How Good Was The Defense?
April 7th, 2023
Head coach Todd Bowles.
Joe likes to pimp how the Bucs had a top-10 defense last year. But really, how good was it?
Yesterday, regular JoeBucsFan.com commenter “Goatfarmer” claimed that against playoff teams, Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ defense got torched.
(Yes, Joe will highlight a comment as a springboard into a story a handful of times per year. Joe often gives hat tips to folks who craft such a comment or Twitter Joe and pass along tips.)
So Joe decided to go game-by-game and look at the results. Here are the number of points the Bucs allowed to each eventual playoff opponent last season:
Dallas 3
Kansas City 41
Baltimore 27
Seattle 16
San Francisco 34
Cincinnati 35
Dallas 31
“Goatfarmer” is onto something. Perhaps.
No, the Bucs’ defense did not play well overall against eventual playoff teams. Giving up 41 to the Chiefs? Not good. but when Pat Mahomes is slinging the ball, that’s not unexpected.
Notice that Bucs sacks king Shaq Barrett blew out his Achilles in the loss to the Crows. No coincidence that only one eventual playoff team after that game failed to break 30 on the Bucs after Shaq was lost? Joe knows some folks get upset at Joe typing that a guy turning 30 who just blew out his Achilles can’t be expected to produce.
You can argue with Joe and name outlier guys who bounced back from an Achilles to have a monster year, but that is a major injury and Joe’s sure not betting on Shaq getting eight sacks this fall. Sorry. Joe lives in the unforgiving world of reality, not hope.
Unless Joe Tryon-Shoyinka has an awakening or Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht pulls a pass rusher out of his hat somehow, should Joe expect the defense to get torched against top teams this fall?
As Joe has written a few times, the Bucs allowed an average of more than 28 points per game in their final six contests last season.
April 7th, 2023 at 4:13 am
No pressure, No biscuit. Well called Goatfarmer.
April 7th, 2023 at 4:35 am
Pretty sure nobody has ever just bounced back from an achilles tear. It’s a devastating injury and you are right to be worried. That’s why I think our first pick has to be pass rush.
April 7th, 2023 at 5:36 am
There were games where the defense just wasn’t good last year. Than there were games where they were good, but our offense would have a string of 3, and outs, and our defense would cave. Our last playoff loss is a perfect example. Our defense came out hot, but our offense sputtered, again. Dallas had a 6 zero lead with the Bucs ready to take the lead. Brady throws the endzone pick, and that was the game. The defense never recovered, and the offense couldn’t do a thing all day. Football is a team game. If your offense can’t get going chances of your defense holding up is next to zero. Our offense lead to defensive failures. Hard to judge.
April 7th, 2023 at 5:37 am
Good some of those scored against numbers be a direct result of a lousy offense in those games?
April 7th, 2023 at 6:16 am
Bowles allows 25 a game. Canales will have to score 30 a game for wins.
April 7th, 2023 at 6:17 am
Maybe Goatfarmer should start his own blog he seems to be more knowledgeable than Joe.
April 7th, 2023 at 6:33 am
The results speak for themselves………… And yes Joe, even when healthy Shaq is a non factor if he doesnt have help from someone else on the other side ….. Unless you have a pure dominating stud that has to 2x teamed every play . We would be better off having a room full of hungary (Quality depth) D.Lineman than 1 overpaid guy and thats where we stand right now.
April 7th, 2023 at 6:35 am
We had no pressure on opposing quarterbacks..they had time to check emails before they threw a pass..the fact that Joe even agrees with goatfarmer is upsetting..Did Bowles cause shaqs injury?
I am pretty sure if Bowles had it his way he wouldn’t of cut Paul or suh
April 7th, 2023 at 6:59 am
Our first two picks should be Edge rushers period.
One should be Foskey even if he is seen as a 4-3 end cause he is fast enough to play outside linebacker.
April 7th, 2023 at 7:10 am
Whenever someone points out how good the defense is I scratch my head. Guess I only remember the bad plays?
April 7th, 2023 at 7:22 am
Hodad … ‘There were games where the defense just wasn’t good last year. Than there were games where they were good, but our offense would have a string of 3, and outs, and our defense would cave.’
