All Twenty-Tuesday Part 2: Defense

For the defense, their Friday night was a lot like the offensive line’s preparation-wise. It goes along the same lines with contact being a main element of what they do. Sure, they can put the pads on in practice and go at it a little but, but they can’t hit or push or grab or throw guys like they really want to.

Mike Smith: A Mad Scientist

The reason why statistical success and even most recorded success doesn’t carry much weight is because the preseason is for experimenting.

The play above was one of the first play of the game from the starting defense. In it, Gerald McCoy and Chris Baker were playing in the middle with Robert Ayers and William Gholston on the edges. That’s most likely going to be the front four the team trots out there on first and second down – or, at least, they hope everyone plays to their talent potential and that’s what they can do with the size involved.

The play above showed some of that creativity by defensive coordinator Mike Smith but in a way that didn’t result in a positive play. In it, they tried to stunt Ayers and Baker, and ended up just creating a running gap for Cincinnati. That was one of those, “OK, that didn’t work” plays that you run in preseason for that reason. Remember, it was in the preseason that the team found out they could have success with Ayers and McCoy on the inside on passing down last year.

It’s good to get creative in these games, but that one was one to throw away. The team focused on getting bigger in the middle during the offseason. They can’t negate all that work with poor play calling.

One of the players I was most impressed with on Friday, from a defensive stand point, was defensive end Noah Spence. Spence, who has been bottled up during practices, really flashed during the preseason game, most notably in the run support in the clip above.

Spence isn’t known as a run supporter, and though the play above isn’t considered “holding your own against the run” it was Spence’s own way of being a one-man show stopper. That wasn’t his only good play, either.

I saw quite a bit of complaints from fans about rookie safety Justin Evans’ performance on Friday night, and though I’ll agree it was a tough night for him, the commentary in the clip above gives some context to his struggles.

At this point, Evans is much better suited to be a free safety than a strong safety. His natural ability allows him to play in space better than it does to come up and make tackles at the line of scrimmage. That last part is where he needs the most work, and on Friday, it appeared the team was throwing Evans in the trials of his weaknesses instead of building his confidence at his strengths – not that one style is better than the other, it’s just however you choose to push your guy to get better.

Evans was slow to react in the play above, and because of that, made the tackle on a very talented Joe Mixon, a much harder task (one that he could not complete). But, perhaps that was the whole point. Evans saw quite a bit of playing time on Friday, and a good portion of it was outside his comfort zone. A rough game from him, but when you break down the details like that, you realize that it was suppose to be. That was the point. The only way he’ll get better at full-speed tackling is by putting him in situation to tackle at full speed.

The Good, The Bad, The Beckwith

For any of you who follow me on twitter dot com, you know I’ve been skeptical of the Kendell Beckwith selection by the Buccaneers. It’s not that I don’t think Beckwith can have have a career in the NFL, but for where the Bucs drafted him, how they drafted him, and what they drafted him for, I wasn’t on board.

Beckwith played middle linebacker at LSU, and one of my previous Cover 3 columns broke down what I saw from him there. But, the fact that they traded up for Beckwith to select him means they wanted him to be a potential starter. He wasn’t going to start over Kwon Alexander or Lavonte David, so that meant possibly taking over as a SAM linebacker with Daryl Smith no longer on the team.

Beckwith has been getting a lot of practice reps as the second-team middle linebacker, but I knew when the game lights came on, he’d have a bit of an adjustment period – his LSU tape told us that.

In the play above (his first play from scrimmage) we saw that as he got blocked pretty bad out of the screen, and that wasn’t the only play where he got pushed around.

It wasn’t all bad from Beckwith, but again, it’s the kind of traits he has that allow him to flash in certain situations.

In the play above, he was acting like a middle linebacker should. He was patient to let the run develop, he found the hole and was right there to plug it up. That’s good middle linebacker play from him, the position he has the most experience in.

However, with Devante Bond out with an injury, it has been announced that Beckwith will be the team’s starting SAM linebacker. I have my concerns, and you can listen to why in the clip above.

To play SAM linebacker, you have to act almost like you’re another defensive lineman. You have to hold the point of attack, not get pushed around by blocks, and be able to shed the blocks you have to take on. At this point, Beckwith doesn’t do any of those things well. It’s not a knee thing with his quick recovery from his ACL tear (which was very impressive, by the way), it’s just that he’s not good at it. I don’t know if it’s in his technique, if it’s a strength issue or a mentality issue, but I didn’t see Beckwith hold the point of attack consistently at LSU, and I didn’t see it in his first game, either.

Now he gets thrust into that position they drafted him for. We’ll see if he sinks or swims.

Ryan Smith Comes Alive

I thought Ryan Smith had an encouraging first game as an outside cornerback. Though he did give up a catch to A.J. Green (who doesn’t), he showed he could really fly to the ball with good tackling technique in the clip above and the one below.

Smith also had a play where he flew in to a wide receiver on the side line to contest a catch. If he shows those kinds of traits early on, the only thing standing in between him and a solid starting job down the road is some experience and sound technique. He has all the athleticism you could want.

Best of the Rest

It would be a disservice if I didn’t highlight Vernon Hargeaves’ interception to end the Bengals first drive.

The play above is a Mike Smith cornerback to a tee; you give the receivers their space, keep everything in front of you, watch their body language (their hips), watch the quarterback’s eyes, and have the athleticism to break on a pass when you see it.

Perfect.

And that wasn’t the only good play form Hargreaves, either.

In the play above, Hargreaves got pushed off his spot, but did a nice job of recovering and pushing the wide receiver out of bounds, which he can do now as a cornerback. When Hargreaves is playing with confidence, he can be one heck of a cornerback. It was to be determined whether Hargreaves would be ready or would shy away from being the No. 1 cornerback with Brent Grimes out.

The early evidence says he’s up for it.

Finally, I had to point of defensive tackle, Clinton McDonald’s night.

As a former starter now playing on the second team, McDonald dominated the lesser competition. He’s a pro about what he does. I know Baker is the prized free agent acquisition, but I expect McDonald to be nipping at his heels all season long for playing time.