TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Mike Smith isn't holding back criticism of his team's performance in their 34-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday. And he says those issues -- particularly giving up explosive plays -- must be corrected heading into this Sunday's matchup against the New York Giants.
"The level we played at was unacceptable last week. We’ve got to get it fixed," Smith said. "We didn't perform at the level that we needed to -- that’s obvious in terms of explosive plays. When you give up close to 190 yards in four plays, it really doesn’t matter what happens the rest of the game. You’re probably pulling and running uphill because you just can’t do that. We did it and we own it from the top down."
Stopping explosives
An explosive play is defined by the Bucs as a pass play of 16 yards or longer or a run play of 12 yards or longer. It's a metric they often use defensively and offensively. The Bucs surrendered a whopping 11 explosive plays against the Vikings, more than any other team in the NFL in Week 3 and tied for the fourth-most of any team in a game this season.
Their biggest issue came with their pass defense, as they surrendered nine explosives to Case Keenum for 273 yards. That's not a good sign with two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning coming to town this week and four-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady next week.
Better disguises, halting tempo
Because the Giants haven't run the ball well, Manning might be throwing a lot.
"Eli Manning, at the quarterback position, 90 percent of the time he was in no-huddle calling in at the line, so it’s going to be a little bit of a chess match in terms of us trying to hold our shell and hold our intentions in what we are trying to do," Smith said. "He’s going to stand over and look at what you’re in and if you send them an email, you’re going to get cut up."
The pass rush and pass coverage, from the front end to the back end, must work in unison. On-field communication has to improve. A much greater emphasis is being placed on disguising coverages to slow them down. A hostile crowd (although you can expect a lot of Giants fans) can help.
"They change the tempo up," said defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. "We recognize that, not only because of what they did to Philly but because of what Minnesota did to us. If you notice, a lot of the plays they got were from catching us off guard, coming up to the line and making plays."
"With a tempo like that, we have to be ready for a lot of short passes, the ball getting out quick. If you notice, they gave up eight sacks the first two weeks and none last week due to how fast the ball was getting out. We've gotta be ready for that."
Getting off the field on third down
They also have to get better on third down. Last season, the Bucs allowed their opponents the lowest third-down conversion percentage in the league, just 34.4 percent. In two games this season they've allowed 51.9 percent, which ranks 30th in the league. It's a very small sample size, but it's a trend to keep an eye on.
"We've got to get more pressure up front," McCoy said. "We've got to cover the back end. Disguise is big. I don't know how well we've been disguising what we're in, but it's gonna be huge this week. [Eli] was in fast-paced mode against Philly. We've gotta be better on third down for sure."
Getting healthy
The Bucs dealt with a lot of health issues last week. They were missing top players at all three levels of the defense, with defensive tackle Chris Baker (flu), linebacker Kwon Alexander (hamstring) and cornerback Brent Grimes (shoulder) all out. McCoy was also hobbled by an ankle injury and defensive end Noah Spence left, but returned after dislocating his shoulder. Linebacker Lavonte David suffered an ankle injury and it's not likely that David and Alexander will play Sunday.
Grimes and Baker were back and fully practicing Wednesday. If Spence hadn't put on a shoulder brace or been on the injury report, you wouldn't have known he was hurt. Defensive end Jacquies Smith, who has yet to make his debut this season after a setback recovering from a torn ACL and then the flu, was also back. Safety T.J. Ward now has a hip injury.
"Unfortunately, we’ve got some guys that are down, but nobody is going to feel sorry for us -- that’s for sure," Mike Smith said. "Nobody in this league -- there [are] 31 other teams, [and] they don't give a rat's ass about what's happening in Tampa. They just want to beat our butt[s] when they play us and we're doing the same thing. There ain't no sympathy, I can assure you that."