Pat Yasinskas, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Bucs look to keep pass rush clicking

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' pass rush had its best outing of the season during Sunday’s victory at Washington. Now comes the challenge of keeping it at that same level the rest of the season.

The Bucs had a season-high six sacks against Washington and quarterback Robert Griffin III didn’t have much time to throw the ball. The Bucs had only five sacks in the five games prior to Washington.

All-Pro defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said the key to the success was that the defensive line played as a unit.

“The only way to have a dominant pass rush is if you rush with all four guys,’’ said McCoy, who leads the team with 6.5 sacks. “It can’t just be one or two guys. It has to be everybody doing their part. When you do that, everybody can get in on the action. It’s very rewarding when the [defensive line] room gets the sack. Of course, individually, there will be stats. But the room gets the sack. All we’re concerned about is that we rush as a unit and we were able to do that Sunday.’’

Tampa Bay relies almost exclusively on pressure from the front four. In the Tampa 2 scheme, blitzes aren’t used often. Defensive ends Jacquies Smith and Michael Johnson and defensive tackle Clinton McDonald have come on strong recently.

Johnson was signed as a high-priced free agent from Cincinnati. He started the season slowly and now has three sacks. It’s been well documented that Johnson has been playing through injuries to his ankle and hand. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier revealed Thursday that Johnson has been playing with a broken hand.

“He’s been up and down with injuries and that’s tough,’’ Frazier said. “Now, with the broken hand, it limits him again. He’s playing through things. I don’t know the time frame to get the cast off. Hopefully, he’ll get to the point where he can grip and move people around with his hands, now that his ankle is fine. It limits him. He’s given us what he has and it was good enough this past Sunday. We’re going to need him again this Sunday.’’

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