Five NFC South players the 2017 Buccaneers have to game plan against
player. 87. . Running Back. Carolina Panthers. Christian McCaffrey. 1
The best thing to happen to the Buccaneers defense was getting seven weeks of film to look at when facing Carolina’s 2017 first-round pick.
Christian McCaffrey is a player I see out-touching Jonathan Stewart by Week 4, and for good reason.
He can carry the ball and is lethal in space.
Through four preseason games, the rookie from Stanford has 87-yards on 17 carries and 51-yards on three catches. He also has one score in the same period of time.
Those look like starter numbers to me, and he’s done the majority of this stat piling against first-team defenses.
Cam Newton must be chomping at the bit to get on the field with McCaffrey who is going to draw significant defensive attention away from the overly abused quarterback.
With defenders keying in on the 5’11” running back hybrid, Newton will likely find some good lanes to run and throw through in 2017.
For the Buccaneers, the key is to match athleticism with athleticism. Kwon Alexander comes to mind.
He won’t be able to cover McCaffrey downfield, but hopefully the safeties will be there to help out when the time comes.
In the short and intermediate areas of the field though, Alexander has the ability and instincts to shadow the rookie and hopefully contain him.
The problem I see is Alexander’s tendency to overplay what he sees sometimes. The coaches will need to get him more disciplined in the big-picture of defending and getting him to understand how over-running a McCaffrey play could significantly harm the defenses chances of winning a series.
This is going to mean giving up two or three yards in order to contain the 15-yard outburst. I don’t know if Alexander will enjoy this type of operating theory.
Matching talent with talent is just the beginning, but if McCaffrey is allowed to get chunk yard plays against the Buccaneers defense, then look out, it’s going to be a long Weeks 8 and 16.
Must Read: What Does Griffin's Extension Mean?
These are five guys the Bucs have to game plan against in their NFC South match-ups for 2017.
Let me know your thoughts on these guys and some other ones you see as having big contributions to the outcomes of these games.
Find me on Facebook, Twitter, or at walkingtheplankpodcast@gmail.com and give your side of the conversation.