“The Little Details We Kind Of Let Slip Away Last Year”
May 19th, 2022
Cleanup duty.
Sloppy Bucs?
It’s too painful for Joe to post video here of the bomb to Rams receiver Cooper Kupp that broke the Bucs’ back in the playoffs and ended their season — and a phenomenal comeback — before a raucous home crowd at The Licht House.
But anyone watching that video will see a defensive front that wasn’t ready for the snap and a secondary that also seemed lost in a fog.
Details are everything in NFL football, and it seems the Bucs got sloppy too often in 2021. That was the opinion of tight end Cameron Brate this week as he relayed how Todd Bowles is focused in spring practices.
“The big thing Todd’s been harping on is, you know, trying to figure out the little details we kind of let slip away last year. Those kind of added up in crucial moments for us,” Brate said. “So just, we’re really focusing on the fundamentals the basics so we can kind of build from there.”
Of course, it would be easier to master more of that precision if Tom Brady were to attend a full spring slate of practices, but that’s certainly unnecessary. On defense, Joe is confident Bowles will be all over tackling nuances, blitz timing, and the finer points of zone coverage.
Brate went on to say life without Bucco Bruce Arians is noticeable daily at One Buc Palace. He said Bowles’ different style shows up in how he sets the mood for the day, and that Bowles is more patient with players and gentler when cussing them out.
May 19th, 2022 at 9:42 am
Yes, the defense was unprepared for the Cooper Kupp dagger. Too much confusion among the players and the lack of timeouts is a piss poor excuse. So who was responsible for conducting those practices?
May 19th, 2022 at 10:05 am
There’s no doubt things got sloppy last year. That’s what Brady was upset about. But is Bowles the answer? His defense was a lot of the problem. Sloppy tackling, bad coverage, some times they looked like a high school team. Tighten it up Todd.
May 19th, 2022 at 10:08 am
Despite Bowles’s questionable play calling against the Rams, he is a damn good defensive coach who just happened to call a bad game. I blame Licht (he’s still a great gm) more for not providing Bowles with enough quality outside corners in spite of the fact that Dean had already proven by last year that he was injury prone and inconsistent. Talented for sure, but you have to be on the field to help your team. We have 55,000 nickel corners and safeties, but god’s forbid we have more than two competent (when healthy) outside corners on our team.
May 19th, 2022 at 10:09 am
It begs the question. Do we try to do too much sometimes? Jack of all trades Master of none…
May 19th, 2022 at 10:11 am
I am still upset about that last play call. The all out Blitz was not working against Stafford all day, so with the game on the line, what did we do ?
We let Tom Brady and our Fans down, and all after we battled back from an impossible deficit.
May 19th, 2022 at 10:20 am
I was just about getting over that play….
May 19th, 2022 at 10:22 am
I’ve posted this before, but the error at the end of the Rams game was not the playcall, it was the execution. If we didn’t blitz or make aggressive playcalls, Stafford was 100% going to nickel and dime us down the field for the win. It’s the way every NFL game ends now, if you have an elite QB.
Bowles decided, “eff that”, and instead of playing to not lose, he played to win. We’ll never know what would’ve happened if the players were in the right position. Maybe a sack fumble or a forced interception. Or maybe Stafford completes a bomb to Kupp anyway.
But making an aggressive playcall was the way to go.
May 19th, 2022 at 10:47 am
It was a stupid playcall, blitzing Stafford instead of dropping back into coverage was giving the Rams free money. It wasn’t only a stupid playcall, the execution was piss poor as well as obviously players didn’t even understand their roles within the call.
I know it’s really hard to tell, but I’m not over it either.
May 19th, 2022 at 10:56 am
I am sure the players were confused. In their minds they were thinking YOU want us to do WHAT!
May 19th, 2022 at 11:10 am
Little details – like not having a megaphone handy to shout at the D backs, “Watch out for a long pass!”. On that infamous play.
May 19th, 2022 at 11:11 am
You guys know what’s really basic and would’ve helped us beat good teams? Running the damn ball, we won in 2020 cuz we ran it. Joe Haeg just being the 6th lineman to provide extra run and pass blocking as a TE in 2020 literally made that much of a difference. We need Ko, Gronk, and whichever other backup olineman that can secure that spot and provide much needed extra protection on those plays.
May 19th, 2022 at 11:15 am
Hey Todd – is the secondary knowing their assignments on every play a little detail?
May 19th, 2022 at 11:26 am
I like how everybody remembers that 1 play but forgets about the other plays that the defense made to help us tie the game. The offense couldn’t even get a rhythm until the turnovers started coming. You guys are clowns.
May 19th, 2022 at 11:32 am
The play before the bomb to Kupp, Edwards couldn’t tackle Kupp inbounds and allowed him to stop the clock.
May 19th, 2022 at 11:44 am
Yes, get back to basics. Take a good angle, wrap up, and tackle. You listening Devin?
May 19th, 2022 at 12:13 pm
Todd Bowles has a part of his brain that misfires
May 19th, 2022 at 12:14 pm
Wrong, Stafford was eating you alive when blitzed. He is historically very good against it, and struggles when extra coverage is dedicated. It was a bad gameplan pure and simple. The only time the bucs stopped the Rams was when 7 or more were in coverage.
