SR’s Fab 5: How The Bucs Can Beat The Rams And Saints

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett and NT Vita Vea – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

SR’s Fab 5 is a collection of reporting and analysis on the Bucs from yours truly, Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds. Here are four things that caught my attention this week, plus some random tidbits in my Buc Shots section at the end. Enjoy!

FAB 1. How The Bucs Can Beat The Rams And Saints

The last time the Bucs beat the Saints in the regular season was on Sept. 9, 2018. Ryan Fitzpatrick was Tampa Bay’s quarterback and engineered an opening day, 48-40 win in New Orleans by passing for 417 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for another.

When the Bucs take the field on Sept. 11 to take on the Cowboys in the 2022 season opener, it will have been over four years since Tampa Bay has beaten New Orleans in the regular season. The Saints have seven straight wins over the Bucs.

Perhaps even more importantly, the Bucs have lost three straight to the Rams dating back to 2020. Fresh off beating Tampa Bay twice last year, including in the playoffs, Los Angeles won Super Bowl LVI. The Rams are a better team entering 2022 and pose an even bigger threat to the Bucs than the Saints do. Despite being swept by the Saints for a third straight year in 2021, the Bucs still won the NFC South. New Orleans failed to make the playoffs.

Of course, Tampa Bay will have two shots to (finally) end the streak against New Orleans in 2022, as they are divisional foes. Yet, the Rams are on the schedule for a fourth straight season, too. And they’ve given Todd Bowles’ defense fits.

So, what do the Bucs need to do to beat the Saints and the Rams this year?

That question has stumped a lot of the players I’ve asked this offseason.

“Man, that’s a great question – if I knew the answer ,we probably wouldn’t be 0-3 against them,” safety Antoine Winfield Jr. said.

“I do not know,” Bucs Pro Bowl outside linebacker Shaq Barrett said. “Wish I knew because we would have gotten it fixed a long time ago.”

“Really don’t know,” cornerback Jamel Dean said. “I just think that when we play those two teams, we get so emotional towards them that we just don’t play our game. We just get undisciplined, and just start making some costly mistakes.”

Bowles was rather tight-lipped about the losing streak to the Rams and Saints when asked about it.

“Well, we knew they were on the schedule,” Bowles said. “We’re just focusing on ourselves and our draft picks right now. Again, we have things to clean up from those games, as well as other games – even games we won. There will be time to deal with that when it comes and we’ll do our homework that way to see what they have on us to try and beat them.”

Well, I’ve done some homework on the Bucs’ combined 10 consecutive losses to both the Rams and Saints. There is not just one thing to point at because football is a team game. In most of those losses, both Tampa Bay’s offense and defense haven’t played well.

Tampa Bay tight end Cameron Brate thinks the Bucs need to run the ball more effectively against New Orleans and L.A. As I suggested in a recent SR’s Fab 5, he’s probably not wrong.

But what about on defense in those games?

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Barrett actually offered up some clues.

“Defensively, we’re not forcing turnovers enough, and in the games where we do [force] turnovers, we are able to be in the game or even win the [Saints] game,” Barrett said. “For the Rams, it might be sacks, honestly. I take on all of it – because we don’t get sacks really when we play none of those teams. So, if we’re able to get more pressure on the quarterback, I think we’ll be able to force turnovers, force fumbles and we’ll be able to come out on top.”

Barrett has gotten just one sack against the Rams in four meetings. And that came in 2019. He’s been held sackless in the last three games – all Tampa Bay losses. Barrett only has one sack in the last seven games against the Saints, including the playoff win in 2020.

The lack of sacks and interceptions has been a common denominator in the Bucs’ regular season defeats at the hands of both the Rams and the Saints since 2019. That’s when Bowles took over the defense.

Tampa Bay has only registered six sacks in those six regular season losses against New Orleans. And more importantly, Saints quarterbacks have had a remarkable touchdown-to-interception ratio against Bowles’ defense. New Orleans’ quarterbacks have thrown 15 touchdowns and just one interception against Tampa Bay’s defense in those six games.

Conversely, the Saints defense has racked up 21 sacks in those six wins over the Bucs and created a bunch of turnovers. Jameis Winston threw four touchdowns and four interceptions, including a pick-six, in two losses to the Saints in 2019. Tom Brady has thrown six touchdowns and eight interceptions, including a pair of pick sixes, in four regular season losses to New Orleans.

Simply put, Dennis Allen’s defense has outplayed Bowles’ defense.

