The below are two very excellent reads on David - they are based on All-22 Film.
With 34 seconds left in Week 1, the Jets’ offense walked back onto the field trailing 17-15. By that time, every other game from the 1 p.m. slot had already ended. Any idle TV in any sports bar around the country likely featured Geno Smith, in his first start, looking to begin his career with something memorable.Most of those casually watching the final minute of Jets-Buccaneers probably hadn’t heard of Lavonte David before that Sunday. A second-round pick out of Nebraska in 2012, David had started every game for Tampa Bay in his first year, but even finishing eighth in the league in tackles isn’t enough to earn attention for a rookie on a 7-9 team featured in just one prime-time game. For many, their first exposure to David came on the second-to-last play of that Week 1 game, when the linebacker hit Geno Smith just as the quarterback stepped out of bounds on a scramble. Out of field goal range and without any timeouts before the play, the Jets were gifted life with the personal foul, and those 15 yards were just enough for Nick Folk, who drilled a 48-yard field goal to win the game.Considering how well he played as a rookie, it would be a shame if that were the first time some football fans heard Lavonte David’s name. But it wouldn’t even compare to the shame of not hearing it since.The first half of this season was an awful stretch for Tampa Bay. The Bucs started 0-8 and were out of the playoff race by October. But the past five weeks have seen the start of a turnaround — with the Bucs winning four of their last five, including a road win at playoff-bound Detroit — and David is one of the reasons for it. It’s not just that David wasn’t playing great early on; it’s that in recent weeks, he’s somehow played even better. In only his second season, David’s had more than a Pro Bowl season. He’s had a historic one.With his fifth interception of the year against Buffalo on Sunday, David became just the seventh player to ever record five picks and five sacks in a season. Through 13 games, David has 81 tackles. If he can manage 19 more in his final three games (just about his per-game average), he’d become only the third player in NFL history to record 100 tackles, five sacks, and five interceptions in a year. Wilber Marshall — considered by some to be the most fearsome player on the greatest defense of all time — did it twice, and Rodney Harrison managed it in 2000. It would be a feat that says everything about the strides David has made from his first season to his second — turning from tackling machine into one of the game’s most complete linebackers.When David was finished with his slow walk back to the locker room at MetLife Stadium in September, Buccaneers pass-rush coach and former NFL linebacker Bryan Cox pulled him aside. “He came up to me and said, ‘Hey, man, don’t worry about that. We need you on this team,’” David says. They do, and if David keeps playing like he has, they’ll need him for a very long time.In the mid-2000s, Miami Northwestern High School boasted what may have been the best high school football team in the country. The Bulls went 15-0 and won the 6A state championship in Florida in 2006, and in 2007 they again went undefeated, including a 29-21, nationally televised game against Southlake Carroll (Texas) designed to unofficially crown the best high school team in America.
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Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks will almost certainly be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame early next year -- unless the committee botches it -- and will do so as a linebacker who helped redefine the position.Brooks was a smallish linebacker who didn't pile up sacks, but rather excelled in the run game, covered backs down the field and flourished with an all-around dominant game. He was a run-and-chase linebacker.Those kinds of players often get overlooked for awards and such because of the lack of sack stats. But Tampa Bay won a Super Bowl, and Brooks got the notice he deserved.The current Tampa Bay team has four victories and isn't getting much attention. But there's a player I call "Baby Brooks" on the defense who should be getting Defensive Player of the Year consideration, a player who shows up week in and week out on tape doing things that make him truly special. liked Tampa Bay linebacker Lavonte David when he came into the league two years ago, but I have to admit now that I had no idea he would be this good. David is racking up numbers that put him with special players, and he's only a second-year linebacker still learning the position.David has six sacks and five interceptions this season to go with his 116 tackles. The last player to have at least five picks and five sacks in a season was a guy name Brian Urlacher in 2007.His two-year totals are significantly better than the two-year totals that Brooks had to open his career.What can't David do?He can run. He tackles. He sees it. He reacts. He can cover. He can blitz.He is as good an all-round linebacker as there is in this league -- including Carolina's Luke Kuechly and San Francisco's Patrick Willis. In fact, he's significantly better than both in coverage.I looked at some of David's recent games to get an idea where he was in his development and I came away thinking it's crazy he isn't in the DPOY race. He has a heck of player in front of him in defensive tackle Gerald McCoy -- who should be going to the Pro Bowl -- and that helps, but David shows up a lot on the tape.What's more, he does so in a variety of ways. Here is a look at some of the plays that caught my eye while studying him -- and I don't include either of his two picks from last week, both athletic plays that allowed him to show off his speed and quickness.The first play is a run play from last week's victory over the Buffalo Bills. It shows off David's ability to read, get to the football and stop the runner from breaking free.
Read Rest (With All-22 Film and stills...)There are plenty of things that are have been inconsistent with the Bucs over the past two seasons - but the one thing that is undeniable has been the emergence of David who has taken his game to an entirely new level and is one of the best young linebackers if not the best. With his ability to not only tackle, but his explosiveness in getting after quarterbacks to his ability to play the pass. David is far and away the Bucs best defender.
Both were good reads, yucc, thanks.
