This Ray Davis return ended at the Bills’ 49 yard line yesterday.
So Joe caught up with core Bucs special teams player Josh Hayes yesterday in the locker room after the Bills buried the Bucs 44-32.
Joe wanted to ask Hayes about his forced fumble while covering a Bucs punt in Bills territory, and about the horrific Bucs kickoff coverage units.
Buffalo’s first 5 kick returns went for 220 yards. That’s no typo and, ultimately, it probably was the difference in the game.
Hayes lines up in the middle of the kickoff coverage line. Joe thinks Hayes might be better suited for outside, but that’s a thought for another day. The fourth-year cornerback/fourth-down specialist plays hard and has some dawg in him. Joe can’t say that about everyone the Bucs line up on fourth down.
So Mr. Hayes, what was going on with the kickoff coverage?
“Abysmal,” Hayes replied.
“I mean, shoot, if I had an answer, I feel like we’d have figured it out. I think there’s a lot of things, fundamentals and stuff, we got to go back to and figure out how to fix those and be able to correct those things. We can’t let the same thing happen five, six times in a row and then be surprised by it. So, I think someone’s just got to get back in the lab and figure out, ‘Ok, what is the issue and can we address it correctly before it becomes a continual thing.”
Joe asked Hayes if he thought he might be moved to the outside on kickoff coverage and if the Bucs were making adjustments.
“I mean, Coach [Thomas McGaughey], I think he’s done a great job and I think we just try to follow the gameplan as much as we can,” Hayes said. “I feel like in a sense [the Bills] had us kind of schemed up a little bit to where they kind of knew where they were going. If we did move one guy over here, one guy on the backside, [the Bills] found a way to be where they needed to be. We take it on the chin and find a way to fix it come next week.”
Joe’s watched the All-22 film of yesterday’s kickoffs and, of course, others in past games. Joe wishes the Bucs had more guys like Jacob Parrish and Josh Hayes to use. Chris Braswell seems awfully soft for his draft status, and others like Deion Jones don’t exactly play with their hair on fire.
Is McGaughey getting outcoached? He was earlier this season on the Bucs’ punt units. If that’s the case now, there are moves Todd Bowles could make other than saying, ‘We gotta coach it better and we gotta play it better.’