The effort to have a top 10 defense and an improved football team, Tampa Bay Bucs’ defensive tackle Gerald McCoy says, starts Sunday.
To McCoy, that will help to establish what kind of football team the Bucs will be.
“We didn’t win a game at home last year,” McCoy said. “None. So if we want to get to where we want to get, which is in California, it starts Sunday. It really started in the spring, but, as far as the record goes, it starts Sunday. It’s a huge game for us. A lot of people say, ‘Oh, well, it’s the first game, it’s a long season.’ Well, not when you went 2-14 and you didn’t win any games at home last year. I mean, our fans, the greatest fans on the earth, deserve to see a winner, especially at home, so we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure they get it.”
During the preseason, most of the attention has been focused on rookie quarterback Jameis Winston. But the experience is on the defensive side of the football. The head coach’s expertise is on the side of the defense. The two best players – McCoy and linebacker Lavonte David – play on defense. A good start against Tennessee would help.
“We’re very confident,” McCoy said. “Extremely. In this league, or in any profession, if you don’t feel like you’re the best, or feel like you’re going to be successful, or feel like you’re going to win, or know you’re going to win, it’s pointless to be doing it. We’re going into that stadium Sunday expecting to win. We have no other outcome in our mind. So guys are extremely confident. It’s not an arrogance, it’s definitely confidence in the drills we’ve done, in the work we’ve put in in the weight room, on the field – this camp was a grinder – the meeting rooms, everything. When you prepare the right way, it’s easy to go into a game with confidence.”
Confident? The Bucs were 25th in the NFL last year, but defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier is talking about finishing in the top 10 this year. It’s a bit ambitious for a team that has drafted one player defensively in the last two years.
“I think just some of the things we saw last year – the way our guys did when it came to points allowed, what we did in our rush defense,” Frazier said. “We finished in the Top 10 in that area. Just some of the things, the foundation was, kind of, laid and then what we’ve done this offseason as well. The familiarity with our players and what we are asking them to do and how we want them to do it. All those things contribute to why we think we will be an improved group. We’ve added some pieces. We think adding Henry Melton should help us. Adding [Tony] McDaniel should help us as well. Having a new middle linebacker who, although he’s a rookie, that will help us. We think our secondary is deeper now. We think we are a little more talented in the secondary. We have some reasons to believe we will be better across the board.”
Does that include the pass rush?
“It depends on where our defensive ends are,” Frazier said. “That will determine that. We think adding Melton inside along with Gerald – we’ve got the best defensive tackle in McCoy in the National Football League – the best three-technique. To add Henry, that is going to help us with our inside rush. Now it’s a matter of what we get on the edge. If we can get production on the outside, our pass rush should improve.”
The first week may be a challenge. While Marcus Mariota is only a rookie, he is capable of making plays with his feet. That could keep the Bucs off balance. Of course, if Tampa Bay could offset those plays with sacks, it would help.
“Impact sacks, man,” McCoy said. “Getting the sack is great, getting [the quarterback] on the ground is wonderful, but our job, defensively, is to score and get the ball back. Coach [Joe] Cullen always talks about impact sacks – sacks that can change the game. I had one last year against Chicago. You get a sack-fumble, we get on the ball and we get points out of that. That’s the type of play that needs to happen, not just from me but from the defense in general.”
For Lovie Smith, that’s the first step on the way to victory. If the defense plays well, it buys time for Winston and the offense.
“We expect the same thing each week,” Smith said. “It’s pretty much what we expect from all three phases – we would like to score in all three phases, specifically talking about defense. If we can’t score we want to take the ball away. Third downs are very important. Just like we talked about the running game being important for us offensively, we can’t let them establish the run. They would like to establish the run. There are so many areas that you need to play well in.”
The Titans, like the Bucs, were 2-14 last season.
The Bucs play at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
