There are defensive coaches on talent-starved teams that likely cringed when they heard Lovie Smith talking about his team after yet another double-digit loss, the Buccaneers' second in four weeks.
Part of the theme of his post-Ravens press conference, which took place moments after a 48-17 loss, was about personnel and whether Tampa Bay has players good enough to run Smith's scheme.
"We're not giving excuses ... but we're not as talented as we need to be in some areas, and sometimes you can pick on that a little bit," Smith said Sunday. "But at the same time, the areas where we are talented, it's all kind of snowballing a little bit."
At his disposal, Smith has Lavonte David, Gerald McCoy, Alterraun Verner, Mark Barron and Dashon Goldson to name a few. Three of the franchise's last four first-round picks have been spent on defensive talent, and the Bucs went with a cornerback, Johnthan Banks, with their second-round pick in 2013 after spending a first-rounder on Darrelle Revis.
Perhaps their struggles can be attributed to a lack of depth in other places and a quarterback that is still in development. That being said, that is still a boatload of talent to be complaining about.
We recap all the Week 6 action on a jaunty edition of the "Around The NFL Podcast." Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
