Has Tanard Jackson’s Career Peaked?
May 25th, 2010.jpg)
Tanard Jackson was one of the few draft picks from the Chucky era that panned out. There are few more distructive hitters than Jackson.
Jackson, Joe thought, was one of the Bucs’ handful of decent defensive players, a bone-crunching ballhawk of a safety.
Granted, last year he missed the first four games of the season as he was suspended by the NFL for allegedly missing a whizz quiz mandated by the league.
Despite Joe believing Jackson is budding star, David Gardner, of FootballOutsiders.com, isn’t as enamoured. Gardner claims Jackson’s numbers have slipped every season since his rookie year and claims last year Jackson was one of the worst tacklers in the NFL if not for his teammate Sabby the Goat.
This year, for the first time, the Football Outsiders game charting project tracked broken and missed tackles. On defense, no defense player was shredded more than 15 times, with one exception: Tampa Bay safety Sabby Piscitelli, who led the league with 19 broken tackles.
Fellow safety Tanard Jackson, who has never quite been able to repeat his excellent rookie performance, also missed quite a few tackles when he came up in run support. When they weren’t busy missing tackles last year, Jackson and Piscitelli were trying to trying to cover up the play of cornerbacks Ronde Barber — who may have finally hit the age wall — and Elbert Mack, who allowed a dismal 11.4 yards per pass according to our game charters.
This is a bit surprising to Joe, but the videotape/DVD apparently doesn’t lie. The camera doesn’t blink.
Joe wonders if Jackson’s poor showing with missed tackles (this came as quite a surprise when Joe first learned of it) last season was part of a domino effect created by horrid play upfront. Or was Jackson, as Gardner suggests, not just covering for Barber, but also covering for Sabby the Goat, therefore spreading himself too thin?
May 25th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
My opinion…..anything that happened during the first 8 games of last year should be discarded forever. Especially on the defensive side of the ball.
May 25th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Very good point Nick.
May 25th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
thats because Tanard was tripping over the defender in front of him that got pancaked 10 yds into the backfield .. TJ is Nasty when upfront is functioning worth a Damn
May 25th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
If the play up front improves every one of the DBs will improve…even Sabby…yes i said it even Sabby.
May 25th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
You have to trust your defensive teammate will protect and follow their assignments. When you don’t trust, you drift to try and -maybe- help them out – or so you think. All of a sudden, you’re exposed. So, “..therefore spreading himself too thin..” – exactly.
I think we see a much improved defense this year. Very competitive, making plays, giving the offense a chance.
I truly think, with the exception of expected youth mistakes, you see a significantly improved Bucs team.
May 25th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I am willing to give TJ alot more leeway than Sabby. TJ has shown how good he can be, Sabby never has.
Add better D-Line play and LB play in front of them and the DBs will get better. Talib is a stud. Rookie Myron lewis should be an improvement at nickel. Sean Jones or Sabby will probably be upgraded next year unless Jones really settles into the scheme. Barber, he was decent last year, but this MUST be the last year for him. He can not cover deep anymore. The only way he stays on is if Lewis is a complete bust and Mack doesn’t get better. OR he sticks it out one more year as the nickel or Dime guy.
Basically, it should get better and it all starts with the Line.
May 25th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I remember quite a few times where Tanard whiffed in the open field.
He wasn’t great at breaking down and squaring up.
Everybody on D played terrible, including Jackson.
You can’t blame tackling on the rest of the defense, it’s an individual responsibility.
May 25th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Of all the holes this team has, TJ is the least of their worries.
May 25th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Jackson is just one of several players who had a drop off in performance under the Dream’s leadership.
I suspect the trend will worsen, as time goes by and the team gets further away from any good coaching and veteran leadership.
Hard to get worse in every statistical category, but Rah pulled it off. Tanard got pulled down into the gutter like most of the rest.
May 25th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Doesn’t matter who the coach is, you tackle the ball carrier.
