The Lions’ biggest advantage is the Rollin’ Stone that got away from the Buccaneers
The Lions have a hidden advantage that knows everything about the Buccaneers
Somewhere there should be, for all the world to see, a statue of a fool made of stone. An image of a man who let a great coach slip through his hands. After the 2024 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers simply let defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers walk away after five years of overseeing that line and nearly 10 years with Todd Bowles.
Bowles was asked about Rodgers on Thursday, and he had an interesting quote that offers some interesting parallels.
“Kacy is like David Ruffin – he’s going to be singing like the Temptations when he goes into the meetings [laughs]. We understand that, and we know that quite a bit. He’s been in this defense a long time. We just have to play our game and tweak certain things. We can’t worry about who’s on the other side of the ball right now. It’ll be great to see him and knock him upside his head one time after the game – but it’ll be a good battle.”
Much like the Temptations and Ruffin, Bowles and Rodgers spent a good amount of time together and had their best years together. Even won a Super Bowl in 2020. But at the end of the day, Bowles didn’t want to keep Rodgers anymore, and that gave Rodgers the opportunity to take the David Ruffin route and grab Eddie Kendricks (Pat O’Connor) and go start his own version of the Temptations elsewhere. In this case, it was in good old Motown.
The Lions’ biggest advantage is that Kacy Rodgers knows the ins and outs of the Bucs’ biggest strength on defense
Honestly, I’m a little shocked that I hadn’t thought of this earlier in the week. I was upset with myself. So upset that I wished it would rain to disguise the tears in my eyes. I mean, this is the big thing that can make or break the Lions’ offensive plans, right? How they perform against this defensive line is the key to the game.
Going back to last season, the Bucs’ defensive line was the reason the Lions lost that game. Not because they were super disruptive, but because the Lions thought they would be. That was the wrap on the game plan for the week. The idea that the Bucs were going to take the run game away from the Lions, so the Lions just didn’t really try to run it at all. Jared Goff threw the ball 55 times in that game. 55! They made themselves one-dimensional on purpose.
With Rodgers knowing every single thing about this group, including their weaknesses, the Lions won’t have to change a single grain of sand about what they like to do on offense. Rodgers can help direct them on where the best place to run the ball is, so they can do their usual heavy love on the run game, and he can help set up the blocking scheme on pass plays, too.
On top of that, Rodgers saw this Bucs offensive line and Baker Mayfield every day for two years. If anyone can help figure out how to penetrate this line and stop Mayfield, it’s Rodgers. You can bet that Campbell ain’t too proud to beg for more details on how to stop Mayfield, who is having a big season right now.
This is the thing to watch this week. It’s not Dan Campbell vs Todd Bowles anymore. It’s Kacy Rodgers vs Todd Bowles, and ain’t nobody come to see you, Todd.
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