Thanks for looking beyond the presumably obvious Hodad to look at the WHY things happened as they happened. Much more analytical than some with their ‘I hate Bowles, because … ‘ approach to analysis.
Yes our defense gave up 187 points in the 7 games against eventual playoff teams (2 of those against the Cowboys) for an average of 26.7 PPG. Obviously higher than the 21.6 PPG average our defense allowed over the course of 17 regular season games plus the 1 playoff game.
Bucs won 2 of those games: Dallas (first game) 19-3 and Seahawks 21-16. Our offense wasn’t exactly a powerhouse in either game, BUT … they controlled the clock handily in both games by running 77 times total for 313 yards against 57 total passes. We got ahead … and stayed ahead. We had Vea, Hicks & Shaq against Dallas, but no Shaq against Seattle (Hicks was back by that game).
Bucs lost the other 5 of those games, by some pretty sizable margins IMO. In all 5 of those losses we ran FAR less than we passed: 73 rushes against 256 passes. Part of that appears to have been by design in the game plan, and part of it was the result of falling behind. Reason? Our offense’s 11 turnovers in those 5 losses MIGHT have had something to do with it.
Was the defense blameless in those 5 losses? Of course not. But only averaging a tad over 25 minutes TOP in those losses doesn’t help their cause; neither does a Turnover Differential in those games of 11:3. Injuries didn’t help their cause either. Shaq went out halfway through the Ravens game (2nd of those losses). Other key defenders were out in virtually every loss: Vea (gave us 14 games), Hicks (11 games), Davis (13 games), Winfield (13 games) … and our opponents capitalized on their absences. As they should.
But ya, everyone needs to listen to the ‘Bowles sucks’ crowd who continually maintain that he’s an ‘overrated DC’, that he’s ‘delusional’ and ‘arrogant’. That’ll explain everything. Duh.
April 7th, 2023 at 7:23 am
The Bucs were really only blown out by KC, San Fran, and Dallas (2nd game), the Baltimore and Cincinnati games were close at half. I would blame those loses just as much on the offense, if not more, than the defense. The Cincinnati game was just given away by the offense after the defense played lights out in the first half. If our offense played better, I bet when win those games. Complimentary football….right?
April 7th, 2023 at 7:27 am
The entire team offensively and defensively were garbage after starting out 2-0.
This was an entire organizational FAILURE. We’ll see if this 2023 team responds to Todd Bowles this year. If we see blown coverages all over the place, little to no enthusiasm and passion from this team then escort this head coach out of here.
I seen enough of that last season and it was disgraceful.
No excuses this year. Get it done or get the f out.
April 7th, 2023 at 7:30 am
Defense Rules, I agree with everything you said..unfortunately the Bowles suck crowd just keep the same crap going every day..
April 7th, 2023 at 7:43 am
Being able to motivate Professional athletes is a skill in itself. Some coaches have it and a large percentage do not. Just like in the work force an employee will tend to take on the personality of the manager. Bowles seems to be more laid back and I tend to think he lacks a sense of urgency. Slow starts and sitting back and waiting for Brady to bail us out was an every game occurrence. Not a lot of start to finish domination with this team.
April 7th, 2023 at 7:50 am
Well, duh! All teams, both defenses and offenses, play worse against playoff teams than against non playoff teams. That’s why the playoff teams go to the playoffs, and the non-playoff teams don’t go to the playoffs.
Captain Obvious! What a nuclear rocket scientist that the Goatf*cker is! Joe isn’t much better.
All teams play against the league, and so the only thing that matters to measuring defensive performance is points allowed. And on that score, the Bucs ranked 13th in the league. Solidly average, slightly above. Not a “great” season by any means. As compared to the two prior seasons when the Bucs defense ranked nos. 5 and 8. Solid top tens.
Now, there are various factors that go into why and how a defense performs. But the bottom line is the bottom line.
The Bucs defense needs to kick it up a few notches in 2023 to help make up for the loss of the GOAT. A strong defense is always a BFF to any offense with a quarterback who is yet to be a proven winner. Along with a strong running game and a strong offensive line.