The lone Bucs’ win over the Saints came in the 2020 Divisional Playoffs, and that has been the only time Bowles’ unit flipped the script. While Tampa Bay didn’t sack Drew Brees, he only had one touchdown and threw three costly picks. Winston threw the other Saints TD pass, but it wasn’t enough in a 30-20 Bucs victory in the Bayou.

On the other side of the ball, Brady threw two TDs, no interceptions and was only sacked once in the playoff win.

In the last three losses to the Rams, the Bucs defense has only registered three sacks and two interceptions. Meanwhile, Rams QBs Jared Goff (2020) and Matthew Stafford (2021) combined to throw nine touchdowns against Tampa Bay’s defense.

Like New Orleans, L.A.’s defense has outplayed Tampa Bay’s defense. Brady has been held to just four touchdown passes and has thrown three interceptions while getting sacked seven times in those three games.

The lone Bucs win over the Rams with Bowles running the defense came in a 55-40 shootout in L.A. The difference? It was sacks and takeaways.

While Goff passed for 517 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Bucs, he did throw three interceptions and was sacked twice. One of those sacks resulted in a scoop-and-score touchdown by defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

Winston passed for 385 yards and four touchdowns and was only sacked twice. The Rams defense did have a pick-six against Winston, but it wasn’t enough to prevail.

Just getting more pressure on Winston in New Orleans and on Stafford in L.A. won’t do. Suh was right in Stafford’s face with a pressure as he rifled a 44-yard strike to Cooper Kupp to set up the Rams’ game-winning field goal in the 30-27 playoff loss back in February.

In talking with the hosts of The Pivot Podcast, legendary Bucs Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, one of the best pass-rushing defensive tackles of all time, scoffs at the idea of just pressuring the quarterback (4:00 mark).

“I want that quarterback. I want him to turn it down,” Sapp said. “The hits and the pounding that a quarterback takes – it affects them. You can’t tell me – the pressure shit they talk about? Man, come on, man! [Quarterbacks] woke up under pressure. Give me a damn break. … You’re going to have to apply the pressure that is you on his ass.”

The Bucs defense needs more hits, sacks, strip-sacks and interceptions in order to beat the Saints and the Rams this year. It’s not the only thing Tampa Bay will need to do better to end the streaks, but it’s a big one.

FAB 2. Sapp Loves Bucs Rookie DT Hall

One play doesn’t win or lose a football game.

But that Matthew Stafford-to-Cooper Kupp 44-yard bomb against the Bucs’ ill-timed, all-out blitz in Tampa Bay’s 30-27 playoff loss to Los Angeles was a big play. And it turned out to be the dagger in the Bucs’ hopes of repeating as Super Bowl champions. The lasting memories of that play were Kupp getting a step on safety Antoine Winfield, Jr., who was a step slow in man coverage, and Ndamukong Suh being a step away from Stafford.

Right or wrong, there is a belief among the Bucs’ brass that an interior defensive lineman that was younger and faster than the 35-year old Suh could have gotten to Stafford to either hit him or sack him so he could not complete that fatal strike.

It’s that play that prompted former Bucs head coach Bruce Arians to say at the NFL Scouting Combine:

“For us right now, it’s quickness,” Arians said when asked what the Bucs need up front. “We’ve got strength – we’ve got plenty of strength. We need some quickness in the interior pass rush. We’ve got a good outside pass rush, so for us, it’s watching these guys and seeing whose interior pass rush [fits us]. But also, who is still stout enough to stop the run. We don’t need another Vita [Vea]. There’s not another one out there anyway. And if we get our guys back (Suh, Will Gholston, Steve McLendon), I’m fine, too. But we need something quicker in there.”

That belief manifested itself in the Bucs selecting athletic interior defensive lineman Logan Hall at the top of the second round with their first draft pick.

And it factored into the reasoning to not re-sign Suh.

Since he took the practice field with a Bucs helmet on, Hall has gotten rave reviews.

“Well, we like his athleticism,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said of Hall. “He’s learning how to play with his pads lower – taking on double teams and understanding when to drop his knee and not just bouncing up and rushing the passer.

“But, he’s a very good athlete. We haven’t had that kind of athlete inside in a while – since we’ve been here. We just look forward to him getting better scheme-wise and then taking advantage of his athleticism.”

On last week’s Pewter Report Podcast, Bucs defensive end Will Gholston said Hall was “more athletic than J.J. Watt in his prime.”

That’s a little far-fetched, as Watt tested slightly better athletically than Hall did when both players entered the NFL Draft.

It’s one thing for general manager Jason Licht or Bowles to gush over Hall. They have a bias because they picked him. Gholston is now Hall’s teammate.

