Homework, Switching Up Technique May Have Helped Rueben Bain Turn The Corner
October 21st, 2026
Teammates rush to celebrate with Rueben Bain after he takes down Aaron Rodgers for the Bucs rookie’s first career sack.
Now Joe isn’t saying no other player does what Bucs rookie outside linebacker Rueben Bain does before each game. But it’s the first time Joe has seen it.
In the Bucs’ locker room at The Licht House, players are just temporary residents. Their lockers have to be cleaned out after each game.
So it’s common for a player to leave after the game carrying a bag. (Players have team duffle bags and if the player doesn’t feel like hauling stuff out, he shoves everything into thee duffle bag and a staffer brings the bag back to One Buc Palace for them.)
As Joe waited for Bain after the Bucs lost to the Steelers, Joe noticed Bain packing up his belongings. Among them was a notebook Bain slid into a backpack.
Joe had never seen a player carry around a notebook after a game. So when Bain had a moment, Joe asked him about it. Yeah, it’s the same notebook he takes notes in all week long in meetings to prepare for an opponent.
Bain told Joe it’s not unusual for him to be going over his notes right up to the time the Bucs take the field.
“Trying to be prepared all the way up to kickoff,” Bain told Joe.
That impressed Joe. It shows Bain takes his craft very seriously.
Well, all of that preparation on the Steelers and their drama queen quarterback Aaron Rodgers paid off, as Bain recorded the first sack of what Joe hopes turns out to be a career where the Bucs hang his name up in the Ring of Honor 15-20 years from now.
“I kept climbing the mountain,” Bain said of the sack. “Finally got to the top. Honestly, man, I just had an opportunity and I seized it.”
He sure did. And Ban had a little motivation from college “brother,” Bucs nickel corner/safety Keionte Scott. Earlier in the loss to the Steelers, Scott rocked Rodgers to the point Rodgers stayed down a while.
Bain admitted seeing Scott get his first NFL sack helped light a fire under him.
“I told him, he motivated me to make that play,” Bain said. “Once I saw him get his, I had to lock in and get mine.”
And that’s exactly why the Bucs drafted Bain and Scott. What they did Sunday is what they did in so many games for the Hurricanes.
It was good to see Bain break out. Finally. Joe had noticed Bain playing more with his hand in the dirt as opposed to standing up, which he seemed to mostly do in previous games.
Joe asked Bain about his hand-in-the-dirt snaps and Bain told Joe that he wasn’t seeing things.
“Yeah, I’ve been switching it up,” Bain said. “Just trying to give it a different routine. Give people a little bit of a different look than what we had.
“More of a play discretion thing. Getting it switched up to see how my body feels at the moment.”
Joe hopes Bain continues to do that. Joe believes Bain’s best trait is the way he physically takes over a bout. Coming out of a three-point stance seems to give Bain more power and leverage than he has in a two-point stance (standing up).
It appears more difficult to do a Reggie White hump move standing up than coming at a blocker from a three-point stance with leverage behind you.
October 21st, 2026 at 7:08 am
We have some talent on this team. They just need good coaching and a scheme that takes advantage of their talents.
October 21st, 2026 at 7:08 am
A great memory for Bain, he first sack against a HOF QB. No doubt Bain is a hard worker, but the rest of the season will be tough for him with few wins ahead.
Keionte has started slower than I expected, not terrible but not great. He’s improving and starting to make some plays now so I’ll be looking for him.
October 21st, 2026 at 7:12 am
He has 1 sack in 6 games!!!!!!!
TURNED THE CORNER???!!!
October 21st, 2026 at 7:13 am
Some are already calling him a bust. They know nothing. Both he and Scott are the perfect weapon, and Bowles has not used them in combination like they were used in college.
I would like to see more of them working together.
As to the people calling Bain a bust, they do not understand transition and development. Even Warren Sapp took time to find his groove in his rookie year.
