“We Saw What Our Defense Looks Like Without A Pass Rush And I Don’t Like It”
September 18th, 2021
Riffs on the Bucs.
A former Bucs player really, really likes the Bucs offense.
The defense, well, he has some uncomfortable thoughts.
If the win over the Cowboys to open the season is any indication of how the Bucs will play this fall, former Bucs guard and current popular sports radio personality Ian Beckles, speaking on his podcast “In the Trenches,” believes the Bucs can go full-blown Air Coryell and damn near outscore anyone.
And they will need to, Beckles said.
Beckles came away from Week 1 disturbed how Dak Prescott and the Cowboys sliced through the Bucs defense like a hot knife through warm butter.
But first, the good. Beckles really liked how smooth the offense was when it didn’t stub its own toe with miscues.
“It looked like we were scoring at will,” Beckles said. “When we didn’t do something bonehead to stop ourselves whether it was [Chris] Godwin putting the ball on the ground or RoJo putting the ball on the ground or [Leonard] Fournette bouncing a ball off his helmet, now those are things I don’t think will happen on a regular basis, but are still a big issue. …
“Offensively, I am not worried. I think we will score 30-35 points most games. … I’m really not worried about anything.”
Beckles is worried about the other the side of the ball.
“Now, I’m worried about our defense,” Beckles said. “”[Thursday night] was a terrible-looking outing for our defense that last year didn’t give up the booty hardly at all. We didn’t rush the passer and couldn’t cover jack.
“We saw what our defense looks like without a pass rush and I don’t like it.”
Beckles thought the defense played so poorly, the Cowboys not only has given Bucs future opponents hope, but a blueprint of how to attack them.
Joe is more worried about the injuries to the cornerbacks. Any team that loses its starting corners is going to struggle in this passing league. With Carlton Davis injuring his hamstring yesterday and Sean Murphy-Bunting out for who knows how long, that is a recipe for disaster.
You look at the next three opponents (Matty Ice, Matt Stafford and Bill Belicheat) and it could get Mike Smith-like ugly if Davis is hobbled.
Fortunately, the Bucs have pass rushers, though Beckles wanted to know what happened to Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett last week.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:19 am
There was a little faith on defense from ARIANS …when he decided to challenge a lousy 6 yard pass completion in the 2nd quarter. On a first down pass. Thats how I knew, we wasn’t stopping Dak for the rest of night.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:23 am
Beckles is right in that our pass rush jut didn’t get there most of the night, but I’d still be more concerned about the ineffective blitzing and loose coverage.
Rewatched the last qtr of the game and defense looked gassed at times but still played fairly decent, barring the penalties (they killed us). Dallas making that really long FG hurt obviously, but had we given up a TD instead after Godwin’s fumble could’ve been a whole different ballgame.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:28 am
Pete just watched the Arizona Cardinals vs Titans game and AZ were so focused/sharp that it looked totally different than the Bucs game. AZ looks like it’s ready to win a Superbowl right now but let’s hope Bucs do what they did last season & peak at the right time
September 18th, 2021 at 8:47 am
All it took was one bad game by our defense to slap my butt back into reality. We had a magical run at the end of last season, but that sh!t is history, especially after watching above average Dak, with no running game torch our secondary. Atlanta can score, so I hope that we are not taking them lightly.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:48 am
If the story is some what negative you can count on the same names commenting. We will break the nfl record tomorrow for longest win streak while scoring 30+ points a gm. And I don’t care if we don’t have a sack while doing it. Have more points than the opponent get the W. Go Bucs!!!!
September 18th, 2021 at 8:51 am
They dynamics of that game change if we don’t turn the ball over 4x. We should have had a bigger lead which would have made the Cowboys strategy on offense more obvious. With the game close, the Bucs anticipated more rushing from the Cowboys, that caught them off guard a bit. Had we been sitting on a two score lead, I believe Bowles lets the pass rush loose and that fits our style of play much better.
I think we have better ball protection this week vs Atlanta….but I don’t think it will be a “gimme” game. Divison rivals always tend to play each other tough.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:56 am
I’m more worried about our lack of corners right now. I think they will bounce back but with SMB and Davis down, that’s hard to recover from. I wonder if they’re talking to available players right now.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:59 am
This isn’t a SB team. Maybe they get there again? I doubt it. Too many good coaches in the NFC. Rams are the best and it’s not even close. I’d put the Bucs behind the Rams and Seattle.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:07 am
Suh coming off Covid could’ve had an effect on pass rush.
Bucs were already without Whitehead, then lose SMB in 1st quarter.
It’s the first game.
Like many said before the season started – injuries could derail a promising season.
