Sterling Moore and Jude Adjei-Barimah solidify their starting spots

Notes from the snap counts for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their win against the Dallas Cowboys.

Sterling Moore and Jude Adjei-Barimah solidify their starting spots

For the second game in a row, Sterling Moore and Jude Adjei-Barimah not only started the game, but also played almost every snap on defense. The two combined to miss just four snaps the entire game. Mike Jenkins had three defensive snaps all game, and Johnthan Banks only made a special teams appearance. The result was solid: Dez Bryant was held to just five catches for 45 yards, and Terrance Williams had two for 33 yards. The Cowboys really couldn't get much of a passing game going, especially to their wide receivers.

On Friday, Pewter Report noted that one reason Banks and Jenkins had been benched was that they failed to jam receivers. And on Monday, Lovie Smith praised the secondary play as a reason why the Bucs could blitz more, and he singled out Sterling Moore in particular. We'll see these two start the rest of the season, unless something strange happens.

Howard Jones takes over

This is the second straight week that Howard Jones started at defensive end, and the first week he took the majority of the snaps. In part that happened because George Johnson left with a calf injury in the second half, and I didn't see Jones flash very much in this game, but he's getting a chance to

What happened to Demar Dotson?

The Bucs didn't start Demar Dotson, publicly noting that they preferred to stick with continuity in Gosder Cherilus at right tackle. The latter struggled for most of the game, but Dotson remained on the bench. Oddly enough, Dotson didn't even get snaps as the sixth lineman: Kevin Pamphile got 12 snaps in that role, and Dotson only had three plays on special teams. Perhaps that's a sign that while Dotson is healthy, he's not in full game shape yet. If so, we may see him take over the starting spot at some point over the next couple of weeks -- especially if Cherilus' struggles continue.