The Aftermath: Week 5 – Tampa Bay/Atlanta

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21, Atlanta Falcons 15  (Oct. 9)

Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is the Tampa Buccaneers’ 2021 first round draft pick, 32nd overall and I will admit I’d never heard of him. In fact, I was on the Pat and Aaron Show a couple days ago and Aaron asked me about him. I had no idea who he was or what position he played.

It turns out Tyron-Shoynka is a defensive end/outside linebacker, and he is a specimen. Whatever an athlete is supposed to look like in size and build – he looks it. I will give him that.

I did see a number 9 come in the games I watched this year but I thought at the time he was a backup player. I never really paid him much attention. I paid attention to Shaq Barrett – after all, he is one of the league’s best pass rushers over the last couple of years. He’s been less impactful this year, but I trust the talented veteran will turn things around. 

For last Sunday’s Falcons game I decided to pay close attention to Joe Tryon-Shoyinka to get to know the Bucs’ first-round pick. 

Remember the Falcons are divisional rivals and, as we’ve discussed, that means everyone will be upping the intensity for this game. The Falcons are coming off a win against my team growing up, the Cleveland Browns, and the Bucs are desperate for a win. This should be a high energy affair. 

So the game starts and the offense is looking better  – not by a lot, but better. But I’m more focused on the defense. I am locked in on player #9, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka! A couple of series pass by and I see #9 make a brilliant pass rush move. He faked inside and then spun outside to sack Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota. A couple series later, another brilliant move that almost landed him a second sack. It’s only the fifth game of the season, but at this point, I’m thinking the kid has arrived. Very impressive. 

But the more I watched him the more he seemed out of place. While his athletic ability generated some highlight film plays, he struggled with nuts and bolts responsibilities like guarding lanes he was assigned to. I questioned a few times if he knew which defense the team was running that play. There were even a few plays where he wasn’t hustling.

My enthusiasm waned and it became a little hard to watch Joe. He had a few nice early plays but ended the game with just the one sack.

As a first round pick he must make an immediate impact. The Buccaneers organization used its most valuable team-building resource – its top pick – on him. He doesn’t have the luxury of not knowing the playbook, or not running 100% every play. 

The defense played solid for about three quarters of football, but of course the game is four quarters and the Falcons almost came back for the win. 

I’ll add that the offense didn’t help much. They didn’t stay on the field enough. Instead of running the ball to eat up the clock, they decided to pass the ball two or three series in a row. Incomplete passes stopped the clock, giving the Falcons more time to operate. I don’t understand the play calls and was disappointed by the poor execution on the offensive side of the ball. It almost cost us a game where the team had a commanding lead. 

In the end, the Bucs won due in no small part to a questionable roughing the passer call that only the likes of Tom Brady could have coerced from the refs. I’m all for protecting the quarterback, but calls like that make me think it’s getting out of hand.

At this point in the season, I’m trying to figure out the Bucs’ identity. Do they know it? Perhaps we’ll all know more after what should surely be a win against Pittsburgh next week … right?