Simeon Rice is an all time great pass rusher, who played with some Hall of Fame talent as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Rice watched Sunday’s loss to the Redskins, which dropped Tampa Bay to 2-4 on the year, and he didn’t like what he saw, saying that the Buccaneers lack a competitive fire. Or as he simply put it, the Buccaneers don’t have any “killers” on the defensive side of the ball.
“The killer instinct is missing, but you need killers to have a killer instinct,” Rice said. “That’s a special, special kind of talent you need to show up consistently – not just one game. Anybody can have one game. You need to do with regularity. You have to develop that reputation, that attitude of being a killer.”
Rice was sack artist, but also on a team full of Hall of Fame defenders and guys who would make a play or get a crucial stop when it was needed. Rice was far from done explaining what the Bucs were missing.
“When you have guys that kill momentum and step up and be able to thwart situations – that’s unique,” Rice said. “When we took the field – and I’m speaking about days gone by – we knew that no one was going to march the ball downfield on us. We knew that was our time. Those critical moments – you have to know that these are your moments to shine.
“We were actually on offense. We played defense, but we were on offense looking to make big plays. The blood-rushing moments, the gut-wrenching moments are when you’re on defense and you take away something a team does so well. You have this sack-fumble or this interception – something that breaks their momentum. That allows you to put your stamp – your signature – on a game.”
Would the Bucs be a different unit with Ndamukong Suh at defensive tackle instead of Gerald McCoy? Probably, but we’ll never know.
By Glenn Erby
