Pass Defense Killing Bucs
November 29th, 2023
No defense for the pass defense.
Want to know what may be the Bucs’ biggest problem? Stopping other teams.
In the case of the spiraling Bucs, it’s stopping the pass.
In six of the last seven games, all losses, the Bucs defense has allowed at least 380 yards. In four of those six losses the Bucs allowed 400 yards. Houston, with a rookie quarterback, came four yards shy of hitting 500 offensive yards.
Overall, the Bucs defense is sixth-worst in the NFL allowing 363.7 yards per game. The run defense is good, ninth-best in the NFL giving up 95.9 rushing yards a game.
The pass defense is atrocious.
The only team giving up more yards per game through the air is the Chargers. The Bucs are getting gouged by quarterbacks for an average of 267.8 passing yards a game.
This is the trap a team sets for itself going all out to stop the run in a passing league.
Overall, the Bucs cough up 363.7 yards a game in total offensive yards.
When a defensive-minded head coach has a poor defense and a losing record, that tends to get the attention of the folks who sign the paychecks.
November 29th, 2023 at 12:39 am
I tried to point this out before the bye week as a concern that would bite the team in the ass, but we were all so concerned about the (brand new) offense not putting up points.
November 29th, 2023 at 12:40 am
The problem is you have less time to put up points when you give 9 minute drives to the Eagles offense, and so on… Complementary football means getting the ball back for the offense, so they can try and score.
November 29th, 2023 at 12:50 am
The reason why you stop the run is to make a team one dimensional,however, it doesn’t matter if you can’t stop the pass. TB is too stubborn to adjust his defensive scheme.
November 29th, 2023 at 12:51 am
The Bucs BIGGEST problem is some Moron that Todd Bowels was a good idea to employ as HC and NOW the Fans and players are in agony begging for relief from such an ignorant decision!….
Fire Bowels Already!
Break free from the curse of Bowels!
November 29th, 2023 at 12:57 am
Is it just me or does our pass D not miss a step without Dean and Davis. Quck, who has the most INTs this season.
November 29th, 2023 at 1:02 am
Its a passing league and Bowles wants to stop the run, play zone, and grind the game out with ball control. He has gotten his turnovers, and there is no impact. I know Joe screams this from the rooftops, but you know what helps a struggling secondary? A pass rush. His blitz scheme is all smoke and mirrors, and I feel we have seen enough of it to wonder if that is also the cause of so many of the blown run fits-guys are out of position stunting and they lose gap control. Only a gamer like BA could find a way work around this madness, and it bit him in the playoffs as well.
November 29th, 2023 at 1:32 am
@ kgh4life
Exactly right. Let’s force them into doing the thing we’re the worst at stopping! That’s what I keep saying, yes I expected this years team to be bad. Yes I expected us to lose to the Bills and the 9ers. What I can’t accept is not playing to our strengths (passing on offense, man coverage on defense). Look at the story of Rudy. Great story. But how much time and energy did he spend fixating on something he wasn’t good at for a relatively meager return. What is the opportunity cost of what all that time & effort could’ve gone towards instead? Same thing with bowles. He’d rather lose his way than win another way. Fine for him to feel that way, but that should be wholly unacceptable to ownership.
#FIREbowlesNOW #NOconfidence
November 29th, 2023 at 2:15 am
And for the record, our run defense isn’t some revelation anyhow. We’re only 15 more yrds/game away from being ranked 15th against the run (from 9th), middle of the pack, which would only drop us two spots to 4th worst (from 6th worst) in overall yards surrendered per game. We’re “good against the run” because teams don’t bother running against us. Why would they when our charmin soft zone gives up the booty at will? You tell me who really had trouble running against us when they tried (the sign of an actual good run defense). The Eagles? The Lions? Even the Bills who are perennially touted as needing RB help gashed us for 115 on the ground. The Colts? Forget the Minshew embarrassment, how many times did DW45 get juked by their RBs as they broke thru the line of scrimmage? I counted at least 3. We do NOT have a good run defense.
Point is bowles is the most stubborn jerk in the league at this point. We KNOW the soft zone doesn’t work. The film shows it, the statistics show it, I’m sure the players know it too. There is no guarantee that playing man will work, but there’s a chance! Don’t you want to find out?? Not this idiot. For all this talk about the pass rush and the coverage going hand in hand, I don’t understand how he doesn’t realize that they are working against each other in this scheme. The soft zone and blitzing DBs offer quick easy completions that don’t give the rush any time to get home. Press man the WRs, even if they break free after a few seconds, at least that’s some time for the rush to work with (wouldn’t help JTS tho)! And at this point, I’m fine with just losing a different way. If that means the opponent scoring via a 75yd bomb every possession, that’s better than them matriculating down the field, getting in 3rd and 5, completion for 7 all day 🤬. I want to say it was the second game against Carolina last season, it looked like Leftwich/ Brady told bowles “just let us try it our way.” You could tell the game was just called different from the rest of the season; passes on first down, offense humming, ME13 TDs, high score, WIN. But no, back to bowles ball the rest of the season and this season as well. He doesn’t get it or doesn’t want to get it. He’s got to go. No desire to save the season, no desire to save his job, put him out of our misery.
