Richard Sherman Blames Dee Delaney
November 7th, 2023
Benched Bucs safety Ryan Neal only played 20 snaps on Sunday in the Houston Horror.
He made his mark (stain?) in the game, but overall he largely yielded his position to veteran Dee Delaney.
Delaney is more of a ballhawk and head coach/defensive guru Todd Bowles was looking to shake things up.
It didn’t work.
One man who played in the Tampa Bay secondary (2021) is six-time Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman, who now works as an analyst for FS1 and Amazon, among other gigs.
Sherman felt bad for Bowles, per his recent FS1 chat.
On the game-winning touchdown, Sherman explained that Delaney failed to do the obvious when it came to being in position to help cornerback Carlton Davis.
“That’s a simple concept right there. That’s what’s frustrating about it for I’m sure Todd Bowles and his defense,” Sherman said. “… Double post in the red zone has, since Jesus was a baby, is what people are going to run. And if you’re running it with a quarter safety, you pass off the first [post], you get back to the second post and the play is dead. That’s what Carlton Davis was expecting on that play. He’s expecting inside help from my guy Dee Delaney. And he didn’t have it, that’s why Dee Delaney is jumping up and down. But you got to give C.J. Stroud all the credit in the world.”
Video of the play is below, though it’s not as revealing as the game film.
Joe’s not excusing No. 1 cornerback Carlton Davis, but Joe will defer to the Xs and Os explanation by Sherman, who always calls it straight.
Are you kidding?! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/K3Vm5SVyvn
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) November 5, 2023
November 7th, 2023 at 10:46 am
Blame DD for 1 play when Stroud was hitting on 1st and 2nd down when Neal was in?
Hello! Neal played 20 snaps. There were about 40 first- and second-down snaps without Neal in the game.–Joe
November 7th, 2023 at 10:48 am
Whatever!!!Let this sink in no interception’s for Davis for 31 straight games…Dean is not burning oi up either… no knack for the pass breakup!!
November 7th, 2023 at 10:50 am
Bingo Dewey Selmon
November 7th, 2023 at 10:51 am
Wanna know how badly Jason Licht botched the safety position?
The Bucs let Mike Edwards go and immediately regress (top 10 pass D in 2022 bottom 5 in 2023) while the Chiefs make Edwards their starting safety and all of a sudden have the #1 defense.
Easily one of Jason Lichts worst moves as a GM.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:52 am
How about putting the blame on the scouts? Yes this secondary stinks but who brought them in hmmmmmmm?
November 7th, 2023 at 10:54 am
Bucs players does not have the IQ to play in the NFL.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:55 am
I get what Sherman is saying, but what else was Davis supposed to be covering on that play? That area was HIS responsibility. Help or not.
Also, I might be willing to give Davis slack if that was his only glaring mistake of the day. It was probably the 10th mistake of the day from Davis. And we’re only talking about the Houston game. What about the Scotty Miller barf? What about getting Chris Conte’d in Atlanta? I’m done with Davis and his fat paycheck.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:55 am
correlation not causation with edwards, but we threw a lot of money at these cornerbacks, it didnt work out sunday
November 7th, 2023 at 10:56 am
Sorry, Buffalo
November 7th, 2023 at 10:59 am
You can throw a dart at a dart board and not be wrong on blame.
There is plenty to go around.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:00 am
Game was over if Carlton Davis stopped Schultz from scoring on 4th and 8. I don’t know all the x and Os but he sure looked lost on thay play. Nothing fancy about it either. Pathetic. But Bowles called alot of zone for guys that aren’t good in zone.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:04 am
Blame DD for the game winning TD when Bowels should have kept the timeout and ran the clock from 49 to 39 seconds, The play should have never happened. better Joe?
November 7th, 2023 at 11:08 am
Give Merriweather a shot
November 7th, 2023 at 11:08 am
Davis had maybe 2 pics in his entire college career yet he was drafted in second round. Same for Dean. What a head scratcher.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:13 am
If your players are too dense to know their responsibilities in zone, you should know that as a coach and run man. Another failure by our defensive guru head coach.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:19 am
What yard line did that drive start on? Should have never gotten that far to begin with. Don’t look at just only Delaney.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:23 am
Incredible!
If another rookie QB comes into town and breaks out of a can of whoop ass on us this week, that will be sad. The titans have a better defense and are also well coached.
