and Stylez White are on the other side attempting to run a TEX with Stylez as the inside rusher. Stylez does a great job of getting off the ball, making a move on the guard, and then trying to get to the offensive tackle's back. Magee, however, only took two steps up field and then came inside allowing the offensive tackle to follow him right into Stylez's rush and pin him inside.

What is it about "looping inside late will allow the inside rusher a chance to get to the offensive tackle's back" that's so damn hard to understand?!?!?!

- Again, the Bucs ran somewhere in the area of 32 blitzes yesterday. And yet they came away with no sacks, few pressures, and no turnovers on the day. That, my friends, is a major problem.

On to the individual breakdowns.

Tim Crowder: Crowder had 1 tackle and two assists by my count. He was ok for most of the game but he was one of the ends who didn't get underneath the kick out block against the run. That HAS to get fixed.

Frank Okam: Didn't really know what to expect from Okam but I thought he played ok. He was in his gap most of the game and I had him with 2 tackles and 3 assists. As I did expect though he wasn't much of a factor as far as pass rush goes. They did have him drop underneath a tight end one time which showed they believe in his athletic ability. Not a bad start for his career as a Buccaneer.

Roy Miller: Roy is a guy who played well most of the day but again he got washed on some of those kick out block plays and made it easier for the running back to come down hill. I had him with 1 tackle and 1 assist.

Stylez G White: I thought Stylez played ok but he didn't get near enough pressure on the quarterback. He had many opportunities one on one against the offensive tackle but didn't even have a pressure. He did almost get to the quarterback late in the game but he was just a half a second late and it gave Drew Stanton just long enough to get the ball off to Calvin Johnson for a 1st down.

I had him with 1 tackle and 2 assists and he did hustle well to the ball all day. But the Bucs needed more production out of him yesterday and didn't get it. With McCoy out he has to find a way to make more plays if this defense is going to have a shot at being any good.

Michael Bennett: I still believe that playing Bennett at undertackle instead of Okam was the better option. Okam played ok but he wasn't dynamic and I believe Bennett would have been.

Just had to say that.

I only had Bennett with 1 assisted tackle. He did force a holding penalty with his penetration one play which was good. But he is another guy who needed to be more productive yesterday and wasn't. Potential is great but unless production follows it all goes to waste. At some point Bennett is simply going to have to play better or he will be one of those guys that get labeled as never fulfilling his potential.

Al Woods: I had Woods with two tackles. He played well most of the day but on a simple ISO play he got knocked into the opposite A gap opening up a huge lane for the running back to go through. He is going to have to work on anchoring in their against double teams.

Alex Magee: Magee got a lot more oportunities on Sunday and I had him with 1 tackle. He had an opportunity for a sack but he missed the tackle on Stanton. I thought he played ok.

Well that's all for now, see you in the comments section!

Bull Rush

When writing my posts about the Bucs I try to stay as objective as possible. You may not notice it but a lot of times I have to go back and substitute "they" for "we". Its because no matter what I will always feel allegiance to a franchise that I played for for six years of my life. But I don't want to give the impression that I am biased towards them in my posts because I don't want anyone to be able to question the credibility of the substance of my critiques. But every once in awhile the Bucs will play a game where its damn near impossible for me to hide my biases.

The Atlanta game yesterday was one of those games.

We should have won that game.

Don't get me wrong, before the season started I had plenty of doubt about whether we could beat the Falcons this year. They looked to be a much improved squad and we couldn't even beat them last year. Add to that all the recent injuries before the game and during the game yesterday and you could make the case that it was a long shot.

But after watching the game for the second time I am even more convinced that WE SHOULD HAVE WON THAT GAME!!!

There was no one play that lost us the game any more than there was any won play that put us in a position to win it. But at crucial moments in the game the Bucs just fell short. But it was so close. So damn close that I'm sure those players could damn near taste it. And that makes the loss just that much harder to digest.

What makes it worse is the talking point that all sports pundits have now to dismiss everything these young Bucs have accomplished this year. That they haven't beaten a team with a winning record. Never mind that other, to most people better teams, have lost to some of those same teams that the Bucs beat out (Patriots losing big time to the Browns for example). People haven't wanted to believe in the Bucs all year and now this loss helps their case. It doesn't matter that a team which many are calling the best in the NFC could only beat the Bucs by 6 at home and 4 on the road. Nope, the Bucs are supposedly frauds in a lot of people's minds after yesterday.

BULLSHIT!!!

You're talking about a team where only one offensive lineman has started all 12 games. A team that is down to its 3rd free safety (or technically fourth). A team that is the youngest in all of the NFL and they STILL have 7 wins including 4 on the road.

Yeah they might not make the playoffs but lets be real for a moment. They have ALREADY exceeded most people's expectations, "soft" schedule or not, and then some. And they still have a chance at a winning record with their remaining schedule consisting of the Redskins, Lions, and Seahawks to go along with the defending world champion Saints.

So if you want to call the Bucs frauds its best if you not do it around me. Because I still remember all the naysayers BEFORE the season started. I remember all the people who didn't think it was possible for the Bucs to win six games all year. This team has and continues to out perform expectations, sometimes even in a loss. And I for one am not about to allow the same people who dogged them before the season act like they were predicting a Super Bowl now.

As for the game yesterday the defensive line played well if not spectacular but that was partly by the Falcons' design. Instead of running at the defensive line as they had in the previous game, this time they ran a lot more at the edges. They were pinning in the defensive end and undertackle and getting a pulling guard out on the linebacker. They put pressure on the secondary to be perfect in their run fits and unfortunately that wasn't all the case. But there wasn't much the defensive line could do about it except try to get up the field on those blocks which they did a decent job of all day. And not for nothing the defense did hold Michael Turner to less than 100 yards for once.

Now I know I have beaten this dead horse all year but it literally made my head hurt to see the Bucs use the 3-3-5 so much yesterday. We may not have any pro bowlers up front but we do have some guys who can pass rush if given a chance. Instead they were put in situations where they three guys had to try to beat five along with a chip block or we blitzed which never seems to get much pressure either. Don't get me wrong, a few times guys still were able to beat two offensive lineman and get some pressure, but why make it so damn hard? I just will never understand why Coach Morris is so wedded to a defense that doesn't produce favorable results the majority of the time. Especially when in my eyes its clear that a four man rush has been much more productive this year.

I'll tell you this much, no matter what anybody says I am convinced that we would have been better off rushing four to at least have a shot of getting some pressure on Matt Ryan on 3rd and 20 instead just rushing three. And while that one play didn't lose the game for us, that conversion was definitely a back breaker.

Individual breakdowns:

Tim Crowder: I didn't have Crowder down for a single stat. Some of that I'm sure is due to the Falcons' blocking scheme because its not like he played poorly. But some of it is also because of how much 3-3-5 the Bucs ran which he isn't in on. I will say this, some people believe that the touchdown run by Turner was Crowder's fault. It wasn't. He had to try to spill the play by getting underneath the tight end coming across the formation and he did that. But the hole Turner had to run through was just too large and so he couldn't get far enough inside the block to make the tackle. Roy Miller was actually the problem on that play which I will get to later.

Gerald McCoy: I had McCoy down for a tackle, 3 pressures, a hit on the quarterback and a forced holding penalty off another good pass rush. It was a decent game for him production wise but again he didn't have near enough opportunities to rush from a 3 technique in my opinion. He also had the stupid personal foul penalty after the Falcons were already in a hole because of their own personal foul against Roddy White. The replay didn't show clearly why he hit the offensive lineman in the back but it was way too late and way too obvious for the refs not to throw a flag.

Now I said my peace about bullying the bullies on Friday but what he did simply didn't fit into that category as best I could tell. I don't know what the guy did to provoke McCoy but when its that late and away from the actual play he has to let it ride until the next down.

One question I had was why he decided to all of a sudden start doing spin moves. I don't think that was a good move for the kind of offensive lineman he faced anyway but more to the point I don't know if that's a good move for him anyway. It could be, at some point. But why try it out against a big game like this one? Kind of a head scratcher if you ask me.

Roy Miller: I had Miller with a tackle and an assist and a forced holding penalty on a running play. I thought he played ok for most of the day but the Falcons' blocking scheme along with the Bucs game plan of having him line up in a G technique a lot on the guard rather than the center didn't lend itself to him having a big day of production. On the touchdown play to Turner he simply allowed himself to be caved in too far by the guard. He ended up all the way over by the opposite defensive tackle which created far too great a lane for Turner to run through. Now that play was an anomaly for him yesterday as he wasn't getting pushed around most of the game. Still he has to learn how to anchor in and fight pressure better, especially that close to the goalline.

