After winning Super Bowl LV, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to run it back. They returned all 22 of their starters from last season’s championship team, giving them an excellent chance to repeat as the best team in the NFL.
It also makes this a very familiar defense to the Los Angeles Rams, who will host the Bucs on Sunday afternoon. They beat Tampa Bay 27-24 last season and will be seeking a second straight win over the Buccaneers this year to move their record to 3-0, but moving the ball against this defense won’t be easy.
Sean McVay explained to reporters on Thursday just how unusual it is to face a defense that has this amount of continuity from the year prior, but that’s not a good thing because it’s a unit that boasts Vita Vea, Shaquil Barrett, Devin White, Lavonte David and Antoine Winfield Jr., among others.
“We played them each of the last couple of years, so there’s been continuity with Coach (Todd) Bowles still being there and you can kind of just see how their players have gotten better,” McVay said. “They’ve gotten more comfortable. I guess I’ve never really thought of it that way, but there’s a lot of familiar faces and that’s not a good thing for when you’re trying to go against these guys because (they’re) really good players. They’ve only continued to increase their ownership of what the intent is of what they’re trying to get done. And I think they’re definitely a very versatile outfit that can beat you in a variety of ways.”
There is the added benefit of picking up on some tendencies of the Buccaneers’ defense, but Bowles has changed things up with his scheme over the last two years so that it’s not the exact same look for the Rams.
McVay doesn’t see many tendencies that the Rams can truly capitalize on against the Bucs.
“In some instances you can make the case, but I thought what was really impressive with what Coach Bowles did is their identity,” he added. “They had the ability to kind of change their identity a little bit as the season went on and when they really hit their stride. You’re seeing them do a good job of kind of taking some things that maybe were offseason studies or things that they did at a high level after we had played them and implement them both against Dallas and Atlanta. So, there’s a variety of different things that he can activate, but there’s enough stuff that he’s thrown at you. It’s hard to pick up on any real tendencies from these guys.”
The Rams have their work cut out for them against this Buccaneers defense, even with Matthew Stafford under center. It’s not an easy unit to play against and will be Los Angeles’ toughest test yet.
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