But former Bucs Hall of Fame defensive tackle doesn’t have any stakes in this game. While Sapp bleeds red and pewter, he wasn’t fond of Tampa Bay drafting big nose tackle Vita Vea in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. And he still hasn’t warmed up to Vea.

I spoke with the straight-shooting Sapp about Hall after he was invited by Bowles to work with the rookie and other Bucs defensive linemen this week. Sapp didn’t know much about Hall or his game before seeing him in person during Tuesday’s OTA, but came away really impressed.

“Long, hostile, mobile, agile and eager to learn,” said Sapp, describing Hall as a player. “I haven’t seen one of those in a long time in the National Football League. It was a pleasant surprise – it absolutely was.”

Vea wasn’t at Tuesday’s practice to perhaps change Sapp’s mind, but the QB Killa raved about the rookie.

“They got this right – they got this one right,” Sapp said. “Holy shit, they got this one right! You know there are some guys you meet who are too nice to rush the passer? Not him. Who are these NFL scout people that tell me they know about defensive linemen and then this kid falls through the cracks [to the second round]? Wow.”

Sapp has worked with Bucs defensive linemen before, most notably Gerald McCoy, Tampa Bay’s first-round pick in 2010. Now, he’s excited to work with Hall.

“This is something totally different,” Sapp said. “Gerald reached out to me. And Gerald was always a fan of mine. He said he would’ve gone to Miami if they would’ve introduced me to him (laughs)! It’s a whole different animal when it comes to this kid. I don’t even think he knows who I am! I’m joking, of course.

“Both he and Gerald are long, and both are big men – very, very big men. I haven’t been around this kid long, but Gerald was just a nice, nice guy (laughs). I don’t sense the niceness out of this kid. He’s got some dawg in him – like he wants to bite. You get that from him right away. He wants to bite! He wants to learn. That’s the thing I love about him. He doesn’t have all the answers – but he wants to. And that’s what you love.”

FAB 3. Improved Bucs’ Pass Rush Includes More Batted Balls

Tampa Bay has been one of the best teams in the league when it comes to getting sacks. Todd Bowles’ blitz-happy scheme has produced 47 sacks in 2019, 48 sacks in 2020 and 47 again last season.

Bowles, defensive coordinators Kacy Rodgers and Larry Foote and new outside linebackers coach Bob Sanders are hard at work trying to improve the players’ technique in order to surpass 50 sacks this season. But in an age of more shotgun snaps, three-step drops, smoke routes and wide receiver screens that essentially come from one-step drops, getting to the QB is harder than ever.

Tampa Bay’s pass rushers can still affect the passer even without a hit or a sack, though. The coaches have put an emphasis on creating more batted balls at the line of scrimmage this offseason.

“Well, it’s important because we had a lot of three-step drops last year and the ball was coming out quick,” Bowles said. “So even if you were clean, you weren’t getting [to the quarterback.]. So, we’ve got to have better emphasis on seeing the quarterback when he’s raising up and when we can get our hands up to bat some more balls down because we aren’t getting there for the sack because the ball is coming out too fast.”

Tampa Bay’s front seven batted down 16 passes at the line of scrimmage last year, and 17 in 2020. One of those deflections by Vea wound up being intercepted by Shaquil Barrett against Atlanta in Week 2. Barrett, who is only 6-foot-1, has been among the best at batting balls at or near the line of scrimmage over the years with 13.

Bucs Batted Balls In 2021

Shaquil Barrett 4
Jason Pierre-Paul 4
Vita Vea 3
Joe Tryon-Shoyinka 3
Steve McLendon 1
Anthony Nelson 1

Bucs Batted Balls In 2021 Postseason

Joe Tryon-Shoyinka 1
Shaquil Barrett 1
Steve McLendon 1

Bucs Batted Balls In 2020

Shaquil Barrett 6
Jason Pierre-Paul 6
Will Gholston 2
Ndamukong Suh 2
Anthony Nelson 1

Bucs Batted Balls In 2020 Postseason

Jason Pierre-Paul 3

Bucs Batted Balls In 2019

Ndamukong Suh 4
Vita Vea 3
Will Gholston 2
Shaq Barrett 2
Anthony Nelson 1

Six-foot-5 outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul, who is 33, wasn’t re-signed this offseason. But like Barrett, he was among the leading defensive linemen at batting down passes with 13 over the last two years, including the postseason.

Tampa Bay’s primary rotation up front consists of some giants, including rookie defensive tackle Logan Hall, who is 6-foot-6. Hall joins outside linebackers Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (6-5) and Anthony Nelson (6-7), nose tackle Vita Vea, defensive end Will Gholston (6-6) and new defensive tackle Akiem Hicks (6-4) as defenders who are 6-foot-4 or taller.

