Maybe White Should Blitz More?
December 22nd, 2020
Tied with NFL sack king.
It seems Bucs middle linebacker Devin White has made history. And it may be a window into how he should be used in future games.
The NFL first recognized sacks as an official stat in 1982 and there have been a ton of players with three-or-more sacks in a game.
However, with White’s three sacks on Sunday, he has an NFL record. Earlier this year White also had three sacks against the Raiders.
White became the youngest player to have multiple three-sack games in the same season. Pretty impressive. White now has eight sacks, tied with NFL sack king Shaq Barrett.
This leads Joe to ask: Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians drafted White No. 5 overall because of his ability to blitz. He struggled with that last year and early this season. It doesn’t appear he’s struggling much any longer.
So why doesn’t defensive coordinator Todd Bowles send White on blitzes more often, especially early in games? Since it seems Bowles has struggled recently to craft a gameplan that works right off the bat, start firing White at the quarterback more if not earlier.
You just cannot substitute a good pass rush. It is the great equalizer.
And sacking the quarterback is a game-wrecker of a play.
“The quarterback must go down. And he must go down hard.”
— Al Davis.
Devin White had 3 sacks yesterday, his second game with 3.
He’s the youngest player since 1982, the first year sacks became an official stat, to have multiple 3-sack games in a season https://t.co/rBKCv07hFk @Buccaneers #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/xaqRTJWsQb
— ProFootballReference (@pfref) December 21, 2020
December 22nd, 2020 at 12:04 am
All for it! Blitz him more. They need to get pressure consistently throughout the game
December 22nd, 2020 at 1:23 am
The last sack credited to White will probably be changed to Suh. Look at the film — Suh had Ryan’s foot, Ryan fell down, White touched him and then the whistle blew. That last sack belongs to Suh who is just a beast and playing his best football since he was in Detroit.
December 22nd, 2020 at 1:27 am
Why would you blitz when you can play a soft zone? Duh.
December 22nd, 2020 at 1:34 am
Joe, can you imagine 3 guys with 10 sacks? We went like a whole decade without one guy.
December 22nd, 2020 at 1:41 am
No kidding!!!
December 22nd, 2020 at 2:02 am
Defence has to be more aggressive early in games. The soft zone stuff with 10 yards off receivers is not working. I cant understand why they start the games like that, i can see a reason for that if it was working for some games but CLEARLY it does not work.
The secondary play is regressing. There was a clear improvement in the 2nd half last year and early this year but since the Giants game it has been below average.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:02 am
It was maddening watching the first half on Sunday…it seemed every time the announcer mentioned “They bring a four-man rush,” Matt Ryan sat back there and picked the secondary apart. But when White or Barrett shot in there, instant change. Yup, gotta get a bigger dose of blitzing.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:51 am
Yesterday was definitely the Devin White show on defense and the Tom Brady show on offense.
Devin was a 1-man wrecking crew, with 3 sacks, 12 tackles (10 solo), 4 TFLs and 2 PDs. And he was especially hot in the 4th qtr when we needed it most. With 3 sacks in that qtr, can’t help but wonder if they saw something that Atlanta was doing & took advantage several times before the Falcons figured it out.
Tom Brady took awhile to get warmed up (OK, the whole first half) but after that he put on a clinic. He was 10-for-16 in the 1st half, including 0-for-2 deep. But he turned it on in the 2nd half, going 12-for-19 in the 3rd qtr and 9-for-12 in the 4th qtr. And oh ya, he was 4-for-5 on his deep passes and that IMO was the difference in the ballgame. The deep passes in that 2nd half were back-breakers.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:57 am
One of the jobs of a coach is putting his players in a position to succeed. The second TD pass the Falcons threw on Sunday, Anthony Nelson was in pass coverage. I’m not really sure why the Bucs are using guys in coverage who can’t cover…Anyway, it’s obvious that Devin White is at his best moving forward, not backward.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:58 am
Yes. Because he’s a liability in coverage.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:59 am
The weakest part of this team is the DB core. So, blitzing more makes sense. Just don’t be too predictable with your schemes.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:21 am
Funny how I remember 1 Joe didn’t want to draft him because “middle linebackers don’t get sacks”.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:40 am
Yeah, why not blitz him more ?
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:41 am
I been saying this for a damn month.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:55 am
Ever have to go back and read something again to be sure??? That’s a rhetorical question. Todd Bowles is STRUGGLING???????????????? It’s week 16. This is the Nat’l football league! It’s not summer camp. It shouldn’t take 15 games for him and Bevis and Buthead to learn the absolute basics. Now i’m just a country boy but i’ve got enuff common sense to recognize there’s a serious problem. Before KC ran their 1st play, I would have called timeout hahahha. When he noticed Tyreek Hill was being single covered, TIMEOUT!!!!!!! But no, he waited till it was 17-0. You’d think “well he’s a professional coach, he’ll correct their obvious problems right?” Nooooo. we got behind 17-0 to the fricken FALCONS!!!!! Tompa can’t carry Curley Larry and Moe thru the playoffs. He did it in NE but he had Bilicheck and McDaniels
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:57 am
Maybe White should study film with Shelton Quarels …he is fast enough he just needs to recognize and react .. not react
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:20 am
If any of you are a deer hunter, i’ll give you a good analogy that makes it a little clearer to what Tompa is up against with the 3 stooges in Tampa. Have any of you ever attempted to drag a deer from the rear??????? Good luck with that. Ypu MIGHT get it back to camp but it will take 10 times longer and 3 blown discs
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:56 am
I’d love to see us come out aggressive on defense on Saturday. The worst that happens is Stafford drives down the field for an early 7-0 lead. That’s been happening every week anyways so it won’t hurt to try!