May 25th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
The entire team played sloppy, undisciplined, uncommitted which comes from poor practice and poor coaching.
The poor practice habits, already admitted by our genius coach, always manifest in poor tackling. Maybe he should turn off the music, stop the dancing etc and focus on work!
May 25th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Aaah, there is ERIC.. blaming Ra for a guy missing a tackle.
ERIC, you truely have become pathetic in your hatred towards this caoch.
EVERYTHING is pointing in the right direction, but you stay negative and walk around hating life. You must be a blast to hang with… I actually feel sorry for you
May 25th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I feel like TJ tries to recreate his hit on Dallas Clark a couple of years ago on every play.
He tries to make the highlight reel with every play instead of just wrapping guys up.
May 25th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Tanard the Goat
May 25th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Radio that is hilarious!
May 25th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
@Dave
I am blaming Rah for the super crappy perfomance of his team as demonstrated by their record and decline in every statistical category, since he is the head coach.
“Everything is pointing in the right direction”?
Oh Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure it is.
When exactly did that start? Did they play the 2010 season already, and everyone missed it? Or is it “pointed in the right direction” merely because Dave “thinks” it is?
May 25th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
@ Dave:
“EVERYTHING is pointing in the right direction.” Are you kidding me? Who are you the Captain of the Titanic. This is a 3-13 team, our best offensive weapon was signed by the Bengals and there are no proven explosive players on offense w/ a suspect O-line. The defense was 32nd in the nfl vs the run and we only added rooks.
You cant tell anything about direction until real games are played. Oh yea – except that freeman will be great b/c he changes his own flat tires – that is a clear sign!
May 25th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Maybe Raheem is a good coach, or maybe he is not. I know one thing for sure, I don’t care if Vince Lombardi is coaching that team last year, we aren’t winning many games. We committed to a youth movement, and there were mistakes made from everywhere (players, coaches, and front office). However, it was just one year, and it is unfair and really ignorant for any of us “fans” to claim to know whether or not Raheem is a good coach. Nobody on this board knows half as much football as we think we do, otherwise we wouldn’t be on this board. I just don’t understand why some people insist on complaining in the offseason (when we are 0-0 and tied for first place in our division), knowing it’s not going to do a damn bit of good. Raheem is coaching next year, and if we don’t show improvement, he won’t be for long. Then we can all pray for Bill Cowher, then complain when we don’t get him and blame ownership for not spending $10 million per year for a coach. Why not just support our team and hope we improve? Otherwise, you just sound like a nagging female.
May 25th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Eric, I like how you use the “we haven’t played in 2010” approach to counter his argument about talking about things pointing in the right direction, yet you have no trouble talking about how awful our year is going to be. Are you uniquely prophetic? I get that you hate the fact that we’re so inexperienced and young, lacking any proven talent. That’s credible and I understand it. I don’t agree that we’re doomed because of it, but it’s at least a rational argument. However, when you regularly cast gloom over a season, don’t bash someone who is casting hope over a season. Neither of you know what will happen.
May 25th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
It must be the Off-Season when people find a way to bash one of our best players who posted 5 INT’s in 12 games .. WoW
May 25th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Tanard was much better when he was on drugs.
Post-drug test failure , he sucks.
May 26th, 2010 at 5:34 am
tanard is a retard hes no sabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbby my man love is great
May 26th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Don’t worry guys, let the little girls like Eric, Radio, and Thomas cry all offseason and whine about every single post on this site.
I can’t wait until the season starts and this team shows improvement, which is all a real fan should want, hater or not. I know none of them is actually rooting for us to suck, they just want to bitch so if we do suck they can come out and tell us how stupid we are for believing in this regime.
May 26th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Sorry we all can’t be blindly optimistic like you Gary.
I”ll bet you’re one of these morons that still has an Obama bumper sticker on his car , thinking “change” is around the corner , LOL.
May 26th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Radio Mushmouth,
Having a president who can speak English, is change…
May 27th, 2010 at 7:15 am
read a teleprompter you mean ??