The Bucs D may rise back into the top ten if Shaq recovers his former capabilities, and if JTS kicks his performance up a couple of notches, and if the new additions to the roster prove to be upgrades over those they replaced.
That’s a lot of ifs. So there is really no way to predict how good this defense will be, no matter how good or not so good that Bowles is as a defensive coordinator/head coach.
April 7th, 2023 at 7:52 am
Well, duh! All teams, both defenses and offenses, play worse against playoff teams than against non playoff teams. That’s why the playoff teams go to the playoffs, and the non-playoff teams don’t go to the playoffs.
Captain Obvious! What a nuclear rocket scientist that the Goatf___er is! Joe isn’t much better.
All teams play against the league, and so the only thing that matters to measuring defensive performance is points allowed. And on that score, the Bucs ranked 13th in the league. Solidly average, slightly above. Not a “great” season by any means. As compared to the two prior seasons when the Bucs defense ranked nos. 5 and 8. Solid top tens.
Now, there are various factors that go into why and how a defense performs. But the bottom line is the bottom line.
The Bucs defense needs to kick it up a few notches in 2023 to help make up for the loss of the GOAT. A strong defense is always a BFF to any offense with a quarterback who is yet to be a proven winner. Along with a strong running game and a strong offensive line.
The Bucs D may rise back into the top ten if Shaq recovers his former capabilities, and if JTS kicks his performance up a couple of notches, and if the new additions to the roster prove to be upgrades over those they replaced.
That’s a lot of ifs. So there is really no way to predict how good this defense will be, no matter how good or not so good that Bowles is as a defensive coordinator/head coach.
April 7th, 2023 at 7:59 am
Part of it was our offense being so bad last year. its 2 fold. 1 the offense gave the ball back with lots of 3 and outs and little time for the defense to rest and 2 the offense was so bad that the other teams played low scoring possession/field position football. A lot of those games that were low scoring you did not see much fast passed, spread them out, passing games. It was a lot more run game.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:03 am
Yep, not shocking that our team played poorly against teams that were better than us. We shouldn’t have made the playoffs last year with our losing record. They should make that a new rule, even if you win your division if you have a losing record another team takes your spot if they have a higher win percentage.
Maybe the Bowles sees this too and recognizes that his offense needs to run the ball more to increase ToP so his defense can get some relief.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:05 am
I’ve been saying this. Our defense wasn’t really good. Where were the picks? The sacks? And we let good teams torch us
April 7th, 2023 at 8:07 am
bucnjim … ‘Bowles seems to be more laid back and I tend to think he lacks a sense of urgency.’
Obviously Todd Bowles leadership style is dramatically different from BA’s. We’ve all seen a variety of leadership styles though over our professional careers. Some work well, some don’t. A lot of that IMO depends on the quality of the organization they’re leading, and the quality of leadership WITHIN that organization.
Todd Bowles the DC needs a solid mix of Field Leadership (youth & veterans) in his defense to be successful IMO. The Suh’s, JPP’s, LVD’s were essential I think; Vea, Hicks & several others (including Davis & Winfield) never really grabbed the leadership mantle last season, and it showed in our performance. New FAs like Gaines & Neal will play a big role in that this year I’m convinced.
In terms of his ‘sense of urgency’ I’m convinced that he’s extremely competitive, but very ‘calculating’ in his public approach (I for one don’t blame him one bit based on how the media & fans misuse any coach’s candor). The fact that defensive guys like our new safety (Neal) came here largely to play for Todd Bowles and to learn from him tells me a lot.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:26 am
Did the farmer also tell you they got torched by some non playoff teams and backup qbs too?
April 7th, 2023 at 8:30 am
“Good some of those scored against numbers be a direct result of a lousy offense in those games?”
Yes, but forget all the turnovers that turned into points when the unit that was responsible for scoring points for us was turning the ball over and not scoring points lol.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:35 am
Defenses are often helped out by their offenses. Ours was not. Ever. Punt after putting after punt. No extended drives. No help with field position. Even Dungy’s offense were more helpful than last year’s. At least they did okay in time of possession.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:52 am
Improve pass rush. Others have said, and I agree, JL is better buying it that drafting it, but we’ll need it from the draft since the safe is empty. And our backups like Nelson and O’Connor, bring it on. Cam Gill – it’s your time to shine! Step up!!!