Stylez G. White: I had Stylez with a tackle, an assist, 3 pressures and 3 hits on the quarterback. If there is one guy who probably could have made more of a difference with more 4 man rushes it was probably White who was really getting after it yesterday. I'm sure the left tackle for the Falcons is grateful that he didn't get those opportunities though.

Michael Bennett: By my count Bennett had 2 tackles. He had an opportunity for a tackle for a loss but he couldn't bring Turner down. Bennett continues to be frustrating to watch because he never seems to put it all together. He had a really nice spin but he fell down. He has improved on playing the run but now it seems like his pass rush has fallen off. He keeps trying to be too finesse for my taste instead of just running around or through his opponents. I don't think he has a clue how good he could be. But at some point you have to show more than just potential and that moment is fast approaching.

Al Woods: I had Woods down for 1 tackle. I thought he played well, if sparingly.

Alex Magee: I didn't have Magee down for any stats.

That's all for today. I haven't been in the comments section lately but I'll try to do better this week.

Bull Rush

Soooooo all the Tampa Bay Buccaneers yesterday was go out on the West Coast where they supposedly can't win, throttle an offense that was supposed to run all over them, and damn near doubled their sack total for the year in the process.

I'd say that's grounds for celebration!!!

Did I forget to mention that the defense pitched a shut out?

Now that was impressive to watch.

Its funny because before the game I tweeted that the weather and the 49ers style of play might force the Bucs to win by making them play to their strengths. On offense in my opinion that meant leaning heavily on the run and then hitting some nice play action passes without getting Freeman killed.

On defense because the 49ers are so run oriented on offense it meant the Bucs would have to avoid playing so much 3-3-5. And that turned out to indeed be the case as by my count the Bucs only ran a 3-3-5 four times before the the final 3 minutes of the game.

Of course it COULD just be a coincidence that the biggest sack game of the season for just so happened to occur when the use of the 3-3-5 was curbed, but I definitely am not buying that. And while the 49ers don't exactly have a bunch of world beaters on their offensive line, 6 sacks is 6 sacks.

Now I could act like everyone played perfectly and not criticise anyone or anything after a game like that but I am always going to look for ways the defensive lineman can improve. Even after they have a dominant performance.

I am not sure how many people watched NFLN's pregame show yesterday but there was a segment where Warren Sapp talked about how the Giants would have to rush Michael Vick in order to be most effective against him. The same kind of rules could be said for most mobile quarterbacks and they definitely applied to how the Bucs should have approached pass rushing Troy Smith. The truth is the Bucs probably could have and should have had a couple more sacks and or at the least they shouldn't have given up 45 yards rushing to the guy.

The basic premise is that you don't want to run behind a mobile quarterback because then you have no shot of getting any pressure on them. You have to adjust your pass rush, especially at defensive end, to be more power and inside moves so that you can have a shot to get a mobile quarterback on the ground or at least flush him to your buddies. But as Sapp said if you run deeper than the quarterback you might as well "buy a ticket" to watch the game because you have made yourself a spectator.

It's a point I made last week in my quick scouting report but I figure maybe coming from Sapp it holds more weight with people. Unfortunately even on a day when the pass rush was humming, several times the defensive ends "bought tickets" to the show. And that's why I said they could have had at least two more sacks because with better rush lane discipline Troy Smith wouldn't have had anywhere to go.

Having said that the criticisms I have today are definitely nitpicking. At the end of the day the Bucs are 7-3 and one game out from the division leader with 6 games left and they just shut out a team that was coming off a two game winning streak and they just shut down the NFL's 10th leading rusher and held him to 23 yards and less than 2 yards a carry, on the road. It doesn't get much better than that.

On to the individual break downs.


Tim Crowder: Crowder had 2 tackles two good rushes and a hit on the quarterback. He seemed to be snake bit though in that he missed two sacks. On a day when seemingly everyone else was getting the quarterback on the ground, Smith managed to break out Crowder's grasp twice. I know it had to be frustrating for him but I thought he played a really good game and I also thought he had a much better showing rushing inside on 3rd downs.


Gerald McCoy: The big guy finally got his first sack and I'm sure he is happy to get that monkey off his back. But that wasn't the only play he made. I had him with 1 tackle 5 assists, two pressures and four other good rushes. I'm not sure why but it appeared that his pass rush was a lot better early on in the game and then fell off a bit at the end. The 49ers were jumping him at the line a lot and he did a great job of coming off the ball, getting his hands on them, and quickly coming off with a rip or an arm over. He really was giving both guards fits with that approach. But later it seemed like he might have started making too many finesse moves.

I don't necessarily think McCoy should be a bull rush only guy, but I do think that some times it might be better for him to really work his power on the guards and then get off them quickly and just keep doing that until they start sitting on it. If he can force them to change their pass set THEN he can start working more finesse moves and be more effective with them.

Still there is no denying that his pass rush is getting better and he is giving interior linemen headaches at this point. Consistency will be key for him the rest of the season.

Roy Miller: After a rough patch it appears that Roy Miller is getting back to playing the way I always thought he could play. He still got pushed around twice on Sunday but you aren't going to win against every double team. The more important thing is that the majority of the time he stood his ground or got penetration. He had a tackle for loss 2 other tackles and an assist by my count. He also forced a penalty on an offensive lineman by getting quick penetration on the snap. On another play he got good pressure on Smith and forced him up into the pocket to be sacked by one of his line mate.

The Bucs have finally wised up and now they are allowing Miller to play some undertackle when McCoy goes out also. He isn't the pass rusher that McCoy is but he does have a quick get off and he knows how to get up field. I think allowing him to play some undertackle will insure that the Bucs are getting the most production that they can out of him.


Stylez G. White: After 2 sacks a pressure and an assisted tackle what can you possibly criticize???

Well I'll tell you what.

Stylez getting those two sacks was awesome and it upped his season total to 5 which means he still has an outside chance of getting to double digits with 6 games left. But you know what? I think he could have had 4 sacks.

I'm dead serious.

I counted four times when Stylez made a wide outside rush instead of using power or making an inside move when I think he could have at least gotten a hit on the quarterback. And there was one other time where he made an inside move but didn't really commit to it because Smith started scrambling to the other side. But eventually Smith changed directions and came back his way but at that point Stylez was pinned inside and couldn't come back out of it.

Its hard to argue that he had a bad game with two sacks, and in reality he didn't. But I just look at the fact that he left some opportunities out there on the field. Opportunities that don't come around every day. And I'll bet when he turns on the film he will see exactly what I'm saying.

On his first sack he had a really nice long arm bull rush to a rip that shortened the corner and put him right on track to sack Smith. On the second sack he made an inside move on the tackle out of the 3-3-5 alignment and ended up on Smith's back. If he just added power and or an inside move into a few more of his opportunities he doesn't end up behind the quarterback and Smith doesn't end up being able to step up and either throw the ball away or take off running.

But again, 2 sacks is 2 sacks so I salute him. Even when I'm pushing him for more.

Michael Bennett: I had Bennett with a sack 2 assisted tackles and 3 other good rushes. But if there was one guy I was most frustrated with watching the game again last night it was him. I don't know why but Bennett didn't do many power rushes at all when he was at left end. Instead he opted to try to stutter and go a lot with an offensive tackle that was setting to ride him by the quarterback every time. If there was one thing the Rams tape showed it was that Anthony Davis did not like to get bull rushed. But for what ever reason Bennett let him off the hook for most of the day. He didn't even make many inside moves which are usually a staple of his. And again its not like he had a bad day rushing the passer. He did make some decent moves and he did get his first sack of the season after all.

But his pass rush plan just left me scratching my head. There's no doubt in my mind that had he done more bull rushes Bennett would have had a multi sack day. Instead Smith was allowed to step up in the pocket time after time after time as he went by.

Al Woods: Al didn't have that great of a game this week but that's to be expected. He was a little soft at nose tackle against some of the double teams and he did get full on pancaked at least once. He did have an assisted tackle though on one of Stylez's sacks. At least that's how I recorded it. When I played the first guy to the quarterback got credit for the sack but that may or may not have changed. I still like Woods potential a lot but he still has work to do on his technique.

