Matador Defense
October 13th, 2018
More ugliness.
The brutal numbers continue to pile up.
Joe is almost at a point where he is trying to find nice things to write about the Bucs. Outside of how the acquisitions of Jason Pierre-Paul and Vinny Curry have been perhaps better than expected, this defense is a complete and total joke.
Just look at what the good folks at NFL Films dug out and announced on BSPN’s NFL Matchup. The Bucs are giving up passing first downs — when their opponents have a first down — at an alarming rate.
Per NFL Films, the Bucs allowing teams to complete first-down passes that move the sticks 40.8 percent of the time, tied for second-worst in the NFL.
If this continues Sunday, when will folks at One Buc Palace going to put a stop to this nonsense? It’s been going on for the better part of three seasons. And even after Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht beefed up the defense, the results have been worse!
October 13th, 2018 at 10:52 am
Will the folks at one Buc palace put an end to this nonsense?? You mean like clueless Koetter or Jason Gump? Not a chance in hell they believe we are fine and in great shape. The Glazer boys??? Nah they are worried that Man U is sucking right now and they are to busy with their balance sheets. No nothing will change.
October 13th, 2018 at 10:58 am
We shall see in the next 2 or 3 games If Smitty tries some different things. We will know what this Defense truly is. Thats the great thing about this NFl..You cannot Hide. You are what that record says you are. Right now we are a 500 team. The pressure is on this team to get the Defense right. God Luck Smitty. You’re gonna need..every ounce of it.
October 13th, 2018 at 11:09 am
Joe do you get the feeling like Smith might still get fired any week now or might Dirk just just be waiting until enough defensive beatings pile up.
Like after Atlanta…..maybe?
Maybe Dirk’s just giving his buddy an extremely long rope???
Or is it actually like he says…what good will that do?
October 13th, 2018 at 11:23 am
@Joe … “Joe is almost at a point where he is trying to find nice things to write about the Bucs.” LMAO Joe … you mean nice things like “this defense is a complete and total joke.” Might have to work on the ‘nice things’ part some more Joe. I’m sure that some JBFers like BucEmUp and Bucs Believer could help … their sooo good at saying nice things.
@Mike Johnson … “We shall see in the next 2 or 3 games If Smitty tries some different things. We will know what this Defense truly is.” That’s EXACTLY how I feel Mike. The DLine is almost back to 100%, and the LBs are ‘good enough”. The Secondary is suspect, BUT … the youngsters have POTENTIAL. It’s now up to Smitty & his assistant coaches to create situations that play to their strengths & minimize their weaknesses. HUUGE task right there, but if Mike Smith doesn’t say “Screw it, full speed ahead” and let it all hang out, Falcons offense will bury us. Smitty needs to be super-aggressive from here on out. We’re simply NOT good enough to win by playing conservative football. NO GUTS, NO GLORY SMITTY … GOT FOR IT.
October 13th, 2018 at 11:32 am
@Dedense rules…. I will be one of the FIRST people to say I was wrong if Smith changes course and turns us into a respectable defense. I HATE saying negative things about my Bucs. But it sure will take more than one game when we have sucked bad ( excluding 5 games) for almost 3 years now.
October 13th, 2018 at 11:39 am
Twice as many fans picked the Bucs to beat Atlanta in your flash poll so that has to count for something since the fans have a finger on the teams pulse detecting an upbeat.
October 13th, 2018 at 12:04 pm
The more you look at the numbers the more you have to question why Smith still has a job…
Only hope this team has is to score score and score some more
Dirk needs to be aggressive and go for it more on 4th down and rely on the strength of the offense and not the weakness of Smith and his d
October 13th, 2018 at 12:20 pm
I suspect it will be business as usual for Smittys Defense.
He has had plenty of time to figure it out but is stuck in his ways.
Firing him at this point would serve little purpose – but relieving him of play calling might be just what is needed. Give Duffner a shot if Smith wont make a change. More blitzes early would be a good sign.
Worked on offense
Lets go Bucs shake it up a little!!!
October 13th, 2018 at 12:39 pm
Buc Believer … Sounds like we BOTH want the same thing: a RESPECTABLE DEFENSE. Surely no one (not even me) will mistake this 2018 Bucs’ defense for our 2002 Bucs’ defense that only gave up 196 points on the season (and only 4,044 yards TOTAL BTW). All-around team personnel aren’t nearly as good, and neither is the coaching. BUT … with guys now finally getting healthy, this defense can be GOOD ENOUGH to get us in the hunt, IF our Bucs’ offense can score in the neighborhood of 27-28 PPG, control the TOP & above all, NOT TURN THE BALL OVER.
