The Bucs have a good run defense, but it tends to fall apart when Vita Vea is off the field.
Such was the case Sunday against the Packers.
Kaleb Johnson (who?) took a handoff for Green Bay and scampered 31 yards up the gut. He wasn’t touched until he was seven yards downfield, and then came the missed tackles. (Video below)
Todd Bowles told the Buccaneers Radio Network after the game that the Johnson run was one of three misses in his vaunted run defense.
“Thought we let three runs out that shouldn’t have got out; that we ought to play better,” Bowles told Jay Recher. “And you know, we were very good at that and that didn’t happen. So, they led to [Green Bay] holding the ball a little bit more from a time standpoint. It is minor, but it’s major.”
Major indeed, when a game is tight. Packers running backs combined for 85 yards on 19 carries. In Week 3, Green Bay ran for 17 total yards behind their struggling offensive line.
Kaleb Johnson breaks out a 31 yard run, the longest of his young career!
He already has more yards in 3 games with the Packers than he did in 10 games with the Steelers his rookie year. https://t.co/56tuTX9knz