Improve run stuff. Hicks was a disappointment, but as reported, when both he and Vita played, Bucs were able to control the run. Gaines is a great signing by Licht, need another big ugly for the DL.
Bowels needs to seriously examine his coverage schemes to figure out why there are so many breakdowns. Blown assignments. Coverage busts. And then there’s the poor tackling. Will he do something, change something, teach better, or apply the definition of insanity?
Results say it all.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:53 am
A pass rush and a good running game cover up a lot of deficiencies, we had neither
April 7th, 2023 at 9:03 am
Defense hung out to dry over and over by offense.
What did the snap count and time of possession look like?
Defense was average!
Offense was well below average.
April 7th, 2023 at 9:21 am
“Bowels needs to seriously examine his coverage schemes to figure out why there are so many breakdowns. Blown assignments. Coverage busts. And then there’s the poor tackling. Will he do something, change something, teach better, or apply the definition of insanity?”
Can we believe that you are seriously examining any coverage scheme ever? Not for nothing, but your comments don’t strike me as a person who sits and dissects film to figure out which windows are being left open and what players responsibilities are to know who blew what and how it effected the play call.
Example: The 1st Jamel Dean pick in NO, Bowles sent a safety into the box and had Dean drop from the boundary and sink back into the middle third of field to fill in for the safety and keep the lid on the defense. Totally unorthodox coverage concept that
1.) sticks with the theme of confusing QBs pre-snap and
2.) takes full advantage of Deans’ unruly athleticism.
Play result: Dean plays it smart sticks with the deep routeWR , loses ground, but as is Deans’ strength was able to make up the step or two he gave up swinging his hips to adjust while sinking to make up the ground and make a helluva play on the ball. Smart concept, taking a gifted boundary corner, relying on his speed and ability to consume space to sink +20 yards back into a safety posture while keeping his eyes on the man. A modified cover 2 that looked like cover 1 that turns into a huge play for Dean and our defense. Also, that first NO game, if our defense doesn’t score how sure were we that our offense puts up enough points to eek that victory out?
April 7th, 2023 at 9:38 am
Hodad, one play early does not constitute a W or L. That’s like saying Evan’s drop in Carolina cost the Bucs that win or White’s kick-off fumble cost the KC game. The fact is Bucs had the lead in Baltimore and the D fell apart same in Cleveland, Seattle, Atlanta game 1, Pittsburgh. Dallas game one was the only game the D played great, ironically it was the best running game Bucs had all season.The Cincy game had 5 turnovers that started with a fake punt on Bucs own 27 yd line. Doesn’t mean ALL should lead to points for the opposition. Someone wrote if Bowles gives up 24 or 28 points Cannalas has to score 30. In reality that has been the case since 2020. The O had to score 30+ points in order to win. That’s NOT good D. Bucs could stop the run but have a poor history in getting off the field on 3rd down. Joe wrote the opposition averaged 28 points last 6 games, is the O really expected to score 30 with NO running game. The D sucked as bad as the O in 2022. Shaq, LVD were hurt in 2021 not to mention JPP plus numerous injuries to the secondary in 2021 and went 13-4. Shaqs injury should not be an excuse. The O lost, Gronk for 5 games, Evan’s a few, Godwin, AB, Wirfs and still came one play from another SB appearance. This is all on incompetent coaching.
April 7th, 2023 at 9:49 am
The defense didn’t play well last year, especially after SB went down. Teams seemed to move down the field quite easily during many of the games. I believe some of our recent draft picks need to step up. Especially if they want to continue receiving a paycheck!
April 7th, 2023 at 9:50 am
No pass rush is the biggest issue. But it’s also hurts when your offense can’t sustain drives. The defense was fighting an uphill battle in nearly every game, especially against playoff teams. That Cincy games the offense gave them the ball inside the bucs own 30 like 4 times. Defense was better then what the scores show when you take what they had to overcome into account.