October 21st, 2026 at 7:17 am
Gotta say, though, part of me misses the Tampa Two defense. Not sure I want to fully go back…but some sort of hybrid combination of that and 3-4 might be nice.
Imagine, an opposing team expecting a 3-4…and the Bucs defense lines up as a 4-3 occasionally. That ould catch an offense off guard.
October 21st, 2026 at 8:11 am
Great instincts Joe! Noticing those little things on the spot and then asking about them is the difference between analysis and real journalism.
October 21st, 2026 at 8:19 am
His HC doesn’t value sacks from anyone other than blitzing DBs. His OLB coach is suspect. Our M.O. is plugging guys into an inflexible scheme vs maximizing what they do best. The narrative on Bain and Walker coming from the man in charge is absurd. What else is new?
October 21st, 2026 at 8:32 am
Two teams still undefeated. Niners and Vikings. We played the Vikings. We gave them a 90 yard punt return. Baker threw Hurst young Ted’s highlight of the season TD pass. Baker also threw an 80 yard strike for another touchdown to Godwin- wiped out by one of 8 major OLine penalties. Our average 3rd down was 3rd and 14- in an entire life of football I’ve never seen such a thing. Seriously.
A stronger than expected Browns team? Baker took the second half kickoff and gave us the 10 point lead. After the Browns caught up, Baker led us to another score. Our defense gave them 2 4th quarter TDs on passes where one of them had 5 missed tackles and the other had an uncoordinated tight end ramble 20 yards untouched.
So after a 2 hour weather delay, in the driving rain, Mayfield throws one of the most beautiful passes he’s ever thrown gets dropped in the end zone.
The Cincy game- Baker fumbler it away. He had never fumbled for turnovers 3 times in his career. He’d only fumbled for turnover 8! times in the previous 3 seasons!!
He’d only found out the week of the game that he was going to be a Buccaneer for 3 more years and I’m sure he wanted to show his teammates that they could count on him being the player he had always been. He scrambled too hard on the first, diving into the end zone on the second, and blindsided on the third.
Of course, add in Bucky’s fumble and since our defense allowed scores on every single miscue?
So Bake is 2-10 his last 12? 12 games ago Baker threw 3 TD passes- we had ZERO turnovers- Patriots broke 4 touchdowns of over 60 yards. 11 games ago Baker hung 32 on the Bills- Josh Allen accounted for 6!!touchdowns!! 10 games ago the Rams embarrassed us on national television by scoring every time they touched the ball in the first half.
This is all before the 3rd and 28 game!! And,somehow Baker kept the mess together to win our final game against the lucky, tie breaker division champs.
Baker Mayfield is one of the better QBs to ever play this game. And we’ve got him locked up for the next 3 and a half years. Talk about luck! I always say, shlt for brains will do when you have luck. The fanbase may not know it. But Baker knows it. He knows this team is special.
We could lose this Sunday and still finish the season 11-6. Who wants to give up?
October 21st, 2026 at 8:36 am
🥱🥱🥱🥱
Oh man I really feel sorry for the Joe’s and their elves having to type something positive about this SS 💩💩💩💩💩
October 21st, 2026 at 8:41 am
this team is not special.
some of these players have potential but that potential has the boot of todd bowles on it’s neck so it wont go anywhere near special.
ever.
October 21st, 2026 at 8:42 am
“Yeah, I’ve been switching it up,” Bain said. “Just trying to give it a different routine. Give people a little bit of a different look than what we had.”
Yaya needs to do the same thing.
“Imagine, an opposing team expecting a 3-4…and the Bucs defense lines up as a 4-3 occasionally.”
We do this already, in fact we started the last 2 games with Trotter-Anzalone-Rozeboom on the field and when we’re in Nickel Keionte Scott takes the the place of the 3rd ILB.
October 21st, 2026 at 8:52 am
I know zip about pass rushing technique, but watching some tape I see what people have been saying about Bain working out of a three point stance. He’s not very tall and his strength really does seem to be getting the turn on people (“bend”?) and getting leverage from underneath. Once he gets stood up, you can almost see him lose all leverage against bigger players.
