On The Blitzing Fail
November 1st, 2021
Sad NFL mark.
Joe was screaming for Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles to blitz this stiff, No. 4 quarterback of the slimy Saints, Trevor Siemian.
And apparently, he was.
But in the process, Bowles highlights one major reason why the Bucs defense had an embarrassing afternoon in the Big Easy.
Not only did the Bucs make Siemian — who hadn’t thrown an NFL pass since September 2019 — look like the second coming of Joe Theismann with good passing and an ability to lead time-killing scoring drives, but the Saints must have read the blitzes perfectly.
Either that, or slimy Saints coach Sean Payton has Bowles’ blitzing figured out.
The Bucs blitzed and blitzed and blitzed so much one of Santa’s reindeer got tired of his hearing his name called.
In fact, the set an NFL mark you really don’t want on your resumes — 22 blitzes without pressuring the QB.
The Saints were able to avoid pressure against the blitz no matter who was under center.
The Buccaneers blitzed on 22 dropbacks and failed to generate any pressures, the most blitzes without a pressure in the NGS era (since 2016).#TBvsNO | #Saints
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 1, 2021
So Bowles is either going to have to go back to his Surface and either figure out new blitzes or find different disguises or better yet, teach dudes how to shed blocks.
If you blitz and blitz and blitz some more and cannot get to the quarterback, and you have the likes of Ross Cockrell and the bottle of cologne, Pierre Desir, covering receivers, then you’re going to make a fourth-string stiff quarterback look like he belongs.
And the last thing you want to do is give a stiff like Siemian confidence in an important game.
It all snowballed for the Bucs on defense and Bowles got bowled over.
November 1st, 2021 at 5:36 am
If the Bucs can’t find a decent CB at the trade deadline, I’d like to see them add an edge rusher. I’m not sure how much playing time Anthony Nelson got yesterday, but I believe the Bucs could do better. Nelson hasn’t looked good for 3 years now, IMHO.
November 1st, 2021 at 5:36 am
If you live by the blitz, eventually you die by the blitz. Simple fact is that the Saints’ OLine was better today than our DLine. Combine that with far too many penalties & poor tackling and that becomes a prescription for losing.
November 1st, 2021 at 6:14 am
Thinking about it, maybe the fact that we’re contending in games (minus the Rams) without our starting corners is a positive. That being said, our boys up front haven’t been very consistent with helping our depleted secondary. I don’t forsee us making any kind of trade, considering the fact that we are now on our bye and we should get some, if not most of our injured guys back. At this point it might be a good idea to rotate them more, so they don’t possibly reinjure themselves. We’ll need all hands on deck this December and in the playoffs.
November 1st, 2021 at 6:30 am
I agree, Nelson is a 6’7 dud. Dude,my bag, Dud should be batting balls down on every pass play in his direction. New Orleans played violent n bullied us on both sides of the ball n in return we demonstrated the meaning of passive behavior. What’s up with Darden, is he scared? What’s up with OJ Howard, is he scared? He’s 6’5 250 4.5 n he struggles with separation n blocking. Watch his tapes, he’s very passive at blocking. I’m tired of Mike Evan pouting for a flag on every play. He too is soft n passive. Contrary to Godwin, he’s afraid of contact, he cringes n goes down before contact whenever he goes over the middle.
He’s a one dimensional player. Ross Cockrell gets lost in space n Pierre Desir shouldn’t be in the nfl. Carlton Davis would’ve made a difference at corner. Devin White n Lavonte at times played confused yesterday. What happened to the beast mode performance from the superbowl win.
November 1st, 2021 at 6:33 am
Back Up QB’s typically always do well in their first game back, because teams do not prepare for them. However any opposing team now has tape on this QB and will be able to plan for him.
Saints are in trouble, with no starting QB and Taysom is still not a starting QB sorry, they’re in trouble and they have a very tough stretch coming.
