Despite the loss to New Orleans on Sunday, the talent level on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has gotten to the point where they remind us of an NBA team.
Imagine the Buccaneers’ position groups as various NBA players. When one unit is struggling, another unit picks the team up and carries it.
In the 38-3 loss to the Saints, everyone from the secondary to six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady was in a comatose trance that allowed the Saints to dominate the Bucs in all three phases of the game.
However, last Monday night, the secondary saved the day in what was a tougher than expected 25-23 win over the New York Giants.
Cornerback Carlton Davis and safety Sean Murphy-Bunting had a pair of second half interceptions that paced the Buccaneers as Tampa Bay was able to cash these into 10 points at times when they seemed to be teetering on the edge of potentially dropping what many felt was an easy matchup against the faltering 1-7 Giants.
Davis has been the leader of the Buccaneers secondary with four interceptions so far in leading a solid group of ball hawks on a defense that had risen to No. 1 in the NFL before the Saints game.
“We needed a turnover,” said Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians. “We needed something good to happen to get the snowball rolling and Carlton provided it and Sean provided it so you capitalize on those turnovers.”
Once again, rookie Antoine Winfield, Jr., came up monumental in the clutch. He has been stellar in his rookie team as he is third on the team in tackles with 51, while tallying two quarterback sacks
After Giants quarterback Daniel Jones hit Golden Tate in the left seam for a 19-yard scoring toss with 33 seconds remaining to cut the score to 25-23, Jones tried to hit running back Dion Jones for the 2-point conversion to tie the game and force overtime.
Jones had a late release on the pass which was a quick out pattern on the goal line and Winfield made possibly his biggest play of the season through nine games when he broke up the pass to preserve the win.
“’Toine has been making plays since he got here. Today, he got put in a situation where he had to make a play and today he came up big for us,” said linebacker Lavonte’ David. “We knew they were going to have the quarterback come out of the pocket, sprint out, and ‘Toine did a good job getting over the top.”
Field Judge Nathan Jones threw a late flag and was apparently going to call a pass interference penalty on Winfield. However, after the officials came together, Winfield’s pass break-up was ruled legal as the ball hit him in the back before any contact was made.
“The ball hit Antoine in the back,” said Arians. “To me, it was no pass interference. I thought it was a good call. I don’t know why it took so long. He had his hands out; there was no contact; the ball hit him in the back.”
The two picks gave the Buccaneers 11 interceptions through the first eight games as Tampa Bay was at a (+6) in turnover ratio.
With Brady throwing three interceptions on Sunday night and the defense unable to get a bead on Brees and make him uncomfortable, the turnover margin dipped to (+3).
“It’s been a different guy all the time – usually Carlton (Davis),” noted Arians after the Giants game. “I was happy that Sean Murphy-Bunting got his tonight. Jamel (Dean) got his hands on one and so did Lavonte’ David. The guys just kept hanging in there and making plays, but yeah turnovers have been huge for us.”
With such a young secondary, many of the defensive backs had learned the game as they went forward last season and the experience has been invaluable.
Jerome Whitehead and Dean are two defensive backs that have also had a hand in the pillaging of opposing defenses. Whitehead had eight tackles on Sunday night and he had sacks in back-to-back games against the Broncos and Chargers.
Dean, in his second season out of Auburn, started the season strong with 21 tackles in his first three games. His biggest moment so far was his 32-yard interception return for a touchdown in the win over Green Bay.