Sad Defense
October 27th, 2024
Jarring numbers.
Joe thinks this is taking “bend but don’t break” to just about the extreme.
Does it seem like Bucs opponents regularly have long drives? Yes, you are not imagining things. It’s not a mirage.
Per the research of the crack staff of Sharp Football Analysis, it appears a real thing that teams drag the Bucs defense down the field regularly. Rich Hribar has the details.
41.5% of the drives against Tampa Bay reach the red zone or score, ahead of only the Panthers (46.8%) and Cardinals (50.9%).
If your defense is barely ahead of the Stinking Panthers, which is basically a glorified expansion team, you’ve got problems.
And if you are a defensive-minded head coach and this is happening to your defense that isn’t exactly a bare cupboard, Joe doesn’t know what to say.
Bowles has Pro Bowlers on every level of his defense. He has three first-round picks in his front-seven. He has an All-Pro safety. He may have a Hall of Fame linebacker. How can this be happening?
It’s not a good look.
October 27th, 2024 at 12:19 am
[blockquote] Bowles has Pro Bowlers on every level of his defense. He has three first-round picks in his front-seven. He has an All-Pro safety. He may have a Hall of Fame linebacker. How can this be happening? [/blockquote]
Lack of communication, duh /s
October 27th, 2024 at 12:43 am
I’d move JTS to MLB instead of Britt. JTS is a much better athlete and already has some of the same duties as a middle linebacker. He has to play the run, play coverage and rush the passer. A change of position might be exactly what JTS needs. He also has to know the role a MLB has in this defense. It would be a much easier than bringing someone in from the outside that doesn’t know the Bowles defense.
October 27th, 2024 at 1:13 am
Todd is great, it’s not his fault. He’s just the head coach and defensive coordinator.
October 27th, 2024 at 1:21 am
This is why I just don’t get how people can be confident in Todd B. His defense is top notch when the blitz gets home. If the blitz doesn’t get home, forget about it! The likes of Kirk freaking cousins will roast you for 500+ yards.
Todd needs to be fired, period.
October 27th, 2024 at 2:41 am
Over the past three weeks, the Buccaneers have surrendered at least 500 yards TWICE with the Falcons (Week 5) and Ravens (Week 8) both going over that number. The Buccaneers had one of the worst teams in NFL history in 1976 when they went 0-14. Well, you know what that team never did? They never surrendered 500 yards to an opponent.
There’s only been one other season in Bucs history where they surrendered 500 yards at least twice, and that came in 1985. That team went 2-14
October 27th, 2024 at 4:26 am
Joe … ‘Bowles has Pro Bowlers on every level of his defense. He has three first-round picks in his front-seven. He has an All-Pro safety. He may have a Hall of Fame linebacker. How can this be happening?’
This is getting to be a broken record Joe. You keep contending that this is a defense stocked with All-Pros that SHOULD be leading the NFL in just about every defensive category. Yet the truth is that this defense as a WHOLE is not that talented, their availability sucks, and opposing OCs & QBs can easily attack our weak links.
Without any injuries, it takes at least 14-16 starting-caliber & key rotational players to have a decent defense (if you include only 1-2 rotational DLinemen, 1-2 rotational OLB & 1 Nickel in addition to the starting 11). The Bucs barely have half of that right now.
Yes we have ‘Pro Bowlers at every level’. I assume you’re talking about Vea, LVD & Winfield. Of the 485 def snaps we’ve had to date, Vea has 247 snaps (51%), LVD has 474 (98%) & Winfield has 174 snaps (36%). Whooppee. The 3 positions together are averaging 298 def snaps this season (61.5% availability). Last season those 3 positions averaged 78.9% availability, and it should’ve been higher than that. Their availability to date sucks.
Yes we have ‘3 first round picks in our Front 7’ (Vea, JTS, Kancey). Not only is availability an issue there (Vea has 51% of the def snaps, JTS 60% & Kancey 18%), but I wouldn’t exactly brag on JTS being a 1st Round pick (and Kancey’s not exactly setting the world on fire either).
Yes we have ‘an All-Pro Safety’ (the highest paid in the NFL by last count). Whooppee again. Since getting that huge contract, Winfield has played in 3 games and given us 1 sack, 1 QB knockdown, 2 PD, 1 TFL, 1 FR & 21 tackles (12 solo). The season’s getting close to being half over. Do you really think that’ll win him ‘All-Pro Safety’ again?
Yes we have a future HOF linebacker (I’m confident LVD will make it). For a 34-year-old, he’s having a good year IMO. But he’s not Superman, and he can’t make up for how the rest of the ILBs are performing.
The rest of our defense is made up mostly of young, relatively inexperienced JAGs in terms of their 2024 productivity. Guys like Britt, Grier, Russell, Izien, Funderburk, Greene, Brewer, Brown, Ramirez, Hayes, Isaac, Merriweather, Thomas … half of our defense … were drafted in the 5th Round or later (most undrafted actually) for a reason. Sorry Joe, but that’s not DEPTH in today’s NFL. Licht went cheap in stocking this defense, with the exception of a couple of ‘names’ and it’s showing. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
So ‘How can this be happening?’ By all means, blame Todd Bowles, but keep bragging on our All-Pros, and our 1st Rounders, and our HOF LB. Todd’s aggrevating the problems IMO with his defensive scheme, but it doesn’t matter. We don’t have the horses to pull off ANY scheme.
