Gerald McCoy turns to Warren Sapp for help on double teams

TAMPA, Fla. -- In his role as the second coming of Warren Sapp, Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy faces a lot of double-team blocking.

So who better to turn to than Sapp for advice on how to handle it?

That’s what McCoy did a couple days ago. He went straight to a guy who faced more than his share of double teams.

“It used to frustrate me,’’ McCoy said Thursday. “But then I kind of realized that’s what comes with it. Ninety-nine told me, 'It’s tough sledding down there. When you’re the guy, that’s what you’re going to get. Get used to it. Get over it.'"

That’s solid advice from a Hall of Famer. Like Sapp once was, McCoy is the best player on the Tampa Bay defensive line. The double teams aren’t going away. McCoy said he has to deal with the double teams and find ways to beat them.

“It has to be done in order for me to be effective,’’ McCoy said. “It’s something I have to work on extremely hard, especially if it comes up in practice. That’s the best time to work on it. There are a lot of times when teams max protect and somebody has to win. I’ve got to get better and perfect working against double teams. There are ways to slip double teams. There are ways to align yourself in a better way when you know it’s coming. There are a lot of different things I can do. I’ve just got to keep working at it because if I get it down it will help us a lot.’’

Logic would say that the double teams on McCoy would free up the rest of the defensive line to come up with more sacks. But it hasn’t worked out that way so far.

McCoy leads the Bucs with five sacks. Nobody else has more than two and the Bucs have only 14 sacks as a team. Defensive end Michael Johnson has been slowed by injuries all season and that has hurt the pass rush. But McCoy said the defensive line needs to function better as a unit.

“We’ve got to work better together,’’ McCoy said. “That’s a fact. We definitely do. As for coordinating our rushes, meeting more than just in the meetings that are required. We have to meet as a unit and kind of get a feel for how we want to rush. But we definitely have to work better together.’’


(espn.com)