Bullough gives ‘best’ as Taylor’s LB fill-in

TAMPA — Buccaneers linebacker Adarius Taylor did not play in Sunday’s 20-12 loss at Baltimore because he was awaiting the arrival of his first child.

With the due date the same day as the Ravens game, Taylor decided to stay with his wife, Kristen.

The baby still had not arrived as of 2:30 p.m. Monday when Bucs coach Dirk Koetter spoke with reporters.

“The way I understand it is everything is OK,” Koetter said. “We had some different options available. Adarius had to make a tough decision and he made it.”

If Taylor had changed his mind, the Bucs were prepared to fly him there by game time.

“That’s a personal decision that any person has to make,” Koetter said. “Player, coach, media person … have to make those decisions in life.”

Without Taylor to fill the middle linebacker spot in which he had played for the past seven games, the Bucs gave up 242 yards on the ground.

Riley Bullough filled in for Taylor. He finished third on the team with eight total tackles, one of which was a tackle for loss. He also broke up a pass.

“I thought that Riley gave the best that he had,” Koetter said. “Riley is a really good communicator and does a good job of getting us lined up.”

Bullough knew there was a possibility he could start. He practiced at times in Taylor’s spot last week.

Meanwhile, defensive tackle Vita Vea put together perhaps the best performance of his young career Sunday.

He finished second on the team with nine total tackles, six of which were solo. Both are career bests.

The rookie missed the first three games of the season with a calf injury and he had a slow start.

Over his first seven games, he tallied three total tackles and one sack. Over the last four, Vea has 18 total tackles and one sack.

“Vita has really started to play exactly how we watched on his college tape,” Koetter said. “He is playing violent, he is running to the football, he’s getting off blocks much better. He is making plays laterally as well as knocking the line of scrimmage back.”

After returning from his injury, Vea thought he was going to rush in and everything would click immediately. Not so fast, he realized.

“I thought I was going to play like I was in college,” Vea said, “but there’s more than that.”