Dein erstes Forum » Mike Smith speaks to the media

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers returned to practice on Thursday afternoon Womens Jameis Winston Jersey , in preparation for their week three matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football. Defensive coordinator Mike Smith spoke to the media following the teams practice. The Buccaneers did get some positive news today on the injury front regarding both Vita Vea and Brent Grimes. In regards to Vita Vea, it is unclear whether or not he will play this weekend, but Smith is confident in his ability to make an immediate impact. “Oh absolutely. Vita’s a big man. He’s going to demand four hands on him,” Smith said. “If they try to put two hands on him he’s going to be a guy that’s going to be able to get penetration into the offensive backfield. We’re just waiting for the word where he can get out and help us.”On the other side of the spectrum, Grimes declared himself 100% today and is excited to return to the field on Monday. Mike Smith is also looking forward to getting his top cornerback against the games best receiver. “It’s going to be great to have him back today first – out there on the practice field – and getting him reacclimated to playing football. He’s a very good defensive back that is going to make us a better defense, so we love having Brent out there,” Smith said. “He knows and understands the game and he’s going to help the other guys as well because he’s a guy that really studies and understands splits Jordan Whitehead Jersey White , and how people are trying to attack us.”Tampa Bay is off to a great start and the Steelers are coming in to Raymond James Stadium desperate for a win. With the drama surrounding the Steelers right now, you can make the argument that this is a must win game for them. Mike Smith knows the Steelers will be ready to go come Monday. “I think when you don’t get the outcome you want in the previous week, it ramps up your desire. I don’t think it matters if you were a playoff team or you were a team that was in the middle of the pack. Guys in this league are super competitive – we don’t like to lose,” Smith said. “I can assure you that Coach [Mike] Tomlin is going to have those guys ready to go when we play them on Monday night. I hate to say underwhelmed, overwhelmed – when we go play the team that didn’t get the outcome they wanted the previous [week] they got a little something in their neck.”There was no question that the overall defensiveperformance improved from week one to week two for the Buccaneers, but the pass rush is what was noticeably improved. “I think the biggest progress that we made as a defensive football team was that we were a lot better in our pass rush and putting the pressure on the quarterback. We got to him three times and we hit him about a dozen times,” Smith said. “That was probably the biggest thing. It was a lot of individual effort Carlton Davis Jersey White , but it was also a group of guys that were working together in terms of knowing what each other was doing and being assist-men for each other.”If the Buccaneers want to get to 3-0, the pass rush will need to step up again or Big Ben will shred this defense apart. In Week 2 of the 2018 NFL Season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Philadelphia Eagles. The two franchises have faced off eighteen times (regular and post-season) in their history with the Eagles holding a 10-8 advantage over the Bucs currently.The last time the two teams faced off, Tampa Bay came away with a 45-17 victory over the Eagles on the road in November of the 2015 season.In fact, the road team has won the last three meetings between the two teams dating back to 2012.Leading up to the game, James Yarcho and I published a series of game previews with special guests joining us to assist us as we try to cover every angle of the match-up.LOCKED ON BUCS / LOCKED ON EAGLES CROSSOVER EPISODEThe first preview episode features a crossover with Louie DiBiase of the Locked on Eagles Podcast. Together, James Yarcho and DiBiase shed some light as to how each side views their upcoming opponent and make the first score predictions of the week.INJURY UPDATES Warren Sapp Jersey White , LISTENER VOICEMAILS AND BOLD PREDICTIONS WITH BRENT ALLENThe second preview of the week features injury updates as both the Buccaneers and Eagles release their first official injury reports of the week.News of Vernon Hargreaves III heading to the injury reserve broke early, and before the day was over we learned Jason Pierre-Paul, Brent Grimes and Vita Vea were held out of practice while offensive linemen Donovan Smith and Caleb Benenoch were limited participants.The Eagles saw Alshon Jeffery and Carson Wentz listed as limited participants as was running back Darren Sproles. Brent and David discuss the possibilities of facing the defending Super Bowl Champions without three key playmakers, and Brent makes his first bold predictions of the week as well as trying his hand at predicting the winner.