Alex Magee: After not impressing me much against the Panthers, Magee definitely showed me some flash against the 49ers. He had a sack a pressure and a really outstanding tackle on a reverse to his side. He also missed another opportunity he had for a sack when Smith ran out of his tackle. But the biggest thing that impressed me this go around was his awareness of the level of the quarterback. Out of all of the ends he was the guy who probably had the best most consistent rush plan. And that's even though his individual rushes weren't necessarily all that good.

The thing about his rush is that he always ended up where Smith was going to be, up in the pocket, instead of where he started. That's what allowed him to run what we used to call a "natural game", falling in behind Miller who was getting up field at undertackle, and for all intents and purposes running a TEX game without it being called. And he got a sack on that play. He also had a good play that probably will get over looked where he sniffed out a tight end screen and prevented Smith from throwing it which led to another sack.

I wasn't sure at first that he was athletic enough to play defensive end in the Bucs' scheme but yesterday it appears that he is. I can't wait to see more of him as the season goes on.

One last thing. I was somewhat disappointed that the Bucs didn't run any pass rush games. I thought running games would be a pretty good way to keep Smith either in the pocket or make him move laterally instead of gaining yards up the middle. Again, I know I'm nitpicking but I just don't get why they didn't run any games at all.

Ok that's enough for today. See you guys in the comments section.

Bull Rush

Now that the season is half way over I want to give my thoughts on what has happened so far and I'm also going to make some judgements about what needs to happen going forward. I'll still do the individual breakdowns but they will be pretty brief this time.

Even though the Bucs lost yesterday I am still feeling really good about their season. Not playoff good, but I do believe that we will get to at least 8 wins which is what I predicted in the preseason. And I do believe that if we catch a couple of breaks we could possibly get to 10. But even if its just 8 wins I would think that its evident that Coach Morris and his staff have done a phenomenal job this season. I pretty much predicted that we would be around 5-3 at this point in the preseason but I made that prediction believing we would have the services of Tanard Jackson, Jeff Faine, Earnest Graham and Brian Price for all eight games. Had I known then how many starters and key backups would miss significant amounts of playing time its very likely I wouldn't have been quite as bold.

But the Bucs have won with a very simple formula, take care of the ball and take the ball away from your opponents will being great in the kicking game. I know people will point to this stat or that to try to make the case for or against the Bucs being legit, but the turnover ratio as well as Connor Barth's kicking stats are the only numbers I need to make the case for the Bucs. As long as they continue to win in those areas they are likely going to be in every game the rest of the season.

But it won't be easy. For a team that was already very young coming into the year, the Bucs have basically gotten even younger. Whether because of suspension or injury or release, the starters on the team at the moment trend heavily in favor of players with 2 years or less of experience under their belts. Clearly the future is bright with that kind of foundation, but it also makes for a lot of speed bumps along the way in the short term. And so no matter how the Bucs finish up the second half of the season, I hope fans stay on the bandwagon for the long haul because this team is definitely being built for long term success.

Now having said all of that and factoring in the youth of the team, of course I still have some complaints. Some of my complaints are just a personal preference kind of thing where "I" would have done things differently. But some of my complaints, specifically about the defensive line, are based on every bit of football knowledge I know and are as close to facts as you are going to get when it comes to how the game is supposed to be played. So as you read the rest of this hopefully it will be apparent which is which and I want you to keep that in mind because I realize that my way isn't always the only way when it comes to football strategy. But on the other hand there are some things that are right and some things that are wrong when it comes to how you play AND coach the game.

Because its my area of "expertise" for now I will just focus on the defense. Maybe later on in the week I'll offer up my thoughts on the offense and how it could improve but it will probably be a much more general post.

Last year I had a few major gripes about the defense. We didn't blitz enough, we didn't utilize line stunts, our pass rush was disjointed and we of course needed better personnel. Well I still gripes in all four areas but for very different reasons.

Blitzes

I believe the Bucs blitzed something like 16 or 17 times yesterday against the Falcons not counting when they lined up in a 3-3-5, but they didn't end up with any sacks or turnovers. To me that's a problem.

Its not a problem that they called that many blitzes. Its a problem that the blitzes were so weaksauce that out of almost 20 times they were called they didn't force a single game changing play. I have seen all kinds of blitzes out of all kinds of defensive formations ran in all kinds of situations. (Hell I even designed a blitz in my short time at USF) But I admit that many of the blitzes the Bucs employ puzzle (and irritate) the hell out of me. I don't get their purpose nor how they are supposed to actually work even in a best case scenario.

I have brought up several times on this blog the zone blitzes we used to run back when I played for the Bucs. The only reason why I keep referring to them is because of out effective they were. That's not to say they would still work perfectly today or that no team ever caught on to them (the Eagles really had kryptonite for our zone blitzes those years they were beating us in the playoffs). But the fact remains that they were relatively simple, they forced the action, and they were highly successful.

Right now I can almost guarantee that if I asked all eleven starters for the Bucs what their best blitz is I would get at least 5 or 6 different answers. To me that's not a good thing. Several times so far this season the Bucs have run blitzes where nobody picked up the back out of the backfield. Other times they have run blitzes where the quarterback had all day to throw and his receivers were running wide open down the field.

What I think they need to do going forward is start using overload blitzes. Whether its overloading one side, or its overloading the middle so that the tackles have to leave an outside rusher free, overload blitzes force a quarterback to be both quick and extremely accurate. The only reason I can come up with as to why we haven't run many thus far is because of concerns that our secondary might get burned. But the more I watch Aqib Talib looking like a Pro Bowler and E.J. Biggers playing like a seasoned vet, the more it is apparent to me that they are ready to have more challenges on their plate. We already have a very fast linebacker corps and everybody knows that Ronde is an expert at making big plays, so why not bring the house a few times and create some havoc? Especially when opposing teams are always doing it to them?

I really believe a few over load blitzes would have helped the Bucs get off on 3rd down yesterday.

Line Stunts

Well the Bucs are definitely using line stunts now. The question, however, is to what effect? Right now the Pirate stunt seems to be a top call and that is where the undertackle and the defensive end to his side stunt inside to the A gap and B gap respectively. If its a run they should be trying to penetrate when the action is towards them and get into the backfield. When the action is going away they should be trying to cross the blocker's face and make the ball turn back behind them. If its a pass they should stay in their new gaps while the nose tackle loops around for contain.

That's how its SUPPOSED to go.

But there are two major problems the Bucs have had with running this line stunt. For one the defensive end and undertackle rarely get penetration into the backfield. For whatever reason they continue to line up too close to the line of scrimmage which means they have to go so laterally to stunt inside that there is no chance of getting penetration or push. In practice it also makes the whole defense soft because while going that laterally neither guy can really stop themselves from getting pushed down the field by the offensive lineman. And so you end up with defensive linemen pushed back into the lap of linebackers and instead of the line stunt being a weapon it becomes a hindrance.

The other problem is the nosetackles, primarily Roy Miller, continue to forget to loop for contain on pass at least once or twice a game. That means that along with giving the quarterback a clear line of sight down field to whichever side the Pirate is run on, he also has the ability to break containment and put pressure on the secondary to continue covering or come up to stop their scramble. Now a Pirate will never be confused with a good pass rush game, (although inexplicably the Bucs have run it in passing situations in the last two games) but there is a possibility to get pressure if the quarterback can't throw quickly to their primary target. By not looping for containment the nosetackle is potentially giving away a pressure.

Now that's freshman level stuff. When you talk advanced level play the nosetackle has the ability to get over the top of the pirate so that the defense buys an extra defender to the side of the run. But you can't even think about getting to that until you have he basics down first.

On a bit of a better note the Bucs did in fact bring back Over Stick (although, again inexplicably, they didn't run it against the Falcons). So far it has been a very productive line stunt and it has helped Stylez G. White's pass rush as it has forced offensive tackles to respect the potential for him to make an inside move.

It it were up to me two things would happen. 1) The defensive line would learn how to get penetration with the Pirate stunt and 2) The Bucs would run just as many or more Over Sticks every game as Pirates.

If those two things can happen I really believe the defensive line will be a lot more productive both against the run and the pass.

Pass Rush And Personnel

These two issues kinda go hand in hand. The Bucs went out and picked defensive tackles with their first and second round picks this spring after having spent a third round choice on a defensive tackle the previous year. Those guys are obviously young and now it turns out the second round pick, Brian Price, is out for the year with an injury. But still you would think the pass rush would be better, if inconsistent. At right defensive end Stylez White, the leading sack guy from last year, returned but at left end last year's fifth round choice, Kyle Moore, as installed as the starter in the offseason. And if you believed the hype about Moore this preseason he should have also helped to upgrade our pass rush.