May 19th, 2022 at 12:28 pm
@ Joseph C. Simmons. These were Staffords numbers against the blitz last year.
17% pressure rate when blitzed, the lowest in the league.
72% comp % when blitzed, vs. 66.2 when not
16 of his 17 ints came when facing 4 or fewer rushers.
I’m sure bowles had these numbers. Why he chose to ignore them is mind numbing.
May 19th, 2022 at 12:34 pm
GOB is correct, blitzing was the equivalent of giving the Rams free money.
There is a chance that the blitz could have surprised Stafford in that key game situation though. He might have doubled over and laughed.
May 19th, 2022 at 12:35 pm
I’m not an NFL coordinator, obviously. I’m a lad from the UK who loves my bucs. I knew in that moment that the right call was to play prevent, with a ‘none shall pass’ limit of the 50 yard line.
The blitz hadn’t worked all night long. Not once.
May 19th, 2022 at 12:43 pm
Well, at least Bowles got rewarded for that awesome clutch performance. I know….2020 defense against the Chiefs in the SB, and their two turnstiles at offensive tackle.
Show me something good, Todd.
May 19th, 2022 at 12:44 pm
Passing, I think I saw Stafford chuckle, just before throwing to a wide open cooper cupp.
May 19th, 2022 at 12:48 pm
According to Brate we went from cranky grandpa Arains to cool uncle Todd.
May 19th, 2022 at 1:05 pm
A Harvard guy using “kind of”?
He probably didn’t graduate.
May 19th, 2022 at 1:08 pm
It’s Harvard. Think of them as Yale’s dumb little sister.
May 19th, 2022 at 1:21 pm
Or Princeton’s half brother conceived as a result of sleeping with the help.
May 19th, 2022 at 2:00 pm
Bowles has been taken so much unnecessary heat. How about Licht take some blame for providing no quality depth on the defensive side of the ball. He’s also done nothing to address the defense this year besides picking up a few spare parts like Ryan and Neal. Also, the special teams deserve more heat for the Rams lost. Pinion kicks had the defense defending short fields all game, and on offense we had bad field position and was forced to make long drives.
Like the past games against the Rams, we started off slowly on offense and defense. It was a recipe for a disaster. An ill-timed blitz at the end of the game wasn’t the reason we lost that game. Keith Armstrong, BA, and Licht deserve some heat. I’m actually happy Bowles is the coach. I love his demeanor and he’s a film junkie. BA was too much of a loudmouth and often showed loyalty to his assistants who deserved to be fired. He was a loudmouth who consistently threw players under the bus publicly. You dress players down in the meeting rooms in front of their teammates, not the media. There was a reason some of the players weren’t shedding any tears when he stepped down.
May 19th, 2022 at 2:51 pm
Well, whatever the call was our veteran defensive leaders on the field were out of position and not lined up for the play. At some point you have to hold the players equally accountable.
Those are the little details. Would it have mattered on that play? We’ll never know because it was doomed at the snap when half the team was standing around looking lost.
That single play did not lose that game. It was the missed tackling, missed assignments, lack of execution on offense, missed opportunities on ST, and yes coaching. Not ONE play!
Details matter.
May 19th, 2022 at 3:22 pm
Man you guys giving me Cooper Kupp PTSD lol I had blocked it out for a while
May 19th, 2022 at 4:40 pm
The blame is on the coaching.
In football, you play like you practice.
May 19th, 2022 at 5:44 pm
Given the 13-4 record despite all the injuries, I’d say Licht did a helluva job with depth. I mean – did someone expect Kuechly to come out of retirement to be a back up? (Facepalm)
May 19th, 2022 at 5:55 pm
With Bowles as head coach, I would put my money on Southern New Hampshire University
May 19th, 2022 at 6:52 pm
Just not sold on Bowles, but let’s see
The personality doesn’t scream follow me, it screams I am one of you as an ex player – and his side of the ball blows assignments at an alarming rate
I think TB12 carries the load this year, but the future with Bowles I am not so sure of
May 19th, 2022 at 7:38 pm
Dumb comments here. There were 40 seconds left. Cardinal sin DON’T LET THE BEST PLAYER BEAT YOU. Rams didn’t have time to nickel and dime down the field. Bracket Kupp, press man. Chance of overtime 80%. That was bad coaching, and secondary was sloppy all year. Please don’t do that again.
May 19th, 2022 at 8:58 pm
Pisses me off that Brady isn’t even showing his face at these volunteer and rookie camp. I’m sure he’s watching a lot of the film.
May 19th, 2022 at 9:09 pm
Stop picking this scab Joe. Let it heal…let it heal
May 19th, 2022 at 9:49 pm
@Defense Rules. Gage would be Brady’s new Deion Branch. Branch was quick and could create separation. When we had all those injuries with the receiving corps, what was missing was someone that could get open quickly. I know people hate Antonio Clown, but he was by far the best route runner on the team and he could run ever route on the route tree. He was also the best receiver on the team. I know that’ll trigger some, but it’s the truth. It’ll come down to trust between Gage and Brady. Brady is the last of the dying breed of QBs who actually care about trust between a QB and his receiver.
May 20th, 2022 at 12:08 am
Name a young QB (Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, Watson, Prescott, Jackson) who doesn’t care about trust with his receivers? WTF?