Front Line Already Misses Adrian Clayborn
October 24th, 2012
Joe knew it was just a matter of time that the Bucs would miss electric right defensive end Adrian Clayborn — who Joe saw limping around in the Bucs locker room this week.
Clayborn brought heat off the edge and could punish quarterbacks, like the time he nearly tore Matty Ice in half last year.
So when Clayborn went down with an ugly knee injury, Joe feared it would really hurt the Bucs.
Already, the Bucs can feel his void. That’s what Gerald McCoy told Joe yesterday when discussing all things defensive line. Joe asked him if he can tell opponents have changed their blocking schemes knowing they don’t have to worry about Clayborn racing around their left side.
“Yeah, yeah, the doubles are coming,” GMC said. Though he was almost embarrassed to admit it, he said he and fellow defensive tackle Roy Miller are seeing more double-teamed coverage as offenses don’t have to worry about Clayborn. “I’m not the first person to get doubled on this team. I’m just working hard to be able to get some one-on-ones and utilize my talents. One one-on-ones, I haven’t gotten that many [of late] but I have to work my best.”
That’s the task of Bucs defensive coaches now: They have to devise schemes up front in order to help GMC and Michael Bennett from getting double-teamed and lost in the wash.
That happened less with Clayborn giving left tackles fits.
October 24th, 2012 at 8:34 pm
I’m not so sure about him giving anyone “fits”. Clayborn wasn’t doing very well up to the time of his injury.
October 24th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Short answer: Bowers as RE…..pretty simple…..activate him and let’s go….
October 24th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
No kidding, I’ve been saying this all week. Clayborn’s absence was exposed in the saints game. The lack of pass rush was the reason the Bucs lost that game. Imagine a healthy Clayborn and Bowers out there?
October 24th, 2012 at 8:43 pm
2013 draft:
BPA, tie breaker goes to defense the whole time.
I hope we can land the hurt DE from FSU in the 4th or later.
I hope we can get a mauler for the O-Line, and a beast of a pass rusher.
October 24th, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Maybe instead of looking for the one-on-one matchup he should fight harder to get through the double-team. I know he’s not Warren Sapp (no one is) but that’s what Sapp did. All the great ones do/did. Find a way to beat it because it probably won’t stop anytime soon.
October 24th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
I think this is where bowers comes into play. But only if he is truely ready to go
October 24th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
How about calling Hargrove? His suspension is up this week
October 24th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
I would be surprised if Bowers is not on active roster and on the field in 3rd and long …285 lbs and quick as a cat…
October 24th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Tim makes an excellent point.
I can’t imagine Bowers is 100% ready to go. Don’t risk long term.
October 24th, 2012 at 11:05 pm
This is what happens when you have no depth!
October 24th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
Drew Brees and Eli Manning are tough QBs to face I dont care who you are.
Lets hope we can smash Ponder this week and slow down Peterson for a road win.
October 24th, 2012 at 11:48 pm
what are you watching, have a nice day??
October 25th, 2012 at 3:26 am
Missing Clayborn hurts. Like Patrick said, the actual issue here is no quality depth. We need to concentrate on defends ( again) in the upcoming draft and free agency.
October 25th, 2012 at 7:54 am
I wouldn’t risk Bowers. Wati untill next year then you get back a fully heathy Bowers and Clayborn. I would hate to see Bowers tear that again because we put him in too fast.
October 25th, 2012 at 8:25 am
Hargrove? He would be temporary anyway…and it would be an upgrade over Teonesheim.
October 25th, 2012 at 11:29 am
bowers wasn’t exactly an impact player last year, i think pinning our hopes on him to fill clayborn’s shoes while coming off an achilles tear ahead of schedule is a reach. when talib gets back we’ll just have to use our linebackers a little more than we like to rush the passer
October 25th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
What happened to Dekoda Watson coming in on pass rushing downs? Clayborn is one of my favorite players, I was disappointed he wasn’t able to get to the QB in the games he did play this year.