But it turns out after 8 games we have a total of six sacks.

What gives you ask?

Well I'm going to give it to you straight. Our defensive linemen do not seem to be getting better under Todd Wash and so coaching appears to be an issue. And Kyle Moore should not have been, nor should be going forward the starting left end.

Now these assertions actually encompass both my opinion and facts based on my football knowledge. I won't say everybody should agree with me, but I will state my case.

And I know that making these kind of statements can get me labeled as hater.

I really don't give a shit.

How is it that 8 games into the season our starting nose tackle is still not looping on Pirates versus pass rush? How is it that none of the young defensive linemen have a signature pass rush move? How could our best pass rusher not be coached up to make an inside move the first 5 games? Why don't any of the young defensive linemen look much better than they day they first came to Tampa?

Simply put, it has to be coaching.

I don't know what goes on at One Buc every day, but I do know what I see on Sundays and what I see are guys making the same mistakes over and over again and guys who are consistently inconsistent.

Let me give you some for instances.

I said before that Kyle Moore shouldn't be starting and its true. But I'm not sure its his fault. He is big and strong and fast and quick. But he also has terrible technique and can't self generate a pass rush. But aren't those areas where he should be getting coached up?

Instead although he is strong he is consistently soft against tight ends. Although he is quick he is the slowest defensive lineman on the roster off the ball. Although he is fast he continues to run right into offensive lineman and get stuck instead of getting on an edge and trying to get to the quarterback.

But its not just Moore.

Remember a few weeks back when I drew up all the plays that gave us trouble against the Saints? Well the Rams and Cardinals have both run variations of play #7 against the Bucs since then and guess what? The defensive ends STILL aren't getting underneath those kickout blocks.

Let me go deeper though because this hit me last night when I was watching the game again. This may go over some people's head but I'll try to be as clear as possible.

Certain formations tell defensive lineman which way it is likely the center will slide in pass protection. This is a big deal because in general unless a tight end stays in there will be three blockers versus two on one side and on the other side its going to be two against two. You REALLY want to take advantage of the side where both guys get a one on one match up because of course its harder to win when the numbers aren't in your favor.

Well one major key that hasn't changed much in over a decade is that when there is one back in the backfield and they are offset to one side, the center will usually slide away from the back. So in that situation you want to either have the end and defensive tackle to that side do their best pass rush move, or for them to run a good pass rush game to take advantage of the center sliding to the other side.

But it appears that in that situation what the Bucs do instead is have the defensive tackle to that side make an inside move.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with making an inside move if the guard is giving up the inside move. But if every single time the defensive tackle away from the slide is making an inside move when will they ever have the opportunity to make an outside move to SET UP the inside move?

Moreover the Bucs appear to be telling the defensive tackle to the slide to make an outside move. But unless that defensive tackle beats his guy clean outside, which isn't likely on the side of a slide, he is going to end up naturally coming back inside when he can't turn the corner. That means that you end up with two A gap rushers, little to no inside push, and and only one true one on one, that being the defensive end to the back.

Now I'm not saying its impossible to win that way, but I AM saying its a hell of a lot harder. And in my opinion a good defensive line coach would know that.

You want to know what else sucks about the situation? With Price out Moore is getting most of the inside reps when we go with 4 down lineman in 3rd and long. And he usually ends up to the side of the slide. So the Bucs have their best interior pass rusher, McCoy, make an inside move, and they have Moore trying to make an outside move which I haven't seen him win on so far.

What we SHOULD be doing is having McCoy line up away from the slide on passing situations and allow him to make which ever move he wants to make to beat his guy one on one and let Moore rush the A gap, try to get some push, and if the quarterback tries to take off he can go hunt him down.

Now you have unleashed McCoy so he can really get after the quarterback, you allow the end to his side to play off him (if McCoy makes an outside rush the end to his side can come under neath him at the level in what is called a "natural game") and the defensive end to the slide at least has some lee way on where he can go rather than getting pushed wide.

As for pass rush games, the Bucs look worse than most college teams trying to run them. I won't lie, it drive me nuts every time I see a defensive end take just two steps up field and then come underneath on a TEX game. That's harry high school bullshit and they might as well not even run the game rather than running it so poorly that they give up containment like they did against the Falcons.

So far I haven't seen the Bucs run a TOM game with the two inside guys which you would think we would do to try to help McCoy get free. Of course that would be a little too much like right. Better to just keep sending him out there with no plan and hope for the best.

People keep talking about Ndamukong Suh and comparing McCoy to him unfavorably. But if you ever watch the Lions play the one thing you notice is that they are constantly trying to showcase his talents. First and foremost he rarely moves from his left defensive tackle spot which means his development has been building every week. But when he DOES move its because they are trying to get HIM free so he can wreck shop. And oh by the way he has two pretty good pass rushers at end starting with him and they all haul ass every play at the snap of the ball.

The Bucs on the other hand have been too busy trying to showcase Quincy Black at the expense of McCoy's development, to try to design any defenses for him to have a favorable match up.

Look, I like Black and I think he is a really good player, but this defense will be built around Gerald McCoy for the next 10 years if the Bucs are lucky. And that should have started THIS year. Again that's something a good defensive line coach would have been fighting for.

If the Bucs want to get better at pass rush enough to make a difference the one place that they can make the most gains is pass rushing on early downs. Its a lot harder to get sacks, at least in theory, on third downs when the offensive linemen are more alert for moves and when quarterbacks are more apt to get the ball out of their hands quickly. But on early downs offenses tend to run a lot of play action which takes longer to develop and also can make for a harder block for an offensive lineman trying to sell run.

So how can we take better advantage of that?

Start Michael Bennett at left end.

Its a simple but obvious solution. Bennett is still fuzzy sometimes on the details but he is the only left defensive end on the roster who can create his own pass rush on any down. He uses his power, speed, and quickness most effectively and he also has the best get off. Its worth having him miss a few tackles or not getting under a few kickoff blocks if on the other hand he is harnessing the hell out of the quarterback on play action pass. I like Tim Crowder and he is a decent left end but he doesn't have the tools Bennett has. I am not as high on Moore honestly as either Crowder or Bennett even though he is in fact a decent player.

If you DVRd the game yesterday just do this one favor. Replay the game, let it go and only rewind when you see the left end do something that catches your eye. I can just about guarantee you that almost every time it will be Bennett flashing on screen. And that's even though Moore made more tackles.

I can't put the decision to start 100% on Wash though because Moore WAS fifth round pick so maybe the front office wants him playing to make them look good. But the more Bennett plays the more obvious its going to be to everyone on the team who gives them the best chance to be successful. I don't know what kind of practice habits Bennett has or doesn't have but if the Bucs are serious about improving their pass rush putting him in the starting lineup is the easiest and quickest way to get that done.

It of course won't solve everything, after all there may need to be some more additions come next spring from the draft. But it will be a shot in the arm for a defensive line that needs it.



Well I know that was pretty long so I won't wear your eyeballs out. In closing here are the quick individual breakdowns.

I will say that the pass rush overall was very very average


Kyle Moore: I had him with 4 tackles and an assist, and a pressure.


Gerald McCoy: I had him with 4 assists a pressure and a hit on the quarterback. He also had two penalties for offside and he also helped to give up a long run when he got out of his gap on a scoop block.

Roy Miller: 3 tackles and an assist. He was a little soft again against double teams and he didn't loop on a Pirate.

Stylez G. White: 3 tackles and two assists along with two pressures, a hit on the quarterback and another good rush. He played ok but after the previous two weeks I was expecting more.

Tim Crowder: 1 tackle and 1 assist along with a really good bull rush. He also had a good drop on a blitz.

Al Woods: I was very impressed with Woods being able to play after only a week and being productive. 2 tackles and an assist and he really showed some good hustle playing both the nosetackle and undertackle positions. Can't wait to see more of the guy.

Mike Bennett: 1 tackle and a pressure along with a hit on the quarterback. He also was really good against the tight ends, knocking them back and getting off the blocks. He did have a missed tackle that would have been for a loss but he forced the play and that's what the Bucs need more of.


That's all for tonight. I'll see you in the comments.

Bull Rush

4-2 and it feels so good!

First off, raise your hand if you thought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be 4-2 right now. And remember that I have some of you guys' predictions, lol.

I DID predict they would have won 4 games at this point in the season but I thought we would beat the Steelers here at home and probably lose to the Bengals on the road. But the truth is for all the predictions in the world, nothing really matters until the games are actually played. I'm just happy that the team lived up to my expectations and is showing the signs of turning things around from an abysmal year last year.

