Does The Bucs Defense Help The Bucs Offense?
October 27th, 2023
Is Bucs defense good or bad?
Yes, the loss last night is frustrating. But Joe cannot sit and wail that the Bucs defense is lousy. Why? Well, here’s why:
The Bucs have the second-best red zone defense in the NFL. That usually means opposing offenses don’t score that many points. Joe thinks limiting opposing offenses from scoring points is fairly substantial.
Also, the Bucs have the third-most takeaways. For football coaches, it seems sometimes takeaways are more important than air to breathe.
So the fact the Bucs are elite in those two areas, well, Joe cannot say with a straight face the defense sucks.
Could the Bucs defense use some work? Oh, hell yes. In fact, a Bucs insider, Evan Closky of WTSP-TV Channel 10, doesn’t believe the current defense is a good match for the Bucs offense.
Joe sees Closky working but “this Joe” just cannot get on board with throwing rocks at the defense. (The other Joe waved all the red flags for the defense early this week.)
No matter how you slice it, at the end of the day, it’s about points. How many did you score? How many did you give up? So far, the Bucs have only given up more than 20 points in two games, both losses. In one, the Bucs damn near pulled out the win on the final play (last night).
The Bucs defense, while teams are going up and down the field on them (specifically on third downs), has been good at what counts: Keeping other teams out of the end zone.
At the end of the day, that’s all that matters. Does the current Bucs defense fit the offense? If we are talking about holding teams to low scores, then yes, it does.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:05 am
Missing tackles, stupid penalties, a brave but inconsistent QB, non existent running game, despite yesterday show some improvements, predictable offense and playing without CB and TE’s ….With all that said, we won 3 games, miracles are real!!!
October 27th, 2023 at 9:06 am
Don’t let the garbage time comeback last night fool you.
Bucs are a bad football team. Its time to break up the team and re-boot.
They have become too comfortable around each other and do just enough not to truly collapse.
Vita is really starting to get under my last nerve too. I think its time to let him go for a some draft capital.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:09 am
The defense is great in the red zone but allows teams too much cushion and they march down the field maintaining time of possession and field position.
Not all the defenses fault but it seems last night we were constantly pinned back deep in our own territory.
The defense always seems to start soft….allowing teams to take a lead. with our slow starting (and slow finishing) offense…..that’s not a good prescrption.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:17 am
The Bucs offense is putrid- call it what it is
If Evans or Godwin go down, God forbid, Bucs will probably start getting shut out.
Right now, they have 5 backups starting on offense.
Mayfield isn’t elite but he’s not the main reason.
They just don’t have a good interior offensive line or TE or receiver depth or starting RB
October 27th, 2023 at 9:17 am
The defense is playing winning football. The offense needs to sustain drives and put up points. And that offensive line is horrendous. All in all we lost to three Superbowl contenders and one ugly loss to the Falcons.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:20 am
Total yards don’ matter, the only thing that matters is total points scored and our defense has given Dave Canales sorry as offense a chance to win in every game we played this season.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:20 am
@BucsFan2520
With all due respect, I would love to see what you see…..Winning football by the defense with no rushing the passer, with disgusting tackling and with two bad CB…..I would love to be that optimistic…..But I am not….
I would trade CDIII and Devin White right now……CDIII is really bad….
October 27th, 2023 at 9:22 am
The D is bad……but mainly because they have zero hope the O can do their job.
Start Trask…hit the slants and the seams. the rest will open up.
BM is too short for those throws combined with his flat trajectory
October 27th, 2023 at 9:22 am
Overall the defense has been holding teams to low scores. That’s a brownie point to Bowles. Overall the offense has not been scoring enough to win. That’s a knock on Canales.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:22 am
Jason Licht 69-84
Todd Bowles 35-52
Baker Mayfield 36-42
You are what your records says you are…..
October 27th, 2023 at 9:26 am
Over rated defense. Bad defense. Not as bad as the offense but still bad none the less. Teams drive up and down the field on them at will. The only thing that slows down the opposing offenses is the random turnover. So sick of hearing excuses. The whole team is bad.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:28 am
Yes, the D has done a good job not allowing the other team to score, but it really boils down to time of possession. The more time an offense has to score, even a not very good one, the higher probability of scoring more points. Defense does have to get off the field to give themselves a rest and allow the offense more time to score.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:31 am
It’s about points at the end of the day. Stats are for losers lol and points are for winners
October 27th, 2023 at 9:32 am
Use the pass to set up the run, use the run to setup the pass. do the unexpected Change up the way you run the offense.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:34 am
I’d say the defence is Jeckle and Hyde. They mix absolutely stellar play with absolute garbage. Devin White particularly stunk. Ryan Neal particularly stunk. JTS was his usual disappointing self. Dean was hot and cold as was Davis. On one long Allen run we left the entire front embarrassingly open and naked. You can never allow that against him. That defense
October 27th, 2023 at 9:35 am
The Defense has struggled outside of the Red Zone. But they are holding strong inside the zone. The problem is we are getting the ball to the offense inside the 10 yard line and its 3 and punt. We did finally get a1 drive going that put us back in the game. At least the defense is good at something.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:37 am
The turnovers will eventually even out.
