Tampa Bay Defense - any lessons for Bama Defensive Coaches?

[Tenntiderman]

The scary thing is there is credible sources saying that the Bucs and JJ Watt are in talks about coming to Tampa next year and the Bucs have the 7th best cap space situation in the league.

Wow....they will need cages to put those guys in.

 

[81usaf92]

The game plan seemed to be, "let Mahomes win it playing sandlot football".

It felt like last years super bowl with a better set of coaches on the NFC side.

Reid got a lot of praise for last year but like @selmaborntidefan I thought Mahomes masks a lot of Reid’s stupidity. As long as you don’t have those sabernomics coaches then anyone could win 14 games and make it to super bowl with the Chiefs.

 

[crimsonaudio]

The game plan seemed to be, "let Mahomes win it playing sandlot football".

I think if the KC OL was healthier they could have been a bit more effective, but as @81usaf92 said going into the game - the Bucs were the more talented team going into this one. KC is a lot like Manziel at A&M in that he, with a few talented receivers, can wreak havoc on more talented teams. Weaken the OL and, in retrospect, the outcome isn't all that surprising.

 

[Bill from NYC]

Well, it proves what we already knew.....that we did an EXCELLENT job recruiting blockers for this season.

TB has a good defense, not great. That said, Pierre Paul looked like Richard Dent on the 85 Bears. Why? Because KC was missing 3 offensive linemen.

The Crimson Tide had the best skill players in the world, but it was Alex Leatherwood who hoisted up the trophy with Coach Saban, and it looks like this year we will kick some more asses.

ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[81usaf92]

Well, it proves what we already knew.....that we did an EXCELLENT job recruiting blockers for this season.

TB has a good defense, not great. That said, Pierre Paul looked like Richard Dent on the 85 Bears. Why? Because KC was missing 3 offensive linemen.

The Crimson Tide had the best skill players in the world, but it was Alex Leatherwood who hoisted up the trophy with Coach Saban, and it looks like this year we will kick some more asses.

ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the Bucs have one of those legendary in the making defenses. Their Dbs are young but talented, their linebackers are mean, and their defensive line is relentless.

 

[TitleWave]

Dominate the line of scrimmage with four guys. There’s still not an offense wrong that can beat the kind of disruption Tampa did last night.

Or sustain the LOS with three and let the fourth gore the opponent's weakest ox - vs. Green Bay, it was Jason Pierre-Paul turning the RT Rick "Wave 'em Through" Wagner into liquified Jello, with Suh clogging the middle and the two inside backers blitzing occasionally and neutralizing anything out of the backfield. You don't need an All-Pro interior just the scheme that disrupts a passing game by exploiting the weakest link in the OL. In coordination with your backers. No reason why 'Bama couldn't do same as the young LBs come along...

 

[The Ols]

Well, it proves what we already knew.....that we did an EXCELLENT job recruiting blockers for this season.

TB has a good defense, not great. That said, Pierre Paul looked like Richard Dent on the 85 Bears. Why? Because KC was missing 3 offensive linemen.

The Crimson Tide had the best skill players in the world, but it was Alex Leatherwood who hoisted up the trophy with Coach Saban, and it looks like this year we will kick some more tail...

ROLL TIDE!!!

 

[CoachJeff]

Hope the other team is missing its tackles. That seems to have helped Tampa Bay more than anything.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Can we have these 5 star defensive players we recruit be developed over the course of a few years, then have them as starters on our defense?

If so, we can get close to that. In other words, those were seasoned professional athletes out there. That's the difference. Not scheme. IMO, of course.

 

[B1GTide]

Can we have these 5 star defensive players we recruit be developed over the course of a few years, then have them as starters on our defense?

If so, we can get close to that. In other words, those were seasoned professional athletes out there. That's the difference. Not scheme. IMO, of course.

Maybe, but keep in mind that EVERY NFL player meets your description above. When every player on every team is great, scheme matters.

 

[bamaslammer]

Different game obviously and I agree with what others have said but It's been a while since we've had a middle linebacker as vicious and fast as White was last night. He possibly should have been the MVP. If we could get someone playing like that and not getting hurt it would help.

 

[Padreruf]

There's a lot to unpack in what Tampa did.