Hope for healthy rest of year.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:08 am
I simply don’t think you can take too much away from game 1……and that goes for the entire league….
Let’s see what happens Sunday….TBBF is predicting a 4 sack day….
September 18th, 2021 at 9:12 am
^^^^
Absolutely.
I mean does anyone think JayMiss is gonna end up with 85 TDs and 0 INTs this year?
It was week 1
September 18th, 2021 at 9:15 am
EXACTLY.
Our D is terrible without a pass rush.
Our D is only good/occasionally-dominant when all 3 levels are playing well and being effective.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:22 am
Alanbucsfan … You hit every bullet I was thinking of (gut feeling that both Suh & JPP weren’t up to par in that game). Plus Dallas has a pretty decent offense AND our defense did have to deal with 4 turnovers by our offense, 2 in short fields. Put it all together & maybe what we saw was about what we should’ve expected to see.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:36 am
The Cowboys were what we thought they were;….and we let them off the hook!!…🤣🤣🤣🤣
September 18th, 2021 at 9:38 am
Not overreacting for a week 1 performance….
September 18th, 2021 at 9:50 am
honestly the issue is more so we blitzed like morons.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:51 am
We need to for sure keep drafting corners
We have spent a lot of draft capital there in the past…..
September 18th, 2021 at 10:11 am
our pass rush had no chance. Dak had the 3rd fastest release time of all quarterbacks week 1 and our corners played soft instead of press like they should. watching he game you could see that our dline was controlling the o line but the ball was gone just to fast.
this happened last year too. anytime we play soft coverage teams throw fast and do what they want. when we switch to press we always get pressure and play really strong.
September 18th, 2021 at 10:17 am
Maybe it’s time to bring in some FA corners next year when we figure out the salary cap for 2022. We’ve drafted plenty of corners high, and not one pro bowler in the bunch. Rookie corners rarely have an impact so let’s bring a vet in with a history of production. Can’t do it this year, no money. Perhaps we can trade O.J., or Brate to a TE needy team for a corner, but I’m sure that’s dreaming. Next man up back there, but for this year our best pass defense has to be our pass rush.
September 18th, 2021 at 10:18 am
@Bobby M: not just the turnovers, which were killers, but the massive number of key penalties that kept drives alive piled on.
Clean those up, and it’s a different game.
I am less concerned about corner depth than I am about fumblitis and death penalties.
September 18th, 2021 at 11:16 am
It’s not a “roadmap” to beat the Bucs. For one, Dallas didn’t win despite our mistakes and miscues. Second, the score would be 40-20 without the stupid turnovers from the offense. Dallas did nothing to stop the Bucs offense and we could score at will. Brady dissected that defense without a sweat whenever he needed to.
But what Dallas did on offense also wasn’t creative at all. And it was no secret what they were doing. Short, quick consistent passes beats the type of defensive schemes the Bucs run if you can stop that pass rush. This is why the Bucs have SO MUCH invested in that front 7. There is a lot of money, draft picks, and pro bowl-caliber veteran talent there. The scheme only works when that front 7 generates pressure. The secondary, when healthy, isn’t bad. But they are not world-beaters. They do need help from that front 7 or they will be left out there on islands.
Yes, teams will do a LOT of passing on us. Some teams like Dallas will gameplan that way. But many will do it out of necessity. For one, our rushing defense is #1 in the league the past two years. Teams just can’t run on us. So they have to pass. But also, Tom Brady and a ton of weapons are on the other side of the football. Every team in this league is TERRIFIED of that offense. They know it can score any time and any place it has the ball. So if you are behind in points, you are going to be pressured to pass to keep up on the scoreboard. When you down 2 possessions in the 3rd quarter, the run game is abandoned. It will be pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, and doing whatever the heck works. If that means picking on Dean and Edwards, that’s what they will do.
There won’t be much you can do personnel-wise at this point. Hopefully the Bucs coaches find a way to scheme some help for the secondary so they aren’t left on islands the whole game.
September 18th, 2021 at 11:33 am
If you wear out the pass rushers, they’re quite mortal. It’s the only way to complete with the bucs
September 18th, 2021 at 11:46 am
we need to control the time of possession better and let our defense rest, stop the stupid penalties. We aren’t getting our defense gashed when they are sitting on the bench. Stop the mindless brainless fumbles/tipped balls. Clean it up, play smarter, look on the waiver wires in the meantime for corners. It’s enough.
September 18th, 2021 at 11:57 am
Maybe an NFL historian can help me here: what NFL team in history had a top pass defense without a solid pass rush?
September 18th, 2021 at 12:03 pm
we gave them 10 points from to”s (in the redzone for them) and the touchdown from Godwin never happened because of his fumble. That is 17 points. We were gashed from penalties. The game was not close if we play smarter.