If we lose this weekend, fans will start thinking ahead to the draft and next year. Hard to bounce back from what could be 5 straight losses.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:24 am
Again when are we gonna start taking a look at position coaches. No 1 player is to blame in this total breakdown of the Bucs defense. They all were bad. No pressure from line, CBs getting burned not once, not twice but all day long. Yes Bowles is the HC and he is responsible for replacing coaches who are not getting the job, but he can not coach every position.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:26 am
The blame lies at the defeat of Todd Bowles, and Jason Licht. Yeah Licht has to take some blame too. Didn’t resign Edwards, or Whitehead, but does sign Neal? That’s a swing, and a miss. Now Delaney, a corner is the best back up safety we have? Like our backfield, White doing O.K.. After him, Vaughn, Edmonds, and UDFA Tucker don’t even belong in the league. This is the best backfield Licht could muster? He signs Fieler, who’s worse then Stinnie, and Leverett, and just hands him the job. Me thinks we should throw Licht out with Bowles.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:33 am
Isn’t this practically the same defense that shut down Mahomes (9 points) in the SB?
And, it wasn’t just the TD pass that beat us….it was the passes before it.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:34 am
Licht should’ve valued Jordan Whitehead and Mike Edwards > Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean.
The Bucs throw $45 million at Carlom Davis only to see him give up 3 TDs and 100+ yards while the Jets and Chiefs benifit from Jason Lichts poor decisions.
Expect Christmas cards from the Jets and Cheifs arriving at OneBucPlace this holiday season.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:37 am
Dewey, you assume that if Bowles runs off the 10 Seconds instead of taking the time out that everything that transpired after would be the same as what actually happened. That’s a fallacy, as one can not make that assumption with 100% confidence that the Bucs call the same play & even score the touchdown at all and then assume the Texans don’t score with 36 left instead pf 46, as they may have run a different play. Maybe instead the offense has a turnover because the Texans run a different defense due to pressure the Bucs due to the run off, or they go for a field goal and it’s missed, or an asteroid hits the stadium and injuries Stroud, etc, etc etc….
That’s the basis of Joes story, that blaming the clock management is senseless, and second guessing.
Now what isn’t second guessing is the Bucs defense was crap in the second half, that is on film.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:52 am
I get having to choose between Edwards and Whitehead after the Super bowl, especially with the ascension of Winfield. I wish we could have found some way to keep Edwards, omg
November 7th, 2023 at 11:56 am
Looks to me like both Delaney and Davis let that guy get behind them. The whole defense stunk it up. Levis, who we face Sunday, is almost as good as Stroud. Bodes poorly for us. I’m not longer confident in Bowlzo at all.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:57 am
BTW, Whitehead looked great last night.
November 7th, 2023 at 12:02 pm
I know Ncal. I get what you are saying. Everyone is an armchair coach/gm. Much easier to assert blame 48 hours after the game.
November 7th, 2023 at 12:03 pm
No one knows what the front of #24 looks like because we only saw the back of his jersey chasing Texans WRs
November 7th, 2023 at 12:24 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
November 7th, 2023 at 11:33 am
Isn’t this practically the same defense that shut down Mahomes (9 points) in the SB?
And, it wasn’t just the TD pass that beat us….it was the passes before it.
Yes to bucfan 👆
3rd Q stats: Houston 208 yards. // Bucs 19. That’s when the defense quit.
November 7th, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
November 7th, 2023 at 11:33 am
Isn’t this practically the same defense that shut down Mahomes (9 points) in the SB?
And, it wasn’t just the TD pass that beat us….it was the passes before it.
Yes ,minus Suh and JPP ,we miss those guys bad!
November 7th, 2023 at 1:07 pm
We are paying two cornerbacks top money, who both excel the most in press man. Bowles is the one consistently calling soft zone ineffectively. His excuse that the team can’t play man makes no sense since the team can’t play zone. The common denominator is Bowles. It is similar to how Boron used to call the same offense every time even though the personnel had changed, and we needed newer more creative concepts. Bowels is now doing this on defense. Teams know what he will predicably call and we are getting picked apart. We need big changes.
November 7th, 2023 at 1:20 pm
Boomer: I don’t think that the D quit after the 3rd quarter. As JOE said a number of times, these guys are playing for future contracts. So why would they quit? I just think they got their butts kicked.
November 7th, 2023 at 1:45 pm
Absolutely incorrect Mr. Sherman!!!!!!
There were 3(wr) lined up on the right side. On the snap, tight end broke outside taking your linebacker in zone out of zone to man. Slot receiver breaks inside taking the safety (Delainey).
All you have left is zone(now man) on the outside. The defensive call on the field was wrong.
They should have changed to cover 2 and let the line backers drop to cover the middle and let the safety and corners handle the coners….
Bowles left his guys out to dry and then blames them for not doing thier job. There is no way in Quarter coverage your going to be able to defend 3 guys on one side and have 2 defenders cover one on the other side. Bad coaching…. plain and simple…
November 7th, 2023 at 1:55 pm
Can anyone who feels the need just don’t bother to mention below average after Mike Edwards please. Mike Edwards and Ryan Neal are two clones of him basically good as a backup and spot duty.
