Happy for defense.
Lost in the anxiety of losing last Sunday and half of Philadelphia invading The Licht House, a fairly important thing happened in the second half of the Bucs’ first loss of the season when they dropped a game to the Eagles.
The Bucs did not allow Eagles star quarterback Jalen Hurts to complete one pass in the second half last week. Joe is not sure he’s ever heard of that before (in the Super Bowl era).
To pull that off, especially with the Bucs losing players (Jamel Dean, Greg Gaines, Benjamin Morrison) to injury, that’s very good defense.
Yesterday, Bucs coach Todd Bowles was asked about the lack of turnovers. Almost shockingly to Joe, he sort of dismissed that and instead bragged about how good the Bucs’ defense has played.
> “It’s not disappointing – the season’s still young,” Bowles said. “They’re playing good defense.
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> “The key is to play good defense. You want to get turnovers so you make shorter fields and make it easier for the offense. So, we’ve got to help out a little more in that category.”
Hallelujah! Joe thought for a moment there that the way Bowles was stressing turnovers this offseason and through training camp, that Bowles was starting to turn into lousy Lovie Smith.
For Lovie, that’s all he cared about. Joe has been and always will be of the mind that a team should play good defense first. Once that is established, eventually turnovers will come.
What good is it if a defense gets, say, three turnovers in a game but is otherwise boat-raced up and down the field, giving up touchdowns?
Good defenses don’t often have slumps. And good defenses often travel.
If someone can predict turnovers, you’ll make so much money in Vegas you’ll get blackballed by the sportsbooks.