Now people will try to detract from all of the Bucs' wins, but I say let em. I can tell you one thing, some preseason darlings like the Cowboys and the Vikings would LOVE to have their record right now. And in the end, that's all that matters.

The game yesterday was pretty ugly in the first half but by holding the Rams to no points in the second half and coming back to win the game, the Bucs showed a maturity that was rare last year. They weren't perfect, but they were good enough win it counted and that's how they won the game.

One thing I want to point out is that they ran the Over Stick call that I drew up a couple of weeks ago at least four times yesterday. I am not in any way shape or form trying to take credit for that but the point is IT WORKED! It gave the Rams fits because they weren't used to our weakside in coming inside and it really messed with their blocking schemes. It appeared that Geno Hayes was going to blitz outside a couple of times too which made it even better. I'm hoping that it becomes a regular part of the call sheet.

Was it just me or did the Bucs keep Gerald McCoy out of the game longer than usual in the second quarter? The Rams were driving and I kept wondering "Where the HELL is McCoy?!"

Also last week the Saints really got after the defensive line with cut off blocks by the fullbacks and tight ends. As I predicted, because this is a copy cat league, the Rams tried to do a lot of the same. Thankfully the ends were a lot better on it this week. But on the other hand the Rams ran three or four bootlegs with some pretty good results and so I would expect that they will see a lot of those in the coming weeks as well.

One last thing, we didn't play one snap of 3-3-5 this game that I saw. I don't know if that was just because of something the Rams did or not but I do think we were better off for it. I wouldn't mind seeing it once or twice a game on 3rd down but we were running it entirely too much in my opinion.

The defensive line had a lot to do with the win as they were very productive and played pretty good ball through out. So without further delay here are my individual breakdowns.

Kyle Moore: I thought Moore played well coming off his shoulder injury. He had two tackles and a assist along with a fumble recovery by my count. He also had a good bullrush and showed really good hustle on one of those tackles. If I had a complaint its that he still isn't dominating the tight ends the way he could and should be. But one thing he did well was getting under the cut off blocks that were killing the defensive ends last week against the Saints. That made a big difference in our run fits.


Gerald McCoy: McCoy promised that we would see a different player on Sunday and I think he lived up to his words. He came out of the game with 2 tackles and 3 assists by my count. The most significant and noticeable change was how he got off the ball and up the field. The only problem was that he got reached a couple of times. But the reality is it was worth it to have him pushing the offensive line backward and making the running back have to cut deeper or bow his track a little. He still didn't notch his first sack but he did have a good rush on a rip and run. The more he continues to get off the ball and get up field like that the higher the more plays he will make and those sacks will surely come.

Roy Miller: Just as the team looked distinctly different from half to half yesterday, so did Miller. In the first half he was still getting pushed around a little too much. But in the second half he started really hunkering down and played a lot better. I had him with 3 assisted tackles and he showed good hustle all day. What he has to do now is learn to play the whole game the way he played the second half and the whole defense will benefit from it.

Stylez G. White: Lost in all the negative talk about the loss to the Saints last week was the fact that White really picked up his pass rush against them. He beat a guy clean coming around the horn and he also was a lot more physical and even, gasp, made some inside moves. Unfortunately Dree Brees was able to get the ball off but Sam Bradford wasn't so lucky. Stylez got his second sack of the year along with a caused fumble that set the offense up with a great opportunity for a score. The offense ended up coming away with only a field goal after a series of miscues, but in a game where the margin of victory was a single point, that play was HUGE!

And it wasn't just that one play. I had him with 2 other tackles, two more pressures, another hit on the quarterback and one other good rush where Bradford completed the pass. He had a great hump move right off the line of scrimmage and but for Bradford getting the ball off quickly would have had another sack. Mind you its not like he had a ton of opportunities as the Rams ran quite a few bootlegs and quick passes. If he continues to play at this level then those double digit sacks he (and I) predicted will become a reality.

Tim Crowder: Crowder had a really good all around game. He had 2 tackles and an assist by my count. He also had a pressure and two other good rushes where the pass was completed. Hidden in that is two hustle plays that he made. One that was huge was on the draw in the fourth quarter late in the game on 3rd and 11. He went up field and then turned and ran to the ball to stop Steven Jackson a couple of yards shy of the first down. That forced the punt that eventually led to the game tying score in the final seconds. If he doesn't make that tackle its highly likely that Jackson falls forward for the first down and perhaps seals the win for them. Its plays like those that don't have an asterisk beside them in the stat sheet but have a major effect on the game.

Ryan Sims: If they could keep Sims at nosetackle I think we would be much better off. He is a big guy who is strong and and hard to move and plays with pretty good leverage. He held the point well against double teams and also had some success against cut off blocks from a G technique. But he doesn't look good playing undertackle and that is just a fact. He got reached all the way to the opposite A gap on one play and that isn't easy to do.

I actually like Sims as a player and I love the effort he gives every Sunday, but I am hoping that the Bucs realize he is suited to nosetackle a lot more than undertackle and consider moving Roy to undertackle when McCoy needs a blow.

Michael Bennett: I have been high on Bennett since training camp but he had a bad game yesterday. He was basically the only end that still had some problems getting underneath the kick out blocks. He jumped offsides on a crucial 3rd and medium. He was soft a couple of times against the run and he also was on the ground. He did have a pretty good inside move at end versus play action pass but that was really the only pass rush he generated all game. On the bootlegs he got fooled bad at least once.

I'm not down on him after one bad game but he needs to pick his production up if he expects to continue getting opportunities.

Well that's all for now. Also its my birthday so my normal The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly post will have to wait till tomorrow. As always you can leave questions and add your two cents in the comments section. I'll be sure to try to get to them asap.

Bull Rush

That was a great win yesterday against a quality opponent in Cincinnati on the road for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Even though the Bengals haven't set the world on fire so far this year, they are the defending AFC north champions and most people didn't give the Bucs much of a chance of beating them. It wasn't pretty but we made enough plays when it counted to win the game and that's huge. For most of last year winning a game like that against a good team like the Bengals would have been almost impossible. But the Bucs showed that they have matured a lot especially at the end of the game and that's a big reason why we are now 3-1.

Having said that when I watched the game again I saw a lot of issues on defense. For the first time all year I thought the defensive line got pushed around some up front. Even though the Pittsburgh Steelers beat us soundly in week 3 most of the problems we had against the run that game was just a matter of guys not being in their gap. Yesterday however too many times we were getting knocked off the ball.

That's the bad news. The good news is it can be fixed. Its not that we are weak up front but instead its more so guys are just not using good technique. For whatever reason we aren't playing on edges a lot and our defensive tackles are not getting penetrations into their gaps.

Some of the reason is that we are habitually late off the ball. I am not sure if guys are worried about jumping offsides or what but as a group the get off can use some work.

Also when playing double teams guys have to feel when one guy comes off and then expand where that guy came from because that is where the ball is probably going to be run.

And maybe the most important thing is guys have to keep working on escaping off blocks instead of just reaching out for the ball carrier.

Its hard enough to tackle some of the good running backs in this league. You don't need to make it harder by allowing a 300 pound guy to continue pushing on you while you're trying to get a guy on the ground.

Oddly enough the guy who I think everyone should watch and model their run technique after, at least in general, is Stylez G. White. I say oddly because for whatever reason they seem to take him out of the game on running downs at times even though I'm not really sure why. But when you see him play the run you see him getting up the field, on an edge, and ripping off blocks to make plays. His technique is best I've seen on the team and so are his fits. If we could get everybody other than the nose playing more like him against the run we would be much better off.

Also I'll be honest in saying that I personally have a problem with how much the Buccaneers are using our 3-3-5 alignment. Maybe its the defensive lineman in me showing my bias but while I understand wanting to have Quincy Black on the field as much as possible, I just don't think using a 3 man line so prominently helps us as much as it would just mixing it in from time to time. We also saw yesterday what can happen when a team catches us in that 3 man line alignment and decides to run the ball. Some of the plays where Cedric Benson gashed us were against that alignment and we simply aren't gap sound versus the run in that defense.

Using the 3-3-5 to generate pass rush has also gotten mixed results at best in my opinion. Yes Black is fast and athletic but I have yet to see him beat an offensive tackle one on one this regular season so far. In fact most of the time he just runs a TEX with Gerald McCoy who is rushing from a defensive end position. That isn't all bad by any means but it IS predictable. Also because McCoy is running a TEX from that alignment instead of a regular 3 technique alignment it means he has to come inside hard first and try to blow up the B gap almost as if he was instead running an EX game. The problem with that is on a true TEX game the defensive tackle is supposed to have a contain rush.

