Back To Square One For Ryan Smith

October 14th, 2018

Struggled.

The last couple of games, Bucs cornerback Ryan Smith seemed as if he turned the corner.

The corner turned safety turned corner was particularly awful last year and this year started out the same way.

However, Smith had a nice game against the Steelers and followed that up with a solid second half against the Bears.

When Carlton Davis was ruled out today with an injury, Smith got the start. And it didn’t take Matty Ice long to find him and match up Julio Jones on him.

Naturally, Jones went wilding again on the Bucs with 143 yards, catching 10 of 14 passes thrown his direction.

While Smith may have improved in games earlier this season, Sunday’s game was clear that the Pro Bowl won’t have a roster spot reserved for him yet.

39 Responses to “Back To Square One For Ryan Smith”

  1. EA Says:

    There were time when the defense looked totally confused, even our beloved line backers.

  2. Sweeptheleg Says:

    Vita Vea is too fat and slow and was a wasted pick. Didn’t hear his fat name once all day.

    Completely wasted pick.

    I saw him gettting manhandled one on one. Pathetic.

  3. Trench War Says:

    but they will for Julio Jones

  4. Chris in WA Says:

    It’s a good thing we got rid of Robert McClain and Keith Tandy. Those two players couldn’t help out the secondary.

    /sarcasm

  5. LakeLand Says:

    Where were the pass rush to help the young corners?

  6. unbelievable Says:

    Plenty of blame to go around today, but the defense is the biggest problem, without question.

    Can’t cover.

    Can’t tackle.

    Can barely rush the passer.

    Blown assignments over and over.

  7. LakeLand Says:

    A $50 million D-Line that can’t pressure a statue QB, with an ancient O-Line

  8. A’train4047 Says:

    Can’t rush the passer when your corners play 8 yds off the ball then backpedal on pass plays.

  9. Season Is Over Says:

    Don’t worry, he intercepted Tom Brady once.

  10. shane247 Says:

    Be prepared for more “communication issues”. 3 years in and every single player seems confused. Either we have a team filled with complete dumb asses or they are confused because they are being told different things every week.

    I read somewhere that Smith doesn’t game plan, if this is true he is an idiot and should join Lovie Smith in IL.

  11. shane247 Says:

    His defense would probably get whooped by a row of corn!

  12. AJ Says:

    Wrong!!! Ryan was no All Star, but he was competitive. At least he was in the same picture frame with the Falcon receivers. Brent Grimes is shot, MJ Stewart is slow.

  13. Stevbobucsfan Says:

    We can blame the D line, corner backs or whomever but this entire defense stinks and it’s been the way for at least 2 years straight even with new decent players it’s players out of position, bad communication

  14. Scotty in Fat Antonio Says:

    A damn shame that us fans are MUCH more passionate then the players or coaches.

  15. firethecannons Says:

    stevo is right–entire defense is responsible for this loss, 29+ points should always be enough–ridiculous that Bucs keep Mike Smith game in game out–it needs to be investigated

  16. LakeLand Says:

    Brent Grimes gaveup more passing yardage than Ryan Smith

  17. Pryda...sec 147 Says:

    So much zone blah hate it

  18. LakeLand Says:

    But we can’t say anything bad about him

    He’s the $8 million man that Licht begged to come back for another year

  19. AlabamaBucsFan Says:

    At this point, not sure if it is the players. So far Mike Smith has ruined every DB in the defense. I question if Hargreaves would have thrived on another team. Same goes with Ryan Smith.

  20. Darin Says:

    Umm yeah. Have you seen where Ryan Smith is asked to line up Joe? As long as Smith is d coordinator I’d never blame a player for having a bad game. Not only that Ill never watch another game if he is. Never gone this far been a fan from day one. Ive seen enough. No thanks

  21. Duthsty Rhothdes Says:

    Licht is the sole person responsible for this crap & then the DC & DB pretend cosches, its just a joke this team and personnel

  22. Mike Johnson Says:

    Smitty has already planeed his Browns Defensive Stategy from the pressbox at the stadium. Complete with chips and dips and thangs. The NFL should feature him in a Ray Jay air-conditioniong commerical.

  23. Mike Johnson Says:

    Smitty has already planeed his Browns Defensive Stategy from the pressbox at the stadium. Complete with chips and dips and thangs. The NFL should feature him in a Ray Jay air-conditioniong commerical.

  24. Bucs fan #7423 Says:

    If anybody is not sure how I feel about Mike Smith, I think we need to fire him

  25. KEV-O Says:

    MJ Stewart got smoked all day and then loafed on his tackle attempts. Seems like he has no idea what he is doing

  26. Conte Piscatelli Says:

    Seriously, I think Grimes played worse, hell Miko is a better corner these days than Brent.

  27. adam from ny Says:

    has anyone noticed that kwon and lavonte celebrate a hell of a lot when they make a play between getting gashed on multiple plays???…what is with that?…they both celebrate a lot for guys playing adequate at best…

    i know, i know…it’s the scheme and the communication…lol…

    i think beckwith is very important and solidifies the linebacker group…he is sorely missed…these 2 need him to square away the backers…glanton was better last year in spot relief – not a starter…

    ryan smith went back to the old ryan smith…

    and justin evans looked off all day too…

    brent tried today…but got upset with the rooks…

    one int was clearly on jameis…the other bounced up in the air and was up for grabs – often resulting in a bad luck int…

    the falcons had unlimited injuries that doubled during the game – we should not have lost this game – hello mike smith!

