In a season where the Bucs defense has been doing much of the heavy lifting for the team, head coach Todd Bowles has had to reach far into his bag to keep the unit playing at a high level. The secondary has been playing at a high level, with standout performances from cornerback Jamel Dean and safety Logan Ryan. These high performances have been complemented by a steady level of play from fellow backfield mates Keanu Neal, Carlton Davis, and Mike Edwards.

And while the front seven have registered the fourth-highest sacks per game in the NFL through Week 13, it hasn’t been due to a cast of highly talented players performing up to their potential. No, this unit is generating pressure and finishing with quarterback takedowns due to the creative genius of their head coach. Bowles has had his fair share of head-scratching decisions as the rosters commander-in-chief, but that hasn’t stopped him from living in his bag this season as a defensive schemer. And on Monday Night Football against the division rival Saints, the Bucs head coach busted out a new wrinkle.

Vita Vea – Off-Ball Linebacker

Bowles has never been shied to drop his defensive linemen into coverage. Of the 22 interior defensive linemen in the NFL who have registered at least two coverage snaps the Bucs boast four players (Vita Vea-11, Rakeem Nunez-Roches-5, Logan Hall-2, Will Gholston-2). Vea is second in the league behind only the ageless wonder Calais Campbell. Meanwhile among edge rushers, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is tied for the eighth most coverage snaps in the league while Shaq Barrett is still 24th in the NFL despite only playing in eight games.

By dropping these linemen, Bowles tries to slow opposing quarterback’s processors while also giving him the opportunity to send other pass rushers from unexpected places. This is why over 30% of the team’s sacks have come from players in the back seven.

But this past week Bowles decided to take it to the next level when he lined Vita Vea up in the second level as an off-ball linebacker. This is the first time this year Bowles has lined Vea up outside of the defensive line. Vea has four previous snaps behind the line, with three coming in Bowles’ first year with the Bucs in 2019 and one in his rookie season of 2018. Regardless, the Saints were certainly taken off guard. Let’s take a look at the havoc this wrinkle caused.

Snap One

On the Saints’ first offensive drive they quickly faced third down after their first two plays netted just five yards. Coming out in shotgun, Saints quarterback Andy Dalton looked ahead and found this defensive alignment.

There were some players lined up in traditional places. Edge rushers Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Anthony Nelson were in expected positions outside of the offensive tackles. Defensive tackle Akiem Hicks was lined up head up on the center. But linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David were hovering on the outside shoulders of the guards. And there is big Vita Vea … lurking … on the second level, like an ambush predator waiting to strike. And Vea’s presence created all sorts of havoc that led to the best possible outcome in this situation.

Under normal protection calls the running back Alvin Kamara would need to pick up the blitzing linebacker. But let’s think about that in terms of physics. Alvin Kamara vs. Vita Vea. Bug meet windshield.

Left guard Andrus Peat must have given this some thought as he opts to key Vea on the blitz. With center Cesar Ruiz having to pick up Hicks and left tackle James Hurst picking up Nelson off the edge, there was no one else left on the line to take Lavonte David. Kamara had a chance to try and get in front of David as if he was picking David up on a more traditional blitz, but two things prevented that.

First, Kamara initially reads the pass rush right to left, checking to see if there is anyone coming from the outside the box. Second, the three-yard difference in between David on the line vs. his normal post behind it, hastened his ability to get to Dalton and reduced the amount of time Kamara had to reach him. The result was a third-down sack and the defense getting off the field.

Snap Two

The next time the Bucs rolled out their new alignment was on the first third down of the third drive with the Saints needing four yards to get a new set of downs. Dalton looked up from the shotgun and saw Vea lurking in space once again.

This is a very similar look to the previous one. There are some small adjustments with the biggest one being Vea is lined up on the right side of the offense instead of the left. This is because this time the running back was lined up opposite of the first time they broke this look out. It’s obvious the priority of this alignment is to get Vea lined up opposite of the running back and create a possible overload look. Now post snap the Bucs went with a completely different rush.

Whereas, on the first play the Bucs brought the house with six rushers, this time Bowles sent half of that. Dropping both the edge rushers and David, Vea comes thundering into the right guards inside shoulder. I can’t help but feel like one of Hall or White executed their pass rush plan incorrectly on this one. The final spacing of the three is terrible as they are right on top of each other.

Vea’s pass rush path looks like he was trying to stunt for a loop. Assuming the loop was Hall it makes sense to me in that dropping both David and Carl Nassib off the defense’s left potentially could have left the right side of the offensive line confused and giving Hall the opportunity to slip by off of the stunt.

No matter the reality was the three got almost no push or pressure and Dalton had all day to find a receiver despite the Bucs dropping eight. Receiver Rashid Shaheed made a heady call seeing Dalton roll to his left, broke off his route and came back and made himself open for a third down conversion.

Snap Three

Late in the game the Saints were once again in third and relatively short (three), and the Bucs came back with this new alignment for the final time of the game.

Here Bowles went back to the original plan – bringing six once again. And this time the Saints were ready with a much better protection call. The Saints slide their protection right from the left guard to the right tackle and they allow David to come free on the running back’s side. This made it easier for the back (Mark Ingram this time) to pick up the free rusher and gave Dalton enough time to find Chris Olave on the rub route. The pressure was getting to Dalton in the form of David moving Ingram back into Dalton, but he was able to get the throw off to a talented receiver who got open in a flash off a pick.

For the entire game the Bucs were able to pressure Dalton on 10 of his 32 drop backs while registering two sacks. The 31.25% pressure rate is right about average for the Bucs this year. And a good portion of those pressures have been due to schemed up exotic looks that Bowles’ mad scientist brain has drawn up. It’s a good thing too, because without them the pass rush is pedestrian at best.

Outside of Joe Tryon-Shoyinka the team is failing to get anything close to a consistent push from their front four. So, until JTS can elevate to an elite pass rusher, Carl Nassib can get a bit more playing time, or someone on the interior can create consistent push, let’s hope that Bowles can keep drawing up these incredibly fun looks to keep opposing offenses guessing.