Charlie Strong Preaches The Gospel Of Sacks
May 14th, 2025
New Bucs DL coach Charlie Strong.
Joe’s not trying to tick anyone off by typing the following. It was (“was” is the operative word) simply an honest observation.
The hallmark of The Lost Decade, aside from losing, was the atrocious way the Bucs went about building an edge rush, or not building an edge rush. It was outrageous.
The one time the Bucs found a strong edge rusher, they let Michael Bennett walk out the door for no good reason. Joe’s arse is still chapped over that.
This nonsense finally ended when Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht stole Jason Pierre-Paul from the Giants.
At times Joe didn’t think the Bucs valued sacks from an edge rusher. Whenever Joe typed that, it triggered folks at One Buc Palace and they wanted to strangle Joe. Shoot, even Kacy Rodgers, Todd Bowles’ former defensive line coach admitted in a press conference he didn’t care about sacks coming from the edge.
So yesterday when former Louisville, Texas and South Florida head coach Charlie Strong took to the podium at One Buc Palace for his first media availability as Bucs defensive line coach, Joe asked him flat out if he thinks sacks are important.
The life-long college defensive assistant responded like an enlightened coach who thinks sacks are critical to winning. And they are.
“Oh, sacks are very important to me,” Strong said. “It’s important to players [too]. I told them, I said, ‘If you look in this league, the guys who get paid have the what? The sacks.’
“[Sacks], that’s what’s key. That’s where you win, because you want sacks because with [sacks] you get to the quarterback, you’ve harassed the quarterback, you negative plays and you get to put the offense behind the chains.”
Strong then said sacks are a critical focus for him working with the Bucs’ defensive linemen this spring.
“We’re working on [getting] sacks and we, you know, this whole campus, this is something that coaches wanted to stress,” Strong said. “And that’s what has been stressed.”
Hallelujah!
All day yesterday Joe heard coaches kvetch about not getting picks. Well, a pick is what? Taking advantage of mistakes. Joe has said it a thousand times and will probably say it a few hundred more: Banking on mistakes is a recipe for failure. What if the opponent doesn’t make a mistake? What then?
One thing the Bucs very much can control is getting to the quarterback. And once you start putting heat on quarterbacks, that’s when mistakes are made and panic sets in.
A defensive back’s best friend is a good edge rush.
Joe is thankful that the past few months, it looks and sounds like the Bucs are taking sacks seriously again.
May 14th, 2025 at 10:40 am
As a USF fan, booster, and alumnus…I really hoped Charlie Strong was out of my life forever. FML
May 14th, 2025 at 10:41 am
Pretty sure they were always working to get to the QB. Maybe Strong will be an upgrade and they can be more effective.
May 14th, 2025 at 10:48 am
Im still mad we let Bennet go. So dumb I can’t remember was it Gaines Adam’s that Dominik put his faith in. Michael wanted to stay in Tampa that was a massive blunder and stain on Mark’s credibility and overall effectiveness.
May 14th, 2025 at 10:57 am
Coach Strong is an upgrade to the coaching staff.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:00 am
Strong was a great defensive coach at Florida. I expect him to do a great job with the DL here. As far as HC at USF, not much you can do with the talent level at USF. Hard to recruit top prospects and even harder now that players are making significant NIL money in top programs.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:01 am
Strong went 21-16 at USF….thats solid for USF standards.
Especially when the guy who followed went 4-26 with 1 FBS win.
Regardless, Strong is a damn good football coach and recruiting at the college level (which Strong did have flaws with) has nothing to do with being a NFL coach.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:05 am
Sack the QB a few times and the picks will come. Multiple sacks early in the game will usually result in multiple picks later in the game.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:11 am
Banking on teams making mistakes or forcing teams to make mistakes?
Of the 7 NFC playoff teams the Bucs had the lowest turnover differential @-5. Granted it had a QB that turned it over more than just about everybody.
Commanders were not much better 2 +1 but then one turnover was the difference in the Wild card round.
