Buccaneers: How Do You Stop a Problem Like Justin Houston?
Healthy Offensive Line
How do you stop a guy that’s capable of putting up 22 sacks in a season? I don’t know if there’s any one simple solution. For the Bucs, the biggest hope is to come in healthy. In terms of stopping Justin Houston in the pass rush, it would be big to have the offensive line at full strength. Kevin Pamphile has been ruled out, but Joe Hawley and Luke Stocker are healthy, which will make the task of stopping Houston more manageable. Houston is coming off of knee surgery, which means he will be seeing his first game action in quite a while. If the Bucs are healthy, it would give them a step up.
Not only would a healthy offensive line be key in slowing down Houston, but so would a healthy Doug Martin. If Martin can take on a heavier workload this week, the Bucs may be able to wear down the sixth-year linebacker. Houston hasn’t played since January, so he’ll still be getting back into the swing of things. If the Bucs can run at him repeatedly, fatigue could come into play. He may not be ready for Tampa Bay to “pound the rock” in his direction.