April 7th, 2023 at 9:57 am
Q & A Session:
Q: Do better teams with better offenses score more points?
A: Yes, it took rocket science to figure this out.
Q: Is Bowles an elite DC?
A: No, he gets exposed by better coaches.
Q: Does Goatfarmer hate Bowles more than he likes the Bucs?
A: Probably.
April 7th, 2023 at 10:06 am
It’s tough for a defense to perform when the offense sucks. They are complimentary to each other. If the offense is sustaining long drives and scoring then the defense has a chance to rest and they are under less pressure
April 7th, 2023 at 10:10 am
Here’s another thought, when BA was the coach, the Bucs played to win! With Bowles as coach, the team played not to lose. Everyone knows how that turns out. Winning teams play to win. When you play to win you are more aggressive, you make things happen like sacks and turnovers. When you play not to lose… you lose in overtime!
April 7th, 2023 at 10:25 am
Even the best secondary can only hold up for so long during a play. The lack of a pass rush or quality control will always lose.
Part of a defensive line’s duties include outside containment. That was pretty horrid last season. A large chunk of the reason was Devin White whiffing on all of those plays. Maybe he will grow up this season because he could be great if he curbed his enthusiasm.
Drafting D-line always means having to wait a year or two for results. Hall might still make it, but JTS didn’t advance at all in his second year, so his growing into the position is doubtful.
Need a few pieces to make an above average defense ( last season was pedestrian), need a lot more to make a great defense. I doubt the Bowles cleaner on being able to get to great, he is supposedly HC and doesn’t have the time or excess brain cells to fully develop a defense.
April 7th, 2023 at 10:29 am
I think this new safety we just signed will be a leader like he was back in Seattle.
April 7th, 2023 at 10:36 am
“Doesn’t mean ALL should lead to points for the opposition.”
Regardless of what you think turnovers should “mean” at Cincy we were up 17-3 at the half and turned the ball over 4 times in the 2nd half on offense while not putting points up on the board again until our very last possession. Which, offensively was a theme for our offense.
1st offensive possession of the 2nd half: we get the ball at half on a drive that lead to the botched fake punt and set up Cincy on our 16 yard line. 5 total plays run by our offense with the punt included, but the defense held Cincy to a FG. 17-6 Bucs.
2nd offensive possession of the 2nd half: 6 play drive that ends abruptly after Tre Flowers picks a pass off intended for Cam Brate, gives the Cincy offense the ball on the Bucs 31 yard line. Took Cincy 9 plays and some penalties on both sides, but a huge facemask call on Carlton Davis and Cincy capitalizes and puts the ball in the paint. 17-12 Bucs
3rd offensive possession of the 2nd half: 29 second 3 play drive that ends in a sack fumble and gives Cincy the ball at Tampas’ 38 yard line. Takes Cincy 8 plays to punch the ball into the endzone after getting ridiculous field position due to the offense turning it over for the 3rd straight offensive drive. Cincy take advantgae of the ridiculous filed advantage manages to score 20-17 Bucs
4h Offensive possession of the 2nd half: 4 plays, ends after a botched center to QB snap recovered by Cincy at the Tampa 39 giving Cincy another possession at with amazing possession just outside of the redzone.
5th offensive possession of the 2nd: 5 plays, ending in another INT targeting Cam Brate giving Cincys’ offense the ball at midfield. Bucs D stymies Cincy and forces a pun on the ensuing drive.
6th offensive possession of the 2nd Half: 3 & out to punt
7th offensive drive: 2:21 left in the game, the offense puts together a 9 play drive, finds the endzone for the first time in the second half misses the 2 point conversion
Next time use a better game to revise history the majority of us bore witness to, turnovers weren’t this evident in most games, but inactivity on offense was a huge red flag from week 1 to the wild card weekend.
April 7th, 2023 at 11:05 am
I don’t think we can just look at this in a vacuum. The fact of the matter is that the worst an offense is often will reflect in the performance on the defense.
If the offense has a very short time of possession then the defense doesn’t have any chance to rest and recuperate and are back on the field and our gassed.
