Here Comes The Three-Step Drop
December 4th, 2014
Before the Lions roasted the Bears on Thanksgiving — yes, they’ve had 10 days to prepare for Tampa Bay — Detroit hadn’t scored a touchdown in 22 drives spanning eight quarters.
Holy drought!
But the Lions and Matthew Stafford very much revived their offense versus Chicago. Having Calvin Johnson back sure helps.
Joe can smell what’s coming next.
Not only have the Bucs struggled against three-stop drops this season, but Stafford has been great at them through the years, though Detroit got away from that a bit this year. Some Detroit observers believe, in part, that’s why Stafford has taken more sacks in 2014.
Regardless, Joe expects the Lions will make the Bucs prove they can shut down that three-step drop, especially now that the Bucs’ pass rush looks respectable.
This insight from Golden Tate, the Lions’ other wide receiver, was interesting. He penned it on his blog at the Lions’ official website.
One thing I noticed from our last game that we did a good job of was we got in a rhythm. We were in and out of the huddle. We ran the ball extremely well. Joique showed up big for us, especially with Reggie being out. On top of that, I think nine different guys caught passes from Matt, so no guy was feeling pressure to make a play all the time. Matt was going through his reads, finding the open guy and we were hitting them pretty tough.
Yes, the Lions’ offense got healthy and confident against the Bears, like most NFL teams not named “Tampa Bay” have done this season. But Joe suspects the Lions didn’t become a special offense overnight.
Again, Joe thinks the Lions will try to keep that rhythm going and make the Bucs D-line uncomfortable. One of the best ways to do that is those pesky three-step drops.
December 4th, 2014 at 3:37 pm
We gonna b murdicated
December 4th, 2014 at 3:37 pm
Plus, they last had a Thursday game, so they had 10 days to prepare to ROFL-stomp the Bucs. I will be rooting for the Bucs to win, but as soon as the clock expires, a devious smile will take over my face as my dreams shift to the draft.
December 4th, 2014 at 3:44 pm
Mike Evans has more TD’s in one month than Megatron has all season. I thibk the Bucs are gonna blow this game in the 4th quarter (again), but will definitely be in it.
Suh will demolish McClown.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:14 pm
Detroit has always looked for a way to fold near the end of the season so they don’t have to play in January. Let’s hope the Lions realize they are precariously close to getting into the playoffs and start coughing up the fiootball against,us like they did last year.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:06 pm
BucFanForever Says:
December 4th, 2014 at 3:37 pm
” I will be rooting for the Bucs to win, but as soon as the clock expires, a devious smile will take over my face as my dreams shift to the draft.”
I hear ya. The secret “joy” is only worth it though if they lose out and get the 1st or 2nd pick in the draft. I would absolutely prefer that they win 3 or 4 of the next 4 to get some confidence and momentum to carry with them through the off-season and hopefully into next year. But if they only win 1 or maybe 2 of 4 – then that doesn’t really boost morale much and just hurts the draft position. So at this point – either win out or lose out would be the 2 best scenarios for the future good of this team. I wonder which is more likely – LOL Actually neither probably. The defense is playing well enough to help win a game or 2 – even against decent to good teams. I’m looking forward to seeing how the D does against some better teams and QBs down the “stretch”.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:31 pm
No such thing as confidence and momentum heading into the next season…none. During the game I root for the Bucs to play well and compete hard, at the end of the game if we lose, I’m happiest, if we win, I’m still happy. At this time of year being this far out of the playoff chase, the draft is the driving force. I still love seeing my team play well though.
As for the 3-step drop, jamming the WRs and getting LBs in the passing lanes will do wonders to limit the 3-step drops. We didn’t do that against the Falcons or Ravens at all. Often playing well off the receivers with no LBs in the passing lanes…of course it was disastrous.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:33 pm
I think the game will be competitive, hopefully ending in a loss by the Bucs. You can’t win in the NFL by only playing well on one side of the ball… Mariota and a new OC should help fix that.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:48 pm
Brandon Says:
December 4th, 2014 at 5:31 pm
No such thing as confidence and momentum heading into the next season…none.
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I bet if you directly asked some key members of the 1997 Buccaneers team if they thought that finishing a strong 5-2 in ’96 after a 1-8 start helped carry momentum into 1997 when they started 5-0 which propelled the Bucs to their 1st playoff game in 14 years – every single player or coach you asked would say – yes – absolutely – without a doubt….
December 4th, 2014 at 11:21 pm
I’m expecting to the read the following headline somewhere on Monday: McCown gets Suh’Ed leaves game injured…
Hopefully we can contain Mega Tron, but I’ll start on fantasy team this week just in case.