Ball Skills
March 4th, 2019
Free agent. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
Joe remembers last year then-Bucs coach Dirk Koetter fell into the old inept Lovie Smith trap/excuse/rut of blaming just about everything wrong with his team on a lack of takeaways.
This is just a pet peeve of Joe’s, coaches blaming the downfall of their team on glorified flukes rather than concerning themselves with improving the simple football fundamentals of blocking and tackling.
Punts are takeaways, too.
Yesterday, while Joe was killing time at the Indianapolis International Airport waiting to beat the deteriorating weather as the snow began falling heavier and the fog was growing thicker, Joe was scanning Twitter heavily. And there was a Twitter from former Bears scouting director Greg Gabriel that caught Joe’s eyes.
When DB’s work tomorrow watch their hands and how they track the ball. A DB with cover skills but no ball skills can’t play!
— Greg Gabriel (@greggabe) March 3, 2019
Now this Twitter published right about the same time as news broke that Bucs safety Andrew Adams will not be tendered his 2019 salary, thus will become a free agent next week. Adams led the Bucs with four picks last year, including three against Carolina in a rare home win.
Adams was the lone Bucs player with more than one interception last season.
Could it be that the reason the Bucs had so few interceptions is that their secondary players drafted and signed in recent years by and large have cover skills but no ball skills? (Fun fact: in their last two college seasons, Bucs corners Carlton Davis and M.J. Stewart combined for one interception through 49 games.)
And yes, Joe is expecting someone to type in response that Bucs corners didn’t even have cover skills.
March 4th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
CDIII is gonna improve and be a top notch cover corner in the future.
March 4th, 2019 at 12:12 pm
Bucs corners didn’t even have cover skills.
March 4th, 2019 at 12:19 pm
Jason Licht looks for that rare intangible of defensive backs slow and unathletic
March 4th, 2019 at 12:22 pm
It would be nice to keep Adams…he somewhat priced himself out of the backup safety market with those 3 picks.
March 4th, 2019 at 12:45 pm
We need a experienced corner. Plenty available in free agency. DRAFT WHITE
March 4th, 2019 at 12:46 pm
Unless they pick JayMiss in practice, Bucs corners don’t have cover skills.
March 4th, 2019 at 12:51 pm
Jason Verrett will be so cheap. If he can stay healthy that’s huggggge value
March 4th, 2019 at 12:52 pm
Francisco Menendez Says:
“Bucs corners didn’t even have cover skills.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Exactly, Francisco.
The BUCS corners can’t intercept the ball….
but at least they can’t cover either.
March 4th, 2019 at 12:54 pm
With Evans, Whitehead & now MJ Stewart at S…..we didn’t need to tender the $2mil to Adams…..I fully expect us to pick up a FA S……..perhaps one of Arians’ players…..Swearinger or Honey Badger…
Adams may come back to us available for less $$….
Tandy was one who did have ball skills….
March 4th, 2019 at 12:59 pm
I think Davis will be a Star too. He wants to compete!
Seems to me like the Bucs should stock up on NY Giants bc they seems to be the only ones playing defense. Which is weird bc their def sucks now but wtfdik.
All I know is letting Adams go is dumb especially if the reason for it is to sign the honey badger who imo is just an expensive name but again I don’t know nothing mang
March 4th, 2019 at 1:05 pm
Where did they rank in passes defended?
March 4th, 2019 at 1:28 pm
dont understand that move….adams at the very least wouldve been great depth….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
March 4th, 2019 at 1:47 pm
@Francisco Menendez
@Tampa Bay Demon
Francisco Menendez Says:
“Bucs corners didn’t even have cover skills.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Exactly, Francisco.
The BUCS corners can’t intercept the ball….
but at least they can’t cover either.
Well said good sirs
March 4th, 2019 at 2:46 pm
Don’t like this move. Adams was playing good football here before he had that big game vs Carolina. He was one of the few players on defense that seemed to always be in position. For that reason alone I wanted him back.
March 4th, 2019 at 3:24 pm
Not retaining Adams is so “Bucs Like”
SMDH
March 4th, 2019 at 4:31 pm
We kept tandy for reasons as such look how that turned out
March 4th, 2019 at 7:25 pm
Bucs pulling a Robert McClane and not resigning our best secondary player backup walk. People want Mathui or Swearinger yet we still have two young, starter quality safeties under rookie contracts. I’ll take Swearenger for three years $3.5 million but we can’t be paying Mathiu $8-10 million a year. Need to pay a CB and RT in free agency.
Bruce says he’s not “rebuilding” but I can tell you the entire backup defense needs to be rebuilt. Year by year goes by and I wonder how the hell Javion Elliot is still on this team and we’ll make sure to put extra padding at the wall in the back of the end zone for Isaiah Johnson.
March 4th, 2019 at 7:37 pm
3 of his picks were against an injured Cam Newton. Move on.
March 4th, 2019 at 11:14 pm
Coaching was horrible end of story