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The Buccaneers won’t have defensive tackle Vita Vea in the lineup for the rest of the season, but his loss hasn’t dimmed Jason Pierre-Paul‘s confidence in the team’s run defense.
Pierre-Paul, Vea and company have allowed a league-low 58.4 rushing yards per game so far this season and the edge rusher thinks “there’s guys who are going to step up and do what they need to do” with Vea out of the picture.
“We had a couple of days off, I guess it’s just the willpower man,” Pierre-Paul said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “With this defense, I don’t think nobody can run on us. We take too much pride in it to let a team come up in here and just run on us and try to get it going as well as passing, too.”
The Packers are next up for the Bucs and Aaron Jones has been productive thus far this season. Pierre-Paul acknowledged Jones as a “great player,” but said the identity of the runner doesn’t change his view of how the defense will fare in the ground game.
Green Bay’s got a pretty good passing game too, so the Buccaneers should have their hands full even if they can keep Jones in check come Sunday.
