“Want To See His Numbers Come Down Quite A Bit”
October 2nd, 2015
Lovie Smith can’t let Greg Olsen beat him for the third time in 20 games
Aside from the obvious blowouts, perhaps the most telling sign the Bucs’ defense had serious issues last year came on December 14 against the Panthers.
Tampa Bay faced backup quarterback Derek Anderson for the second time, as well as tight end Greg Olsen, and both carved them up all over the field.
It was a thorough beating. Anderson completed 25-of-40 passes without getting picked off. Olsen had 10 catches for 110 yards, and Kelvin Benjamin had a 100-yard day. The Panthers also ran for 123 yards and controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes.
What made it so stunning was that Olsen and Anderson had nearly identical days against the Bucs back in September. It was as if Leslie Frazier, Lovie Smith and friends knew what was coming and couldn’t craft a way to stop it, despite former Bucs-fan punching bag Mike Shula calling plays for Carolina.
Former tight end and current Buccaneers.com film analyst Anthony Becht said of Olsen, with a chuckle in his voice, “I want to see his numbers come down quite a bit.”
Becht was on WDAE-AM 620 and emphasized the Bucs need to fix their coverage of Olson, in addition to now having to deal with versatile and dangerous Cam Newton.
“When you’re talking about getting to the seams and the safety play and the faster linebackers,” Becht said. “This is a game that I want to see [coverage of Olson] improve with some of our linebacker play and some of our not necessarily athletic safeties, but knowing the system, system guys being in the right spots.”
Added to the Olsen equation is Lovie drafting and coaching him in Chicago. Lovie knows Olson well. The guy is not a Hall of Famer. He’s got four 100-yard receiving games in his nine-year NFL career. Lovie can’t let it happen again.
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:15 pm
Oh but he will let it happen again. I just hope SuperCam doesn’t drop 50 points on us. Maybe Riverboat Ron will have mercy on us.
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:21 pm
Guy is going to get like 15 passes thrown his way at least. I don’t care what his stats are as long as we win
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:22 pm
Kwon should be fast enough to cover the weaknesses in cover 2
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:26 pm
I had to start Jon Stewart as an RB on my fantasy team for the reverse “mojo” factor; I jinx him by starting him and he jinxes my team by laying an egg thus helping the Bucs. So far it is working: he is questionable but i am afraid that he will somehow, someway find a way on the field and triple digits in yards and a score; the Bucs usually make these journeymen look like HOF’ers for a week when they play our Bucs…. Kind of like how Hugh Douglas probably has over half his career yards in the NFL against Tampa in 2 or 3 starts against the Bucs D….
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:26 pm
I trust the Bucs will not allow the sequel, Beatdown 3: The Cats Ride Roughshod Over the Bucs Again. Actually I don’t trust the Bucs to prevent it.
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:30 pm
Fortmeyers
May I suggest starting the back-up RB rather than Stewart. Back-ups tend to have career days vs Lovies loveable huggable defense.
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:32 pm
I hope it’s not as embarrassing as when Marcus whooped us.
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:34 pm
The most telling sign of trouble was when the Bucs announced Lovie Smith was going to be the coach. From that monument on it has been downhill from there. I just hope we don’t have to suffer another year of this.
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:35 pm
Very simple……Put LVD on Olsen……Kwon on Cammy…..and Danny on the RB out of the backfield……have all our DBs cover WRs…….with an occaisional blitz.
That should get it done…..
Oh no….we can’t do that….lets play in our “zones” and let Cammy complete short passes over the middle all day long like every other QB we have faced….
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:36 pm
I agree that this game is almost a sure loss. Our team just isn’t far enough along in its development to beat a team as good as the Panthers. I hate admitted that about a division rival, but it’s true.
If I have to put out odds of my own? I would say…93% against us winning this one.
So anyone saying “it is a must win” is JUST SETTING YOURSELF UP TO HATE SOME MORE NEXT WEEK!!!!!
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Still…that leaves us a 7% chance to win. It’s still a “chance”. lol
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:38 pm
Man to man defense would be a start. Instead of letting the TE exploit the gaps.
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:41 pm
DB55: I thought of that; Tolbert might snake a couple of TDs this Sunday and anger Stewart/cam/Olsen owners who are all already counting up the TDs…. but heck, maybe they all get a pile of points if the Bucs pull another titans type of game at RJS; I would not put it past L&L. I want the Bucs to win, but frankly I can not see how they can unless the Panthers really come apart and hand the Bucs so many points that lovie can not lose it no matter how bad he manages the 2nd half and with lovie I really feel no lead is safe…..
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:42 pm
Look at what Olson did to them last season… TWICE! With Derek Anderson at QB. What do you think is gonna happen? FUK!
October 2nd, 2015 at 6:35 pm
Last year in the second meeting Doug Martin ran for 96 yards (avg 9.6 per carry) in just 14 carries. The Bucs can run on these stinking Panthers. Olsen was 10 of 13 for 110 yards. What else they got? Ted Ginn Jr? Last week they ran the ball 22 times for 74 yards against the Saints. The Bucs ran on the Saints 29 times for 118 yards. Bucs have to contain Stewart and more so stop #1. So I got four things for the defense to do Sunday. Stop #1, stop Olsen, stop Stewart and stop Ginn Jr. In that order
October 3rd, 2015 at 12:40 am
Well, when our corners are in man, they tend to get burned. When they play in zone, they get confused and they dont tackle well, and that is the most important part when your in zone.
Hopefully we can make them settle for field goals and our offense can score more than nine points.