Schematically, they played in a 2-4 for most of the night. This is something that Bama has also started doing, but we still use our 3-3 look more often than not. That said, one of tampa's OLBs weights 275, so he's not much smaller than some of our DEs, but he gives them a lot of scheme versatility. The other OLB is right at 250. Our OLBs typically are in the 250 range, with a few a bit bigger, but this year we were pretty small with Allen at 250 and Anderson only around 235. Due to that, we have to play more 3-3 to help against the run and really only used the 2-4 in pass heavy downs. it also helps that White is really fast, so he can close down the QB effectively from his ILB spot

Stylistically, you hit two things. Mush rush and zone. Bama typically uses the mush rush because we play a lot of man coverage, so the LBs and short route DBs are not able to help contain the QB on a scramble. By playing more zone, Tampa is able to have the LBs and DBs help if a mobile QB breaks out. Bama has been zone averse for a while, but Saban has been pushing the DCs to call a more varied combination of zone v man coverages so that we can let the rush go full bore more often.

IMHO, you are right in your observation of our changes on defense. Not to beat a dead horse, but a former Bama player who is fully retired decided to grade each player in each game -- (he also coached.) He said to me that what hurt Bama this year on defense was DM being less than 100%...and that we should be much better on defense this next year. We saw last night what having fully active and engaged LB's can do for a defense. I hate it that DM was injured...I hope he's 110% for the NFL.

 

[B1GTide]

Different game obviously and I agree with what others have said but It's been a while since we've had a middle linebacker as vicious and fast as White was last night. He possibly should have been the MVP. If we could get someone playing like that and not getting hurt it would help.

He was that kind of player for most of his college career, but he never seemed to play well against Alabama.

He is an absolute beast in the NFL. Runs a 4.42 40 at 250 lbs. Crazy.

 

[Jkl0802]

Can we have these 5 star defensive players we recruit be developed over the course of a few years, then have them as starters on our defense?

If so, we can get close to that. In other words, those were seasoned professional athletes out there. That's the difference. Not scheme. IMO, of course.

I wish Alabama would go to a 2 or 3 Line rotation earlier in games on defense to build more depth and more quickly develop players. Offense is a bit harder I think because rhythm and knowing what your left and right brothers are doing is critical to a well functioning line. I also wish we would do the same with Receivers to build depth and experience.

 

[BamaInBham]

Yes. But Tampa was whipping their guards as well. The inside pressure was just as effective as the outside

The return of Vita Vea was big in both stopping the run and applying pressure.

 

[gtgilbert]

IMHO, you are right in your observation of our changes on defense. Not to beat a dead horse, but a former Bama player who is fully retired decided to grade each player in each game -- (he also coached.) He said to me that what hurt Bama this year on defense was DM being less than 100%...and that we should be much better on defense this next year. We saw last night what having fully active and engaged LB's can do for a defense. I hate it that DM was injured...I hope he's 110% for the NFL.

completely agree. A pre-injury Moses would have allowed us to do a lot more, but with him limited and not able to cover all the ground there were some things we just could not do. Harris in the middle should have the speed so if we find/develop a good counterpart to play next to him we have more options. We also need some of the young/developing OLBs to gain some mass this off-season so they can be more viable/reliable 3 down options.

Also, echo that I hope DM is able to use the time between the national championship and the pro day or other draft eval days to continue to rehab his knee and improve the strength, agility and confidence in it to do what he needs to do to give the scouts confidence in him to get a decent draft spot, and great paycheck and a long career.

 

[DogPatch]

Just a horribly called offensive game by KC. Not taking anything away from the Bucs, but some blame falls on Reid for refusing to adjust.

Why not Bieniemy?

 

[B1GTide]

Why not Bieniemy?

Him, too, but the head coach is the boss. They had an entire game to adjust and didn't.

 

[DogPatch]

Him, too, but the head coach is the boss. They had an entire game to adjust and didn't.

With all we've been told about Bieniemy's greatness as an OC, I'd place the blame mostly on him. After all, lack of 2nd half adjustments has been a big talking point for Golding detractors.

 

[B1GTide]

With all we've been told about Bieniemy's greatness as an OC, I'd place the blame mostly on him. After all, lack of 2nd half adjustments has been a big talking point for Golding detractors.

Of course you would.