#FIREbowlesNOW #NOconfidence
November 29th, 2023 at 3:01 am
We dont have a pass rush.
Which is the most important thing for a defense in todays NFL.
We have wasted our top picks on terrible excuses for DLinemen
A weakling(JTS), a tweener (Hall), and a tiny lil fella(Kancey)
3 top pick misses in a row?
That should get Licht fired
Thats why I keep saying
We need to draft a pass rushing Dlinemen, a Guard, and a Center.
Fix the lines, get an offense minded coach, and a GM that can scout DLinemen,
And this team can win the division right now.
Rookie QB? We suck for 3-4 years, to find out if we will keepsucking because our rookie QB cant cut it- LIKE EVERY OTHER QB WE’VE EVER, EVER DRAFTED!!
We drafted one QB in THE HISTORY OF THIS FRANCHISE
ONE!!!
Doug Williams. In an entirely different NFL
November 29th, 2023 at 3:02 am
can you imagine tommy b strutting the sidelines in a headset, holding a waffle house menu !
#WhatMoreCouldAyeBucsFanAskFor
November 29th, 2023 at 3:16 am
I agree with Capt Tim. The failure to land impact to replace the likes of departed JPP, Suh, the O line, Gronk, Brady, no feature back, no new impact skill players, along with all sorts of erosion at other positions. Bowles is the cherry on top.
November 29th, 2023 at 4:17 am
Supposed strength (coaching, and money) is our biggest weakness.
November 29th, 2023 at 4:30 am
Kancey actually looks good. Hall is the new Gholston, which is nice, but not 33rd overall nice. JTS9 is a bust. Or he’s gonna blow up on his last year, cuz I doubt JL picks up the 5th year option.
November 29th, 2023 at 4:36 am
The pass D is on Todd, the coach who did not have to interview for his HC gig. I would love to hear the story behind Bruce Arians decision to retire in the spring (medical issue or helping his protoge get a promotion ?????) thus forcing the Bucs to basically give Bowles the head coaching job.
Lets say Bruce retired right after the Rams’ loss (caused by Bowles), I am certain Bowles would have been short-listed but would he have got the job? I dunno. Anyhow, Bowles did not have to interview for the job, heck he did not earn it either unless you call letting Cooper Kupp boatrace your boys on a bad play call after Brady should have forced OT in the playoff game a reason to hand Todd the reigns unless Arians had worked out a deal behind the curtains to give his guy another shot at HC. I am sure the dynamics between Brady, BA, Licht and the Glazers were interesting but the end result is that the Bucs have just about the worst HC in the NFL making a run at a 5 win season before he gets canned.
Anyhow, as Joe says, the pass defense is awful so I would not be surprised if the Bucs let Bryce Young have a big day on Sunday. The only qbs the Bucs have really shutdown all season are Levis and a hobbled Carr while Stroud, Purdy, and even a journeyman like Minshew all piled up the yards. Maybe the team has tuned out Bowles, the last time they had a decent day was after Bowles called a few guys out after the Texans meltdown and had a meeting. Looks like that did not accomplish anything as we now know the Titans are a really bad team, one of the few in the league worse than the Bucs. Accountability will come when Bowels is launched after week 18 in January.
November 29th, 2023 at 5:07 am
Thanks Joe for your brutally honest take on the major problem for the Bucs. The team could easily have 7 or 8 wins if not for the failure of Todd’s Toads. They have been nothing short of disastrously. Starting this weekend that all changes. The Bucs will beat the Panthers and start a winning streak into the playoffs. Keeping it real in Ireland
November 29th, 2023 at 5:24 am
Watch More All-22 Before Commenting … ‘Complementary football means getting the ball back for the offense, so they can try and score.’
No question that’s a totally valid statement, but the reverse holds equally true. If the offense holds onto the ball longer (increases its’ contribution to our TOP?) then the defense ends up with less game-time to screw up. And oh ya, the offense SHOULD end up putting more points on the board that way.
Bucs’ average TOP after 11 games is 29:12 ranking us #21 in the NFL. Last season our TOP was 28:54 (#28 ranking). Not a substantial difference, except that the ‘Improvement Needle’ is pointing in the wrong direction.