“That is really good length and we’ll make more of a pitch this year about getting our hands up and them trying to get more batted balls,” Rodgers said. “When you kind of look, we’ve got 6-6 here, 6-5 there, 6-4 here, 6-6 there. We like them big and long.”

FAB 4. Bucs Using Bolts For Inspiration

Over the past couple of seasons, the Bucs have looked to the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey club for some inspiration. Right after the Bolts won the 2019-20 Stanley Cup, the Bucs won Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay. Both teams celebrated with boat parades in downtown Tampa due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another boat parade followed for the Lightning as the team won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships last year. The Bucs fell short of repeating last season, losing 30-27 to the eventual Super Bowl champion Rams in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.

Bucs tight end Cam Brate is often seen sporting an Alex Killorn jersey during hockey season. Both he and Killorn were at Harvard at the same time in the 2010s.

But there might not be a bigger Bolts fan on the Bucs than outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett. The two-time Pro Bowler brings his family to several Lightning games each year, and even brought the Lombardi Trophy to Amalie Arena prior to a playoff game following the Super Bowl win.

“I’m a big Bolts fan,” Barrett said. “My kids love it. I love it, and the atmosphere is amazing. And they are really good, so it makes it easier to be a fan, too. I love that they’re really good. So, I feel as though that if they keep winning and they keep doing it, then we’ve got to do it.”

While there is much love between the Bucs and Bolts organization, Barrett said that the Lightning’s back-to-back championships, and the fact that they are in the mix for a potential three-peat, does apply some pressure.

“They’re bringing championships back, and I feel like they are putting pressure on us,” Barrett said. “I love pressure and I love performing under pressure and coming out on top. We just look at them and let them motivate us and get the job done like they’re getting the job done.”

After sweeping their division rival, the Florida Panthers, the Lightning have advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for a third straight year. Tampa Bay lost the first game against the Rangers in New York, 6-2. Game 2 of the series is Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

The Bolts return to Tampa for their first home game of the series on Sunday afternoon. And if he’s in town, there’s a chance Barrett might be in attendance.

FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• CONTINUITY IS KING ON THE O-LINE: Continuity is just as important as talent along offensive lines in the NFL. The Bucs found that out the hard way when they missed injured right tackle Tristan Wirfs in the 30-27 playoff loss to the Rams. But during the regular season, Tampa Bay had the healthiest offensive line in the league.

• WIRFS AMONG ELITE OTs IN PASS PROTECTION: Wirfs made his first Pro Bowl and All-Pro team last year and is considered among the best linemen in the league despite playing only two seasons in the NFL.

THIS WEEK’S PEWTER REPORT PODCASTS

• BUCS PLAYERS GUEST STAR ON THE PEWTER REPORT PODCAST: The Pewter Report Podcast is energized by CELSIUS and broadcasts four live episodes each week. Pewter Report Podcasts typically air on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 4:00 pm EST in the offseason.

Last Thursday, Bucs defensive lineman Will Gholston was Pewter Report’s special guest and talked about rookie DT Logan Hall.

Tuesday’s podcast covered the Bucs’ OTA practice and discussed the signing of DT Akiem Hicks.

Wednesday’s show centered on what other moves the Bucs could make, especially at edge rusher.

Bucs wide receiver Cyril Grayson Jr. was the special guest on Thursday’s episode.

Watch the Pewter Report Podcasts live on our PewterReportTV channel on YouTube.com and please subscribe (it’s free) and add your comments. We archive all Pewter Report Podcasts. So, you can watch the recorded episodes if you missed them live.

There is no better time to listen to or watch a new Pewter Report Podcast – energized by CELSIUS – than Friday afternoon on the way home from work. Or early Saturday morning during your workout or while running errands.

The popularity of the Pewter Report Podcast continues to grow. In addition to listening to the Pewter Report Podcasts on PewterReport.com, you can also subscribe to the free podcasts at PodBean by clicking here and on SoundCloud by clicking here. And of course, the Pewter Report Podcast is also available on iTunes and YouTube. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode.

FINAL VIDEO

• THE END OF FITZMAGIC: Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played for nine different NFL teams, including Tampa Bay from 2017-18, is retiring after 17 seasons. As Pewter Report’s Bailey Adams points out, Fitzpatrick was under center for the last time the Bucs beat the Saints in the regular season back in 2018.

• FITZMAGIC IN TAMPA: Here are some of the magical highlights of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s first two wins in the 2018 season against the Saints and the Eagles.

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