Changes To Bucs Defense Better Come Soon
November 3rd, 2024
Adjustments needed.
Last week, Todd Bowles seemed, at best, lukewarm to the notion of trading for defensive help.
Yeah, the Bucs are just fine with no edge rush and an inside linebacker that shouldn’t be on the field. But, let’s bank on a practice squad dude turning things around by himself — if he’s ever “ready” to play this season.
Lawd!
Well, Rich Hribar of Sharp Football Analysis has some dreadful numbers. It’s gross.
* Tampa Bay has allowed 2.84 points per drive over their past four games, 30th in the league.
* Only 22.4% of the possessions against Tampa Bay fail to gain at least one first down, 31st in the league.
This is just disgusting. Teams averaged a field goal per drive?
Joe doesn’t know of a team with a good defense that just ignores an edge rush like the Bucs. Joe should clarify that: The Bucs seem to ignore a productive edge rush, a proven veteran.
If Bowles is still confident this defense can snap out of it, Joe would love to see the evidence that’s inspiring the head coach.
November 3rd, 2024 at 12:08 am
The only plausible explanation is that Licht and Bowles are playing a longer game at the expense of this season. Not a fan of the approach. So much potential is be wasted.
November 3rd, 2024 at 12:11 am
I’m not looking forward to Monday night.
Another beat down on national TV.
I hope I’m wrong but ……..
November 3rd, 2024 at 12:24 am
Travis Kelce has no worries, he’s at the Taylor Swift show in Indianapolis tonight Joe..
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:19 am
What happened to the defense that had the reputation: “You can’t run on the Buccaneers?”
Or the defense that gave Goff and Hurts a hard time where they were “always” stopped in the Red zone, and had tosettle for field goals.
Bowles has a point this time. It’s the same defense; in fact, it’s been weeded-out a little bit with White and Carlton Davis now permanently absint from the starting lineup.
McCollum upgraded himself, but Dean being out, should be an improvement-by-default via his replacement being more effective (which “would seem” easily accomplished), but hasn’t.
Then, throw-in all the injuries in the defense (now much better; but needs a couple of games “for the rust to shake off:” maybe this is what Bowles is calling “the miscommunication?”) and it’s just generated this certain disruption that’s actually to be expected.
well, here it is. But that doesn’t mean it can’t go away.
This disruption can be the reason Lavonte hasn’t had his usual standout games lately, for example; it’s throwing things out of sync, all around.
Bowles could be right and have a good point. Unfortunately, it’s coming across as sounding like another: “insert platitude here” solution/explanation.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:25 am
Bowles seems to live by IF IT AIN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT!
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:27 am
Monte Kiffin would be having a fit right now if he knew how much he had their D struggling. I’d have more faith in Monte again.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:36 am
Correction: make that “absent.’
With regard to trades: Bill Belichick was just talking about this within the last week or so on one of the many sports-outlets on which he appears in all his football-intelligent glory.
Beiichick actually scoffed at the idea of mid-season trades, and of it being at all likely to produce anything but old, injury-prone liabilities, rather than solutions; words to that effect.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:38 am
Nothing will change as long as the circus clown pictured above, who has become the reincarnation of Lovie Smith, continues to work for the Buccaneers.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:57 am
Either Change or just live with a heart burn filled experience every week of trying to overcome your own defense with a streaky offense. 😧😧 That’s just not fun.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:33 am
Bucs are going to let the Falcons pick up Ojulari.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:59 am
They over spent so damn bad when Brady was here, they’re tryingbto save themselves. Problem is Bowles. It’s always been Bowles. He runs a feast or famine defense. This year, he’s missing a few play makers.
JOE!!!!
please.. seriously. PLEASE.
I know one of ya loves stats. So here is a few I’d love to know.
How many times has Bowles failed to create a stop to save a game?
How many Blow outs has he given up?
Wins vs Coaches with a winning record?
QBR rating given up to rookie QBs?
November 3rd, 2024 at 2:04 am
Seriously. You run a damn poll of fans confidence in him for the past 2 or 3 years. He’s been on the hot seat for years. It’s time.
November 3rd, 2024 at 3:02 am
Needed: Two fast inside linebackers, able to learn a defensive scheme right away.
Nope. Those guys ain’t walking the streets. Try next spring’s draft.
November 3rd, 2024 at 5:30 am
bend but then break….
