Table of Contents

About the Author: Trevor Sikkema

Avatar Of Trevor Sikkema
Trevor Sikkema is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat reporter and NFL Draft analyst for PewterReport.com. Sikkema, an alumnus of the University of Florida, has covered both college and professional football for much of his career. As a native of the Sunshine State, when he's not buried in social media, Sikkema can be found out and active, attempting to be the best athlete he never was. Sikkema can be reached at: [email protected]

[adrotate group=”1″]

Cover 3 is a weekly feature column written by PewterReport.com’s Tampa Bay Bucs beat writer Trevor Sikkema published every Tuesday. The column, as its name suggests, comes in three phases: a statistical observation, an in-depth film breakdown, and a “this or that” segment where the writer asks the reader to chose between two options.

Sikkema’s Stat of the Week

As has been discussed at length already this season – in many of my Cover 3’s and other great Pewter Report publications – figuring out how to get the most out of this Bucs defense has turned out to be a tougher code to crack than head coach Bruce Arians originally thought.

Let’s look at the timeline of things. First there was the draft. The Bucs spent three Top 100 picks on defensive backs in 2019, which made it six picks for the secondary in the last two years. Then there was the proclamation by Arians back in early June that the secondary was “fixed,” a bold statement for a man who had yet to even see his young secondary play a regular season football game, or even get into the dog days of training camp.

As one should have expected, then came the struggles. As the Bucs run defense ascended to No. 1 in the NFL during the first quarter of the season, the team’s pass defense went the opposite direction, falling all the way to dead last in the league. With limited options outside of playing first-year rookies, Arians and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles were grasping at straws. But that’s what they had to do, and as the weeks went on we saw young guys like Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean be thrust into key roles and even starting positions.

The turning point seemed to come when the Buccaneers announced Jamel Dean would be starting against the Seattle Seahawks. The motion was more accidental than calculated, as the decision stemmed from Carlton Davis getting hurt in warm-ups – not due to Dean winning the job outright. But Dean played and though he struggled, giving up three touchdowns in coverage, he learned as the game went on, as was evident by his four passes defended and six tackles. For the first time, it felt like the Bucs struggles were actually building towards something.

Bucs Cb Jamel Dean

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: Getty Images

That was the beginning feeling of the changing winds, but the true turning of the tide came when the team decided to release former first round pick Vernon Hargreaves III following the Arizona game due to what Arians told us was a lack of reaching the standard for effort.

During that Cardinals game, Dean once again played a significant role in the game plan, recording another four passes defended, as well as his first interception of the season, finishing the game as the highest graded cornerback in the league that week, according to Pro Football Focus.

At this point we all wondered if the young defensive backs had officially turned the page, if the bad Bucs pass defense of old was starting to get passes up and the image was in the rear view mirror rather than in front of us. But then there was the botched personnel decisions during the New Orleans game. After getting in a grove and coming alive, the strategy in the secondary deployed by Arians and Bowles kept Dean on the bench in favor of using safety Mike Edwards as a nickel cornerback, and in doing so, allowed the points to fly on the scoreboard in a loss.

That brought heavy criticism down onto the coaching staff.

As the Bucs traveled to Atlanta, the secondary was doubted even more than it had any positive momentum. Entering the game at 3-7, and more importantly coming off a game where the coaching staff yielded a lot more questions than answers, hopes weren’t high. But the confidence of the young cornerbacks was, and their performance was their best act yet because of it.

The Bucs had an incredible 16 passes defended against Atlanta, six more than any other game they’d had in 2019. They forced Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan to complete just 50 percent of his passes, the lowest total for him in nearly 10 years. Dean was once again stellar in coverage, recording a career-high five passes broken up, giving him 13 PBUs on the season. Titans cornerback Logan Ryan currently leads the league in PBUs with 16, but Dean is now tied for second with his number. Dean also now leads all rookies in that category. Arizona Cardinals cornerback Byron Murphy is second in the NFL with seven. And oh, by the way, Dean has only played 157 snaps to Murphy’s 774.

In another breakout stat, cornerback Carlton Davis recorded the first interception of his NFL career. That pick was the first Davis has had in a game in over two years going back to his time at Auburn. It was only the second takeaway he’s nabbed in nearly four years.

Bucs Cb Carlton Davis – Photo By: Getty Images

Bucs CB Carlton Davis – Photo by: Getty Images

It has been a journey to get to this point, and I am nowhere near doing my best Arians impression saying the secondary is now fixed. But it has life. For the first time in what feels like three years – of being the worst pass defense in the NFL – the young Bucs have shown some signs of progression.

The struggles, we knew they would come. That’s always the case with a young group. But in years past, it never felt like growing pains; it just felt like aimless and sometimes pointless pain. Now when you see interceptions go through the Bucs players’ hands, as was the case about four times against Atlanta, you have faith that those will come in time – not that the guys just aren’t good enough.

The Bucs may not have weathered the full storm yet, but I believe they have turned the tide. Big waves are still coming, but the wind is now at their backs.

For the first time it feels like this Tampa Bay secondary has a direction.

I breakdown exactly what that looked like on the next page.

Bucs Cb Carlton Davis – Photo By: Getty ImagesArians Said Bucs Secondary "Knew What Was Coming"
Whatscooking?DareWhat's Cooking?: Dare Ogunbowale
Subscribe
Notify of
39 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments