Onus still on players as Bucs' debut new defensive scheme

People are endlessly fascinated with schemes in the National Football League, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defensive plan for this season has given fans much to ponder.

Anytime a team abandons a defense that it helped name, people are going to talk.

Indeed, ditching the Tampa 2 for the approach favored by new coordinator Jim Bates would seem to be a fundamental shift, especially on the defensive line. If those four down linemen don't put the quarterback on his back with extreme regularity, defensive backs could be stuck in solo coverage against a quarterback with too much time to survey the scene.

Without pressure, the whole thing falls apart.

That's true of any defense though, or at least that's what the men closest to the scene say. They say we may be overanalyzing just a bit.

"Pressure busts the pipes - that's what they say," defensive end Stylez White said. "But my role is more or less the same as it has always been: pass rush, be good at it. See ball, get ball. That's pretty much how it goes. It's relatively simple for the D-line. We've got our checks, we've got to be a student of the game, but when it's said and done, we've got to get to the quarterback. No matter what defense we're in, we've still got to get to the quarterback - let's just be realistic. Scheme is only going to help you so much."

The subject of pressure is at the fore this opening week of the season for a couple of reasons. Not only is this the first test for the approach, but it also comes against quarterback Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys.

"Every quarterback you want to get pressure on, but when you're talking about a guy like Romo who can attack you downfield, attack you with precision, it just brings up the importance even more. That's what you have to talk to your D-line about - relentless rush," Bucs coach Raheem Morris said.

"When you get a chance to rush him, you can't stop, you can't give up, because he's going to hold on to the football, he's going to throw it. You may have an opportunity [to sack him], but he may have an opportunity [to burn you] if you get lazy. It's a game for the opportunistic one. May the best man win."

White just grinned. Morris has been talking just that.

"We've been hearing it all week," he said.

Defensive tackle Chris Hovan said the Bucs don't have to worry about Romo running so much. Rather, it's his willingness to allow a play to fully develop that makes pressure a priority.

"Romo is not looking to run when he's running. He's looking to throw when he's running. He's very elusive in the pocket. A corner coming on the blitz thinks he's got [Romo's] shoulder, next you know he spins out. A defensive end goes high, and all of a sudden Romo ducks under him. He's a very elusive quarterback," he said.

Then Hovan offered a simple solution.

"My rule is, whenever you get the one-on-one, you've got to come home or you're not doing your job. If you're one-on-one, you've gotta win. That's what this game is coming down to," he said.

"[Romo's] a great quarterback, got great charisma, but those pocket guys hate getting hit. The best guys always hate getting hit. We're going to have to rattle him. If it's not sacks, it'll be getting pressures - hands in his face, legally hitting him when we get the chance. But we've got to get him off his clock. We've got to make him antsy. He's too good of a quarterback not to do that."

That brings us back to where we came in and the need for pressure in this new scheme. Last year, the Bucs had 11 sacks in the first four weeks and 25 in the first 12 games. Not coincidentally, the defense was playing well and the Bucs were 9-3.

It all fell apart in the final five weeks though. They got only one sack per game and went 0-for-December, losing four straight to miss the playoffs. It wasn't just the lack of pressure on the quarterback, either.

The Bucs allowed just one rushing touchdown in the first 12 games but were scorched for seven in the final four, including four in a season-changing loss at Carolina on Dec. 8. They allowed 756 yards rushing in those four games, an average of 5.4 yards per carry.

"That was the demise of us last season," Hovan said.

Lest we forget, Dallas will throw running back Marion Barber at the Bucs.

"Marion the Barbarian," White said with a laugh.

That may be the biggest change with Bates - the move toward beefier linemen, more than just the cosmetic 4-3 base scheme. Teams shift in and out of schemes and disguise coverages anyway, so the X-and-O part isn't as important as whom those X's and O's represent.

"If you're going 4-3, the guys up front have to eat and they have to produce, but I don't think it has changed that much to be honest with you," Hovan said. "The onus was on us with Tampa 2 and the onus is still on us with Jim Bates' defense. It's up to us. The potential is there.

"We have a different array of athletes in that room. We've got guys like myself, an overachiever - classic overachiever, people want to call me. You've got Gaines [Adams], who is right there. The light bulb is almost screwed in, and once it's turned on he's really going to be shining. He has unlimited potential.

"You've got Ryan Sims, a big clogger in the middle. He'll give us that big body in the middle. We've got a pass rusher like Sylez. ... The list could go on and on. We've got enough diversity to make it happen."

Whatever the scheme.