Too Easy, Too Often
November 9th, 2024
YaYa Diaby
Once upon a time in 2015, then-Bucs head coach Lovie Smith got annoyed with media for asking about the Tampa Bay defense allowing a galling 70-plus percent completion rate.
Completion percentage doesn’t matter, Lovie insisted.
Lovie got fired after that season following his defense allowing a 77 percent completion rate over the last four games of the season.
Fast forward to modern times, and Todd Bowles’ defense has allowed a 77 percent completion rate over the past three games. (Joe rounded down from 77.89 percent.)
And here comes Brock Purdy and the 49ers into The Licht House tomorrow for a critical NFC showdown. Purdy is known for his accuracy but has been struggling in that area this season (64.5 percent).
Overall, the Bucs rank 26th in the NFL when it comes to opponents’ complete rate — 68.5 percent. Miracle-working Atlanta is worst in the league at 70.85 percent.
If the Bucs are to win tomorrow, they’re going to have to fix the pass defense in a hurry and not allow Purdy to carve them up like he did in 2022 and 2023.
Is shouldn’t be too much to ask to disrupt the guy enough so he can’t hit on two-thirds of his throws.
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November 9th, 2024 at 7:09 pm
Bowles entire scheme is super dependent on an offense putting up points consistently…..you get up two scores and he can unleash a constant borage of blitzes. Without a highly efficient offense, Bowles struggles to be anything more than avg. He’s not Bruce Arians and frankly what has Arians coaches done in the league? Leftwich is out of work, Bowles is almost there. Either promote Coen or bring in Vrabel or Belichick. This team will never get over the hump with Bowles and will always be dependent on weaknesses in the schedule. Every year we limp into the playoffs due to a pathetic division. We might not even accomplish that.
November 9th, 2024 at 7:20 pm
C’mon. Lovie is still here. He’ll not ever ever change because “only he knows.”
Purdy will complete 80% of his passes for 350 yards, a third of them to Kittle (guarded man to man by Vita all day). Niners score at least 35.
This will (should) be the trigger to pull that most real Bucs fans have been asking for. Redeploy Lovie, finally and permanently, into academia. Addition by subtraction as a minimum.
November 9th, 2024 at 7:22 pm
Yaya is JAG.
November 9th, 2024 at 7:38 pm
QBs are completing at a high percentage because that’s what the scheme allows them to do. Bowles is obsessed with not giving up the big play, so he allows easy completions underneath which then requires defenders to come up an tackle.
November 9th, 2024 at 7:53 pm
Not a chance they win. If you expect them to win then you expect better defense. They are in a negative pattern now. There is no reason to believe they will magically have a better MLB or Edge Rushers or Dline that can get to Purdue or DBs that will smother. Won’t happen. I know reality bites. But, the FO knew this was a weak roster on defense and did nothing to improve it preseason nor mid-season. Either Bowles is DC or HC. He can’t do both.
November 9th, 2024 at 8:10 pm
Shaq Barrett didn’t become a force until 5 years into the league. Yaya is just into his 2nd year and he’s already outperformed Shaq when he was a rookie.
November 9th, 2024 at 8:20 pm
“Is shouldn’t be too much to ask to disrupt the guy enough so he can’t hit on two-thirds of his throws.” Please tell me this is sarcasm
November 9th, 2024 at 8:28 pm
“Bend and don’t break.” But give up field position all game and make sure your defense is gassed going into the fourth quarter.
November 9th, 2024 at 8:29 pm
Unfortunately this is a matchup Todd rarely wins. Shanahan has made him look silly so many times…
We get out-coached far more than outplayed in general under Todd
November 9th, 2024 at 8:34 pm
What’s the difference between Mike Smith & Bowles?
9 years.
November 9th, 2024 at 8:39 pm
After 7-8 years as a head coach Todd isn’t going to suddenly morph into Andy Reid or Brian Belicheck. What you see is what you get, a guy who will lose more games than he wins. We pissed away the last Brady year and we are quickly pissing away this season. Like someone else has been asking are we better off now than we were 4 years ago
November 9th, 2024 at 8:39 pm
Purdy is not a great quarterback the scheme makes him seem better than he is …Purdy is the second coming of Dak Prescott
November 9th, 2024 at 8:54 pm
This is all moot. Until Jason and the Glazers make the necessary coaching change(s) it’s tragicomedy meats Groundhog Day. Maybe, mercifully, we get blown out so no one has any false hope. If it’s close, there will be the slurpers who will point to three good plays and say that’s because of something Lovie did. Point at the loss and say Jason didn’t do a good job with talent.
Meanwhile the goat of football, Bill Belichick, loves the Bucs roster. Translation – 12 wins is his minimum with this roster.
Yes, verily! LOL.
November 9th, 2024 at 10:38 pm
Yea like I said pear you can push him around in his wheel chair the man is 72yrs old.
November 9th, 2024 at 11:35 pm
It’s an absolute embarrassment. Breakdowns all over the place. If Bowles has one job to do he is failing in spectacular fashion. Week after week. They finally get an offense to compete against the rest of the league. This is what he produces. Garbage.
November 9th, 2024 at 11:37 pm
Belichick could be 92 in a wheelchair after a stroke and would still be more effective running a defense than Catatonic Lovie.
November 10th, 2024 at 12:14 am
I know Bowles is the HC and he’s responsible for our defensive struggles. But we get no pressure from any of our edge rushers, absolutely zero! We didn’t not replace Devin white, 2 of our top 3 corners are out with injuries. There’s only so much he can do with what he has. It’s impossible to play defense in the nfl with below average corners and no pass rush. If we can squeeze out a win tomorrow we should get Dean and evans back after the bye with an easier schedule. We’ll have a legit shot at the playoffs! Which would be our 5th straight year in the post season!
November 10th, 2024 at 1:03 am
Is it not common knowledge that the head coach goes directly to the GM if there is a talent/depth problem? This didn’t happen. No moves were made. Guaranteed, Jason asked Lovie “Want me to make some moves?”
“No,” answers Lovie. “We just need our players to communicate better. “
November 10th, 2024 at 8:50 am
They will be competitive in this game but not expecting a big win against this niners team. But in two weeks we will be like this niners team in the fact we will be coming off of a bye and getting a handful if not two to three guys off the reserve including defensive starters. Not trying to praise bowls as the best but when he gets the full crew back it will be better product (team). With the all-around injuries and the murderer’s row that they’ve been playing they are playing with second and third string on both sides of the ball and still competing with the best of the NFL. Why don’t some true fans focus on that a little bit the site has turned so damn negative…. PS wasn’t so upset with the non-two-point conversion until Casey got the ball back, whish Todd would have gave em a tug and went for it.