Paging Danny Lansanah

December 28th, 2015
OLB Danny Lansanah didn't register one play yesterday.

OLB Danny Lansanah didn’t register one play yesterday.

The following sentence is both a damning sword and an uplifting thought: The Bucs terribly missed rookie middle linebacker Kwon Alexander.

It says a lot about a rookie when the defense collapses the moment he starts serving a four-game PED suspension. It speaks volumes that a rookie has such an impact on the squad.

Like in any football game, when a man goes down, others must rally to pick up the slack. Lavonte David had a helluva game yesterday. Bruce Carter, Alexander’s replacement, had an equally solid game.

Danny Lansanah? Danny Lansanah? Did you see him on the field?

Lansanah, a good guy, did start. But he was invisible, not just on the field. In the defensive stats released to the pen and mic club after the game, Lansanah’s name wasn’t included. Why? Because he didn’t do one thing.

Not one tackle, not even falling on a pile and getting an assist. If you just read the box score, it was as if the Bucs played using only two linebackers. How can that be? The Bears ran the ball 39 times.

Hell, even America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston, was listed in the defensive stats for his fumble recovery. But a starting outside linebacker wasn’t.

Now Joe is not trying to bag on Lansanah, who is a good dude and works his tail off, but how in the world can a starting outside linebacker have absolutely zero impact in a game?

That’s not exactly how you pick up the slack for a missing comrade.

29 Responses to “Paging Danny Lansanah”

  1. TouchDownTampaBay Says:

    He has been invisible all season!

  2. Lev in Philly Says:

    I was looking at his picture and he is also invisible it that.

  3. StPeteBucsFan Says:

    Should be an interesting draft!!! Yeah I know we all want an impact player or two or three for our defense but I still want Aguayo.

    An investment in a world class kicker will pay dividends for 15 years…see Vinateri and Janakowski.

    I’m tired of getting into the second half of close games realizing that if it comes down to field goal kicking we are going to lose!!!

    I realize the “odds” were letting Barth try that long FG at the end but be honest…in your gut which did you feel gave us a better chance of success..Barth with a 50+ yard FG or Fameis trying to convert 4th and forever.
    I gotta go with Fameis!!!

    Now if we had a REAL kicker…you know MONEY..like Vinateri…then I kick the ball. Aguayo will give us lots of options and a chance to steal a game or two.

  4. TouchDownTampaBay Says:

    In Barth’s defense it was a 52 yarder into a decent amount of wind! I was at the game and I knew he wasn’t going to make it when I checked the direction of the flags in the stadium.

  5. grendel Says:

    Lans who ??

  6. Patrick in VA Says:

    I don’t think that’s surprising at all. It’s been well established that the old guard Buc players are full of guys with loser mentalities. The new guys are the ones that injected a winning mentality and elevated the play of those around them. Absent Alexander, the defense has reverted back to what it knows. They balance out bad play with dumb penalties.

  7. BucscsQcCity Says:

    I have to say I’m disappointed with Lansannah play. I had high hope for him this season and unfortunately it didn’t materialize. Hopefully he’ll get better

  8. D-Rome Says:

    As I’ve been saying all year the Buccaneers aren’t talented enough in certain positions including at the SLB position.

  9. Desanova Says:

    He doesn’t play in nickel, which is 50% of snaps, so it’s not exactly apples to apples when you compare stats. Also he is the Sam, which usually has a tight end in front of him to deal with, as opposed to the Will. David is great and the best are Will because of their instincts, tackling and well-rounded play, but the Sam is supposed to be a good Sam, not a good Will. With all the needs (DE, CB, WR, arguably SS, K, P), this doesn’t register.

  10. Mike Johnson Says:

    How bout..Attention Defense. Paging Tampa Bay Bucs Defense..Is there anybody out there? Paging Pass Rush/ ..Hello? Paging Defensive penalties..Can you stop them? Hello..anybody listening? Paging the secondary..Where are you? Are you still on the line?
    I’ve been watching all of the games. And at no time did Lovie smith create a stupid penalty, rush a passer or not defend. If he wants to keep his job he must fire the mysterious traveler named DC Frazier and bring in somebody to help stop the penalties. Lovie keeps his job one more yr. But he is on the Hot seat..and its hot baby! Question for all of you Lovie Haters? WHo do you hire? Koetter has already said he likes the job he has now. Better to keep what continuity you have here. Ohh and next yrs schedule? Gets no easier.

  11. Thibs5599 Says:

    If we keep the linebacker we have now I see Carter Abington that starting spot over Danny. He has made a few plays in the games he has played in recently and more to say than ole Danny boy.

  12. ndog Says:

    I still look back to that 3rd and seven play after the penalty wiped out our pick. McCoy got a clean no chip one on one and not only did not get a sack but in a man to man defense left his gap which Cutler promptly ran right through for 15 yards and a first down. That is the kind of poor bone headed play that causes this defense to suffer. You people want more aggressive defenses called. well when you have players on the field that do not understand the weakness of any defense called you have no chance. And by the way he is our “leader”on defense.That’s one of the reasons he does have good numbers he doesn’t play the defense correctly so you see the numbers but how many bad plays does that created that you don’t see. Also I thought he was the reason we were great against the run but when he was out we did not suffer but now that Kwon is our run d stinks so I wonder who is really the important piece of the improved run d?

