Read This, Be Smarter: Tampa's Defense versus the Titans [Archive]

pbmax

09-16-2015, 10:36 AM

Bonus mention of former Packer Lansanah:

If you aren't a Bucs fan you probably will want to mute me for the next 15 mins or so

First of all some context: this was just the first game in a looooong season. At the end of the day no matter how bad we played it still

Only counts as one loss. Secondly we have a rookie starting at QB and two rookies starting at OL with another rookie starting at LB. those

Are all key positions so we should expect some growing pains all year. The best we can hope for is they show marked improvement each week

And as they do both units should bet better as well. Now, having said all that, I admit that I haven't been this disappointed watching our

Film after a game in quite awhile. The reason being is there were so many guys making mistakes they shouldn't be making including vets.

I dont necessarily find a lot in the game plan on either side of the ball. The execution however was just terrible at times. If there was a

Play on defense that kind of summed up the whole day for me it was the play where Verner gets a PI on a deep ball. To the untrained eye

Verner had been beaten deep and was just trying to play catch up when he ran over the Titans WR. The reality is that olay was one of the

Few times we actually played the apparently dreaded around here Tampa 2 (I'll be generous and say we played Tampa 2 on five passing plays

All game. I say generous because a couple of those five the jury is out becuz MLB didnt drop into deep middle and at least one of the

Safeties bit on a run threat which is a HUGE no no in Tampa 2. But I digress.) but Major Wright, a seasoned veteran, fucked it all up. It

Was kind of the perfect call. We had Wright disguise Tampa Two by lining up in the box so we could show single high safety. The idea would

Be to sucker the rookie QB into throwing deep thinking the safety was out of the picture. And the disguising safety could have a chance at a

Pick because thr QB would never see it coming. Probably works too BUT Wright decided he wouldnt just haul ass back to his deep half. No he

Kept his eyes back in the backfield the whole time. Mind you he is supposed to have deep half no matter what. But he sees run action soooo

What does he do? Stop mid sprint to go back and try to play the run. IN TAMPA TWO HE DECIDES TO STOP FROM GOING TO HIS DEEP HALF TO PLAY THE

RUN?!?! If you know ANYTHING about Tampa 2 you know when I saw that play on All22 I cussed LOUDLY. So Verner who is supposed to sink

Initially with the WR then turn him over to the safety while looking for anything in the flat suddenly finds himself being the only person

Who could realistically chase down that deep ball. Thankfully Mariota threw something of a duck and Verner was able to catch up. Doubly

Thankful that the Titans had a holding penalty. But that should have been a pass break up at the least and maybe even a tide turning pick

Instead we get offsetting penalties. All because one guy decided to give a fuck when it wasnt his turn to give a fuck. And thats how it went

Damn near all game on defense. One or two or even three guys at times caught trying to play the run when theyre supposed to be dropping into

Coverage. Was the rookie MLB one of the main culprits. Yes, but you kinda expect it of him and just hope he gets coached up. But when its

Happening with Lavonte David and Danny Lansanah in their second years in this scheme you start to wonder if it WILL get fixed after all. I

Mean its going to have to or...well this season won't end well period. Then little stuff that we should know was killing me like when they

Have two WRs bunched together and we are playing man one defender has to back off so they WRs cant run effective pick routes. Instead we

Line up right beside each other and...get picked on a seam route. Lets talk about a couple of the short TD pass now. One the one everybody

Kept calling a quick slant which was a testament to how "tampa 2 is an antiquated defense that has run its course" we were actualky running

That antiquated coverage called ✌��️man to man✌��️ But once again we line up on the same levels and instead of it just being a run of a mill

Quick slant its actually a pick play and because the corner covering the WR who got the TD got picked the guy who caught the TD is WIIIIIIDE

Open. I for one vote we never play that antiquated on man to man defense again. Or, and this is just a thought, we could actually play it

BETTER! On another short TD pass to the TE, the formation starts off with the TE lined up in stud position with his hand down next to the RT

The RB is off set to his side. Then he stands up and flexes about five yards away from the RT. this is a classic pick play alert. TE

Identifies flat defender and picks him, RB hauls ass to the flat and easy money TD. We are, however playing many again. Problem is newly

Acquired former Pro Bowl corner and All Pro LB dont communicate well so both guys take the RB to the flat and nobody takes TE. Give props to

Mariota for quickly recognizing our fuck up and hitting the open guy but make no mistake it was OUR FUCK UP. And on and on it went. The

Thing that worries me maybe the most is that we werent even particularly getting gashed with the run when everybody kept jumping on the BS

Run fakes so Im scared to imagine what will happen when a team is actually giving us the business running the ball and decides to go PAP. It

Simply can NOT keep happening. On the positive side I thought the DLine did some pretty good things at times. Clinton McDonald showed up

Quite a bit, especially on run plays close to the goal line. McCoy obviously had the sack and played pretty well overall. Smith had a sack

Also and Johnson, Melton and Gholston all flashed some good things as well. But it still wasnt enough. We cant play good defense if our DEs

Allow the ball to bounce outside for positive yards. I cant say it any simpler than that. Get your ass upfield and turn the ball back in. We

Definitely shouldve been more prepared for the read option stuff. Again I cant say the calls were bad but the execution was abysmal. And at

Some point it doesnt matter what the plan is if everybody keeps fucking it up. Part of coaching, a big part, is making sure guys know what

The fuck theyre doing and from this film that simply wasnt the case against Tennessee. On offense its hard to judge a lot because the OL