We had heard all week that Vita Vea had been practicing and it was looking more and more like he would be ready to make his debut on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That will not be the case as Koetter has decided to give Vea another week to get back into football shape. It will be at least Oct. 21 against the Browns before the home town fans get their first look at Vita Vea.
All signs are pointing to Brent Grimes being in the line-up. Although he is listed as questionable on the injury report, Grimes has indicated all week that he will be ready to go on Monday night.
With newly acquired DB Marcus Williams ruled out for Monday night, The Bucs could sure use their best DB in Brent Grimes to cover the talented trio of receivers that the Steelers will put on the field in Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and the TE Jesse James.
The Steelers come to town with a myriad of problems, but with a very talented team. The Le’Veon Bell situation continues to be a issue in the locker room and it appears that MIke Tomlin may be losing control of the team as Brown was a no show at practice on Monday.
Defensively the Steelers have really underachieved and the defense has been very pourous through the first two games as the Steelers are allowing 388 YPG.
The Steelers are giving up 152 YPG on the ground which is very uncharacteristic of a Steeler defense. The Bucs have had little success running the ball this season as they’re are averaging an anemic 2.7 YPC. This would be a good time to get that running game cranked up.
This game will also feature the two best offenses in the NFL as the Bucs come in averaging 483 YPG, and the Steelers average 474 YPG.
Look for the Bucs to strike early with the long ball as they will try to get that Steeler defense on its heels immediately.
Ben Roethlisberger is one of the slowest QB’s in the NFL, but is very difficult to bring down. The Bucs defensive line should be able to get pressure on BIg Ben, but will need to make sure they wrap him up and bring home down. You go for the big hit against Roethlisberger he will shake it off and could ending up making a big play to hurt you.
The Steelers have James Conner out of Pittsburgh as their RB to replace Bell. Conner is off to a good start as he has ran for over 100 yards in both Steeler games so far.
The Bucs will have to account for the Steeler LBs’ Bud Dupree and the little brother of JJ Watt TJ Watt as they like to line up at different spots on the field.
The Bucs defense statistically is worse than last year, yet no one has talked about that much because of the great play of the offense and Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Bucs are giving up 433 YPG and most of that is through the air as the Bucs DB’s are giving up 367 YPG. Only Kansas City’s defense is worse than the Bucs and they are also off to a 2-0 start.
This has the potential to be a high scoring very entertaining game as both teams will put up a lot of points.
I like the Bucs to shock the world and beat the Steelers 38-28 on Monday night To go to 3-0 For the first time since 2005 season.
-The Bucs will induct Tony Dungy into their Ring of Honor at halftime. Dungy was very instrumental in laying the foundation for the Bucs success that ultimately led to the Bucs winning the Super Bowl under Jon Gruden in 2003. A well deserved honor for Coach Dungy.