I almost always prefer stability over instability, and constantly changing coaches leads to instability (as we’ve seen since 2009). The Glazers, Licht & Koetter KNEW WHAT THEY WERE GETTING when they hired Mike Smith … an old-school defensive coach who needs certain types of players to make his concepts & tactics work.
Without the ‘right’ personnel, Smitty’s defense simply won’t work. It’s not until THIS season that our Bucs’ defense had many of the pieces that Smitty needs to make his defense work (not all, but many & probably most). Unfortunately the injury bug once again crippled us to start this season … and with it Smitty’s defense. Interestingly (to me at least), that’s EXACTLY the same thing that’s happening to the Atlanta Falcons … and look at what’s happened to them.
I see nothing good coming from firing a coach in the middle of a season. It’s not like superior DCs are lined up outside RayJay beating down the doors crying for a job. This defense WILL IMPROVE THIS YEAR under Mike Smith’s direction … IF it can stay healthy, and IF he’s willing to let our youngsters in the Secondary ball out. IF NOT, we’ll see more of the same, and Smitty will deserve to be fired IMO. NO GUTS, NO GLORY.
October 13th, 2018 at 1:06 pm
I’m telling you with this guys fresh fallen snow bright white hair color, his shiny red nose and his ability to consistently side step difficult questions and leave one not knowing the answers, he would be a pro bowler hall of fame Santa Clause at the local shopping centers. Hell….the Buc s wouldn’t even need to fire him, they could just give him a position change and rent him out all December to help recoup some.of the ridiculous contract they payed to keep him here as the league’s worst DC in NFL history.
October 13th, 2018 at 1:09 pm
Defense Rules when you really look at it Mike Smith, from the beginning, was the wrong guy for the job. His defense is not exactly the same as Lovies but it is very similar requiring the same type of personal.
It was just a bad hire/direction from the git-go. We have never had the front 4 required to play his defense and now that we do the inability to devolope a secondary(as Joe has mentioned hundreds of times) is screwing us.
But above all this team will never win under Dirk no matter what players or what system we play in. Our preparation and practice during the week is in the bottom of the league and you can’t win when hour competition is outworking you. Mike may not be the right DC but our problems are much deeper then a quick system change.
Our team just does not work hard to tough and it’s how’s on game day.
October 13th, 2018 at 1:10 pm
Typos**
October 13th, 2018 at 1:17 pm
JimmyJack … You’re spot on. Frustrating huh. If you hire someone KNOWING what they need to do the job, THEN don’t provide it, then you get what you deserve. Mike Smith’s defense NEEDS the beasts up front (to stop the run AND pressure the QB); it NEEDS bigger LBs (to again stop the run AND protect close in), and it NEEDS ball-hawks in the Secondary (who can create turnovers). Jacksonville’s defense last year was the perfect example of what that type of defense can do … IF it has top-of-the-line talent. They blitzed less than any team, yet created the most turnovers & gave up the least points (close to it at least). BUT … without top-of-the-line talent, it’s a disaster in the making in today’s pass-happy NFL. Welcome to Bucsville.
October 13th, 2018 at 1:31 pm
Defense Rules don’t forget that aquiring talent is only half of the equation. I don’t think it matters how talented you are if you aren’t going to work hard to prepare during the week.
I’ve convinced myself that is the biggest problem with this team. They took a short week before Chicago and probably rested up. That’s why they came out flat and got destroyed in the first half. Chicago worked their tails off preparing for us. It was clear as day that they were much more prepared then we were.
As bad as our defense was it’s not just a Mike Smith defense problem to me. It’s a team problem. Go back and look at any bad loss by Dirk’s team and its the same thing every time. Our defense gives up the booty and our offense does nothing as well. Our offense did nothing last week as well.
Everybody wants to blame Mike Smith. I’m looking at Dirk foremost.
October 13th, 2018 at 1:42 pm
The Bucs need speed on defense
But they continue to draft and sign, these slow pokes
October 13th, 2018 at 1:59 pm
Jimmy Jack
The Bucs offense has scored 30 points or more, 11 times, since Dirk Koetter became OC in 2015.
