Koetter Explains How To Stop Julio Jones

December 16th, 2017

Talkin’ Julio last night

If it were only this simple.

Last night, Bucs coach Dirk Koetter made his weekly appearance on “Late Hits,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, with co-hosts Alex Marvez and Gil Brant.

(It almost sounded like Koetter’s last appearance for the season. As the interview concluded, Koetter offered his wishes to the two co-hosts for a good Christmas, which is a week from Monday.)

Obviously, a topic of conversation was how to stop all-world Dixie Chicks wide receiver Julio Jones. Last time the two teams clashed in November, Jones went bananas on the Bucs defense, racking up 253 yards and two touchdowns on 12 catches. Koetter claimed the Bucs tried 14 different coverages on Jones, which clearly failed.

But Koetter offered up a defense that he believes is the kryptonite for Jones: getting after Matty Ice.

“He is not going to have games like that every single week,” Koetter said in reference to playing at Atlanta last month. “When he is rolling and hot like that he is very tough to stop. But, one of the main ways you stop Julio is you put pressure on the quarterback so he can’t stand in there and look for him all day.

“Obviously we have to do some things differently than we did the first time. There has been several teams that have had a hard stopping Julio. For us, the key will be try to make than one-dimensional and put pressure on the quarterback.”

Joe sure hopes Koetter isn’t putting all of his eggs in one basket. Through 13 games, the Bucs only had a pass rush in one game. And if Gerald McCoy can’t go, not sure how anyone thinks that magically, a pass rush will appear.

26 Responses to “Koetter Explains How To Stop Julio Jones”

  1. Pete Mitchell Says:

    Oh but if a pass rush does appear with 93 out, watch out. The haters will open fire!

  2. I'm a Tandyman Bucs Fan Says:

    Irk hasn’t made any changes in 13 games so don’t hold your breath on this one!!!!

  3. Buc believer Says:

    With McCoy not balling like a three year old little girl on the bench Monaday the Glazer boys will save a ton of money on Kleenex.

  4. tbaybuxfan Says:

    other teams have a pass rush and no McCoy

  5. Onetrickpony Says:

    Real simple huh?

  6. What in the buc Says:

    If it’s that’s what needs to happen and he knew it from the beginning of the year we couldn’t rush the passer why did frew agency come and go with nothing to show for it…..

  7. Mikadeemas Says:

    So we’ll blitz….not get there….and leave the back end thin…..or not cover the running back coming out of the backfield. Damn. Oh well, GO BUCS!!

  8. Cobraboy Says:

    175 yds. will be an “improvement.”

  9. Midnightstroker1 Says:

    Single coverage give him about 15 yards cushion. You don’t wanna give up the big play

  10. TJ Says:

    “One of the main ways to stop Julio is to put an inexperienced guy or this time Vernon on him and put just about an 8-yard cushion on him”

  11. Blake_Bucsfan Says:

    Koetter doesn’t know how to stop Julio.

  12. passthebuc Says:

    NO Kotter, you cannot use poison

  13. tmaxcon Says:

    with the bucs pathetic defense they are better off signing Tonya Harding for a game than trying to stop ATL with this soft defense.

  14. Bucnjim Says:

    I don’t remember McCoy putting any pressure on them the last time we played! Really what difference does it make? He’s been playing like he has one foot out the door for the last 6 or 8 weeks anyway.

  15. Dewey Selmon Says:

    If it ain’t bad enough, Devonta Freeman will be playing this time.

  16. tmaxcon Says:

    mccoy fanboys are probably confusing the chihuahua like ankle grab from 3 years ago. McCoy fanboys really like using that one. Probably Since mccoy rarely makes a meaningful impact or play it’s really hard for the fanboys to not reuse delusional flash backs to justify their man crush on a career loser with no heart. No one captains a blowout like cancer93…

    let’s see what stunt the selfish POS camera hound pulls Monday night. me first losers like him can’t stand not being the center of attention. he will not be happy it’s gruden’s night. This will be nothing but a circus week filled with meaningless BS feel good stories and trying to cover up the fact this is a dysfunctional franchise that is a complete embarrassment to the league, the city and football fans worldwide. Not too mention the idiots that actually want to bring back the coach who started the playoff drought. makes no sense. No hope for bucs

  17. BucTooth Says:

    I have just three words for his answer as getting to the quarterback against the Atlanta Falcons. DEAD MAN WALKING.

