Playmaker.
Through the first two weeks of the season, it looked like inside linebacker Alex Anzalone might be the worst Bucs defensive free agent signing since Haason Reddick.
He was struggling with tackling and looked slow, and then Anzalone snapped out of his funk a bit in Week 3.
Anzalone, 32, has been improving ever since, and today was a new Bucs level for the 10-year veteran in Tampa Bay’s 16-0 shutout of the Falcons. He had interceptions in the second and third Falcons’ series of the game. The Bucs only turned those turnovers into three points, but the Anzalone ball-hawking seemed to take the Falcons out of their game plan completely.
“Rattled” is probably the appropriate word.
Anzalone’s interceptions were his second and third of the season. That’s the most by a Bucs linebacker since Lavonte David in 2015.
What an upgrade Anzalone and rookie Josiah Trotter have been for the Bucs this season at inside linebacker. Night and day difference.