October 21st, 2026 at 8:57 am
Kenton,
Again, way too logical for the anti Baker crowd. Really hoping Baker escapes the joebucfan lunacy for Pittsburgh next year. This crowd deserves their new hero, Jalon Daniels.
With a defense that was awake in the last couple of seasons, the Bucs clearly would have had a better record. Defense seems improved this year which is why a healthy Baker can turn things around fairly quickly. It is moronic to hear people say so and so QB “beat” the other team. There are 11 men on each side of the ball and special teams for good reason. Teams win or lose not QB’s. This is obvious to most except to the many Neanderthals who post here.
October 21st, 2026 at 8:58 am
Kenton Smith: I’m sticking with my pre-season 10-7 prediction! Admittedly against all reason, but what the heck.
October 21st, 2026 at 9:40 am
Would love to see the Bucs hire an offensive minded head coach, then entice Jason Taylor to become the DC. Unlike Bowles and the rest of his clueless coaches, he knows how to get the most out of his pass rushers.
October 21st, 2026 at 9:44 am
Between both him and EE, that’s two wasted first-round picks in a row.
October 21st, 2026 at 9:52 am
Kenton, that glass is so full the table is wet. But I’m a fan and I like it. I was at the Steeler game. 3/4. It was fun. The fourth quarter was obviously a nightmare. I’ve had season tickets since 1991. I’ve been to over 300 games in person. That game was probably in the top three in terms of opposing fan takeover. That’s how bad it was as anyone who watched the game could see. We’ve only had two periods of time since the ’90s where we had the fan advantage. From 97 to 2002 /2003. And then of course when Tommy got here up until he left. I am not a cynical about ownership as most seem to be. I think it’s clear they want a winner. And I think it was probably a split decision to bring Todd back after last year. But I am confident that they are already working on their list to get this regime pointed in the right direction again.
October 21st, 2026 at 10:00 am
I thought sure that said “helped Bain turn into a corner” ha!
October 21st, 2026 at 10:03 am
Oh, so he goes from being trashed and crucified to NOW, having turned the corner after just ONE game and a notebook. Hmmmm… Interesting.
October 21st, 2026 at 10:12 am
@ SenkoFox – What about Barton!? Wouldn’t that make 3 in a row!? It’s too early on all of them to say for sure, but as of right now at this very moment, you could call them all Busts. JAGS, or decent pieces are definitely NOT 1st-Rounders. Or, shouldn’t be… But, it just is what it is. Though, when you go deeper, you’ve got Kancey (sorry, but he’s been a BUST so far), Hall (early 2nd), and then everyone’s favorite… J.T.S. LoL. So, yeah… It’s not been great. Morrison. Braswell. Trask. Ummmm, yeah.
October 21st, 2026 at 10:15 am
And, that’s the reason for this being a BOTTOM-10 (generously) ROSTER in the entire league. With it’s best players all being OLD, recently retired, or decided to leave.
October 21st, 2026 at 10:17 am
Morrison has played in just two games this season. 2-GAMES.
October 21st, 2026 at 10:18 am
Super Bowl Baby!!!!!!!!!!!
October 21st, 2026 at 10:21 am
Bain will thrive with a new DC next season…
Again I remind folks….Sapp only had 3 sacks his rookie year.
October 21st, 2026 at 11:05 am
The thing that stands out in this article is the fact that the lockers must be cleaned out after each game. That screams three things to me.
1. We can’t trust people in the building enough not to steal your stuff.
2. We’re too cheap to build a locking drawer for your valuables.
3. When you walk out the door you may not get back in.
Those 3 things must be great morale boosters.
October 21st, 2026 at 11:06 am
It’s just great coaching.
October 21st, 2026 at 1:15 pm
Careful…..hand in the dirt means he’s rushing and not dropping into coverage. If I can see it, you can bet opposing teams see it too