  18. Bucnjim Says:

    I’m Surprised McCoy’s name is even mentioned here. When Chris Baker, Ryan Smith and William Gholston have better stats in the last game vs. the Falcons I wouldn’t worry too much whether he is starting or not. Isn’t there a young DT on our team that wants to make a name for themselves before the season ends? McCoy can keep his two tackles on the bench along with zero pressures and zero sacks against a team that threw 35 times for 320 yards.

  19. not there yet Says:

    That was the best explanation you could come up with? After all those years coaching. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say this is the one coaching staff in the league that had the ability to know how to stop this guy since they drafted and coaches him. You know other than watching film of the rest of the league slowing down that offense enough to take that guy away…hmmm who knew it would be so difficult lol

    Dead man walking indeed, looking forward to back Monday since our season was over 5 weeks into the year, I say 5 weeks because we didn’t play week one. Can’t lose to every team with a winning record and think you can keep this job

  20. Defense Rules Says:

    @Dewey Selmon … “If it ain’t bad enough, Devonta Freeman will be playing this time.” Great point Dewey. Folks are all concerned about Julio but have a hunch we’ll see a similar game this time around, but with different key players. Atlanta rushed 28 times for 148 yds last game (yup, 5 yds a pop average) which ended up being almost 45% of their plays. Of course who could forget that Matty Ice passed 36 times with 27 completions (75%) for 368 yds (average of 13.5 yds/completion … scary). Final score (34-20) doesn’t look gross, and it seems almost comical that BOTH teams had the same time-of-possession (30 mins). Bucs didn’t really play a bad game offensively (Fitz threw for 283 yds, we rushed for 94 yds, no turnovers, only 2 penalties), but in reality the game was over before it started. Bucs never REALLY had a chance to win it with the Bucs defense playing like they did (giving up over 500 yds … of which HALF went to one player … won’t win many games). If you can’t stop the run, and you can’t stop the pass, you’d better put a whole lot of points on the board AND keep the ball for a long, long time if you expect to compete.

  21. tmaxcon Says:

    not having mccoy will really help the run defense. she is a huge liability against run which can not be argued. the bucs rarely have a chance to win with glazers running the show

  22. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Since we don’t have a pass rush, here are some suggestions….Dirk!!!

    Take the 5 yard holding penalty on every pass play….that way on a 80 yard drive it will take them 16 plays.

    Take a 15 yard roughing penalty, the ejection and fine and break a limb….(suggest using TJ Ward.

    Take a 15 yard penalty, ejection and fine and put Matty Ice on ice…..(suggest using TJ Ward

    This is how you stop Julio without a pass rush

  23. tmaxcon Says:

    Tampabaybucfan

    last thing you want is a backup quarterback in the game. i’d keep ryan healthy. I am surprised you have forgotten how many backs up have embarrassed bucs defenses captained by cancer93 and his pansy arse defense. or maybe it’s just another case of selective memory

  24. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    @ Tmax

    Same procedure for backups…..but since TJ Ward is eject…..we’ll let GMC take the penalty, ejection & fine (he can afford it)….then at least for you he will have served a worthy purpose.

  25. Mike Johnson Says:

    Hell Koetter, I explaine to my grandkids how millionaires do Xmas. They smiled and said, Wish that was us GrandPa. Same with our Bucs, Koetter knows how to stop ATL….in his fantasies and dreams. Wishin and ah hoping for them Falcons to underestimate us. They won’t!

  26. Rrsrq Says:

    Expecting Justin Evans to hit Julio so hard he doesn’t want to come back in, unfortunately that could be the 4th quarter.