With the regular season just over a week away and the roster now down to 53-players, let’s take a look at this defense. Let’s go ahead and forget last season happened. Between the stats, Mike Smith, and our corners playing a mile away from receivers; let’s focus on the future.

Feature Image credit: TE Antony Auclair and DB Deone Bucannon – Photo by: Mary Holt/PewterReport.com

Enter Todd Bowles as coordinator

I know it’s never a good thing to get fired from your previous job, but I’m glad the J-E-T-S let this man, go. He is a brilliant man when it comes to defense. So here he is, bringing a 3-4-style hybrid defense to the table, and it seems to fit the players better. The players have bought into the scheme, and it showed this pre-season. Long gone are the days of the Tampa 2, we now have a scheme that can mix coverage with blitzes and a very capable pass rush.

Departures

Not returning this season are players such as Kwon Alexander, Gerald McCoy, Adarius Taylor, Brent Grimes, Chris Conte, Vinny Curry, along with a few other unknown players. Players like Kwon (San Francisco) and McCoy (Carolina) found homes right away, while others are still waiting for the call. Agreed or not, these departures were needed to help bring in a new era within the defense.

Arrivals

Now, not all things were bad this offseason. The Bucs were able to bring in some talent between the draft and free agency. Draft wise, let’s begin with 1st-round draft pick MLB Devin White(5th overall); this kid can be the future if coached correctly. He is fast, and he is mean. Coming with him are players like; Sean Murphy-Bunting (39th), Jamel Dean (94th), and Mike Edwards (99th).

The Bucs didn’t only load up on D in the draft, they hit it hard in free-agency too, bringing in players like Ndamukong Suh, Shaquill Barrett, Deone Buchannon, and Darian Stewart.

Now it’s time

We’ve been teased enough, this pre-season with how this D has looked. Many are aware that we didn’t get to see the full-scale, punch you, in your mouth defense that’s been advertised. We get it, it’s the pre-season, but now comes the real thing. Now it counts. Fans are ready to see how players like Devin White and Lavonte David look together in a game. We want to see what the starters can do after the defense as a whole wrapped up 14 sacks in 4 games (should have been at least 20) during exhibition games.

We are ready to see this defense take the league (and opposing offenses) by storm. It’s time to see this defense kick some a**. For the first time in over a decade, it’s time to get hyped over your Bucs defense; it’s time for Bucs football.

The former 2016 Second-round draft pick had been plagued with injury, and never lived up to expectations. The former college standout had his share of issues and overcame them, so that was the thinking of his NFL coaches. However, he just never showed this group of coaches enough to make a roster spot.

During his rookie season, he played in 16 games quietly recorded 5.5 sacks, 22 tackles, and 2 pass defends as a rotational player. Then the following season in 2017 injury struck and he missed 10 games, recording just 1 sack and 9 tackles. In 2018 nothing improved and he now in 2019 after a lackluster preseason performance, finds himself on the waiver wire.

I hope he can find a place where he can meet his full potential, but it seems Tampa just wasn’t the place for him. If he clears waivers and the Buccaneers give him another shit, he could find himself back on the team with the practice squad.

Ian Rappoport was the first to report this move.

According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Buccaneers will swap draft positions in later rounds of the 2021 NFL draft. The Buccaneers will, in fact, receive a 7th round draft pick for the 2021 NFL draft and the Steelers get a 2021 6th round pick in the deal.

Feature Image Credit: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Hawkins could be solid depth. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft out of LSU where he played for only one season.

Hawkins has had run-ins with injury which placed him on IR ending his 2018 season and played in only 5 games in 2017. Stat book-wise there is not much to the guy, but Arians saw something in him, and we do need back up tackles.

The kicking competition was a strong one with two very capable kickers going at it. Cairo Santos was brought in last year to replace Chandler Catanzaro. Despite playing well for the Bucs during the last seven games of the season, Tampa wasn’t sold on him 100%, and that was apparent when they drafted Matt Gay in the 5th round of this year’s draft.