Considering how few points we scored per game last year and how many short drives we had it’s not surprising that there was an impact on our defense.
I do agree however that lack of a pass rush in a tadpole’s defense is an issue. We had to manufacture sacks by all kinds of blitzes which at time can leave players exposed. I think this year we are going to be better on the back end with the addition of Ryan Neal and with Jamel Dean assuming all players stay healthy.
I think we should invest our second round pick on a good edge rusher who can get to the quarterback. Pair that with a tackle in the first round and a safety / nickel corner in the third and I think we can roster pretty solid team all around.
I think with an improved run game this year under a Dave Canales offense that will probably have longer sustained drives I think our defense will actually be much better.
April 7th, 2023 at 11:28 am
Dooley, believe what you want because you have your narrative that is inconveniently vulnerable to data, facts and results.
Read what Neal said and then go look at some All 22 replays. When you’re not too busy fogging up the website with thousands of words of dribble.
April 7th, 2023 at 11:41 am
Improving our pass rush is a recurring theme. Our outside guys though (Shaq, JTS, Nelson, Gill, and probably O’Connor & Hall even, aren’t elite DEs or OLBs. They need very good interior pressure to really excel IMO.
Adding Gaines to pair with Vea should help, but we still need more pressure inside (we did lose Hicks, Gholston & Nacho inside). Bucs still need 2 more inside DTs as a minimum to establish a decent rotation (I admittedly still have trouble viewing Hall inside). Would like to see us re-sign either Gholston or Hicks, plus draft a DT to develop.
April 7th, 2023 at 12:06 pm
@Goatfarmer
“Even game-to-game, we’ll watch tape on them for the teams we would be playing and stuff like that,” Neal said. “One thing about [Todd Bowles] is he’s a mastermind. He never ran the same thing so it was kind of hard trying to figure out what was going on. It was like, who’s doing what? You don’t know who’s doing what, who’s going where. I think it’ll be really cool for me.”
Context Goat, he’s talking about watching the Bucs defense as a Seahawk play opposing offenses that Seattle would be prepping for, and trying to decode the defense while watching it as a defender on another team. It apparently enticed Neal enough. You tried spinning it like a negative. Follow up of answer by Ryan on getting into Bowles playbook:
“I’m hitting that thing tonight if they give it to me if they give it to me, seriously. Like I said, [I] hate being new. I’d rather be caught up to speed as fast as possible so as soon as they hand me the playbook I’m going to be at home going, ‘Okay, let me get this right’ because I’m trying to figure this out so I play fast and just be the best I can be for the team. As soon as I get it I’m on it.”
There was nothing but admiration for Bowles’ scheme, who are we to believe you the head complainer of JBF or a NFL safety who studies film as a job requirement. The “L” is yours for the taking.
April 7th, 2023 at 12:48 pm
Let’s then accept reality: despite the claims of many folks, Todd Bowles is no “defense Guru”. This is a label he gained that is no longer aligned with reality. In 4 seasons with the Bucs his “top” defense has half a season of living up to that label, when we went to win the SB. In the remaining 3.5 seasons his defense had been regularly torched by good teams and lousy QBs (apparently all it takes to take down his “super-defense” is an unknown QB…).
April 7th, 2023 at 12:52 pm
Joe write about time of possession. This will bring home the truth.
Come’ on Joe, we can handle the truth. 😂
April 7th, 2023 at 1:30 pm
Dooley, so what you’re saying is it’s OK to score TD’s in all but one TO in the Cincy game. Turn two of those into FG’s and Bucs win. Doesn’t help in the second half the play calling changed to same o same o, play to protect the lead. No matter how bad the turnovers were changing the O to protect the lead rather than go back to what was working is obtuse. The O struggled all season and the D wasn’t good either, why would a coach assume this team on both sides of the ball could protect a lead?
April 7th, 2023 at 1:39 pm
TDTB2022, I see where you’re going with this but wasn’t Bowles biggest gripe was the O scored too fast in 2021 causing fatigue on the players? So which is it? Score less points control the ball or score as quickly as possible and win games? TOP is skewed either way. The O was built for Arians fast pace O, slowing it down or going a more conservative approach messed everything up. The O did not play to the players strengths. Wr
April 7th, 2023 at 2:37 pm
@NEFan
“Turn two of those into FG’s and Bucs win.”
