Vita Vea looked dominant on Thursday Night Football

Vita Vea was a bright spot on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense in a loss on Thursday Night Football.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles doesn’t have a lot of positives to take away from his team’s 36-30 overtime loss to the Atlanta Falcons, mainly due to Kirk Cousins, who threw for 509 yards and 4 touchdowns and shredded Tampa Bay’s defense.

However, if Bowles can come out of the loss with any positive takeaways, it’s that defensive tackle Vita Vea is healthy and looked like his dominant self in Atlanta after suffering a sprained MCL that kept him out of the team’s 26-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Vea’s impact was felt in both the pass and the run game. As a run defender, his presence is imposing; the Falcons refused to call any run plays between the tackles for running back Bijan Robinson with him on the field. He finished with just two tackles, but one of them was a sack.

Whenever he’s on the field, Vea is widely regarded as one of the best run defenders in the NFL. Combined with his prowess as a pass rusher, he has a chance to stake his claim as one of the best defensive tackles in the league this season.

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