Still not sure why we paid outside corners big money to play zone…
We can’t draft defensive linemen etc….The Glaziers don’t fire in season, but I know they hate when there’s no good Buc buzz….I appreciate the fight this team has but we need a make over. The fact our division sucks is holding back our rebuild. Going 8 and 9 and getting smacked by Dallas in a playoff home game is not success.
Go Bucs!
October 27th, 2023 at 9:37 am
The defense is doing to the offense what Jameis did to the defense. Bend but don’t break, now the offense is starting drives deep in their own territory be it a turnover or a punt, then the usual exacerbation of a holding or pre-snap penalty puts them further behind the sticks. All the Bills did was take what Tampa gave them and that was large cushions by our all-paid team CBS, lack of discipline by the OLBs letting Allen get outside of them and when that didn’t happen, no Vita or Hall to close out QB running lanes
October 27th, 2023 at 9:40 am
It’s selling time stock up on picks for 2026 and arch manning
October 27th, 2023 at 9:48 am
Lombardi Lenny … ‘Don’t let the garbage time comeback last night fool you. Bucs are a bad football team. Its time to break up the team and re-boot.’
I can agree with you on the first 2 Lenny, but not on your 3rd point. This roster is what you get when you go full-hog for 3 years and screw the pooch from a salary-CAP perspective. Bucs went from one of the oldest to one of the youngest rosters literally overnight because of money. It’s Year 1 of what’s probably a 3-year rebuild. The tip-off is the 12 rookies on our 53-man roster (think about that for a sec: we drafted 8 & kept 7 of those). On top of that we’ve got 24 others on our roster still on their 1st contract. THAT’S a young roster, and a lot of those will be replaced over these next 2 years via the daft & free agency.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:52 am
Right on! Don’t blame the defense. They had a turnover that led to an easy TD for us.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:53 am
well, at least we can be done with the bucs for a year and get back to Sunday fishing.
Fire the HC, trade ME if you can get a bucket of warm spit or a pick. start Trask and see if he has anything. remove bowels from the team and any coaching staff who likes him. They need to clear the stinch
October 27th, 2023 at 9:53 am
When you constantly have a bend but don’t break defense it means that your defense is spending too much time on the field and your offense and the opponent’s defense is spending too much time on the bench
October 27th, 2023 at 9:56 am
I think the number of points we’ve given up is a misleading stat. When the other team is constantly up by two scores more than three quarters of the way through the game. And knowing we have a really anemic offense, they seem to move into a ball control drain the clock mode knowing we can’t come back. This is not the Tom Brady Buccaneers where two or three plays and a drive can change the score. This is the dink and dunk Baker Mayfield offense which in my opinion looks like garbage. It’s time to see what we have in Kyle Trask. For better or for worse he has very good arm talent and is a taller quarterback. All night seemed like Baker could not see his receivers and he couldn’t seem to get out of the pocket.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:59 am
Aaron … ‘Still not sure why we paid outside corners big money to play zone’.
I agree with you Aaron. It’s baffling watching opposing offenses go up-and-down the field almost at will, then we dig in when they hit the Red Zone. What’s especially frustrating is watching the DLine show almost no pass rush on play-after-play. On one play last night Allen could’ve ordered a pizza from a Pizza Hut in Tampa, got it delivered and then ate it BEFORE our pass rush ever got there. It was grotesque.
I remember at the beginning of the year lots of folks saying that our Secondary was gonna be our strength. Instead it’s become our biggest weakness on defense. Neal needs to be benched & plug in Delaney. Izien is playing great at times, but playing very much like a rookie at other times. I’m still convinced that Dean’s playing hurt (groin or something) because he looks slow as cold molasses (probably why he plays so far off?). And on top of all that. we have zero experienced depth to plug in. Still just Year 1 of a 3-year rebuild though. Get as many experience as we can to see what we’ve got, keep the good ones & replace the weak links next year & the year after.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:01 am
BACKWARDS YET AGAIN
The second half, offensive 3 and Outs when backed up against the end zone were killers for the defense. Do you guys watch the games? I’m part of another community and every time they went three and out, we all knew another score was imminent. The Buffs had a short field and the defense didn’t get a rest.
