It would be an understatement to say that the Tampa Bay Buccaneer defense has become as demoralized as a unit can be, and one such demoralized player is cornerback Brent Grimes.
Though Grimes has been slowed by injury, playing in 8 of the 10 games of the season, he’s suffering what’s amounting to his least productive season as a Buccaneer. The 12-year veteran has only 3 passes defended and 29 tackles all season.
Grimes has averaged around 4-5 interceptions per year except for 2017 where it’s gone down to three. He’ll contribute the occasional fumble, but like the rest of his teammates, he’s been nothing more than fodder for every quarterback.
While a number can point to defensive mainstays like Vernon Hargreaves and Chris Conte being placed on injured reserve and out for the remainder of the year, a veteran like Grimes should be taking the role of leader in the secondary. Instead he barely shows up on the stat sheet.
While only having one team interception is hardly just Grimes’ fault, it shows the kind of chaos and loss of control Mike Smith had over the unit. Even during the Bucs’ early victories, the secondary still picked up where it left off, lacking any discipline to rush the quarterback save for Jason Pierre-Paul, and the secondary constantly gets caught up out of position in zone coverage or just burned by star receivers like Odell Beckham, Jr., who makes you pay with his reach as well as his speed.
It’s hard to believe this is the same team that upset the New Orleans Saints in week one and defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles in week 2. Then again, when defenses take away the long ball and the offensive line constantly struggles with their assignments, it’s no wonder the defense is seeing the field far more, often under harsher circumstances. Perhaps someone like Grimes is just done and has quit, like most of his teammates already have.