Now when run well the defensive tackle can have a contain rush by getting to the back of the offensive tackle and then falling off inside of him to make the sack because he has gotten far enough up field to do so. When running a TEX out of a 3-3-5 however the defensive tackle, while having an opportunity to get pressure on the quarterback, generally won't be upfield far enough keep containment.

You can see this on the play where McCoy and Stylez White both almost get a sack on Carson Palmer. White makes a really good outside move on left side and turns the corner. McCoy comes crashing in and gets good pressure as well. But Palmer steps to his left a little to avoid the rush and is able to get the ball off. McCoy ends up running into Stylez and knocking him off his rush (Stylez was getting held by the way), gets a hit on the quarterback but can't bring home the sack. Black in the meanwhile loops inside for the TEX then comes back out of it and almost gets an interception.

On paper its a good play no doubt and we get off the field. But I'm going to go out on an limb and say the Bucs would rather have a sack there than just a pressure by McCoy.

Now we could blitz out of that package but we aren't doing much of that either. I think by my count we sent more than four only one time out of the 3-3-5 alignment yesterday. And this is when you have a statue like Palmer sitting back there who doesn't want to take off running ever and would rather throw the ball away than take a sack. It just didn't make any sense to me that Coach Morris wouldn't run more true four defensive lineman rushes in third and long situations and or blitz more to make Palmer uncomfortable. The truth is the Bucs got bailed out several times yesterday by the Bengals wide receivers just dropping the ball on plays that would have garnered first downs for them.

I am pretty sure it has to do with his philosophy versus mine. I think Coach Morris would rather lean towards coverage being the answer than pressure. That doesn't mean I'm right and he's wrong or vice versa. It just means that I personally think the Bucs should be taking a different approach and that it would give us greater results than we have had so far in terms of getting to the quarterback.

I will say that it was good to see both Brian Price and Michael Bennett getting more playing time yesterday and I thought both guys confirmed why they deserved it during the game. It was also good to see us running a few more run blitzes with the corners and strong safeties on early downs versus run personnel and formations. That will end up helping us in the long run.

One last thing before the individual break downs. The Bucs are running a lot more Pirate this year where the undertackle and the end to his side stunt inside to the A gap and B gap respectively. I like the stunt and believe it can help us against the run but guys are getting cut off from their gaps too much. One of the things that can help with this is if they back up off the ball about 3 inches or so. You don't want to back off so far that its easily noticeable but just enough to give yourself room to operate.

Here's the deal, the closer a defensive lineman is to the ball, the easier it is for an offensive lineman to cut them off from coming on an inside stunt. The point of contact happens much faster and if the offensive lineman is faster off the ball they have an immediate advantage. By backing up just a little bit it gives guys the chance to take a really good step inside, gain ground and rip through the stunt all before contact is made. And if the play happens to be coming to you it gives you the ability to get penetration up into the gap because you aren't having to go as flat on the movement.

Welp that's my tip for the day, now on to the breakdowns:

Kyle Moore: Kyle Moore had a productive day against the run with 5 tackles. But he also was one of the guys who got pushed off the ball too much. For one thing he is habitually late off the ball which always gives the offensive line an advantage. He also tends to end up too down the middle of blockers instead of on their edge. And finally he is just lazy with his hands both in the running game and on pass rush.

Moore has all the physical tools you like to see. He's strong and fast. He has good size. But his technique and get off need a lot of work. As productive as he was he could have had a dominant game. He had a chance to tackle Benson when the Bengals were backed up but he didn't rip off the block and Benson ran through his arms. That ended up being a big play as Benson ended up busting off a big run. Now it wasn't an easy play by any means but it would have been a much EASIER play if he didn't have someone hanging on to him as he tried to make the tackle.

Also he because he is late off the ball he rarely has an opportunity to try to turn the corner against an offensive tackle on pass. He ends up running right down the middle of guys much too much instead of using his athletic ability to make a move. It is rare to see him even attempt to do a rip move on pass rush unless its on third and long and that's just not going to get it done. The Bucs can't wait until third downs to get pressure on the quarterback, we need consistent pressure whenever they try to pass the ball even and maybe especially when its on play action pass.

He did have a really good EX game with White on the right side and got a nice hit on the quarterback. But for a guy who is starting and playing as much as he is he needs to step his pass rush game up a LOT more to justify it.

Gerald McCoy: I thought McCoy played better this game. He almost got his first sack on the aforementioned play out of the 3-3-5 alignment and he had another really good pass rush from undertackle where he got another hit on the quarterback. He also tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage. One thing I noticed is that although they continued to play him at end in the 3 man alignments, he didn't play defensive end in our four man lines even when the Bengals were backed up. I definitely think that is a step in the right direction of letting him develop more at undertackle.

One thing I was disappointed in however is that he fell in love with making inside moves for some reason yesterday. Time after time when he got a pass set he kept going inside and then wound up in a double team. I'm not sure if that was part of the game plan or what but one time when he and Price were both in the game on third down they both came inside and got wadded up at the line of scrimmage.

Part of being an undertackle is getting up the field and putting pressure on the guard to block your speed on an edge. That doesn't mean you can't make an inside move, but it does mean it should only be a change up and not your standard move. One of the major reasons why is that if the undertackle is getting up field, even if he turns the corner a little wide he provides the defensive end to his side the opportunity to fall back underneath him and get a sack or pressure on the quarterback. We used to call it a "natural game" where guys just play off each other to get pressure. But if the undertackle is consistently going inside then it opens up a lane between himself and the defensive end rushing outside for the quarterback to both step up into in order to avoid the rush and to be able to see his receivers down field.

Again, I'm not sure if it was just a part of the game plan but I think McCoy would be better served getting off and getting up the field the majority of the time when he reads pass.

Roy Miller: I'm one of the biggest Roy Miller fans you will find in the Tampa Bay area but I was disappointed in his play yesterday. Playing nosetackle in a 4-3 defense is a very hard job. You have to be able to anchor in and not get pushed off the ball in double teams. You have to be able to play scoop blocks where the back side guard is trying to cut you. And you have to be able to play the center reach blocks and maintain your gap.

That's not all you have to do but just those three things are so different in terms of the technique you have to use that it can make your head swim. Unfortunately yesterday it appeared that Miller's head was indeed swimming. He got pushed off the ball way too much against the double teams and scoop blocks. And he got reached at least three times where he lost his A gap. There is no one thing he was doing wrong because each block is so different.

The main thing on the reach blocks is that he needs to be strong with his outside hand and keep his hips turned inside instead of allowing the center to get him turned toward the sideline. You have to recognize what the center is trying to do and while not taking off running towards the side line you have to work more lateral than upfield to maintain your gap.

With the double team he just has to play lower and keep his feet in the ground. Trust me, I know its easier said than done. But once he feels the double he has to make sure he doesn't get pushed off the line of scrimmage and then feel the guy coming off to the linebacker and expand in that direction.

With the scoop block I know its hard because of the threat of a backside cut block but he has to be able to play off the guard and rip off so that he can get up into the gap and either make the play or make the running back have to go lateral rather than being able to continue down hill.

Miller has the ability to do all these things. I know because he has done them before. But yesterday he just seemed to consistently get pushed 4 or 5 yards off the ball. That's not winning football and he needs to get that fixed ASAP.

He did notch 1 tackle and 2 assists so it wasn't all bad.

Stylez G. White: I have been saying for weeks that White has to start making inside moves to get offensive tackles to stop setting for his outside rush. And for weeks nothing has changed. Now Stylez did some good things against the Bengals. He had an assisted tackle. He had a great EX game going with Moore where he comes in and blasts the left guard and takes out two blockers to free Moore up. And he also had that great outside rush from the left side which I talked about earlier.

But I'm going to make a point here. I counted 7 times when Stylez had an opportunity to make an inside move. By opportunity I mean the left tackle took a wide set, the B gap was open, and the left guard at least initially was not looking for him to come inside.

SEVEN TIMES!

With a damn statue back there at quarterback!

Stylez won't have a better opportunity to sack a quarterback who has no inclination to try to move very much in the pocket. And Palmer isn't the type of guy to hold on to the ball and allow you to get to him consistently with an outside rush. And yet out of those 7 opportunities Stylez didn't try even once to take what the Bengals were giving him.