September 18th, 2021 at 12:16 pm
Some of you idiots breath smell like jameis jock. Good lord. This article is about the defenses sucking up the joint week one. Can you stay on topic?
September 18th, 2021 at 12:36 pm
First game. But an OJ trade and money are looking pretty good. Licht could make it happen.
September 18th, 2021 at 12:59 pm
Can we please stop the mindless and continuous trade OJ or Brate nonsense. We are on year 4 of this same stupid idea by the fans. The bucs are not trading depth. How smart would that be to trade OJ or Brate and then gronk gets hurt next week? You essentially made a strength into a weakness for no apparent reason. Just stop it already.
September 18th, 2021 at 1:23 pm
The comment section is the worst. Negative is all I seem to ever see.
September 18th, 2021 at 1:32 pm
Exactly what team is going to trade for a terribly underperforming, inconsistent, third-string expensive player just coming off an Achilles injury in the final year of his contract? The Bucs would have to throw in a second-round pick just for someone to take him off their hands.
September 18th, 2021 at 1:54 pm
I see a lot of panic on these pages after the Dallas game, for all the wrong reasons.
We kept to the defensive game plan. And as bad as it appeared, we came out with a win.
The “soft” play of our corners was on purpose, we expected a rusty(he was not) out of shape(again not) Dak to make mistakes and wear down. He did neither.
That does not change the fact that it was the right game plan. And without the turnovers would have been lauded as masterful.
I noticed that the “D” tightened up considerably as the field got shorter and we forced several field goal tries.
When you force your opponent into a short passing game, don’t expect your pass rush to get home, they don’t have time.
Could we have tweaked things a little to get the lopsided win we all expected? Sure! The biggest would be DON’T turn the ball over! Especially in the shadow of your own goal posts!
September 18th, 2021 at 5:05 pm
These comments are hilarious. Way too much panic after a single game……..That game represents our starting point. Thats it.
Whats really going to matter is how we finish, how we are playing in January.
Theres nothing wrong with winning a shootout game especially when you are built the way we are. I think Dallas was 1 of 4 in the redzone. And I think we were perfect. Yes, thats gonna win you some games. So it wasnt all doom and gloom like yall say.
And remember the TD Sean Bunting gave up was open because he was playing tight coverage and tryed to jump a route. Theres a fine line on how to play the coverage……and on a game like that where our passrush wasnt getting home your probably getting your ass haded to you if you try to play tight agressive coverage. Bowles probably made the right call.
In the end our secondary got their hands on two balls and couldnt complete the interception. Forget about our 4 turnovers if just one of those 2 plays gets made we probably get a much easier win. And this defense is designed to make those plays………Bowles doesnt bring in DBs who can make plays, now lets see our passrush do their thang tomorrow and watch our secondary finish the plays!!
Oh, and a shout out to Andrew Adams. Dude joins the team mid week and makes perhaps the biggest play of the week by sticking Ezeekal Elliot!!
GO BUCS!!!!!!
September 18th, 2021 at 5:19 pm
Bucs pass rush better get better because our secondary looks like Slo Mo. We are Outstanding…after the catch.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:48 pm
In a way I am glad they had a poor ( by their standards) first game. Every buc should lose any sense of complacency after that game. Opponents are not going to roll over and the bucs need to bring their A game every week. Hoping that game lit a fire in their belly.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:32 pm
“ our defense that last year didn’t give up the booty hardly at all”
Uh really?
Werewe not down by 3 scores to the Chargers, Falcons and Chiefs at times during those games last year?
Did New Orleans not put up 34+ points against us TWICE during the regular season last year?
This defense gave up the booty plenty last year. They closed out real strong, but were very shaky at times.
September 19th, 2021 at 1:28 am
We dealt with LAR n NO who both played quick release , underneath offense against us last year. Defensively we just need to hold them to FGs or 1-2 punts. Take our chances getting 7 to their 3’s. Maybe let Tryon get more reps vs stronger LT like T Smith. JPP had zero chance vs him. I also would like to see Shaq get rushes off the right side like he did two yrs ago a bit more when we struggle to get pressure. Also if the running game or short passing game could get involved it allows our D to rest as someone else alluded to.
You should always take a CB in every draft- however this year we are in WIN NOW mode and edge,cb,OL depth should of been 1-2-3 priorities!! Kyle Trask butchered this draft.
September 19th, 2021 at 3:02 am
If this offense scores 35-42 points a game then the point about the defense will be moot. Even Dallas couldn’t scorch us for that much. I doubt any other team can either.
September 19th, 2021 at 12:27 pm
More Jen pics please!