Big Name Players Didn’t Show Up

January 25th, 2022

Shaq sacked Sunday.

Now Joe has been banging on Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles pretty hard the past day or so because Joe thinks his coaching malpractice was a key reason why the Bucs cleaned out their lockers yesterday, some for good.

Bowles isn’t the lone person at fault. Some big-name players struggled or were invisible on Sunday. The biggest name was Bucs sack king Shaq Barrett.

A drop-back quarterback like Matt Stafford seemed a good target for Shaq, who played 62 snaps on Sunday. Yet Shaq had three tackles, one tackle for loss, and not one damn quarterback pressure. The Bucs’ main pass rusher never breathed on Stafford.

Another key figure was a total ghost on Sunday. Bucs outside linebacker/pass rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka had 14 snaps on on defense. He didn’t register one stat.

In the NFL’s official “Gamebook,” which is the official statistical box score of the game, JTS’s name wasn’t even listed. Why? When you don’t record one statistic, your name is not listed.

Like he never existed. You know, like a ghost.

42 Responses to “Big Name Players Didn’t Show Up”

  1. Razor Ramone Says:

    What about DW 45? Didn’t show up at all. Less talk more results.

  2. DarenGibo Says:

    and yet somehow, amazingly, we were THIS close to OT and a coin flip away from winning! being a buc fan since 78, I would still rather have this debate over excellence and super bowl or bust than discussing another double digit loss season and our upcoming top 3 draft selection!!

  3. Casual Observer Says:

    Joe is right. We need to address edge rushing and CBs this off-season.

  4. Señor Harry in Costa Rica Says:

    Stafford had all day to throw; no pressure whatsoever. Blitz or no blitz, NO PRESSURE.

    Not sure our DBs deserve all the criticism they are getting, but at the same time Rams WRs were wide azz open!! It was like we had two or three DBs standing there watching Koop or someone catch the ball right in the middle of them?!?!

    The Bucs D definitely lost that game. What a shame. But its a great time to be a Bucs fan when we are crying about not getting back-to-back SuperBowls. Gotta keep it in perspective.

  5. Nutterbutter95 Says:

    I was a bit confused on the strategy with Barrett on Sunday. JPP is no longer a pass rusher, his side of the ball, we know there will be no pressure. Why not use Barrett on Noteboom? Havenstein is a size mismatch against Barrett, why not put JPP on that side… The worst that happens is you get no sacks on Havensteins side, but it gives you a chance vs Noteboom.

  6. Brian Says:

    Thanks Jason for signing Brady that saved you and BA. but this staff and gm are not the right fit for a rebuild. This story is a perfect example- we didn’t have any contributors from the last draft class – except Darden who was pretty good at running away from the ball on returns.

    Still need a CB – how many secondary guys have we drafted.

  7. Chuckstutz Says:

    No wonder Shaq was back up for von miller in Denver. Just sayin.
    Von powered over Donovan and speed rushed him for wins. Sad.
    Shaq can’t do that.

  8. Jaybuc Says:

    I really really wished Tampa had signed Trey Hendrickson in FA rather than Shaq!
    I think Shaq has been figured out unless he is against a back up Tackle.

  9. LVMYBUCS Says:

    Bowles is a non motivator, I think we need a whole new coaching staff. Bruce is old and out of touch with players and Bowles is just another Dungy to calm and Leftwitch is just dumb a hell.

  10. Lamarcus Says:

    Shaq is good when JPP is good. JPP been hurt all year and Shaq stock down as well. Idk what we are doing to do after JPP

  11. Bobby M. Says:

    Our defense exceptionally underperforms for the talent they have. Vea alone is enough to scheme around….we have him with Suh right next to him and Shaq, LVD and White behind those two. Winfield and Whitehead are two top tier safeties. Davis is probably a top 15 CB…..so how much talent does Bowles need to put together a defense?

    What you’re going to see erode the standard of this team is BAs commitment to “his” guys. He’ll never fire Bowles or the special teams coach. Same for Leftwich….how many games did we start slow? That pattern dates back to Jameis. It was pretty obvious the offense doesn’t get into rhythm until we go hurry up and Brady runs the show. Last 3 games….we avg 10 pts in the 1st half. To put that in perspective…LA avg 19.3….KC avg 15….Buffalo avg 18…Ten 14.7.

  12. adam from ny Says:

    i thought after stafford kicked suh it would be on…

    but it wasn’t…

    you can’t play like zombie for 2 and 1/2 quarters and expect to be in the game…

    when it went to 27-3 at ray jay, you could hear a pin drop or a granny fart from further down your row

  13. Robert Says:

    shaq is over rated based a few special days…he is often non existent

  14. mike Says:

    I watched that kc/ bills game and wondered how the hell did we stop those guys. Stafford had all day

  15. Hodad Says:

    Look at the gut on Shaq. D.White has been sporting a simular look. Both are eating real ice cream, not the fake sh#t Tom eats. Both look like they’re fat, and happy. Get the F into the wait room. Turn that gut into muscle, and power. Get off riding the horses, and maybe run with them. Yep, fat, and lazy.

