No dime defense for Buccaneers under Lovie Smith, at least against the Panthers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't use a lot of depth on either side of the ball against the Carolina Panthers. Fully nine non-specialists played only on special teams, and another didn't play at all. This stands in sharp contrast with Greg Schiano's Bucs, who platooned a lot of players, especially on defense.

One other change compared to last year comes in the form of dime defenses: the Bucs didn't use any. Mason Foster and Lavonte David played every single snap, as did Mark Barron and Dashon Goldson. While the cornerbacks did shuffle in and out of the game, there were never more than five defensive backs on the field. In addition, the Bucs didn't go to a big nickel defense once: neither backup safety got on the field on defense. This fits with Lovie Smith's philosophy, as he had a tendency to do the same thing in Chicago.

Other notable snaps: Austin Seferian-Jenkins played just 36% of the snaps, but that was presumably due to an injury of undetermined severity. He had to be helped off the field during the second quarter, was briefly seen returning but didn't get on the field much if at all during the second half. Also interesting is the split at cornerback: Alterraun verner played 60 snaps, Johnthan Banks started and played 45, while Mike Jenkins played 31 (though he missed most of the fourth quarter). And despite managing 54 yards on his one touch, Jorvorskie Lane played just 7 snaps.

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