  13. bucrightoff Says:

    Mike Johnson Says:
    December 28th, 2015 at 1:44 pm
    Question for all of you Lovie Haters? WHo do you hire? Koetter has already said he likes the job he has now. Better to keep what continuity you have here. Ohh and next yrs schedule? Gets no easier.
    _______________________________________________________________

    I’m gonna take a wild guess and assume you thought Lovie Smith would be better than these hires

    Todd Bowles
    Bill O’Brien
    Mike Zimmer
    Jay Gruden
    Jim Caldwell

    And Lovie is clearly and by far worse than all of them. They’re all going to the playoffs within their first two years. But somehow the Lovie defenders are using this scare tactic that we can’t do any better, even as coaches they undoubtedly rated as worse than Lovie are doing far better.

  14. ndog Says:

    Buc right off the question isn’t playoffs it’s can they win the super bowl as that is the only goal and none of those teams/coaches are going to win it this year so what’s the difference? If you ain’t first your last!

  15. LUVMYBUCS Says:

    Paging

    NIGEL BRADHAM

    Paging

    NIGEL BRADHAM

  16. LUVMYBUCS Says:

    (2016 Beastly Starting LB Line Up)
    • WLB – Lavonte David
    • MLB – Kwon Alexander
    • SLB – Nigel Bradham

  17. Pawel Says:

    Maybe he was busy in coverage? Idk if I saw any completed passes thrown at him. He is not to blame. This defense needs better scheme or better BLITZ packages, it seems lile we never blitz.

  18. SJK Says:

    it’s unfortunate that by all appearances Kwon Alexander ( a rookie ) is who holds the defensive players accountable. Not the 4-time Pro bowler Mccoy. being that said if McCoy is not staying in his gaps and not following his assignment more that 2% of the time than that’s a problem. You can’t hold people accountable if you are not doing it yourself.

  19. Joe Says:

    Question for all of you Lovie Haters? WHo do you hire?

    This is one of the silliest arguments in sports, not just the NFL.

    Joe is willing to lay cash that next year there will be a new NFL coach who won’t go 8-24 in his first two seasons.

    The vast majority of successful coaches, 95 percent of the public never heard of before they were hired.

    Just locally for example, whoever heard of Joe Maddon when the Rays hired him? How about John Tortorella? Joe could go on and on and on.

    This is like going to the same unsatisfactory restaurant time and again and not changing eateries because someone asked, “If you go to a new restaurant, what would you eat?”

  20. Patrick in VA Says:

    Solid analogy Joe. I like that.

  21. Bucs life Says:

    I have a question for you Joe. All offseason I read about Danny lansanah being the interception master. That almost every practice he recorded an interception. Now he has been invisible all year. I haven’t seen him make any big plays. A few solid tackles here and there but no splash plays or big hits. He is also getting older so maybe we should bring in some competition for next year.

  22. Joe Says:

    That almost every practice he recorded an interception.

    Practice isn’t a game. Why that hasn’t translated over, can’t answer. Perhaps he is the UFL player he was all along?

  23. D-Rome Says:

    Joe is willing to lay cash that next year there will be a new NFL coach who won’t go 8-24 in his first two seasons.

    He will if he loses his offensive coordinator before the start of the season.

  24. bucrightoff Says:

    D-Rome Says:
    December 28th, 2015 at 4:15 pm
    Joe is willing to lay cash that next year there will be a new NFL coach who won’t go 8-24 in his first two seasons.

    He will if he loses his offensive coordinator before the start of the season.
    _______________________________________________________________

    But I’m guessing he won’t be stupid enough to cut one of the 10 best players in the league because he can win with guys who fit his system (only to watch that top 10 corner play better than every corner your weak ass system combined times 10)

  25. Johnny "America's Commenter" Dejay Says:

    There’s a Manti Te’O joke in there somewhere. 🙂

  26. Mike Johnson Says:

    STPeteBucsFan..You are dead on the money about the kicker thing. He will pay huge dividends for our team who always give the opposition great field position. Now just watch the instant improvement in the team that get him…Him being Aguayo.

  27. loggedontosay Says:

    Now Joe is not trying to bag on Lansanah, who is a good dude and works his tail off, but how in the world can a starting outside linebacker have absolutely zero impact in a game?

    It is Lovie’s fault.

  28. godzilla13 Says:

    I agree with the comments about Gerald McCoy’s performance against the run. Against Chicago, he would penetrate deep into the backfield and take himself completely out of plays. He left huge cutback lanes after allowing himself to be washed out of plays. Because his priority is to get a sack, his focus against the run has suffered. Danny Lansanah has been only averaging about 25 to 30 snaps a game. Two thirds less snaps than LB who plays the entire game. Do you ever hear Lansanah’s name called for a penalty or notice him missing a tackle? Just because he did not make a tackle in one game with the low snap counts, does not necessarily mean he has disappeared?

  29. Mike Johnson Says:

    bucrightoff….I see you are an expert playing..Jethro Tull..living in the past. Woulda/coulda/shoulda. I didn’t ask you that. I asked you Lovie haters who would you get to replace Lovie? Who can come in and instantly get us to the superbowl? Answer..Nobody. I’m not giving up on Lovie Smith just yet. We are not that far away. All of you are so funny. Hire Koetter you say. The man has said one millions times he’s happy being OC. Be careful of pushing a man where he does not want to go.