-The Buccaneers have a renewed sense of pass rush after Sunday's win in New England where Tampa Bay recorded four sacks and 12 quarterback hits of the Patriots' Mac Jones. It was a more characteristic performance of the Bucs' aggressive scheme as they yielded just 17 points to the home team.
And that's what matters, according to Bruce Arians. It certainly matters more than how many points the Bucs are allowing through the air, which has been skewed all season thanks to the sheer volume of passes opponents are attempting against the Bucs, knowing they won't get anywhere against the league's top-ranked rushing defense.
"We don't really care about that part of it, it's about points," Arians said Friday about the Bucs' pass defense, which has left room for improvement after a rash of injuries. "Right now, we're giving up too many points. We want to keep people to 17 or less, and the biggest statistic we look for is points per game. We do take a lot of pride in stopping the run, but when they throw it 50 times, yeah, there are going to be some yards. But we've got to keep them out of the end zone."
-A guy that was part of that effort in holding New England to 17 points was newly acquired veteran Pierre Desir. Desir spent last season with both the Jets and Ravens. He spent three seasons in Indianapolis and two in Cleveland with a stop in San Diego between then. Much was made about Richard Sherman's arrival and his immediate playing expectation, but Desir was in a very similar boat, albeit with a couple more weeks in Tampa under his belt. Desir was signed to the practice squad on September 13. Due to those aforementioned injuries all along the secondary, he was brought up to the active roster on October 2, ahead of the New England game, where he proceeded to play 44% of the team's defensive snaps.
"I was prepared during the week," Desir said Friday. "They do a really good job here making sure everybody's ready just in case. There should be no drop off when you go in the game, so I was ready when my number was called. It's fun to get back out there and play and get to fly around with all the guys."
The Bucs will get Jamel Dean back this week, according to Arians on Friday, but expect Desir to be part of that outside corner rotation against Miami at home.
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