Matt Gay had an outstanding training camp and preseason, as did Santos, but Santos is the odd man out. Gay’s preseason stats are noteworthy. He was 3/ on his extra-point attempts and 5 of 6 on field goals which include going 2 for 2 from 50+ yards with one of them being a 55-yarder, awarding him the official/ unofficial longest kick in Heinz Field history. Despite missing one kick, Matt Gay is our new kicker. Santos, on the other hand, didn’t do too bad on limited play, making everything he attempted during the preseason. He made both his extra-point attempts as well as both of his field-goal attempts. Although, both of his attempts were in the 20-23 range.

For Santos the future for is not exactly set in stone, however, according to Scott Smith, senior writer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bruce Arians broached the subject of having two kickers who both had a strong training camp: “The calls have already started coming in.”
With the 53 man roster due to being set in stone by Saturday at 4 PM, I would look for a trade here very shortly involving Cairo Santos and a kicker needy team. Maybe we can score an extra offensive lineman?

If they would just listen

Apparently Bruce Almighty, and the front office (or is it the back office, I’ve never been inside One Buc Place) absolutely refuse to read my articles and heed my advice/warnings, shame on them. If they had, maybe Jameis Winston’s future here would be more certain. All horse apples aside, on this issue I’m pretty much dead center on.

In the beginning 

From Bruce Arians’ first arrival here in Tampa, he has insisted that the Offensive Line is not an issue. Excuse me, if I refuse to drink the Kool-Aid anymore, I’m just not able to choke it down, without heaving it back up. A five sack night will do that to you. After the Cleveland game, Arians tried to sluff it off, some of the sacks on Winston, as being Jameis’s fault. Maybe there is some fundamental truth to that, maybe not. That does nothing though to excuse the other sacks by the Browns, much less the possible huge amount of trouble Mr. Winston is going to find himself in when playing a good rushing, legit defensive front.

Screaming to Exhaustion and getting help

I’ve been screaming about this for months. It’s a fact that the teams in this league that make it to the Finals of their respective Conferences, almost always, with very little exception, have above average offensive lines. In past articles, I have used New England as an example of an organization that puts heavy stock into who is upfront protecting Tom Brady, and opening holes for their backs. Case in point, the Patriots weren’t satisfied with the depth/ability of their current rostered line. I don’t know the specifics, but I know this. The Pats traded for not one, but two offensive linemen, on the same day. Picking up Jermaine Eluemunor from the Ravens, and earlier in the day, Korey Cunningham from the Cardinals (hmmmmm, the Cardinals) how ironic. The Ravens had Eluemunor listed as their starting left guard(he can play guard, and tackle), starting two preseason games so far this season, and three regular-season games before this season. One of the starts was at Left Tackle, the other two at right guard. Cunningham was listed as the backup to Marcus Gilbert in Arizona.

A Microcosm of sorts

It’s hard not to look at this as a microcosm of the two franchises. Here you have the most successfully run NFL Franchise, of the Last 15 years in the Patriots, and well one that has not been run so well at times during the same span. It surely isn’t a lack of “want to”. The Glazers have always done what they thought was best for the organization, I don’t doubt that for a minute. I am sure the salary cap situation here in Tampa has hindered any moves. I get the feeling though, had we been in a better situation, they still would not have busted a grape to get anyone else in here for the line. Where there is a will though, there surely was and is a way to have done something to help out this group of guys, that are going to play a massively huge role in our Franchise QB’s success, and future beyond this year. I’ve heard there is just no talent, no help out there to be had. The Patriots though feel that these two players will help solidify their line and make it better. Could they, and others, not have also made our line better? It’s hard to argue that the Pats are just trying to put butts on benches with these two moves. They did it for a reason, and the reason is they appreciate how important the Offensive Line is, and they refuse to sit still when they could improve their group. While we are continuing to be told, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” by the man who runs this show. There is no other group of players that start for this team that I’m worried about like I am the O-Line. For me, it’s been that way for many months/years. If there is anything that I’ve written about this season, that I pray I’m wrong about, it’s this.

Wrapping up

In summation: Run Jameis, Run! Go Bucs!!