  16. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Razor Ramone Says:
    January 25th, 2022 at 9:05 am
    What about DW 45? Didn’t show up at all. Less talk more results.

    DW had 8 tackles…..1 TFL & a couple of QB hits & a pass batted down….

    Was it his best performance….no……but better than Shaq, JPP & JTS

  17. CChead Says:

    Bowles should have had Shaq swap sides with JPP. Have Shaq go against the back up. JPP was not healthy enough to be playing that many snaps. But Bowles lets his ego get in the way.

  18. Bird Says:

    Agree with poster above. Why not put shaq on the right side with the back up left tackle

    I mean cmon bowles
    Jpp was out there to stop run. Not sack qb
    Jpp should have been on left side for some snaps

  19. Bucsfanman Says:

    Both Shaq and JPP have been nursing injuries. JTS has no excuse.
    Credit the Rams offense and coaching for neutralizing our pass rush. Unfortunately we were unable to match their success. Lots of players had opportunities to step up. Coaches too.

    It’s no consolation but, look at all the games over the weekend. We weren’t the only ones to fail on the big stage.

  20. peter benet Says:

    We don’t get interior pressure like Armstead and Jones do for the 49ers; I’m not sure why. And JPP is done, while JTS has not yet become a Bosa.

  21. Izod Says:

    Big name players didn’t show up? Why was this surprising, have you been paying attention the entire season?

  22. adam from ny Says:

    one of the biggest flops of the season is or was JTS…

    why adam why?

    well in preseason everyone, and i mean everyone touted the dude as the next best thing to myles garrett…

    does anyone remember all this hype…

    all media outlets, here on joebucsfan, al michaels and collinsworth on national tv…bradshaw and their halftime crew….

    i mean everyone and their mom was talking about the next greatest defensive end in football…joe tryon shoyinka…nfl network, espn, bspn, all talking heads…etc…

    to go from that to the season he had, is bust status…

    i said it, bust status…

    granted he got limited snaps all year —–but if he was tearing it up, wouldn’t they have found more snaps for the guy?

    and yeah he was a rookie, so we won’t know sh!t until say, year three…

    but this was the most hyped preseason player in the league at one point – and he failed to have much of a season at all…

    now we definitely need to find a DE/LB with jpp on his way back to new york

  23. PassingThru Says:

    It’s too early to give up on Tryon-Shoyinka, and while I wasn’t in love with the pick on draft night (holy cow, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was still available), I understood the interest. JTS is a very athletic OLB, if he can make the jump from athlete to football player, he has a very high ceiling. He didn’t make significant improvement during that timeline from camp to the playoffs, which is disappointing. But that isn’t unusual, sometimes it takes offseason work to make that “second year jump” that sometimes happens with football players.

    In other words he’s good clay. His post-snap recognition is poor in that he cannot figure out whether he should pass rush, seal off the edge, or drop into coverage. He has raw speed but needs moves and counters as he’s easily taken out of plays with a simple push, which is when his speed is used against him. He simply cannot shed a block, which was perhaps the Licht’s fear when he bypassed the undersized Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (surprise surprise, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is fairly good at shedding blocks).

    My biggest complaint about JTS isn’t that he’s raw, it’s that he doesn’t play through to the whistle. That’s effort, and a lack of focus and energy is inexcusable.

  24. adam from ny Says:

    i sounded so negative…but i agree, it’s too early to give up on jts…

    but the national preseason hype, to his body of work for the 2021 season turned out to be almost a joke…

    the team really needed more from him, especially after jpp became almost rendered useless due to the injury

  25. adam from ny Says:

    nelson was a pleasant surprise down the stretch, but i’m not sure if that’s his ceiling…

    i liked what i saw – if he can improve on it next year, gosh darn, we’ve found ourselves a player

  26. Listnfrmafar Says:

    Ironically enough, I don’t blame Bucs DB’s, they were never good. All season the D couldn’t get off the field on 3rd and no matter what distance. Sure they had a few ints but dropped more that were right in their hands. The secondary was never addressed in the off-season and it showed. Why does every fan on this site respect JPP but ask the question, why.is he on the field yet the coaches kept him in. Vea 47% of the snaps? Really? I also don’t understand why on short downs he’s not a lead blocker. With that few snaps he surely wasn’t tired. These coaches relied too much on the players self preparation. I’m sorry if I hurt some of your feelings but this is all on the 50+ coaching staff, especially Bucs remaining HC BA.