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:59 am
It works in madden haha
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:23 am
Bears great MLB Brian Urlacher’s highest sack total for one year was 8. So the kid is tied with him now. Ray Lewis was 5.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:42 am
hey Joe in Mi. That’s very interesting. To be fair Ray Lewis was the very best at pounding his chest and screaming like a horny gorilla. He probably got an extra 1-2 sacks just for that
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:51 am
@Alton Green … “Todd Bowles is STRUGGLING????????????????” Pretty sure I’m missing something here Alton. Our defense was #29 overall last year, giving up an average of 28.1 PPG. This year we’re currently rated #12, giving up an average of 22.9 PPG with essentially the same personnel. Well actually we’ve gained Winfield as a Safety but lost DE Nassib to free agency and DT Vea in Game 5 to injury for the season. Still, that seems like a pretty good improvement over the course of 1 year.
If all you’re looking at is the game starts, then I agree with you … our defense is struggling. We’re shutting down the run better than anyone in the NFL, but that comes at a cost apparently: we’re #30 in the NFL in Pass Attempts Against and #31 in Passes Completed Against (only the Seahawks are worse).
Sunday’s game was a classic example of what’s been happening all year long. Falcons rank #28 in rushing yards but #4 in passing yards on the season. So what’d they do? They came out firing the ball … 52 passing attempts but only 13 rushes. IOW they passed on a friggin 80% of their plays. Gee, whodathunkit?
Matt Ryan completed 65.4% of his passes (Matty Ice is a 65.3% career passer). He threw for 3 TDs and got a ton of passing yards (332), but our defense held them to 6-of-15 on 3rd-down conversions (40%). Our average on the season? Yup, we’ve allowed exactly 40% on 3rd down conversions.
It was pretty close to the ‘standard’ game I’ve come to expect for this year’s Bucs. Slow starting on offense AND defense, then hold them & charge back to either win or make it close. Drives me nuts BTW.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:01 am
i agree….bowles is struggling….
teams know DW cant cover RBs and SMB is a HUGE liability….
GO BUCS!!!!
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:07 am
Alton Green: Yes, Ray Lewis was not only a great player, but also made a grand entrance! Hahaha
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:22 am
Should I be an analyst or DC? Vea was the biggest loss of the year. Now these no names (except JPP of course) on the dline are getting stuffed. White is sh!t for coverage over the middle. Been saying blitz him and have one of these DB that blitz all day pick up the receiver.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:48 am
Unleash the Beast! Unleash him early and often. No more waiting around in come-from-behind games. His speed is what is so impressive. When that dude puts it into high gear, it looks like everyone else is standing still.
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:15 am
Casual Observer
This same defensive scheme every down is almost as obvious as Sean Payton having BA playbook in his back pocket. I don’t know how much they pay Jameis but that was a genius move on their part. Didn’t Tyreek Hill not get one reception after doubling up on him in the third quarter? This is coming from a DC that is supposed to be a genius in the secondary.
December 22nd, 2020 at 12:12 pm
Is this is a sign of White’s LB greatness or more a reality of how bad ATL OL handles pressure? I think its the latter. White doesnt deserve a pro bowl nod either; he has some glaring holes in his game in coverage. Sunday was better in this area but one game doesnt make a season.
December 22nd, 2020 at 12:34 pm
Ya think?! Pretty obvious White is amazing at blitzing and terrible in coverage.
December 22nd, 2020 at 12:37 pm
The last time White played like that was against Green Bay and he said in his interview after that game that he asked TB to unleash him. Now in this game I’m not 100% sure I’ll have to watch his interview again but I swear he was asked if they started blitzing him more and who’s call was it and he smiled and said it was him. Now if this is true that’s a problem meaning TB isn’t putting guys in the position for us to win on defense. We all know it’s true when it comes to our DBs I’m tired of seeing this off coverage. Line up get hands on the WR disrupt the timing and that will help the pass rush get home. Too many times when we do line up in man the WR is still given a free release. SMH did anyone watch how aggressive Cincinnati DBs played the WRs last night. That’s what our guys are capable of and best at.
December 22nd, 2020 at 5:39 pm
Everybody is throwing against the Bucs because the run defense is strong and the pass defense is weak in man coverage. White looked really fast blitzing. Drop JP in pass coverage more often and blitz White then.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:17 pm
Blitz more and cover less. He is a huge liability in the passing game, rather have lavonte in coverage