Kicking woes have been plaguing the NFL this preseason, but for the first time since the days of Martin Grammatica, the Buccaneers aren’t among the teams trying to figure out what’s wrong with the kicking game, and that’s in part to the drafting of Matt Gay in the 5^th round of this year’s NFL draft. While Gay and Santos have been battling it out this preseason for who can prove to be the most consistent kicker and win the roster spot, numerous teams around the league are simply searching for a kicker than can come close to making a successful kick.

The Atlanta Falcons released long-time kicker Matt Bryant, who oddly enough, still remains unsigned as of Wednesday evening, and it’s still seen by most Falcon fans as a very puzzling move. To replace him, the Falcons have decided to stick with kicker Giorgio Tavecchio who has been simply abysmal this preseason to the point the Falcons had to call up Blair Walsh who hasn’t kicked in an NFL game since 2017. Needless to say, it hasn’t gone the way they had hoped, as Walsh went 5 for 9 at practice and the misses weren’t anywhere near the uprights.

As much as Buc fans may enjoy watching a fellow NFC South team struggle with kicking, it doesn’t stop there. The Vikings have worked out 4 different kickers and none of them have been able to secure the starting job. Dan Bailey who was the Vikings kicker last season may wind up securing the starting spot simply by not being on the field as the other candidates kick their way out of a roster spot.

The Cleveland Browns, the one team that many people are calling the best team in the league at least on paper, have found themselves also struggling to find a reliable kicker. They weren’t exactly filled with confidence after last season, and used their 5^th round pick (same round as the Buccaneers took Gay) and drafted rookie Austin Seibert. That hasn’t exactly gone as well as the Gay pick, however, as Seibert and Greg Joseph have both been shanking kicks left and right.

If you thought you’d seen the worst of them, then you haven’t been watching the dumpster fire that is the New York Jets kicking situation. The Jets had a very good kicker last season in Jason Meyers, but signing Le’ Veon Bell proved to be a little too costly and they weren’t able to afford Jason Meyers who headed West and signed with the Seahawks. Someone in the Jets front office obviously didn’t pay attention to the issues the Buccaneers have had when it came to kicking as they somehow thought it would be a brilliant and cost-effective move to sign Chandler Catanzaro, or as he’s known around Tampa, Chandler Can’tkickanzaro. Catanzaro performed so badly in the preseason, that he decided to simply retire from football. This leaves the Jets with Taylor Bertolet who hasn’t been much better than Catanzaro was, which if you haven’t been paying attention, isn’t a good thing.

With this many teams having this many issues with kicking, the problem becomes that there simply isn’t a long line of great kickers available to be signed. Cody Parkey is still available, but the Bears will tell you to steer clear of him if at all possible, and Matt Bryant is still available, but why he hasn’t been signed is something I’m not quite understanding. Phil Dawson, Sebastian Janikowski, and Mike Nugent all join Catanzaro in the retirement circle, and Forbath, McCrane, and Rose really don’t instill confidence no matter which way you look at them.

Perhaps it’s time for one of the above-mentioned teams to give Carli Lloyd a call because let’s face it, she can’t do any worse than Catanzaro, and for a team that has tried out four different kickers, perhaps a fresh new face is the answer to their problems. They won’t know unless they call her up, yes, I said her, as Carli is looking to become the first female NFL kicker, and if she can do the job, then she might just find her name in the record books before this season is over. The only good thing is that for the first time in a long time, it’s not the Buccaneers who will have to consider calling in a new kicker. Whether the curse has been lifted, or simply shifted Northwest to Atlanta, it’s nice going into a season without having to worry about how many games we’ll lose due to a kicker who is only consistent when it comes to missing.

Preseason Preview: Week 4

If you’re looking to see the established starters and the big names get any playing time, don’t even think about it. With the regular season just over a week away, neither team is going to risk losing a key player to injury. While it’s always nice when a player can get some reps in no matter the time of year, the risks of injury far outweigh those 3 extra plays they might see in a quick drive. Instead, this is the game when everyone given the chance to play has to leave it all out on the field as their job is literally between the hash marks. You’ll see a few names that you’ll recognize, but unless you’ve been watching the previous three preseason games, there will be a lot of names you won’t recognize. This is the game when they can make sure you recognize their name and look to be one of the players that make that final 53 man roster.