This is still football and 1 turnover can turn the tide in a game. Coughing the rock up 4 times over 60 minutes is bad, doing it 4 times in 1 half is unacceptable that is what I’m saying.
April 7th, 2023 at 2:44 pm
NEFan – Dooley is going to defend the Bloweszo until mid-way through the 2013 season when it’s clear that he’s locked up five losing seasons in a row. And even then he’ll make excuses and blame the wingnuts on the desk chair or something.
April 7th, 2023 at 2:45 pm
2023!
Which might look a lot like 2013 LOL
April 7th, 2023 at 3:03 pm
Goat, agreed, he keeps stating 4 turnovers where one of the worst calls of the season a fake punt on Bucs 27yd line while winning 17-3, is a turnover. All I know is total regular season losses 2020-2021 was 9, 2022 under Blows tied them with 9 losses. Blows wins as in his last 3 years as a HC is 17, averging under 6 wins a season.
April 7th, 2023 at 3:20 pm
The Fake Punt (facepalm)
(Banging head with empty bottle of scotch)
April 7th, 2023 at 3:21 pm
@Goatfarmer
you don’t/can’t speak for me, not in terms of football. Somebody needs to counterbalance you and guess what I had time today. I’ve noticed since other commenters have blasted you about the repetitive rhetoric day in/day out constantly complaining you’ve done a good job reading good ideas from other readers and retyping them like you thought of them on your own. LOL how many times have you posted this comment over the last few weeks?
“Bowels needs to seriously examine his coverage schemes to figure out why there are so many breakdowns. Blown assignments. Coverage busts.”
Just criticism, based off your uninformed opinion, thin on supporting evidence or facts as if you which makes you the closest thing to a “Karen” JBF has. Not here for validation, I just like talking football with who also like talking football my biases are my own and I don’t need them confirmed. Still waiting on you to ask to speak to Bowles’ manager LOL
April 7th, 2023 at 3:28 pm
Zzzzzzzz
All 22 boy. Try it out since you have time. I could t care less if you think I just copy and paste others or who blasts me. I have fun that’s why I’m here. You want to be serious, good for you. But you should check your blind love and rigid positions, and while your at it move out of the glass house.
April 7th, 2023 at 3:45 pm
NE – Blowes actually lost 10 games. Got to include the humiliation against the Cows, a team beaten like a rented mule down the stretch and then again the following week. Dak was doing his best Dilfer impersonation, except against the Toadster he looked like Joe Montana. Probably just coincidence though.
April 7th, 2023 at 4:59 pm
Thank you for bringing addressing this Jo’s. This is a much more realistic view of the Bucs defense than all of this “Top-10” stuff people have been saying. However, the offense did hang the defense out to dry so much last year.
April 7th, 2023 at 4:59 pm
Sorry I meant Joe*
April 7th, 2023 at 8:33 pm
The offense couldn’t sustain a drive last season to save their lives! It’s no wonder the defense got blown out by good teams once those teams figured out they just needed to wear out the defense in the first half!
April 8th, 2023 at 12:34 am
Anyone else seeing a pattern here? Our defense is not near as good as our man Todd seems to think. Todd is either very delusional or just covering his ass again.
Folks there are stats that tell me the moon is blue….that don’t mean it is! Todds defense is alot of smoke and mirrors kinda stuff. This kinda stuff doesn’t work with good teams who get ahead early in games. Granted that 3 and outs killed us on offense last year.
Our defense had a very difficult time forcing 3 and outs when we needed to.
April 8th, 2023 at 12:54 am
Agree with Defense Rules. Big help to resign both Hicks and Golston. We won’t be forced to draft interior line prospects. Hate to say it but we really missed Suh helping free up Shaq last year.
April 8th, 2023 at 1:01 am
When we can force teams to Double our interior defensive players they can’t bring help to our pass rushers. Well they can but it leaves them vulnerable and gives them less options. For example, tight end or backs for check downs.