Maybe the most egregious opportunity squandered was with 45 seconds left in the first half. The left guard literally turns his back to the B gap and the left tackle opened up so wide with his shoulders turned towards the sideline that he practically had a neon sign flashing "SPIN ON ME PLEASE!!!" Instead White tried to go around the horn again...and didn't get there.

I have always had confidence in Stylez as a pass rusher. I was one of the ones who agreed with his assertion that he would have double digit sacks this year. But right now he is giving away sacks and pressures. Left tackles should be sending him thank you cards because he is letting them off the hook. And the defense is not as dominant as it should be because he continues to focus solely on beating guys outside.

There isn't a premier pass rusher in the NFL at defensive end who does not make inside moves several times again. Not a single one. Simeon Rice who was one of the most productive and fastest defensive ends in Buccaneers history would make three or four inside moves a game at least. You HAVE to do it not only because it gives you an opportunity for quick pressure, but also because it gives left tackles more than one look so they can't be comfortable in their pass sets.

Its just like a pitcher. If all you throw is fast balls, even if you throw heat, people are going to knock your shit out of the park. But if you throw a change up here or there you keep guys off balance. And you make it a lot easier on yourself.

Until Stylez starts throwing change ups our pass rush isn't going to consistently scare anybody. And there is absolutely no chance he will get to double digits.

It is what it is.

Michael Bennett: Bennett finally gets activated and all he does is go out there and get five good rushes and a pressure. When I say five good rushes I mean he beat his guy with a pass rush move. He only got one pressure because every other time Palmer got rid of the ball and it was completed. Its probably going to be ignored by most but his pressure came on third and five right before the half and forced Palmer to throw early and erratically to his receiver who couldn't haul it in. Instead of a first down the Bengals had to settle for a field goal and considering the final score and the fact that the Bengals had driven all the way down to the red zone with relative ease, that ended up being a pretty big play.

An interesting thing to note is that all of his good rushes came in the first half. Its not that he started rushing bad in the second half but more so he wasn't given many more opportunities. He did play some on base but other than a few plays inside he wasn't in the game much on 3rd and long.

Hopefully after they watch the film that will change because there is no doubt who had the best rushes on the team yesterday at defensive end. Bar none.

But all was not perfect. Even though he did get some good penetration in the run game, he also got shook out of his shoes on one play by Benson when he was unblocked. I'm sure he will catch some grief in the film room over that one.

He also pissed me off by running a shitty TEX. I don't know what they are teaching over at One Buc but it would do my heart some good to see just one defensive end get THREE STEPS or more up the field to set up the offensive tackle on a TEX game just once. I mean damn, there are college defensive lines running better TEX games than the Bucs D Line.

For the umpteenth time, the further the defensive end gets up the field, the better chance the TEX game has of winning. For everybody.

Enough said.

Brian Price: I love Price's get off but I hate his technique. Once he actually learns how to play nosetackle though he is going to give people fits. Right now he has to understand that some plays aren't his plays and instead they are opportunities for him to open it up for someone else.

He also needs to stay off the ground. He wasn't on it much this game but every time he is on the ground that is an opportunity to go and make a play hustling to the ball that is lost. As fast as Price is he should be racking up assisted tackles down the field. But you can't do that if you're lying on the field with some guy on your back.

As a pass rusher though? That guy is a MONSTER. He had two really good rushes and a hit on the quarterback when he rushed from the nosetackle position. Mind you he went from being over the nose to rushing and beating a guard on those three plays. You may not understand how hard that is but trust me its damned impressive.

Hell on the play where he gets hurt in the second half he beats the guard and just about gets to Palmer on a quick pass even though the guy literally tackles him. That's how he got hurt in the first place. It was amazing that the penalty wasn't called but still it was a very very impressive play by him.

On the negative side we had a zone blitz where he was supposed to cross the center's face to the opposite A gap. He did that initially but then came back into the the A gap he initially started in. The only problem is Moore's assignment on that zone blitz is to be in that A gap and so he created a bit of a log jam. That's why its important for guys to know WHY they are doing something on any given defense. He may not have gotten pressure in the opposite gap but there's a chance he would have opened things up for Moore and the other guys blitzing.

He also did not loops around for contain on a Pirate. That's a problem he has had since the preseason and it needs to get corrected. Otherwise we are giving up all containment to the quarterback with the line stunt and that ain't good!

All in all a good day for the rookie though. And I imagine his playing time will continue to increase. Of course if we played more four man line on third and long we could get to see what Price could really do when he doesn't have to start lined up over the center.

Just throwing that out there.

Tim Crowder: I had Crowder down for one tackle and two good rushes with one hit on the quarterback. He played a solid game like he always does. Sometimes Crowder doesn't fill up the stat sheet but then you go back and watch the game and he always seems to be where he is supposed to be. He didn't set up his TEX game but see my earlier rant on that one. Other than that not much to complain about his time in the game yesterday.


Well that's it for this week. If you have any questions just leave them in the comments and I will get to them as fast as I can.

Great win this week but now we gotta get ready for those Saints to come to town. Its definitely going to be a bigger challenge. You can count on that!

Bull Rush

Cross Posted at joebucsfan

Since the game last night was largely a matchup of backups versus backups I will give a quick recap but not the full write up that you are used to.

The defensive line played ok as a unit last night. We only came home with one sack but several guys pass rushed well. And of course we won the game so that's always a plus. But I don't think anyone would call this a dominant performance up front by any means.

A few negatives I saw. We still aren't looping around for containment when we run our line stunts. Sooner or later that will come back to bite us. The Texans also ran a lot of bootlegs and they fooled us on all but one play. The general rule of thumb I have on bootlegs is when you see buttholes and elbows its a boot. When its a running play the offensive lineman try to stay square and get up the field to make their blocks. Because they can't be downfield on passing play they turn and run toward the sideline on bootlegs. At the very least a defensive end should slow down and check the quarterback once he sees a blocker's backside. I can almost guarantee you that after watching this film the Browns are going to run several bootlegs just to see if we have solved that problem.

Another thing I noticed is that some of our players still don't understand how important it is for them to be in their gap on running plays. I saw several times where a guy would get cut and then the ball ran right through their gap. There were other times when a guy would get cut off from their gap and instead of fighting to get back where they were supposed to be, they took the path of least resistance and guess where the ball went. Yep, you guessed it, right where they were supposed to be.

It was mostly the backups committing these infractions but some of these guys are going to have to play for us on Sundays so they need to get it together.

For the personal breakdowns I'm only going to mention a few guys.

Michael Bennett: Bennett had another productive game with four tackles, one of which was for a loss, and two pressures. He was the one guy who played the bootleg correctly by the way. He continues to show good pass rush ability from both left end and inside at the tackle spots. On the negative side he didn't set up the offensive tackle while running a TEX game. Again for the umpteenth time TWO STEPS UP THE FIELD IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! He also needs to work on really ripping into his gap when he is running a line stunt which will help him to escape the would be blocker and help to keep him from getting cut. The more I see of the guy though the more I'm convinced he is our best option right now at left end. We will see how that plays out as the season goes on.


Carlton Powell: Powell again showed the kind of effort you like to see from your young players. He also had a pretty productive night with two tackles, and assist and he knocked a pass down. He looked particularly good on a couple of plays avoiding the cut block and making the play in his gap. Unfortunately he got reached a couple of times and allowed the runner to run through his gap. I'm not sure whether Powell is talented enough to play on the NFL level but I think if he keeps working like he has been he definitely will be in the years to come.


Dre Moore: Moore turned in his best performance of the preseason last night in my opinion. But it was also the most frustrating to watch. He had two tackles a pressure and a pass knocked down by my count. But in between the plays he made he just looked so disinterested at times. Literally on some pass rushes it appeared that he just ran into the guy in front of him just to bide his time until the pass was thrown and he could run to the ball. I'm not saying that's definitely what he was doing but it was definitely what it LOOKED like he was doing. His effort has been so up and down in the preseason games that you have to wonder some times if its the same guy. There is no question that he has a lot of talent and when he turns it on he is a very hard guy to block. But you can not play in the NFL if you are Tarzan one play and Jane the next. It just doesn't work that way. I was really hoping for big things from Moore this preseason but I just didn't see it. At least not on anything resembling a consistent basis

Erik Lorig: Lorig had some decent rushes last night and that was good to see. He had a hit on the quarterback as well. But Lorig is one of the guys I was referring to about not being in his gap all the time. I can tell him that I got my spot on the active roster my rookie year from the practice squad because another guy on the active roster refused to stay in his C gap against the Lions and he ended up getting cut. That's just how serious it is. And that's how serious he has to take it if he wants to both make the team and make a serious contribution on Sundays.