November 1st, 2021 at 6:41 am
Saints clearly knew exactly what we were gonna do
November 1st, 2021 at 7:01 am
All of this analysis. If Brady does not throw that pick, they likely drive down, kick a FG and win. And then everyone today would be talking about another great comeback.
It’s one game. It was on the road. Major players were injured. The team is tired and not focused. The Saints are one of the better teams.
These things happen.
Rest. Heal. Review. Reload.
November 1st, 2021 at 7:01 am
Todd Bowles is a great coach. Sean Payton is better.
November 1st, 2021 at 7:32 am
There was nothing wrong with the pass rush. He was throwing the ball at great angles and our corners were in bad positions constantly. .
November 1st, 2021 at 7:37 am
Rumors are swirling that carlton davis and smb will be back for washington lame name team.
With that said , my big concern for the defense are the middle linebackers. Now lvd was injured and coming back so he gets a little pass for yesterday. But , devin white is not the same player. They are making excuses that he has different roles now? What does that have to do with missing tackles? I mean he has taken not 1 step but 2 full steps back this year. But neither lavonte nor white have really made any splash plays that i can remember this year. We have many weaknesses on defense but the middle of the field is wide arse open. Someone like payton sends guys into those pockets in middle of field and guys are open. My 7 year old nephew could win games as saints qb. Its doesnt matter if it’s bridgewater, tayome hill , jameis or siemien. Pretty simple to game manage a game when your coach has you doing things a highschool qb could do.
Anyways , i knew this would be tough game. First game in a while where brady didnt have last drive of game to win. Cant turnover 3 times and expect to win against that team and he knows it. Dont forget his two favorite options when you need a play were out. Ab and gronk will be back for round 2
Man i hate the saints. And unfortunately, i am not seeing payton leaving anytime soon. The dude is the best in the business and he is in our division. Just wait until he gets his qb of the future. We could be in trouble.
November 1st, 2021 at 8:37 am
Even so they held Saints under 30 minus the killing pick six and the stolen by the refs intercept in the end zone. The main flaw was Ghost Cockrell.
November 1st, 2021 at 8:48 am
Can’t blame the corners for not sacking the QB. Even when we blitzed we couldn’t get to the QB. That’s the real problem. We made Jameis look like Lamar Jackson running against us. Trev slinging it like Joe Montana. JPP had 68 snaps, Nelson who doesn’t belong in the NFL got 10, and Tryon only 8 snaps. Half of Tryon’s snaps he was used in coverage, any wonder we sucked?
November 1st, 2021 at 8:52 am
The refs kept Saints in the game the first half. The Bucs D lost the second half. A pick 6 closed the deal. Bucs D thought they could come in and intimidate Saints. News Flash, roles reversed. Why is Tyron covering Harris across the middle? He and Darden showed yesterday they are still a rookies. Sherman please take over for Bowles. Joe did you write 22 blitzes for null? The definition of insanity.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:46 am
Defense Rules said
“If you live by the blitz, eventually you die by the blitz. Simple fact is that the Saints’ OLine was better today than our DLine. Combine that with far too many penalties & poor tackling and that becomes a prescription for losing.”
That’s about all the analysis you need, folks.
In reality, this team is going to be fine. They will use the bye week to make corrections like they did last year.
People will get healthy
A pissed off Tom Brady is a dangerous Tom Brady
No need to line up at the Skyway, guys.
November 1st, 2021 at 11:04 am
There is a reason Alvin Kamara only had three receptions for 15 yards. He was used primarily to block in the backfield and some of those blitzes you saw Simien throw the ball atthe receivers feet because the Bucs sniffed out their screen passes. The problem is Bowles had no confidence that his CB could press cover while he blitzed, who plays 8 years off the receiver when you blitz (the lack of Bucs CBs that’s who)
November 2nd, 2021 at 12:59 pm
Todd is a great coach?????????????????????????????? I’ll give you a good analogy. When it comes to adjusting, he reminds me of Rocky when the guy was cleaning his clock and Rocky told his manager “i’m trying to wear him out hahahaha