Buccaneers: Mike Smith fits his defensive scheme to the players
The Buccaneers have a defensive coordinator in Mike Smith that fits his scheme to the players on the field as opposed to the reverse.
When Mike Smith came in to take over the Buccaneers defense, the fan base was excited. During the Lovie Smith era, one of the biggest complaints was the proverbial “square peg, round hole” concept. Lovie would too often try to fit the players he had into his pre-formulated scheme. He seemed unable to adapt the plan to best suit the player, and the team suffered. Mike Smith was known to be the exact opposite. He would adapt his scheme to best fit his players.
It took about half of the 2016 season for the defense to come together, but when it did, we all saw the potential greatness. During the winning streak, the defense began to look like the one that won a championship in 2002. They say that good things come to those who wait. That was clearly the case last season with Mike Smith and the Bucs defense.
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We say time and time again that the numbers don’t lie. That rings true when looking at the defense last year. Walking in to Tampa last year, he had two main cornerbacks to contend with, Vernon Hargreaves and Brent Grimes. Remember, this is before Grimes put in his great season, so he didn’t know that would happen.
So on paper, he had a cornerback that was undersized and over 30 years old in Brent Grimes. Players typically lose a step after age 30 as we all know, and Grimes wasn’t about to win any jump balls from the likes of Julio Jones. That was one side.
On the other was Hargreaves. He may have been a first round pick that the Bucs coveted, but the fact is he was still a rookie. There is always a learning curve when a rookie joins the league. Furthermore, anyone who watches a lot of college football knows that the defenses don’t employ a lot of “press-man” coverage. Cornerbacks coming up from college aren’t used to the hand-fighting that is essential in NFL man coverage. Put that all together and you have a situation that is, on its face, stacked against Hargreaves.
If you are a defensive coordinator, and you have concerns on the outside about whether your corners will be able to cover, what do you do? Play zone coverage. Don’t make them defend one on one very often.
Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus took a look at this very topic around the league. He studied the NFL defenses and examined how often they ran different coverages. Monson analyzed how often the teams were in zone coverage, and the Bucs played zone on 66.9% of their snaps, good for fifth in the NFL.
This is what I am talking about. Here Smith is taking his guys that he doesn’t want out on an island and shielding them from the problem. He is playing the defense that he believes best suits his players. He isn’t forcing his players to play his defense.
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This small sampling is only one way to realize that the Bucs made a leap forward hiring Mike Smith to run the defense. Just look at the product on the field. The “eye” test tells you anything you need to know that the numbers don’t.