November 3rd, 2024 at 6:22 am
Lunchmeat … You’re right in that no new ILB could learn Bowles’ defense right away. But he runs a lot of 4-man fronts anyways, so why not transition back to a 4-3 to provide better LB run defense & short pass defense? And LVD grew up in the 4-3 defense, so retraining him wouldn’t be an issue.
And we just might get a better pass rush out of the 4-3. We’ve got several guys who’d function a lot better IMO as a DE than they do as an OLB.
Oh and in the process, we happen to have a coach who’s got an excellent reputation with 4-3 defenses named George Edwards. So to be safe, why don’t we promote him to DC for the rest of this season?
November 3rd, 2024 at 7:12 am
The Chiefs are in for one and a half quarters of pure hell.
November 3rd, 2024 at 7:38 am
if kelse really was at the taylor swift show in said city last night, then we’ve got a problem…
translation:
this is not a big game to the kc chiefs
November 3rd, 2024 at 7:43 am
@Defense:
with all due respect, because you write some excellent stuff…….
but good luck with that…i just think it’s really wishful thinking the coach is going to change from a 3-4 to a 4-3 midway thru the season…
it’s just not him…lol…
he would prolly consider it revamping the entire defense…and essentially it would be…
but i can totally see why you’re fancying the idea…
but good luck telling coach “do it now”…….it’s just not in his dna to make many changes in general…let alone on the fly
November 3rd, 2024 at 7:46 am
coaches probable response to it at podium:
“umm nah jenna…..you do realize that one tweak actually changes all 3 levels of the defense jenna…you do realize that right jenna”
🙂
November 3rd, 2024 at 8:12 am
I’m in KC now.
Chiefs fans almost treat us Bucs fans like we arrived in a short bus.
They’re looking past this game.
Which, I think…is good.
“Any given Monday.”
November 3rd, 2024 at 8:13 am
Todd looks pretty serious in that. photo!
The Sharp Football Analysis article was really interesting. Thank you for sharing.
November 3rd, 2024 at 8:24 am
Another lost season?
4-6 before the bye seems likely
O needs to score on every possession with this D
November 3rd, 2024 at 8:37 am
This guy is not changing anything. He’s blitzing Fans and Lbs and leaving wide open spaces on the back end
November 3rd, 2024 at 8:40 am
Outside of our 2020 run, this team is quintessential Jason Licht. Bad coaching, historically bad play on one side of the ball, no edge rush, a boatload of top misses on the d line, and bad free agency.
We can all debate how we got here, but this is exactly like the Bucs from 5 – 10 years ago.
November 3rd, 2024 at 8:53 am
Bubby, how many SBs did GB win under Favre? One. Rodgers? One. Miami with Marino? None.
Point is Licht won one.
Be grateful. Glass is half full.
November 3rd, 2024 at 8:54 am
Perhaps Jamel Dean being out is more of a loss than many here thought.
November 3rd, 2024 at 8:59 am
@Bucsfan:
yeah it is
November 3rd, 2024 at 9:27 am
Not wasting my time watching Bucs and their putrid defense until Bowles is gone.
November 3rd, 2024 at 9:36 am
This team is beginning to smell more and more like the Raheem Morris Bucs of 2011 on the defensive side of the ball. Difference is Morris lost the entire team, not just the defense. We’re looking at 7 wins assuming both games against the Panthers are wins. I’ll take it if it gets Bowels fired. But will the Glazers grow a brain and do it?
November 3rd, 2024 at 9:43 am
The issues is not the linebackers even if we had two with speed that could cover Bowles would still drop Vea and Kancey back into coverage. It’s the head coach his the position coaches.
New offensive coaches same in and improved the o line and run game immediately. That’s what coaches do. Todd Bowles and his crew it’s just time to go
November 3rd, 2024 at 9:44 am
Hey Beast. Those are great questions.No doubt those stats will tell us who Bowles really is.
November 3rd, 2024 at 10:14 am
Modhairken- The Super Bowl run was great. We were aggressive and brought in the necessary pieces to not only compete, but win a championship. I am super greatful for those years. My point is… we’ve reverted to a former approach that has proven to be unsuccessful. Keeping the nucleus of an average, declining team is hardly aggressive.
November 3rd, 2024 at 10:14 am
I moved to Dunedin in 1978 and was bitten by some creature that infected me with BucFever. Leroy Selmon was playing edge, but I can’t recall much from then, but he was good. I think he was the ONLY edge rusher that was drafted and turned out to be good. We traded for Simion Rice, who I think was our best edge rusher. We traded or signed as FA JPP and Suh. This crew does not know how to draft and develop an edge player.