This was the first game, their punter bested our punter and the offensive 3-Outs killed our defense. It’s difficult to participate in this community if you don’t watch the games.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:03 am
Everything that’s happening has been expected. I would say middle-of-the-road expectancy. No need to panic. But let everything fall in place. We are still have the the division title on sight. One game at a time fellows.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:05 am
3 in a row and 4 of 5.
The Baker experiment is failing.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:07 am
You are asking people who watched the games but you only mention 2 instances. Was the defense gassed at the start of the game when they drove down the field on us? Were they gassed coming out of halftime when they marched down the field on us yet again? Or does that not fit into your “its all the offenses fault” bs narrative? LMAO. Did YOU watch the game is a better question.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:18 am
Real shame we let Mike Edwards go and traded Shaq Mason……………………………………………
October 27th, 2023 at 10:23 am
It’s the coaching. The WHOLE ball club looks SLOPPY. Everything is just SLOPPY. No cohesion anywhere, anymore. We are night and day versus the first 3 games and these last 3. What the he!! happened?
There certainly wasn’t urgency from the coaches. No passion, no moxie, no nothing special. With the exception of one or 2 players that Always stands out. Everybody else has regressed to ugly, sloppy play… AND THAT’S ON THE COACHING STAFF from Top to Bottom. They have let this get out of control.
ALL OF THIS LIES AT THE FEET OF THIS COACHING STAFF! ALL OF IT!
October 27th, 2023 at 10:27 am
Good defenses don’t bend. No bucs d that was good allowed these many yards and 3rd downs. They ate average at best including turnovers.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:30 am
50% of the time on 3rd down the defense allows a first down unacceptable. Great defense stops the last drive of the Bills and gives the offense a chance instead they give up play after play. You Trask lovers will get your chance as Mayfield is getting the crap beat out of him.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:32 am
Oh I almost forgot how great is Neil-he is near every big play not making the play but somewhere near.
Trade Loafer White.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:41 am
Takeaways are great but can we get them on the other team’s side of the field??? Too many of these turnovers are coming inside our own 5 yard line, forcing our offense to travel 90+ yards. This offense cannot function like that.
October 27th, 2023 at 10:46 am
The defense is not opportunistic until the field shrinks. Bowles has his expensive DBs sit back in soft zones all the way down the field, then finally plays man inside the 20. WTF
Also, I’m really sick of seeing Davis and Dean blanketing a receiver but giving up the catch anyway, because they never turn their head to locate the ball. What good is tight coverage if you never swat at the ball?
October 27th, 2023 at 11:06 am
Leftys gone offense still sucks, White can catch but can’t run with our O-Line. I hope we can turn this around if we can’t its time to give Bowles a long hard look.
October 27th, 2023 at 12:06 pm
zzbuc Says:
October 27th, 2023 at 9:20 am
@BucsFan2520
With all due respect, I would love to see what you see…..Winning football by the defense with no rushing the passer, with disgusting tackling and with two bad CB…..I would love to be that optimistic…..But I am not….
I would trade CDIII and Devin White right now……CDIII is really bad….
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The defense is averaging 2 turnovers per game and has held every opponent at or below its average points scored per game. What else do you need to know? Years mean nothing – every team is going to get yards in the nfl. The offense is not scoring.
October 27th, 2023 at 12:08 pm
Can’t win many games averaging a lowly 17 PPG with the worst running game in the league.
October 27th, 2023 at 12:19 pm
When’s the last time the defense held the other side to 3 n out. Almost never. Bucs offense starting field position is putrid. The % chance of going 90 yards for a touchdown are not good. So yeah the d is strong in the red zone with the zone coverage bend but don’t break. The offense is getting no favors with field position.
October 27th, 2023 at 12:23 pm
Red Skeleton … ‘The Defense has struggled outside of the Red Zone. But they are holding strong inside the zone. The problem is we are getting the ball to the offense inside the 10 yard line and its 3 and punt.’
