Lions use week off to get out of defensive slump
Slew of injuries hampers backline
Orlando City will return to the pitch this weekend with a simple task — limiting Toronto’s chances on goal.
The Lions started the 2021 season with the outright best defense in the league, allowing only two goals in the first seven games of the year.
But the team slid into a defensive slump in recent weeks, ceding eight goals in its last five results.
“We need to work on it and try to just get back to the winning feeling,” centerback Robin Jansson said. “It’s going back to the base of our way to play and keeping the team together and just starting from the ground and doing the basic stuff.”
Jansson noted the backline has resembled a revolving door throughout this season as every senior defender — including himself, Antonio Carlos, Ruan, Rodrigo Schlegel and João Moutinho — sat out multiple games for injuries or personal reasons.
Defense is a top priority for coach Oscar Pareja, who centers his team mentality around the backline’s rigor. But the coach said the last week has also been focused on allowing players to fully recover from injuries incurred in a busy start to the season.
“The priority for us in the last 10 days has been to recover the players,” Pareja said. “Some of them have been out for some injury and other ones have been with the national team. Our players have been all over.”
This week, Pareja said he was “much happier” when he looked at the pool of players available for his selection.
Striker Pato could be available this weekend for the first time since the season opener, during which he injured his knee. That injury ultimately required a minor surgery, but the striker is now close to a return and the club expects him to be available for some minutes against Toronto.
Although starting center
news that he had been selected for the team’s Ring of Honor. But due to COVID-19, his induction was delayed a year and will be at halftime of the Sept. 19 game against Atlanta.
“If you know me, I’m the kind of guy that says it like it is,” Kiffin said with that charming smile. “I’m not a brown-noser or something like that. I’m real. I think that’s what coaching is, to be real. It’s about the players, okay?”
Kiffin’s voice starts to get louder and ascends to a higher octave with every syllable. It’s 2021, but it could just as easily be 1996 or 1997 or 2002 or 2008.
“The biggest thing is the memories,” Kiffin said. “We always talked about playing hard, playing fast and playing together. Now let me tell you something: it doesn’t take talent to play hard! Okay? It’s right here in the heart. Play together as a team! Okay? Play together as a team! Play hard and play fast! That ball is snapped, whewwwww! You got to go! You got to pass rush! Play hard, play fast and play together! It’s all about playing hard together as a team! If you can’t play together as a team, you don’t belong with this defense! Okay?”
Kiffin slams his fist on the lectern. Bang!
“It hasn’t changed!”
Kiffin has always credited the Bucs players for his success, but it might be the other way around.
As an introductory film played to begin Wednesday’s news conference, Ring of Honor players from his defense such as Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber spoke in reverent tones about Kiffin.
“He’s a ball coach and he was going to a standard that might have been a little bit higher than my own,” said Sapp, smiling.
“I think, first, when you think about Monte, you think about the enthusiasm that he brings to the game and every single day,” Brooks said.
“When I think of Ring of Honor, I think the best representation of your franchise, they’ve got to be legendary people,” Barber said. “A lot of legends from our Tampa-2 defense are up there. It goes without saying that the architect of that or at least the guy who was calling the plays every single Sunday deserves to be up there, and you can’t talk about our defense without talking about Monte Kiffin.”
Then Lynch, the 49ers general manager who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, appeared.
“That defense that he coordinated was the best that ever played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” he said. “Monte was the coordinator of it. He became part of the fabric of the Tampa community. He was so beloved.”
Kiffin was asked what he imagines it will be like at a sold-out Raymond James Stadium when they unveil his name in the Ring of Honor alongside 13 others.
“Oh, wow,” Kiffin said. “I know this is just the press conference, it’s not the real deal. It kind of brings a tear to your eye but I’m not going to do that. It’s pretty emotional. But it’s going to be pretty special. It really is.”