November 7th, 2023 at 2:01 pm
Ok. So they all suck. Bad coaching. Bad attitude. Bad execution.
November 7th, 2023 at 2:12 pm
Let Taylor Swift buy the team. I’d have more faith in her.
November 7th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
Yes, the D is struggling. Yes, it’s deeply frustrating for fans, myself included. But some folks in here are offering simple-minded and uninformed takes. Take Davis, for example. Did he have an awful game? Yes. Is that an indication that he suddenly forgot how to play? Please. He’s in the top three corners in football in terms of forced incompletions since 2019. He has legit shutdown skills, and a percentage of his recent struggles can be placed squarely at the feet of awful safety play. Does he need to play better? Yes. And if past performance is any indication of future results, he will.
As for Bowles, the guy has repeatedly built and coached some of the league’s best defenses. You’ll pardon me if I scoff at the one-dimensional critiques of “fans” who wouldn’t know a Cover 2 from their hoo-hoo. While blame is heaped on him for the struggling D, few acknowledge that the price paid to have Brady under center was bound to create holes in this year’s roster. And it did, specifically at safety and RB. The simple fact is that Bowles has a roster with a deficit of talent in certain spots — again, because of the Brady investment. The notion that the team would emerge unscatched from that spending spree is wildly naive.
The Bucs have dug themselves a hole, and Bowles and Licht deserve a share of the blame blame. No doubt. But it would be nice to see an even-handed take on the current state on the team (for example, the fact that Kancey is showing flashes of dominant play, and Jensen and Goedecke have started blowing people off the ball) rather than the sky-is-falling nonsense that too often characterizes this fan base. And this website.
November 7th, 2023 at 2:36 pm
Bowles said they were in Quarters Coverage that play if so Sherman is right
November 7th, 2023 at 2:47 pm
Well Delaney is really bad player, who is literally the first guy I cut in Madden. The fact that Neal, who is even worse, is replaced by someone as bad as Delaney, it’s like having Chris Conte with Ryan Smith as his backup.
I understand bringing Neal in on a cheap deal, but I do not understand giving him the starting job. He’s been terrible, and the Seahawks aren’t letting a young guy on a cheap deal walk for no reason.
But Delaney, he was way too slow to play in the aggressive man press defense of the past – but in Todd’s new super soft zone, he’s a better fit – but is also playing a new position.
The Bucs had limited cap space and options at safety, and we’re seeing the results.
November 7th, 2023 at 3:43 pm
Sorry Snooky but CD is not a top 5 CB in the NFL. Those CBs get INTs! Turnovers change games not pass deflections…and 2 count em 2 INTs in 2.5 seasons in the NFL dont cut it.
OVERRATED!
November 7th, 2023 at 3:51 pm
Pretty sure at this point a lot of these guys have played together for years there shouldn’t be communication break downs. Either learn your job and do it right or don’t do it at all and be fired. This is crazy to me. Players need to be held accountable along with coaches.
November 7th, 2023 at 4:18 pm
I agree with Snookums above…
And I’m sure Sherman is correct on his analysis. In the end, it doesn’t matter. The Bucs as a team are underperforming and that falls on all the coaches.
What gets me is that we, as fans, never hear from Licht or the Glazers during times like these. And, no offense to any of the sports reporters, during live interviews with the players and coaches, the questions are so padded. I’d like to hear a reporter just ask Bowles, “wtf is wrong with your team? and “who is advising you on clock management”….”are you watching the same games we are watching?” idk….maybe it’s just me.
November 7th, 2023 at 4:22 pm
Who is the smart guy who picks the players?
November 7th, 2023 at 4:25 pm
Davis is not a top 5 CB.
November 7th, 2023 at 4:59 pm
I’m still trying to understand how anyone defends CD3 as an “elite” CB. To be elite, you gotta be consistent. They all suck to be honest. I would keep CD3 and start over with the corners next year. Ryan Neal is lost out there as well.
November 7th, 2023 at 5:21 pm
who Is building the roster ?? Is that Bowles?
November 7th, 2023 at 7:02 pm
What about the elephant in the room? The breakdown of our defense? Baker Mayfield kept us in the game until the end of the game despite the o-line’s failure to protect him. The look on his face told the story. This could be it for his career. Bad play calling on both sides of the ball, of which he has no control of, has put him in a bad position. He accepted a deal to lead a team to at least a winning season. His face told me,” I am pi**ed at this whole situation. Coache, players, front office.”
November 8th, 2023 at 1:21 am
The truth is Edwards was better as a role player than a starter.
We miss Jordan whitehead more. Whitehead + Winfield at safety was legit
November 8th, 2023 at 9:12 am
That mistake may have led to the touchdown but to allow Houston to drive 70. Something yards in 40 seconds is an excusable.