The Vincent Jackson injury was set to take its toll on the team long term, but special teams captain Russell Shepard looks ready to fill the void.
I have been as critical and disappointed in Vincent Jackson as anyone you can find. This was not the season he was supposed to have in the final year of his five year deal. Arguably the best free agent the Buccaneers ever signed looked disinterested, disengaged, and like he just wanted to collect a paycheck. Turns out, he’d been trying to play on that injured ACL all year and just couldn’t. So where could the Bucs going to look to help out their passing game? Russell Shepard.
It’s amazing that a guy that is captain of the special teams, who gets few – if any – snaps on offense can come in and immediately make the passing game more effective. Dirk Koetter couldn’t speak highly enough of Shepard and the work he put in Sunday against the 49ers;
“We had plays – we were going to absorb the Vincent [Jackson injury] – we had plays tagged. We were working it out with four guys and the reps bear that out. I think Cecil Shorts had 30 reps and Shep was in the twenties and Adam was in the twenties and Freddie [Martino] was like, 17.
Now as far as where the ball goes, it just worked out where Freddie didn’t get targeted and Cecil didn’t get targeted and Adam and Shep did. Now Shep, he made some big plays. The biggest play he made – he had three explosives – but the play of the day for him was that third-and-five right before the half when we’d ran it on the first couple downs and then we just ran that little in-route and the guy was all over him and he made a great catch. And then we went in the two-minute [offense], hit him again on the next play and then eventually he scored the touchdown. But his biggest catch was a six-yard gain.”
The Buccaneers will miss Vincent Jackson’s leadership both on the field and in the locker room, but if Russell Shepard continues to play the way he did moving forward, the Bucs’ passing game can become every bit as dangerous as it was last season.
The snap counts for Russell Shepard should only continue to increase moving forward, especially in games against the Raiders and Falcons that could become shootouts in a hurry.
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