Reality IMO is that BOTH our defense AND our offense are playing mediocre football, at best. BOTH sides of the football take turns shooting themselves in the foot. Todd Bowles’ schemes depend on excellence in execution to work effectively, and we’re not coming close to that goal. And that’s from BOTH a playing perspective AND a coaching perspective. Bucs are 4-7 for a reason. Very simply, we need better TALENT & we need better COACHING.
November 29th, 2023 at 5:41 am
The Bucs have had the lead at halftime 3 times in 11 games and lost one of those games. The Bucs have been tied at halftime twice and lost one of those games. Every other game they’ve been down at the half. When the offense can’t score fast or get a lead or score off turnovers then your defense gets exposed. No the pass defense isn’t great but the defense looks pretty tired by the end of the 3rd qtr from being on the field so long.
November 29th, 2023 at 5:49 am
Pass defense is a problem at times, no doubt. But it is not realistic to expect the
DB’s to hold for 3.7 seconds as C. J. stroud had in the latter part of the Houston
game. You have to disrupt the QB, not just through sacks but both hit and pressures can also help create turnovers. Our defense often seems gassed at the end of games. Imo, Bowles has delayed getting his younger players into games
too long and could be part of the defenses problem.
November 29th, 2023 at 6:46 am
This below average team will still maintain playoff chances on paper until at least week 17.
The play is not improving and now it’s just a delusion to think there will be a favorable change.
There’s no TB around to steal a couple of games in the 4th quarter.
The season is heading to the toilet.
November 29th, 2023 at 6:57 am
We should completely expect for Carolina to beat us this weekend – this team is toast just like Toad
November 29th, 2023 at 7:52 am
Coaching is the reason the Buc defense is so bad at stopping the pass. DB’s rarely contest catches and most of the time the middle of the field is wide open.
Any QB can diagnose the holes in the Bucs secondary and with the time they have to throw, they toy with this secondary.
No interior pass rush from Vea and Hall to make QB afraid of stepping into throws and no issues dealing with weak edge rushers Tyron-Shoyinka and the slowed down Shaq Barrett. Devin White is a primary weakness on this defense, he can’t hold his ground and gets manhandled in the middle of the field by athletic offensive linemen. He has become a giant liability on this defense and by all account should be benched along with JTS.
Ya Ya is fast and strong, JTS, weak and has no place being a starting edge rusher.
Coaching evaluation of its roster and their strengths is the worst I’ve seen this season. Its a complete lack of understanding how to make these players better.
November 29th, 2023 at 8:13 am
Bowles played in the secondary, this just proves how bad he is.
November 29th, 2023 at 8:33 am
Pass D has been dreadful for years. That’s why we were “#1” against the rush….
Way to go Bud Licht.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:01 am
Coach Todd will be back next year and probably the year after. He will ignore real needs and available players to draft a running back high in the first round.
Take a siesta until 2030.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:05 am
“The run defense is good, ninth-best in the NFL giving up 95.9 rushing yards a game.”
Why would teams run when they can get chunk yards in the air? It’s a QB league, not a running back league. The only person that didn’t get that memo apparently was Todd Bowles.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:13 am
gotbucs makes a good point. So how does Bucs defense rank in rushing yards per attempt?
November 29th, 2023 at 9:13 am
The run defense was terrible vs Indy last Sunday.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:14 am
Poor HC. Poor DC. He must be flushed.
November 29th, 2023 at 10:57 am
Imagine paying Dean & Davis big money and being no where near WR’s
Watching other team’s not highly paid corners actually contest catches or limiting YAC from opponents shows it can be done.
Not sure if it’s scheme since it’s been a Todd Bowles theme since he’s been here or if the talent is over rated but man this pass defense is bad, really bad
November 29th, 2023 at 11:46 am
The reason we give up so many passing yards is that Coach Bowles knows that you win games by running the ball. So, if you don’t let the other team run, then they can’t win!
November 29th, 2023 at 3:59 pm
Not to mention that the defense can’t tackle, either. They must lead the league in giving up the most yards after a catch.
November 29th, 2023 at 5:49 pm
Finally somebody tells the truth. The defense is so bad in pass defense a high school team could throw and score.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:41 pm
It’s time we make a scene about Davis and Dean
November 30th, 2023 at 9:45 am
No pass rush. One might assume that JTS and Hall weren’t adequate replacements for JPP and Suh. And with no JPP and Suh, Barrett is less effective and Devin White completely lost. So while Bowles failed to adjust his defense to suit his available players, the root cause is poor drafting.