Every team around the league will be playing their final preseason game on the same night and then they all must turn around and whittle the roster down to the final 53 by no later than 4:00 EST on the 31^st of August. When you have 90 players and in 48 hours have to reduce that number by almost 50%, there will be a lot of players who find themselves looking for another team or another job, and that’s what makes this game not only intriguing but also extremely important for everyone involved.

Will your favorite underdog make the final cuts? Tune in this week as the Buccaneers travel to Dallas to face-off against the Cowboys and evaluate their performance yourself.

For me personally, I’m going to be paying very close attention to a few players as they have a lot to contribute to the team and would be a great addition to the team. Among them, are Brock Ruble (T), Stevie Tu’ikolovatu (DL), and Salesi Uhatafe (G). If all three are able to make the final roster, that will give some much-needed depth and size to the offensive and defensive lines, and that’s NEVER a bad thing. We should also know by the end of the game who will be named kicker for the Bucs and who will be trying out for another team, and given the kicking performances last season, this cut down could literally have games riding on it.

Preseason Week 4 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Dallas Cowboys

Ruled Out –

With this being the final week of the preseason and the final chance for players to either make the team or showcase their skills for another team, you can throw the injury list out the window. If a player is an established starter, they’re not going to play, and if a player’s job is on the line and they can get medically cleared, they’re going to be in that game.

When/Where/How To Watch

Thursday, August 29^th 8:00 pm

AT&T Stadium (Retractable Roof) – Arlington, Texas (Temps in the high 80’s with a 15% chance of rain)

Television:

WFLA – Tampa

WESH – Orlando

WFTX – Ft. Myers

WZDX – Huntsville

WOGX – Gainseville

WFNA – Mobile/Pensacola

WTLH – Tallahassee

WPBF – West Palm Beach

WMBB – Panama City

Prediction

It’s the last game of the preseason, and there is no way to really predict how this game is going to go as we don’t know who will and won’t be playing, or how much they’re going to play. The Las Vegas bookmakers have the Cowboys as a 5 point favorite, but save your money this week and buy yourself a gallon of gas to help make it to the season opener against the 49ers week 1.

Hopefully, we see a great game, and for those of you in the path of what’s coming (Hurricane Dorian), take precautions and stay safe.

If the first half of last week’s game showed us anything, it showed us that we are not quite there yet. I know it’s just one game, but it was the absolute worst outing, I’ve ever seen for Demar Dotson and Donovan Smith. Alex Cappa looked to have taken at least 10 steps back from all the progress he gained over the offseason and training camp. Of course, those guys will be starters, so we will have to hope they can turn things around in a hurry.

With Thursday’s game coming up against the cowboys not showcasing any of the first-stringers and some of the seconds as well, this game will be more of a tryout for the team than anything else for a lot of these guys hoping to make the team. There are roughly 10 spots available to be filled and Arians will be reviewing their live applications, Thursday, with an watchful eye. The special team’s position is going to get most of the looks from Arians, but he wants to see the guys keeping it simple, fast, and win those one-on-one battles.

“The one thing about this last game – you always want to try to keep it as simple as possible so they can play fast and show you that they’re real athletic. You don’t want them out there thinking. That part of it, you just want to see good one-on-one stuff all night and try to be as proficient as possible. Special teams, that’s where most jobs are going to be won in this game – somebody that covers a kick, maybe knocks a ball loose, does something big that gets one of those last 10 spots or maybe one of those 10 practice squad spots. There’s a bunch of spots up.

“Yeah, that’s probably the number when you’re talking about the sixth lineman, fifth backer, fifth corner, fourth corner – when you’re going around and who’s on special teams, there’s about 10 and then there’s 10 practice squad spots for the guys that clear waivers.”  –Bruce Arians

It sounds like Arians is still has his team in mind and we can easily have a close guesstimate as to who will fit where on the depth chart, at least with the first three for most positions, the hard part is going to be filling the gaps by Saturday at 4 PM.