Bucs DL Vita Vea, Greg Gaines and Will Gholston Photo by: USA Today Regardless of the conversations being had off the field about the play, the Bucs will have to try their hand at stopping it on the field come Monday night. They saw it back in Week 3 and while they may have gotten one stop, the Eagles managed to keep plenty of their drives going because of it. The Bucs started the game with stops on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1, but it was a rare occasion when Philadelphia didn’t go with the sneak. The third-down play was an incomplete pass, while the fourth-down play was a run by Kenneth Gainwell, who lost a yard. After that, the Eagles took a lot of their short-yardage opportunities to put their mastery of the sneak on display. When running the “tush push” that night, the Eagles were 4-of-5. Even when the Bucs got a stop on third-and-goal at the 1-yard line in the third quarter, the Eagles ran it again on fourth-and-goal. That time, Hurts got into the end zone. Overall, the Eagles were 10-of-16 on third downs and 2-of-3 on fourth downs. That helped them to what was nearly an 18-minute advantage in time of possession. Philadelphia had the ball for 38:55 that night, while Tampa Bay had it for just 21:05. Todd Bowles Speaks On “Tush Push” Ahead Of Wild Card Weekend 
Bucs heac coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR Bucs head coach Todd Bowles knew going into the team’s Week 3 game against the Eagles that the “tush push” would be a challenge for his defense. And after getting a good look at it back then, he and his unit will come up against it again as they try to survive and advance to the NFC Divisional Round. How can you stop the “tush push?” No one has quite been able to figure it out. Bowles was asked about it during his Monday press conference, and he took a stab at providing an answer. “It’s a big advantage for them,” Bowles said Monday. “I think it’s a very good play. The only way you can counter that is to try not to get in it. You want to keep them at five or more [yards] if you can. But, they do a very good job at getting in it.” That’s the trick answer to the question, of course. It’s like The Office‘s Darryl Philbin said: “What’s the safest way to go skiing? Don’t ski.” But Bowles is right. The key for the Bucs will be avoiding those third-and-short and fourth-and-short situations. Keeping the Eagles in third-and-long scenarios can help to neutralize the sneak play. As for how to actually stop the “brotherly shove” when those short-yardage scenarios come up? Having a massive human like Vita Vea in the center of your defensive line can help some, but that can only do so much. Bowles, like every other defensive coordinator in the league, admitted he’s at a loss as far as knowing how to stop the play. “If I had the answer right now, I would be upstairs diagramming, calling it, and writing books on it,” Bowles said. “I don’t have it right now.” The post Bucs Get Second Try Against Eagles’ “Tush Push” appeared first on Pewter Report. Source: https://www.pewterreport.com/bucs-secon ... tush-push/