52 games, 11 times, scoring 30 or more
But everyone keep bragging about this high-scoring offense
Since 2015, the Saints has scored 30 or more, 23 times
Since 2015, the Falcons has scored 30 or more,22 times
Since 2015, the Panthers has scored 30 or more, 22 times
For the Bucs to win the NFC South, the offense has to be more consistent
The NFC South is the most explosive division in the NFL
The Bucs offense has to keep pace with the other teams offenses
Not for 2-3 games, but for 16 games
October 13th, 2018 at 2:06 pm
Since they can’t cover anyway, why not blitz.
October 13th, 2018 at 2:06 pm
If it continues with DL and secondary healthy, then it’s on Smith.
No excuses this week- Defense and Jameis in spotlight.
October 13th, 2018 at 2:17 pm
Lakeland. I agree. And I know at least one of those 11(cards game last year) games was just us putting up garbage points in a game that was over at the half. I bet there are one or two more.
We were built to play shootout football and have been a complete failure with Dirk’s system. It was nice to see Fitz do it but we were built to have Winston win a shootout game and he never has.
He basically starts every game slow and that is a problem that has yet to be addressed. Dirk has proven he is not capable of addressing problems.
October 13th, 2018 at 2:26 pm
Lakeland … Teams scoring 30 or more PPG in the NFC South is an awesome point. Never dawned on me that the Panthers & Falcons had done that almost exactly as much as the Saints since 2015. Bucs really are sucking hind teet.
JimmyJack … Totally agree that PREPARATION has been lagging for the Bucs (for quite a few years actually). Like most of us, I was taught playing sports from a very young age that you practice hard … and if you lose you practice even harder. Been blessed over my life to have played on several pretty good teams (ice hockey and baseball, not so much football) that really took that philosophy to heart. Found over my career as an Air Force pilot that the best fighter pilots were the ones who absolutely could not stand to lose … and we worked our tails off to make sure we didn’t. I REALLY want to see my Bucs take that same philosophy (they’ve become too accustomed to losing IMO).
Here’s hoping that this week starts our turnaround … in more ways than one.
October 13th, 2018 at 3:29 pm
Smitty has to come up a way to apply both pressure and disrupt the receivers routes. Grimes might be a 100%, but his technique is to play back ,if he attempts
to play up he falls down or gets pushed out of the way too often due to his size.
The rules say we have 5 yards to disrupt the route and we have to get players that will have success doing that. Its unfortunate that Jason Licht didn,t get these players on the team to develope last year or the year before. But at this point ,I much rather see a youth movement in the defensive backfield to at least attempt a more agressive defense.
October 13th, 2018 at 3:49 pm
Folks are talking about the Falcons like they are damaged goods.
The Falcons are a mirror image of the Bucs: excellent offense, worse-than-crap defense.
But the Falcons have an excuse for their poor D: significant injuries at all levels. Besides Beckwith (who rarely played on passing downs), Conte (who many fans hate) and Hargreaves (who has struggled since he go to Tampa) who are the Bucs missing? Vea? A rookie? Beau Allen?
This is an interesting game because two seriously excellent passing offenses who can’t run vs. two of the worst defenses in the history of the NFL.
If there were justice in the NFL, both teams would get blown out.
I love the Bucs, but this defense embarrasses me like no other in Bucs history, and I am angry that Smith has not been fired for no other reason than to show fans team management gives a crap.
October 13th, 2018 at 3:57 pm
Here’s the NFC South scoring from 2015-2018
Tampa Bay
2015-342 2016-354 2017- 335
New Orleans Saints
2015-408 2016-469 2017-448
Carolina Panthers
2015- 500 2016-369 2017-363
Atlanta Falcons
2015- 339 2016- 540 2017- 353
October 13th, 2018 at 4:00 pm
Defense Rules…..I know it’s professional football and they have all this terminology and scheming most fans don’t 100% appreciate. They got eyes in the sky and do all this game planning and film watching behind the scenes……….But their sport is not so complicated that their jobs don’t work just like any other job on the face of the Earth.
And cold hard fact is that those who work the hardest are the ones who succeed……..Just like you said it worked that way in the Air Force, it works that way with my job and I’m betting that it works that way with everybodys job who reads this.
And when it comes to those who fail it’s usually almost always those who give the least effort.