Can you imagine a young Simion Rice being signed and being told that half his time was to be dropping into coverage. He had a mouth on him and would surely reveal to the world what a Sh!t Show this defensive scheme is.
Don’t expect any help for us this year.
November 3rd, 2024 at 11:01 am
Hairken, Bucs bought that Super Bowl by buying Brady plus 3 proven free agents on the defensive side if the ball (JPP, Suh, Shaq). It is easy to identify proven vets. But Light’s draft performance on the defensive side is abysmal. You are giving him far too much credit for that Super Bowl victory.
Question for you. Other than Winfield, Who is the second best defensive player Light has drafted?
November 3rd, 2024 at 11:09 am
Bowles cannot improve this. In his tome as HC the defense has been average at best and always had one glaring weakness.
And none of this is on Licht. Bowles has a big hand in choosing the draft picks and most are good or at least serviceable talent.
Bowles has said himself that the defense is not easy to learn — could it be that he’s just not capable of coaching them up?
Any way you look at it, the failures of this team are completely on Todd Bowles
November 3rd, 2024 at 11:28 am
Vita Vea.
November 3rd, 2024 at 11:38 am
Bowles is going to end falling on the sword at the end of this season I suspect. And I don’t believe this is all fault. Jason, Spytek, and Rogers and others all have blame here…Welp I think there is going to be new leadership come January 2025 at One Buc Place.
November 3rd, 2024 at 11:49 am
It’s really getting to the point to where we might as well just play ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST any time we have to deal with the games we’ve dealt with recently (Atlanta games) if the way things keep getting run the way they are on D.
November 3rd, 2024 at 12:15 pm
Adam from NY … ‘Good luck with that…i just think it’s really wishful thinking the coach is going to change from a 3-4 to a 4-3 midway thru the season’.
I agree with you Adam that Todd Bowles won’t switch to a 4-3, as long as he’s the DC. I’ve been against dual-hatting HC as OC or DC forever though, because 1 role or the other always gets short-changed (I’m convinced that’s why BA refused to be OC). Todd’s defensive scheme is uniquely his; it’s a hybrid 3-4 far as I’m concerned, not a true 3-4. And it’s a hybrid primarily because of his incessant blitzing, which leaves giant areas of the field open UNLESS you employ some rather unconventional tactics (dropping DTs into coverage for instance?).
Because of his constant blitzing, Bucs normally rush 4 (sometimes more). This year for instance the Bucs have already blitzed 275 times in 8 games; that projects to 585 blitzes on the year. To date we’ve managed to get 21 sacks in 8 games; that projects to 44 sacks on the season (not all of which are due to blitzes by any means). Look at those (projected) numbers in relationship to TB’s past years here:
o 2024: 585 blitzes … 44 sacks … 26.6 PPG Allowed
o 2023: 341 blitzes … 47 sacks … 19.1 PPG ”
o 2022: 250 blitzes … 44 sacks … 21.1 PPG ”
o 2021: 532 blitzes … 47 sacks … 20.8 PPG ”
o 2020: 542 blitzes … 48 sacks … 22.2 PPG ”
o 2019: 613 blitzes … 47 sacks … 28.1 PPG ”
2024’s performance is looking eerily like 2019’s performance, in terms of the number of blitzes and sacks, AND PPG Allowed. And yet 2019 was TB’s 1st year here, when we transitioned from a 4-3 to his 3-4. We had some pretty good talent back in 2019, but we had quite a few new players on defense (particularly in the Secondary), and it took awhile to learn Todd’s system. And oh ya, the Bucs’ offense made history that year by committing 41 Turnovers, 30 of which were INTs. That doesn’t help the defense much in terms of Points Allowed.
Our 2024 defense, like the 2019 defense, is very ‘discombobulated’. Small wonder the players have communications issues; everything is constantly in a state of flux it seems. Not to mention that this defense doesn’t have the speed to be optimizing TB’s hybrid 3-4. Blitzes aren’t getting home, and giant areas of the field are left uncovered. Tackling sucks because guys are too far out of position to get good angles it seems, and not fast enough to ‘close the gap’.