Eagles were @ +12 and +4 vs Commanders in 1 Pick and 3 forced Fumbles recovered on way to a route.
If Sacks Drive Turnovers them maybe Joe can explain how the Packers were worse than the Bucs in sacks but led the NFC in Turnover Differential. Packers had 4 fewer Offensive Turnovers and 13 more Defensive takeaways compared to the Bucs.
Can’t believe that the Pack had the better Defense and QB last season.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:27 am
It’s been said that Braswell is gonna “shock” people this season. I read somewhere (maybe on this site) that the EDGE guys are going to be expected mainly just to go after the QB, which could definitely simplify things from Braswell et al. If they don’t have to worry about dropping back in coverage and can just pin their ears back, Braswell and the rest could have a very productive year this season.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:28 am
The Bucs had Adrian “He’s got a motor!” Clayborn and guitar-strummin,’ gun-totin’ DaQuan Bowers to lean on with Michael Bennett gone. smh
May 14th, 2025 at 11:31 am
Tim:
Telling that after a full season and a playoff game, Larry Foote said Chris Braswell has to learn the speed of the NFL.
If Braswell has eight sacks, which would more than quadruple his rookie sack total, Joe’s just going to say the defense is balling out.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:36 am
The least important sacks are on first down. They are nice but the team has two more downs to make the yardage loss up and often do. Would love to see the stats on that. Second and third down sacks are where the money is and the pain for the offense.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:39 am
Michael Bennett was let go because he talked to the media about being instructed to take an inside pass rush on Washington’s QB who was known for scrambling to the outside. Schiano was coach at the time and was livid over someone telling the truth. After his remark Schiano despised Bennett.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:50 am
Joe says: “And once you start putting heat on quarterbacks, that’s when mistakes are made and panic sets in.”
Amen!
May 14th, 2025 at 11:51 am
A DBs best friend is inside pressure with disciplined Edge and ILB play that prevents escapes and finishes the play.
May 14th, 2025 at 12:31 pm
Joe it seems like the guys you quoted yesterday were DB coaches. Today DL coaches. I presume that’s why picks were highlighted yesterday and sacks today.
May 14th, 2025 at 12:49 pm
We finished 7th in sacks. We just didn’t get “timely” sacks or that many from edge guys, which Strong doesn’t coach.
May 14th, 2025 at 12:50 pm
“Drdneast Says:
May 14th, 2025 at 11:36 am
The least important sacks are on first down. They are nice but the team has two more downs to make the yardage loss up and often do. Would love to see the stats on that. Second and third down sacks are where the money is and the pain for the offense.”
A sack on any down is a critical play. Lost down and lost yardage.
Sacks on 1st down put a team behind in down and distance. If they don’t make up a significant amount of it on 2nd, the offense is in an obvious passing 3rd and long where your edge rush can pin their ears back or Bowles can get creative.
May 14th, 2025 at 12:58 pm
Calijah Kancey is going to go off this coming season with double digit sacks “if” he can actually stay healthy between now and end of next season. Come Caljah, I believe in you! Go Bucs!!
May 14th, 2025 at 1:52 pm
I love the energy from the new defensive line coach sometimes I think you just need a new voice in there from sometimes with somebody who knows how to do it and maybe that will get through to these knuckleheads on the defensive line
May 14th, 2025 at 2:00 pm
Joe, the value of sacks and picks are not mutually exclusive. You should strive for both, which it sounds like the Bucs are doing this year. Both favor the odds of your offense getting more plays.
May 14th, 2025 at 3:07 pm
PSL, I think interceptions are more valuable than regular sacks…except for strip sacks. However, a harried and harassed quarterback is far more likely to throw a pick. Also, pressure gives the receivers less time to find an open spot and the ball is less likely to have optimal placement and touch.
May 14th, 2025 at 4:37 pm
Are we sure it wasn’t Spytek who stole JPP?…;)
May 14th, 2025 at 5:19 pm
Charlie Strong has always been a good defensive coach maybe not a great head coach but I think we have an upgrade with him.