Pounded From All Angles

December 15th, 2013

Joe was mighty disappointed in the Bucs defense today.

They’re loaded with talent at all three levels. They were healthy. (Yes, Joe knows Lavonte David and Mark Barron got banged up.) Niners stud left guard Mike Iupati didn’t play. The Bucs were back home, coming off a huge performance. But the Bucs dropped a dud.

Make no mistake whatsoever, the Bucs were supposed to be in a push for the playoffs this season. That’s right playoffs. Greg Schiano even talked in detail about how this team had all the talent in place. And that opening-day defense started today’s game, a rarity in the NFL in Week 15.

So was that a playoff-caliber defense Bucs fans saw today? Joe didn’t see that.

Plays were made. Absolutely. There was great effort, a brutal task considering the Bucs offense struggled to move the ball. But the Bucs were manhandled often at the line of scrimmage, they couldn’t contain Colin Kaepernick, and they didn’t get off the field well on third down. Their starts didn’t force a turnover.

San Francisco ran the ball down their throat.

Joe doesn’t expect much from Mike Glennon, Skye Dawson, Bobby Rainey and others on the offensive side, but Joe does expect to see a defense that looks like the real deal.

The Bucs didn’t flash that enough today. Joe really wants to see that in the final two games. That could become a critical evaluation point for Greg Schiano.

20 Responses to “Pounded From All Angles”

  1. Snook Says:

    The defense was the only reason this team was in the game in the 4th quarter. The back breaker was the Kaepernick conversion on 3rd and long when they were up 20-14. The defense played well considering the offense did NOTHING.

  2. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    The defense wasn’t the problem. Klappertick is tough for anyone to bring down, and he made the plays today. He was excellent throwing the ball on the run. The defense was on the field all game long chasing him around, as well as being pounded between the tackles all game long. Then, after a quick 3 and out by our offense, they were right back on the field.

  3. tom in st augustine Says:

    “pounded from all angles” ~ literally and figuratively speaking! lol

  4. Andrew 1 Says:

    Joe you are not taking into account how much the bucs defense was on the field because of our inept offense. Factor that in and I say the defense had a pretty good game. McCoy in particular was dominant, I thought he had his best game as a pro. This loss does not fall on the defense.

  5. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Not only did the offense not move the ball….they gave up field position and they didn’t eat any clock forcing the defense out on the field…I agree, that it wasn’t our best effort…but SF has lots of weapons…TE, WR, RB….& Kaepernick almost single-handedly beat us….the guy was really good today!!!

  6. mark2001 Says:

    Kappernick isn’t the second coming of Brett Favre. He has been beaten and looked badly a number of times this year. I know the pride we have in the Tampa Bay defenses, but today they didn’t get the job done…plain and simple. The offense was every bit as bad as advertised.

  7. Eric Says:

    Giving up 187 rushing yards is lousy, plus a lot of long third down conversions.

    Bucs were outclassed on both sides of the ball. And out coached.

    Got a long way to go.

  8. Vic Says:

    Joe referenced the time of possession, but let’s be real. They couldn’t stop the run or get off the field on third down, and Kaepernick schooled them several times. No turnovers. That all will get you beat every team. Not the same run defense we saw last year.

  9. Laughing Stock II Says:

    Does this coaching staff ever heard of SPYING the QB? Remember Dereck Brooks spying on Michael Vick and keeping him in check?

    I’m just saying…

  10. PhantomVash808 Says:

    Defense did great today but that offense was just horrendous.

  11. Gt40bear Says:

    Agreed that the offense kept our D on field too long but so did our D! Way too many third and longs converted with receivers just standing still waiting on the pass while our DBs stood by three feet away just watching! No spy, too much off-man, too many stunts (although didn’t notice as many today). OC & DC MUST go or the entire staff needs to. Embarrassed by how poorly a defense this talented has played overall this year. Out coached and out played yet again…disturbing trend.

  12. Paul Says:

    How come Vernon Davis came back in after suffering a sever concussion that knocked him out cold? Didn’t the 49’ers violate some sort of protocol?

  13. Paul Says:

    severe* (I’m posting comments too quickly, slow down) Well how about some sort of edit feature…

  14. Jason Says:

    I thought the defense played pretty well considering the circumstances. But is it the defense or the scheme because we haven’t contained a mobile QB all year. Our offense is an absolute joke and extremely disappointing but was expected. I just think that Schiano must go! I get we have had a lot of injuries but this team is more talented then last years team and we have digressed. 4-10 soon to be 4-12 is absolutely unacceptable and by no means are we trending upward like Schiano says.

  15. chickster Says:

    thought that was called a circle jerk

  16. chickster Says:

    this team reminds me of rah first year remember run the ball and have leftwitch throw a deep pass

  17. Eric Says:

    If we’re bringing back memories of the rah years that’s not good.

    That horrific offensive start was reminiscent, however. Morris like.

    I don’t know what the heck we should do. In a damn pickle. I respect Schiano for fighting back from 0-8, but that looked putrid today.

    Up my meds and march on I guess.

  18. Keith Says:

    Defense got abused on the ground and by Kaepernick. Our studs were no match for theirs. … Story of this season.

  19. MTM Says:

    The defense wasn’t the reason the Bucs lost but they certainly didn’t help themselves when Kapernick got out of the pocket on 3rd downs and threw it to the only open man on the sidelines. This happened twice with a Bucs defender standing there. Both times this should have been an interception.

    The offense was the same as the last 4 yrs… non-existent. If this offensive scheme is the best this staff can come up with after 2 yrs their in serious trouble.

  20. BucNasty!!! Says:

    Keapernick has crab tree and Davis 1 we 1 te an the 32 ranked passing offense but when our bum ass QB drops off the grid…. yet again he gets cuddled an many excuses made for him… we got no receivers bad calling whatever I kno the coaching and play calling is not helping but at some point n time u have to take some accountability for your actions or lake thereof and Glennon has not been lookin good maybe 2 good games an nothing to bank on after that. Mean while u see guys like McCown an flyn putting up these 300 plus yard games hey if I even seen a 250 game by Glennon more then once it might make u believe in some type of turnaround to look forward to but it’s always a consistent under 200 sometimes barley over 100 yard games with many needless sacks an a high percentage of short to intermediate passes. That’s not winning football I personally myself was at that game an he only attempted 3 passes over 20 yards for the game am this while being down by multiple touchdowns an being down by 17 at 1 point. All I kno is I just don’t see what u guys see well besides the 1-3 good throws he makes a game but it’s not enough to stake 2014 on u gotta earn it an not just because Schiano will hook u up with a opportunity an that clearly has to b the case you kno the hook up because he’s Schiano guy cuz I don’t see what in your body of work shows progression or moving forward and getting better