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“We Plan To Inflict Pain On People”
September 12th, 2013
Gerald McCoy delivered some tough talk last night.
You could almost hear drool dripping from Greg Schiano’s mouth when he talked about his defense Monday.
Schiano was on the Buccaneers Radio Network talking about a Buccaneers defense, his defense, the Rutgers defense, that’s harder-hitting than anything seen around Tampa Bay in years.
And it’s not just Schiano brimming with defensive confidence and swagger. It’s everywhere in the Bucs’ locker room, as well.
Mason Foster told Joe there is new attitude and a stepped-up intensity this season.
“We definitely are a physical team. We feed off each other. Lavonte makes a big hit, I feel like I gotta make a big hit. If I make a big hit, Dashon feels like he gotta make a big hit. So it goes across the board, man,” Foster said. “And I love it. I love that type of football. I’m excited to go out there Sunday and get to hit somebody else.”
Gerald McCoy took things a step further on WDAE-AM 620 last night.
“I don’t want him to [change]. I don’t want him to. I don’t want him to,” McCoy said of Dashon Goldson’s ferocious, fine-inducing hits. “Because once you start worrying about penalties you can’t play as fast as you want to and you start slowing down. I love the hits. I love them. When you slow them down, it was all shoulder. But what the refs are taught to look at, from what they see at that moment, if it looks like your head was in there, then they’re going to call it. But once we slowed [the game film] down, clearly [Goldson] turned his head away and just used his shoulder.
“But the hits, they’re not dirty. They’re clean hits. He’s just playing physical. That’s what our defense is about.”
“When you turn on the tape, we want people to hate that they have to play our defense. We plan to inflict pain on people, you know, within the rules. But that’s the plan, whether it’s a quarterback, fullback, running back, offensive lineman, whoever. That’s the goal of this defense — to impose our will. We did that Sunday.”
Joe could type up more examples of the defensive confidence coming out of Week 1. And Joe’s talked to plenty of Bucs offensive players who are jacked up by what they saw from the defense.
Yes, the Bucs were facing a weak Jets offense with second-tier weapons, but the defense was sound, with arguably the best defensive player in the league, Darrelle Revis, still shaking off rust.
Joe will be a true believer if the Bucs can perform Sunday against Drew Brees. An organic, stunt-free pass rush will be critical. There’s no way the Bucs succeed blitzing the Saints the way they did the Jets.
Great article with McCoy