  28. JabooBuc Says:

    Lakeland hit it on the head. Grimes looked completely useless out there. I am sorry, he is no longer a starting CB in this game. He is not physically capable of lining up and covering a player like Julio (in his defense, few are) or supporting the run defense. He is possibly a nice complimentary CB or nickel back but he is a bigger issue than Ryan Smith. At least Smith plays special teams.

    Joe, I have seen reports that the Cardinals are shopping Peterson. Any thoughts on this? On the surface, if true, this is a deal they should absolutely do. He is top 3 corner that is only 28. Not sure what it would take to land him, but i know Licht is very familiar with him and it doesn’t matter what the cost is if they aren’t here next year.

  29. Ed Says:

    Hire Raheem Morris, to be the head coach.

  30. NPRSageBoy Says:

    Can someone explain to me how a team missing 5 starters on defense and losing 2 wide receivers before halftime can score 34 points and still hold the Bucs to 29?
    I understand that Matty Ice had no INTs and America’s Turnover Machine contributed 2 to the ATL cause. In fact, Jameis is starting to make Josh Freeman look good.
    Kown Alexander is a liability in coverage with his crazy angles and poor tackling. No pass rush either. Beau Allen and Vinny Curry must be wondering why they left Philly. Carl Nasib must be thinking the same about the Browns. Noah Spense and Vita Vea look like wasted picks. RoJo, too.
    After a promising Fitz lead start, this season is quickly circling the drain.

  31. Knoxville Buc Fan Says:

    I watched and was embarrassed honestly as I could see McCoy dancing with Alexander and a few others on the sidelines. Falcon fans laughing their a$$es off saying things like what the hell they celebrating? Have they looked up at the score board? I remember a coach years ago and I think it was Sam Wyche yelling at the players to get the smiles off their faces! Mind you they were leading that game. Wether I’m watching from the stands in tampa or like I did today from the stands in Atlanta, I see no discipline with this team. No accountability from the players. Also DID NOT SEE KOETTER MINGLING WITH THE PLAYERS EVER! He said earlier this year he’s able to do that since turning the play calling over to Monk. The Glazers are getting ripped off from the whole damn team, coaches included. Well maybe from an exception of a handful of passionate players and maybe one or two assistant coaches.

  32. Buc4evr Says:

    Fire Koetter and Smith tomorrow. This season is already in the tank. Players need a coach that will refuse to stand for this B.S.

  33. cmurda Says:

    @Buc4evr. It won’t happen. Even Smitty won’t be canned like he should have been last year but I do agree with you. I’ve had it with the same old crap from this coaching staff.

  34. Rod Munch Says:

    He didn’t “turn the corner”, he had a mediocre game against Nick Foles, but mediocre is about 10000x better than he normally is. Foles had guys open and flat out missed them and Smith got credit for that. Once he’s not facing Nick Foles he looks and plays like Ryan Smith.

  35. Tom S. Says:

    Hey Joe, who drafted this glorified STer masquerading as a cornerback in the 4th round of arguably the worst draft in the modern era. Was is Licht Joe? Or did you want to spin the blame on the coaches for that too?

  36. Joe Says:

    Hey Joe, who drafted this glorified STer masquerading as a cornerback in the 4th round of arguably the worst draft in the modern era. Was is Licht Joe? Or did you want to spin the blame on the coaches for that too?

    Well, Licht’s scouting department found the guy and Licht ultimately pulled the trigger on the guy. But it was the coaches who thought he was a safety. Then after a wasted year decided, well, he may be a corner.

    Call Joe naive but he believes coaches, good coaches, should be able to coach up players. Yeah, understand that’s a weird concept to some. Otherwise, you can hire a bunch of dudes for $30,000 a year to stand around and cuss and pick their noses and look like PlayStation warriors with their Waffle House menu playsheets and their cool army-like headsets.

  37. DPbucs813 Says:

    Go get Patrick Peterson from the Cardinals!!! Best CB in football and he’s on the trading block. #SavetheSeason

  38. Rod Munch Says:

    DPbucs813 – Getting one corner isn’t going to fix anything and it’s going to cost a lot since good teams need corners. The thing to do is go trade for Bell and simply try to outscore everyone, and Bell will cost a lot less since not many teams need RBs and hardly anyone wants to pay what Bell is asking for. The Bucs could get it done, probably for Brate, which they’d have to move to clear salary.

    Of course it won’t happen since Licht isn’t going to do anything. As for defensive backs if he cared about that he’d have done something in the offseason, like trade for Talib and make a legit effort to sign Tyrann Mathieu. Instead he went into the season thinking Ryan Smith and Chris Conte were starters, which is why he’ll be out of a job soon. Really outside of DB and K, Licht hasn’t done terribly, but he’s done so poorly there that it will cost him his job.

  39. Brandon Says:

    Let’s make believe that Smith was defending Jones on all 14 targets. There was 10 completions, 143 yards…no TDs… that actually looks pretty good when compared to what Ryan did against the rest of the Buc secondary. 71.4% 10.2 yards per attempt. Aren’t the Bucs giving up way more than 71.4% of their passes on the season and over 10 yards per attempt (or more) anyways? Considering he was covering Julio Jones, he should probably be given a medal.