  27. adam from ny Says:

    shaq’s little belly stays the same…no fluctuation at all

    #HeArrivedWithThatBellyLol

    devin white has always been very deisel – i’d hate to hear he developed a late season belly – i didn’t notice it – time to check the tape – he hasn’t had a top linebacker type season as we all came to expect from him

  28. Dano Says:

    Bucs have to get pass rushers ASAP

  29. Hodad Says:

    Oh you can see it. White, and Shaq have been hitting the same buffets.

  30. Show Me the TDs Says:

    This was my biggest disappointment, watching the game. JBF had an article last week with Shaq saying he’s 100% and ready to go. I knew it was all talk when I read it, just like the article at the beginning of the season when he said he wanted to break the sack record. The other disappointment was getting kicked (Suh) and bloodied (TB12) and showing no fire or anger afterward. That’s why the Aints always biotch-slap the Bucs. Lots of talent. Not a lot of heart, in some. Not all.

  31. tampabayallday Says:

    Shaq has the speed, he doesn’t have the power.

  32. David Says:

    Yeah, I thought Shaq was going to tee off. I guess his knee is not fully healed. JPP is getting surgery now. JTS needs a lot of work this off-season.

    In Bowles defense, I guess that’s why they felt they needed to blitz.
    Still in shock though, over an all out blitz when the other team has no timeouts and all you need to do is keep them in front of you and make the tackle

  33. SB~LV Says:

    45 is not all that !

  34. sauron's eye Says:

    JPP ghosted us all season. Since he was so injured and ineffective why was he playing? We are very weak at Cornerback and need a starter level free agent. Rookie CB’s don’t do well in the NFL. If Brady retires do not go after Rodgers or Wilson. Those prima donnas would want to eat too much cap space, which has doomed their current teams.

  35. allbuccedup Says:

    If Brady goes, back to cellar dwellars.

  36. SlyPirate Says:

    DEFENSE SUCKS!!!!! Hold on just a sec ….

    You keep hating on the defense, but the Bucs offense scored 3 points in the first half. 2 field goals and the game is tied. A touchdown and they win.

    If you’re going to play the blame game, play it accurately.

  37. Anonymous Says:

    @ Listn. Don’t worry as you haven’t hurt any feelings here because it is obvious to all you are a blow hard and have no idea what you are talking about.

  38. Darin Says:

    They didn’t play or coach well enough to win.

  39. Defense Rules Says:

    Senor Harry in Costa Rica … ‘The Bucs D definitely lost that game’.

    All due respect Harry, that’s horsepuckey. Our defense was the only reason why we ever had a chance in that game. Please don’t misunderstand, for a playoff game, our defense played lousy. But as bad as they looked at times, our offense & S/Ts were worse. Bucs’ offense failed to rise to the occasion time after time … and that includes Tom Brady (he let the Rams’ pass rush get inside his head far as I’m concerned, because some of his decisions & passes were very untypical Tom Brady).

    Without the Bucs’ defense forcing 4 turnovers in the 2nd half, and giving our offense 2 very short fields as a consequence (we scored TDs on both), the game would’ve been a blowout. I mean for heavens sake, our big gun (Gronk) was targeted 11 times … caught FOUR. Our other big gun (ME13) was targeted 16 times in that game … caught EIGHT. Brate targeted 3 times … caught ONE. Johnson targeted 6 times … caught THREE for a mere 15 yds.

    The only ‘weapon’ on offense who really produced was Playoff Lenny. Had 4 YPC on 13 runs plus was targeted 9 times … caught ALL NINE for 56 yds. If Bucs don’t re-sign him, we’re dumber than dirt.

    Oh and don’t get me started on our unSpecial Teams. They set a new standard in suckage Sunday. If you want to fire anyone, fire our S/Ts coach. That’s been a season-long problem. And oh ya, he can take our OC with him. That was a horrible, incredibly predictable game plan Sunday. Jacksonville can have him. Actually need to go a step further: PLEEEASE TAKE HIM. We’ll throw in our S/Ts coach as an added bonus.

  40. Swampbuc Says:

    JTS is starting to make Noah Spence look like a pro bowler. He sucks

  41. captivajim Says:

    Brady saved everyone’s ass in tampa. Licht for his drafting, BA for his posturing, BL for his game planning , and ,of course, Bowles for his defense strategy..

    NONE , NONE of them would have a ring ,if Not for BRADY.. Its really that simple & they know it……

  42. steele Says:

    I hope I’m proven wrong, but JTS reminds me of some of the bad pass rush draft picks of Belichick: Jermaine Cunningham, Derek Rivers. Belichick was and is an awful drafter, passing up bigtime talent, either skipping pass rushers altogether or going cheap.

    I need to look at the tape (if I can stomach it). Did Bowles resort to the blitz because the pass rush from the front was so bad, he had no choice?