Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Buccaneers Game Day Spotlight: Gerald McCoy

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

In a must win game for the Buccaneers to keep their season alive, Gerald McCoy has to anchor the defensive line and get pressure on Jay Cutler.

The unnecessary scrutiny on Gerald McCoy has reached mass levels of stupidity. People want him traded, cut, shipped out of town because he doesn’t fit some sort of false narrative made up by people who want something to complain about. Gerald McCoy does more for this defense than many know or are willing to admit.

Jay Cutler, when given the time, can shred defenses, no matter how good they are. It’ll be on the Bucs, and their fourth all time leader in sacks, to generate pressure on him and help out a secondary that can’t ever seem to help themselves.

With the return of Robert Ayers a few weeks ago, as well as the steady improvement of rookie Noah Spence, the defensive line is starting to put it together. And although Clinton McDonald has practiced the last few weeks, he hasn’t seen the field on Sundays. There appears to be a strong likelihood that he plays today, getting this defensive line back to almost 100%.

However, it all boils down to McCoy. He attracts the double and triple teams every play, yet still manages to be the best run stopper on the line. No, he isn’t going to get two and three sacks every game, but without him, no one else on the line has one-on-one opportunities. Who else has stepped up? Who?

Exactly.

The Buccaneers have to generate pass rush to slow down Cutler and the Bears receivers which will dominate this game if Cutler has time. We all know it. We’ve seen Vernon Hargreaves play well, but make rookie mistakes. Brent Grimes is a shell of his former self and can’t seem to stay on his feet. On top of that, there is no safety help.

This game will be won in the trenches, and it starts with Gerald McCoy.