Excellent point. The Drives Summaries on Pro-Football-Reference intrigue me because they show quite clearly (side-by-side) the disparities between the 2 teams. Last night the Bucs had 11 drives (we scored on 3 of them, had a missed FG on another, ran out of downs on the last one, and punted 6 times in-between. Starting positions were abysmal for the most part though:
o Drive 1: Tampa 27 … 6 plays/2:25 time/16 yds … Punt
o Drive 2: Tampa 20 … 7 plays/3:43 time/48 yds … Miss FG
o Drive 3: Tampa 1 … 3 plays/1:09 time/2 yds … Punt
o Drive 4: Tampa 25 … 8 plays/3:23 time/36 yds … FG
o Drive 5: Buffalo 23 … 2 plays/0:47 time/23 yds … TD
o Drive 6: Tampa 25 … 7 plays/2:29 time/29 yds … Punt
o Drive 7: Tampa 25 … 4 plays/3:00 time/18 yds … Punt
o Drive 8: Tampa 3 … 3 plays/2:21 time/9 yds … Punt
o Drive 9: Tampa 4 … 3 plays/1:04 time/6 yds … Punt
o Drive 10: Tampa 8 … 17 plays/7:21 time/92 yds… TD
o Drive 11: Tampa 20 … 4 plays/0:21 time/25 yds… End Game
Take away the 1 turnover, and that’s an average starting LOS at about the Bucs 17, with 4 of them inside the Bucs 10-yard line. That’s sad.
October 27th, 2023 at 12:27 pm
Realistic-Optimistic … ‘Too many of these turnovers are coming inside our own 5 yard line, forcing our offense to travel 90+ yards.’
Uhhh, the alternative would’ve been the opposing team scoring, then us getting the ball at the 25-yard line at best. I’ll take the turnovers.
October 27th, 2023 at 12:33 pm
Tampa 78 rushing yards a game 17.3 ppg
Atlanta 124 rushing yards a game 16.4 ppg
Houston 88 22.5 ppg
Seattle 106 24 ppg
Arizona 139 18.1 ppg
NYJ 117 18.8 ppg
Minnesota 74.9 21.6 ppg
Kansas city 111 25.4 ppg
Various examples for Baker fanboys to show you don’t need to run the football to score. Good Qbs & Schemes find ways to score. It’s the perfect time to move on from Happy Feet during the mini bye to try & salvage the season.
October 27th, 2023 at 12:52 pm
I crashed around 9pm, so reading that the final score was 18-24 was a relief. Bills caught a lot of luck. If only the first FG wasn’t blocked. Oh well…. I’m fed up with LB White. He’s a waste and no help for LVD. He needs to be benched if possible. If not cos of Buc Luck, he needs to get up off his lazy azz and do his Job. Hope LVD lets him have it this week.
October 27th, 2023 at 1:04 pm
We are the worst team in 3rd down conversion allowed with 50.5% allowed!
You know what a good defense does? Takes the other team off the field early in the drive to conserve time and give the offense short fields!!
This defense is mediocre!
October 27th, 2023 at 1:21 pm
Defense Rules – Good data points. Also need to factor in special teams. The bills punt and punt return game was phenomenal. It’s not simply the defense giving up long drives.
October 27th, 2023 at 1:26 pm
Havenbuc Says:
October 27th, 2023 at 12:33 pm
Tampa 78 rushing yards a game 17.3 ppg
Atlanta 124 rushing yards a game 16.4 ppg
Houston 88 22.5 ppg
Seattle 106 24 ppg
Arizona 139 18.1 ppg
NYJ 117 18.8 ppg
Minnesota 74.9 21.6 ppg
Kansas city 111 25.4 ppg
Various examples for Baker fanboys to show you don’t need to run the football to score. Good Qbs & Schemes find ways to score. It’s the perfect time to move on from Happy Feet during the mini bye to try & salvage the season.
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This makes absolutely zero sense as an argument
October 27th, 2023 at 1:37 pm
bucfan25 it makes perfect sense, It shows you that in todays league there’s teams that have nasty run games (Atlanta/Arizona) and can’t score squat than there’s the complete opposites like Houston/Seattle that can’t really run the ball but somehow score almost a touchdown more than us a game on average. The common denominator is the Qb play. Everybody seems to think the run games letting baker down, it is. But it isn’t. he’s had protection and his weapons compared to a team like houston is an insane advantage. No reason this offense should be this garbage and i think he’s the main culprit.
October 27th, 2023 at 1:41 pm
I’m not sure what people think a different QB than Baker (Trask?) is gonna do here. He doesn’t their picks, takes what is there, completes most of his passes. Pocket breaks down nearly every play. The guy escaped 3-4 scenarios that most certainly would have been sacks for Trask, or most any other QB of his stature
October 27th, 2023 at 2:55 pm
The Bucs were down one score at half. The Bills came out and drove the length of the field for a TD. Changed the game.
October 27th, 2023 at 3:59 pm
Beej…. Hard to say Mayfield holds onto the ball alot. Most QBs get rid of it on timing and quick progressions.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:08 pm
Havenbuc – I get what you’re trying to convey but yards per attempt would be a better argument. If one team runs more than the other of course ypg will be higher. Look mayfield isn’t perfect no argument there, but the run game is critical in this scheme and it’s horrendous.