Bucs Needed More Big Plays On Defense
February 4th, 2023
Defense wasn’t good enough.
The Bucs defense wasn’t bad this season. Problem was, the way the offense stunk, the defense needed to be like the Bucs defense of the glory years.
That didn’t happen and it’s a big reason why the Bucs were bounced so easily in the first round of the playoffs, said popular local sports personality and former Bucs guard Ian Beckles.
Taking to his podcast “In the Trenches,” Beckles said the Bucs defense was good enough to win but to overcome the stagnant offense, the defense needed to be lights out.
“I think they were better defensively than offensively,” Beckles said. “I think every Buccaneer fan should realize that.”
Big plays were sorely needed, Beckles noted.
“When you are the ninth-ranked [defense], you have to do something great,” Beckles said. “So if you are the ninth-ranked defense, and that’s a good ranking, what did the Bucs defense do that was great?
“Did they rush the passer? They were OK. Did they stop the run? I looked at the Buccaneers and they gave up 120 yards rush. A. Game. So I think we thought this Buccaneers defense was better than it really was.”
Joe thinks that is a fair point. As the season grew older, Joe thought the defense may have been the culprit, but the numbers told a different story. Enough takeaways and defensive touchdowns weren’t there, though.
“Did we make big plays in big moments?” Beckles asked. “If so, who was it?”
The last one Joe remembers was Keanu Neal’s monster, ball-jarring hit on Taysom Hill in the December game against the Saints. If he doesn’t make that play, the Saints would have won. The only defensive touchdown the Bucs had all season was Mike Edwards’ pick-six in the win over the slimy Saints in the second week of the season. The Bucs needed to be more impactful than that.
“Did we [force takeaways]?” Beckles asked. “Defensively, we were just, eh, just good.”
The Bucs were good on defense this past season. Just not good enough when the offense ran like it had a clogged fuel filter.
February 4th, 2023 at 8:08 am
The DLine was not very good- the decision to not bring back Suh was costly. JTS is not an impact player and L Hall disappeared as season went on.
Dak Prescott had his game of the year vs Bucs D.
February 4th, 2023 at 8:09 am
Go Bucs!!!
February 4th, 2023 at 8:26 am
Defense couldn’t make those game changing plays when needed.
February 4th, 2023 at 8:27 am
Well since Coach Bozo is a defense genius guru we can get rid of all our old pro’s and let him train a bunch of cheapo new players.
February 4th, 2023 at 8:28 am
Thxs brads mom beckles
February 4th, 2023 at 8:31 am
Without a pass rush you don’t get strip sacks, hurried picks. Of course, the fact that our opponents rarely had to play catch up didn’t help either
February 4th, 2023 at 8:37 am
Bucs need leadership in the head coaching job!
Bowles ain’t the man!
February 4th, 2023 at 8:57 am
Ian gives the Bucs defense more credit for being ‘good’ than I do I guess. Yes they were ranked #9 in ‘Yards Allowed’, but last I checked ‘Points Allowed’ had a lot more impact on won-loss records. Bucs ranked #13 in Points Allowed, giving up 358 points. That’s actually only 5 more Points Allowed than we gave up in 2021 (353 points), and only 3 more than in 2020 (355 points). At least we’re consistent. Amazingly consistent.
He’s spot-on though about the lack of BIG PLAYS. And not just on defense, but on offense also. Seemed like everyone was always waiting for someone else to make the BIG PLAY, and because of that no one ever really did. Injuries? Guys playing hurt? Bad luck? Lack of desire? Who knows; the big plays just didn’t happen.
February 4th, 2023 at 9:00 am
JPP and Suh were missed
February 4th, 2023 at 9:16 am
The defense looked good on paper because Bowles forced the offense to be pedestrian to burn clock VS letting them play to their strengths. Any time we actually needed a stop teams rammed it down our throat and we couldn’t do anything to stop it.
Bowles sees the writing on the wall, this is likely his last HC opportunity. If he keeps his defense propped up, he’ll at least keep himself employed as a DC. He’s not coaching to win games, he’s coaching to protect his defensive rankings.
