Tackling statistics are funny things. There are linebackers who rack up hige totals year after year, and it hides the fact that they can be innocent bystanders in the right place at the right time… well, a lot of the time. Cornerbacks and safeties with large tackle totals may have them because their coverage is sub-par. And interior defensive linemen may be the most mis-represented players by way of these numbers, because tackle totals don’t tell you anything (or at least very little) about the player’s effect on the game.
Exhibit A in the 2021 NFL season came in the opener between the Buccaneers and Cowboys on Thursday night. Tampa Bay defensive tackle Vita Vea was as utterly dominant as any IDL you’ll see all season, but he didn’t register a single official tackle. Last season, Vea missed Week 6 through the divisional round of the playoffs, and he registered just seven solo tackles all season, but the Bucs’ defense was an entirely different animal when he was on the field. Per Sports Info Solutions, Tampa Bay allowed an Offensive EPA of -0.05 when Vea was off the field, and -0.18 when he was in there. As defensive advanced metrics are generally better when they’re negative, that tells you how important Vea is.
Vea was incredibly important with his very presence against the Cowboys, who ran the ball just 18 times for 60 yards. Dak Prescott set a Week 1 NFL record for completions with 42, and he played marvelously for the most part, but the Cowboys also knew that last season, the Bucs allowed 4.0 yards per carry when Vea was off the field, and 2.8 yards per carry when he was active.
So, Vea was going to have to be a pass disruptor, and the stats show that he’s rather good at that, as well. The Bucs created a blown block pressure rate of 13.8% last season without Vea, and 19.2% with him. Basically, with Vita Vea on the line, Tampa Bay was creating disruption on one of every five passing plays.
Not bad at all.
“He plays a very pivotal role in our defense,” general manager Jason Licht said in April, when the team picked up Vea’s fifth-year option. “When he’s in there, a lot of things happen for not just him but everybody else around him. The day that we found out that he was going to come back and play…it was a very big day for all of us. It was a very exciting day. Coaches, scouts, players, owners, everybody – we were all very excited.”
Pro Football Focus credited Vea with one quarterback hit and six total pressures against the Cowboys, which gives you a slightly more accurate indication of his effect on the game in Tampa Bay’s 31-29 win. Vea was all over the place on his 54 defensive snaps, and he wasn’t too bad on his one offensive snap, either.
Vita Vea coming at you as a fullback is an "Oh, @#$^" moment for any defensive tackle. pic.twitter.com/YnbwM9UVk6
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 10, 2021
How can a player with no tackles and one snap as a fullback take over a game? Let’s go to the tape and see exactly how it happened.