Todd won’t change willingly for sure, but the Glazers & Licht might have other thoughts. Thankfully we play an ‘easier’ schedule after the BYE, but that still doesn’t guarantee anything the way this defense has been performing. I’d still like to see what George Edwards could do with a 4-3 here.
November 3rd, 2024 at 12:19 pm
Buc defense needs to tighten it up. Players have to be willing to tackle. Too many short passes where no one touches a guy and they are literally walking into the end zone. The hey desperately have to find a linebacker who can drop and play coverage. Trade for one if necessary, can’t have Britt on the field on passing downs.
November 3rd, 2024 at 12:20 pm
Bowles is not a motivator, at times he looks like hes not motivated and doesn’t even want to be a head coach.
November 3rd, 2024 at 12:25 pm
Same old stuff and not letting certain players develop. Will catch up to people behavior 👍👍👍.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:14 pm
I agree, Joe. Vea would be number 2. Licht’s second best defensive selection is a rotational player
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:16 pm
One of the reasons TB has a problem when blitzing is the zone. You pretty much have to blitz with man or QBs these days will just identify the open space and get rid of the ball quickly. The best blitzes IMO are overload looks where you can’t tell who is coming and who is dropping. Just bringing an extra man late usually doesn’t work for Bowles. Look at the blitz against Baltimore when they ran a screen. They literally had the whole O Line blocking at the goal line and Todd was exposed.
I have been wanting us to change to a 4-3 as well because you already have guys DEEP ENOUGH. Historically 3-4 defenses have stopped the run well, which we did for years, but not anymore. Change to a 4-3 won’t really hurt much there, but would help a ton on passing downs. Britt would have a smaller space to cover for instance. The 3rd safety could play a hybrid S/LB role. Whitehead could do this because he is a good tackler.
I really think this team is better suited to run a 4-3.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:17 pm
The only change you need to make for the defense to improve is remove Todd Bowles.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:19 pm
But as rotational players go, he is a good one. Not great, but good.
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:28 pm
Monday night does fell like a powder puff game like when major college teams play nobody teams…
Chiefs can just show up and basically get the win….
Bowels was such a mistake!
November 3rd, 2024 at 1:47 pm
Joe Bowles picture looks more like a mug shot , arrested for impersonating an NFL head coach.
November 3rd, 2024 at 2:03 pm
Bowles defensive philosophy….bend, break, then bend over and take it
November 3rd, 2024 at 2:35 pm
I figured I would finally check in. I can’t begin to explain how pissed off and disgusted I am after the deliberate and cheap shot to CG14 in the Ravens’ game. Harbaugh’s boys had the win in the bag. Who paid them off? Not paying any attention tomorrow night. What’s the point? Bucs playing Chiefs in KC. Bucs are not at full strength, but you can bet KC is, including refs. I am over the corruption. I might check the score Tuesday am.
November 3rd, 2024 at 2:39 pm
BillyBucco … Nice analysis. Thank you.
November 3rd, 2024 at 10:41 pm
Some interesting ideas for improvement here that might work. They’ll never be implemented because we has Lovie II wasting light as an incompetent DC working for himself, a failed HC.
It’s over.
November 4th, 2024 at 8:09 am
Several factors working here –
1) starts up front and Bucs have one alpha in Vea. But keep in mind our best DL plays about 50% of snaps. Bucs have two good young talents in CK and YaYa. The rest are a bunch of JAGs. This is why our pass rush is very below avg unless Bowles dials up blitzes…
2) Britt is a huge liability in pass defense and LD has lost a step. Dennis looks like he can be a player but that’s based on a small sample size.
3) Zyon has improved each season no doubt. Dean is below avg and zBucs should have never given 2nd contract. Winfield, like Vea, obvious bad ass. Whitehead looks like a shell of his former self. He has played poorly over last few weeks. Bucs have a few other workable pieces.
4) scheme and coaching has been brutal since Detroit win. Soft zone, poor tackling, and tactics are in question. How do you NOT blitz Cousins over two games and throw the kitchen sink at Lamar?
5) don’t want to hear about injuries. 31 other teams deal with it. This is about coaching, scheme, tactics and missing on draft picks up front where it matters most. Everyone has a hand in this defensive mess
November 4th, 2024 at 9:13 am
Add Joe to the list of casual fans that think you can bring in a player at midseason and have him learn the system, get caught up to speed, and build chemistry with his teammates fast enough to make a difference during THAT season. At least the Bucs front office knows better.