George Johnson: Johnson had a decent night last night. He did have a penalty for roughing the passer which we could have done with out. But the very next play he made a good inside move and got himself a sack. He also had a tackle for loss and another tackle by my count. On the negative side he has to learn that our defensive ends spill the fullback on split bellys and he also got sucked in really bad on a bootleg fake.

All in all though he looked pretty good for a guy who we signed after camp had already started.


That's all I have on the game last night. If you saw something I missed post it in the comments section.

Bull Rush

Cross posted at joebucsfan

Even though we didn't beat the Jaguars I came away after watching this game very encouraged about the Buccaneers' season. Particularly I thought just about every guy on the defensive line showed at least some improvement. There were a bunch of hits and pressures on David Garrard even though we didn't come home with any sacks this game. And the effort was once again very good.

There were some problems though as far as everyone on defense being on the same page, particularly when we blitzed. At least twice we had major busts when we blitzed and nobody covered the running back out of the backfield. One time it appeared to be Kyle Moore's fault, another time it appeared to be Sean Jones' fault. In addition, several times when we blitzed there was no contain element of the defense away from the blitz. It didn't hurt us at first but then in the second half Garrard noticed and he took off running for a first down.

Now I don't know for sure who was right and who was wrong or if the blitzes just had some design flaws or what. But those are the kinds of mistakes that can be the difference between a win and a loss in a tight game. So its of utmost importance that we get those problems ironed out as we get ready to face Cleveland in a couple of weeks.

Technique wise one thing I noticed this game was when the defensive line ran a line stunt and guys came inside they really didn't use their rip to help them get inside of the blocker. Instead they just stayed square and tried to push the blocker in the backfield. I understand not wanting to get washed way down inside, but by the same token if a guy doesn't rip into the inside gap they lose almost any chance of penetrating and either making a play or forcing the runner to go laterally instead of downhill. Its a little technique thing that can really make a big difference.

I'm still not a fan of the five down lineman alignment we have for short yardage and goalline. Its simply too easy to run inside when you don't cover both A gaps. I keep hoping that Coach Morris will at least consider going back to what we used to do seeing as how what they are using now hasn't been all that effective, but so far I've seen nothing that makes me believe he will change so I guess I'll just have to get over it and hope we don't end up in that situation all that often.

I did like some of the things Coach Morris did with the three lineman set up. But only when he sent pressure or at least had Quincy Black coming off the edge. I don't really think rushing an offensive tackle is really Black's strong suit, but when he rushes it gives the 3 other guys an opportunity to be successful. But I can't stand when we only rush 3 because its almost impossible to get any pressure on the quarterback and anybody if given enough time can find an open receiver. With the way we were getting after Garrard with our four man rushes I was surprised that Coach Morris went to so much 3 man rush, but maybe he was just trying to get a long look at it. At least I hope that's all it was.

For most of the night the Jaguars were getting the passes off early anyway and not giving our guys a chance to sack Garrard. I did get really excited one time though when Stylez White and Gerald McCoy ran an EX game to perfection. The ball came out quick but if it didn't both guys would have been free to pummel Garrard.

As for the individual critiques:

Kyle Moore: Moore's pass rush at left end was much improved this game. He still didn't really attempt to turn the corner outside but he had several good inside moves. I had him with one pressure and a couple of other notable rushes. He still doesn't look all that impressive as an inside rusher to me though. Also he was poor again in trying to set up a TEX with Ryan Sims. Taking two steps upfield and expecting that to attract the offensive tackle is just not good enough.

He also got a little too high down on the goalline and got knocked off the ball a little. I would really like to see him use his hands more when he goes against tightends. He is big and strong enough to dominate those matchups but he never seems to get good hand placement on them so he can get good extension with his arms. Because he is the left end and most offenses are right handed he is going to have to battle tight ends a lot. That part of his game definitely needs some work.

Gerald McCoy: I was very impressed by McCoy this game. You can tell that he is getting very comfortable with the speed of the game now and its not overwhelming to him. He had some outstanding pass rush moves that you probably didn't even notice on the first glance. I had him with two pressures a quarterback hit and three other really good rushes. By my count he had a tackle and an assist to go along with that.

And that's with Garrard going with a three step drop for most of the game.

He did have a missed tackle but it was on a play where he got good penetration into his gap and made the running back go almost backwards to try to get around him. That penetration allowed the rest of the defense to pursue and get the running back on the ground for a loss.

I still would urge caution against anyone expecting McCoy to be a world beater in his rookie season. But I can tell you this much, I wouldn't be all that surprised if he is.

Roy Miller: Roy had a quiet game this week. I think that's mostly because he wasn't in for a lot of the three lineman schemes. When he was in the game I thought he did well though. And he did a lot better this week on the scoop cut. He didn't fall down and he ended up being in on the running play. He also held up well over the center in goalline and didn't allow himself to get knocked off the ball much.


Stylez G. White: Stylez flashed big time against the Jaguars. After having his coaches taking shots at him in the paper for his work ethic and other folks including me saying he needed to show up, he did just that. He had a really nice spin move and got a hit on the quarterback. He came inside on a blitz and good a pressure on Garrard. He had a good speed rush and forced a holding call on the offensive tackle. And he had a really good tackle from behind on a play where he showed great effort running down the field in pursuit.

That's the kind of performance I am expecting out of Stylez every game and that's the standard he is going to be held to. And if he can go out and play like that for 16 games, something tells me our pass rush will be alright.


Michael Bennett: I'm going to go ahead and say this and get it out of the way. I believe Bennett should either be the starter or split reps evenly with Kyle Moore. It's not necessarily a knock against Moore but the truth is Bennett has shown himself to be the better pass rusher at left end in games this preseason. And its not as if he has only done well against backups. He has had some of his better rushes against starting offensive tackles in fact. And as I have said before, and as it was proven again on Saturday, right now Bennett is the only guy at left end who is successful speed rushing around the corner.

I just believe that all other things being equal you go with the better pass rusher, and that is Bennett in this case. Its the same argument I made last year in training camp when I felt Stylez should have been starting over Gaines Adams (RIP).

Now I have about as much chance of starting at left end for the Bucs right now as Michael Bennett does and I realize that. The Bucs are committed to Kyle Moore and its not likely that they would consider benching him any time soon. I'm just telling you what I see as an unbiased observer.

Against the Jaguars Bennett again was very productive. He had some really good rushes, got a hit on the quarterback and ended up with a tackle and a couple of assists. He might be falling too in love with his inside pass rush moves though. He is good at getting the offensive lineman upfield and then coming back inside, but when you are the left end facing a right handed quarterback the last thing you want to do is lose containment and allow the QB outside of the pocket. And sooner or later if you keep going inside somebody is going to see it and take advantage of it.

Bennett also learned a valuable lesson Saturday night, and that is when you see a back offset to your side you always have to be aware that they might chip block you when you aren't looking for it. Bennett was trying to get upfield to make the Jags' quarterback pull up on a roll out pass and one of their running backs caught him from the blindside and put him on his back. Not a good look at all lol.

Brian Price: Price had a much better game. He obviously got his legs back up under him and it was a lot harder for the Jaguars to move him or get him on the ground. He had a really good hit on Garrard off of a three man plus Quincy Black pass rush look. He did have one bust though when he forgot to loop around for containment when we ran a line stunt. But all in all for his second bit of live action of the preseason he held his own.


Tim Crowder: Crowder played well but he didn't flash all that much. He did have one good rush that I noted but for the most part he was where he was supposed to be, doing his job. But he just didn't really fill up the stat sheet.

Normally I would go through the rest of the guys on the roster but they didn't play all that much this game plus because the DVR gods are jerks, the last 2 minutes or so of the game was not recorded. Therefore I will just note that although Carlton Powell may not have enough talent to play in the NFL, I have really been impressed with the way he has bounced back from a decidedly horrible first preseason game against the Dolphins. The guy goes hard and you can tell it means something to him. I feel like that's the kind of guy who I would want on my practice squad because I think he will actually appreciate the opportunity and, in time, just might develop to the point where he IS ready to play in the NFL.

I'm not trying to campaign for the guy but I am saying I really appreciate seeing young guys who bust their ass and show marked improvement from game to game.

Well that's it for this week. Just two more weeks before the real bullets start flying. I don't know about you but I can hardly wait!