The Tampa Bay Buccaneers received great news on Sunday, when the team announced that defensive tackle Vita Vea would be active in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers. Vea has the potential to be a critical factor against the Packers as the Buccaneers look to slow down Aaron Rodgers and the dangerous Green Bay offense.
Sometimes the numbers tell a story, and they certainly do in this case. If you are Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, one of the things you definitely want to do is slow down Davante Adams. One way to do that? Playing with two-high safeties. As discussed recently on the Touchdown Wire NFL Matchup Podcast, Adams this year has feasted against single-high coverages, but struggled a bit against those dual safety looks.
According to data from Sports Info Solutions, against two-safety coverage (Cover-2, 2-Man, Cover-4, Cover-6, and Tampa-2) this season Adams has 18 catches on 27 targets for 223 yards, 51 yards after the catch, and one touchdown. Against single-high coverage this season (Cover-1, Cover-3, and combination coverages), Adams has 72 catches on 95 targets for 970 yards, 576 yards after the catch, and 14 touchdowns.
So you play Adams with a single safety up top at your own peril.
The fear as a defense is that when you play with two safeties deep, you might struggle to stop the run. Furthermore, with those two-deep packages you invite teams to run against lighter boxes.
That is where Vea comes into factor. How good is he against the run? This season, when Vea is on the field, the Bucs allowed 2.8 yards per carry. Without him, 4.0. Without Vea, Tampa Bay allowed a Rushing EPA of -0.17 — they were still good — and with him, they allowed a Rushing EPA of -0.32. So, maybe Tampa Bay doesn’t have to cheat anybody up to stop the run.
With Vea back, he can keep linebackers Lavonte David and Devin White clean and he can help the Buccaneers stop the run without sacrificing a safety into the box. That means they can play the two-high looks, which could go a long way towards slowing down Adams in the passing game.