However, that’s exactly what the Rams are to this Buccaneers team in their home opener Sunday.
Advertisement
“Because we should have had 50, you know”, the coach said in his Monday news conference. Winston threw four interceptions.
Part of that, Koetter said, is because of his youth.
“I did coach with Gregg in Jacksonville, and the challenge is that Gregg always got plenty up his sleeve”, Koetter said. “The Falcons, who we beat last week, go on the road to the Raiders who were a hot team and play well enough to get a big win on the road”. “Those are usually causes of interceptions”. It was never quite as close as the final score indicated (31-23), and quarterback Case Keenum finished with a career game, completing 14 of his 17 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns.
“His passer rating of 72.7 ranks just ahead of the Rams” Case Keenum (57.8), but the 2013 Heisman Trophy victor from Florida State is regarded as a potent gunslinger. He gets the ball out of his hands really quick.
“The first two weeks we saw traditional zone blocking schemes”, Smith said. The Rams need to get Todd Gurley going as the sophomore has been held in check thus far but could be in for a big game here as the Bucs are coming off a tough outing against the Arizona Cardinals and could be susceptible on defense. “I think we can continue to get better on that as we move forward”.
Through two games it’s been a slow start for Mike Smith’s defense.
Last week, Barron broke up a pass and made a team-best 10 tackles in the Rams’ 9-3 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, including one that resulted in a victory-clinching fumble. “We’re going to see some misdirection, not necessarily with their running back, but misdirection with the lineman and tight ends”. We haven’t executed in the first two games.
The Rams’ defensive line will play a large role in trying to neutralize Winston, but the onus will be on a secondary still struggling to find its footing in the aftermath of free-agent departures by cornerback Janoris Jenkins and safety Rodney McLeod. Sometimes they’re missed tackles, sometimes they’re missed assignments and sometimes they’re bad calls by me.
“So if we take anything away from this week, that’s what we got to do”. “I don’t know if we were like that last week”.
Smith said the team is still learning his style of defense. And we are giving all of the credit to their defense, especially that deadly front four. “We haven’t experienced a lot of things in the regular season”. “If you just look around the league, that’s how the NFL is”.
Advertisement
“There were some opportunities for Lavonte, but not many”, Smith said. We were not almost as active, across the board. “We need to be a lot more consistent”. “And it was a fun game – people remember it as the ‘ketchup and mustard game, ‘ that’s why I remember it. He was a little bit banged up and this time of the year it starts to happen, you see it with every team in the National Football League”.