February 4th, 2023 at 9:37 am
Inconsistent D all year long…just a tad better than the flat out horrible offense and special teams
Add it up and it’s a losing season with an embarrassing should not have been there blowout playoff loss on prime Time TV
31 points to a team that could not Score the week before in DC
Hope abounds nowhere in Tampa currently
February 4th, 2023 at 9:40 am
The Defense certainly under-performed. I think the lack of a consistent pass rush hurt us badly……and how many balls did we bat down?…..very, very few.
Our DBs don’t catch the ball very well…..many missed ints….
February 4th, 2023 at 10:00 am
My concern if they are going to gives Bowles a break this fall because we are actually rebuilding. Then we have him for another two years.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:54 am
Wasn’t happy with the D this year. Yep. Offense too.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:55 am
Defense too old, stale and predictable. And that won’t change.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:55 am
Our defense was told to make big plays, they heard to allow big plays.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:57 am
After the first few series, Dallas knew exactly what we were doing, not only offensively, but defensively. And don’t expect the later to be better next year.
February 4th, 2023 at 11:45 am
The Bucs need a real head coach instead of the Inept One we haszn here now.
February 4th, 2023 at 11:52 am
Nice Diavel, Ian.
February 4th, 2023 at 12:12 pm
Ian. Why would any team need to take passing gambles against our D? With the pitiful offense, they could wait for us to make a turnover or at least give them good field position with three and outs. Our punter made it a little more challenging. But this team was not going to make any other teams Offense take unnecessary risks in the passing game. In fact, the risks they took were 4th down conversions and such weren’t as problematic if not made, because our offense couldn’t make them pay for failure, and our FG kicker couldn’t make a kick outside of 50 yards.
February 4th, 2023 at 12:15 pm
Deff missed big plays but man defense showed up most games and kept us in it. They needed help from the offense but didn’t get any. Losing your top pass rusher usually puts the dagger in your defense but they still showed up. They weren’t great but they were good enough. Bowles is a good defensive coach. Rather him running our defense then anyone else. Hopefully we get back Barrett fully healthy and he returns to being the sack master he desperately needs help tho. Only thing I have faith in bowels is in defense. Y’all forget our defense won us the SB
February 4th, 2023 at 12:18 pm
Absolutely. Everything starts with a pass rush. Pressure and sacks from the front 4 create turnovers all over the field. The first two games they were off to a flying start but that ended rather abruptly as far as creating turnovers are concerned.
February 4th, 2023 at 12:34 pm
Weak pass rush… an undisciplined Devin White… and constant blown coverages.
February 4th, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Jason Licht signed a bunch of losers
February 4th, 2023 at 6:26 pm
The Toad that Blowes is excellent at giving up big plays to the opposition. It was great watching Cooper Kupp running uncovered. Then, against the Cowboys, it was awesome to watch Toad make Dak Prescott look like a great QB for one game before he reverted back to his normal crap self.
Nothing screams “top 5 draft pick” like a team coiches by Toad’s Bowels.
February 4th, 2023 at 6:27 pm
We be screwened.
February 4th, 2023 at 7:28 pm
I’m continually bemused by the vast number of threads that wish to ID what went wrong last year and come up with one or two examples.
EVERYTHING WENT WRONG LAST YEAR. It wasn’t just the coaching, it wasn’t just a distracted Brady who missed preseason games and skipped a mid season training day for a wedding in N.E.
It wasn’t just the OL which suffered two major losses in the off season, another perhaps more devasting loss right at the beginning of camp with Jensen…The LT was injured early in the season and FORCED to play because the Bucs were thin at tackle and the stud RT also played through injuries forcing too many young inexperienced players into action. Those guys will be better for the experience.
The D was robbed of it’s leading pass rusher, suffered the usual numbers of games missed by Dean and SMB…sadly Winfield the best DB missed four games and turned in his lowest number of tackles.
And that’s just the start. I’m surprised that Buc’s cheerleaders didn’t miss games with menstrual cramps the Buc luck was that bad last year.
THERE IS NO ONE REASON NOR ONE SIDE OF THE BALL, NOR ONE COACH OR PLAYER. IT WAS A PERFECT STORM!
February 5th, 2023 at 7:07 pm
J lichts team identity – he spent two high picks on the DL and not very good results
February 5th, 2023 at 11:09 pm
it’s great outside national sports writers see beyond this Buc blame everybody for their pitiful season. I’ll fix the title of this article for you guys. How bout, Bucs needed Tom Brady to play considerably better?