October 27th, 2024 at 5:35 am
In comparison; the best chefs can make a gourmet meal out of a burger patty. Now in reality it’s still just a burger so you can only do so much, but a lot you can do to make it better. This defense might not be a filet mignon, but if you are a great coach there are a lot of ways you can make it better. With the players we do have currently you’d expect us to at least be average or better than average.
October 27th, 2024 at 6:03 am
I ve been saying for the last couple of years this Bend but dont Brake can only work if you have a dominant 4man pass rush. WE DONT. Plus our coverage is soft.
The issue is that coach Bowles has shown time and time again that this is his belief, his plan and he will not change. No matter how many times we give up 500+ yds of offense. He just things if we can make a couple more plays we can win. That will happen sometimes but other times it wont. So we are where we are.
You can lose games if you bend a lot.
I just think we are at a point that this conversation is overdone. We see it time after time and it will not change. Its Bowles philosophy. Yes maybe we see a game that we will play good Defense but after that we will go back to our normal soft style.
Go Bucs
October 27th, 2024 at 7:03 am
Bowles, and his defense have been around for quite awhile now. Todd’s defense has been figured out. We’ve been running the same stuff for years. Dropping our OLBs in coverage, seen it. All those blitz’s, got em. We’ve been exposed. Todd has no answers for getting beat over the middle, have you seen any? Communication problems shouldn’t be happening with a defense that’s been the same for years. It’s just not working, nothing lasts forever, it’s time for a change.
October 27th, 2024 at 8:20 am
We put 90% of our 2024 draft focus on revamping the offense for Liam Coen. They did a great job with that btw. Also, we thought that we had Randy Gregory on the team. Injuries have taken care of the rest. I’m thinking that they put emphasis on defense in the next draft. Simple. Maybe we need to put resources into a better training and rehabilitation staff?
October 27th, 2024 at 9:02 am
I do not think the Bucs have the scheme or horsepower on D to beat the Falcons.
It saddens me to post that.
And the O does not have the horses with the two top WR’s out to score fitty, which is what it would take.
The only way to win this afternoon is scoring tuddies on every possession in grinding 9-minute ground drives.
October 27th, 2024 at 9:16 am
The talent on the field cant cover for the incompetence off it much longer.. Flush Bowles
October 27th, 2024 at 9:58 am
Shut up with the injury BS. This has been going on for a long time. Until Shu and JPP got here we watched this Bucs defense for years get run up and down the field at will. Quit making excuses for everything. It has mainly been the secondary.
October 27th, 2024 at 10:06 am
SUH.
October 27th, 2024 at 10:14 am
if it aint broke dont fix it….wait….it is broke
October 27th, 2024 at 10:26 am
this dude has been barely making the playoffs because of a weak division and I still wanted him fired this year would be no different because he’s wasting talent. Defensive head coach so finally people can see he’s useless now that the division title is in jeopardy lol all it took was a new head coach in Atlanta.
October 27th, 2024 at 10:54 am
Let’s look at the period of the Rams playoff loss to present. Bucs defense has been bottom third or worse. The common denominator? Defensive coordinator.
It is time to quit giving Bowles a pass due to the solid defensive performance against the chiefs in the Super Bowl. He must be held accountable.
October 27th, 2024 at 11:24 am
Kirk Cousins will look like an all-pro today.
Unless maybe Lavonte yells at everyone again.
October 27th, 2024 at 11:30 am
Oh, it’s working for opposing offenses….they never have to “brake,” they just cruise into the end zone. Kidding aside, I agree. The scheme is “broke.” Opposing QBs/OCs continue to “break” Bowles’s mad genius defensive code week after week, yet he does not adapt to personnel or change his stale play sheet…. he’s “broken”
October 27th, 2024 at 11:40 am
kaimaru Says:
October 27th, 2024 at 12:19 am
[blockquote] Bowles has Pro Bowlers on every level of his defense. He has three first-round picks in his front-seven. He has an All-Pro safety. He may have a Hall of Fame linebacker. How can this be happening? [/blockquote]
Lack of communication, duh /s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quote of the YEAR!!!
October 27th, 2024 at 12:03 pm
@DR, it is hard to disagree with what you are saying but this HC has had 5 years to flesh out his player pool, develop the guys he has, learn their strength and weakness, and adapt a game plan for the players he is fielding.
You can say JL isn’t picking the right ponies and that would reflect directly on the ” communication” bw him and his HC. Bear in mind the number of high defensive draft picks during TB’s tenure (D. White, SMB, Dean, Edward’s, Winfield, JTS, Hall, Kacey, Diaby, Braswell, Smith) and compare with the success of the offensive draft picks (rds 1-3) over the same span with 3 different OCs:Wirfs, Vaughn,, Trask, Hainsey, Goedeke, R. White, Mauch, Barton, McMillan. You can twist the numbers however you’d like to compare their relative productivity…but the short of it is JL is giving TB what he wants, but Bowles doesn’t appear to know what to ask for.
Now, look a the previous HC’s fa acquisitions: Shaq, Suh, JPP. All were acquired with the same GM that Bowles is working with. Idk if it is arrogance or ignorance, but TB’s self indulgences with DBs and his dated and hacked scheme are catching up with him. Without a realistic HC to reel in TB’s ‘DBs can do it all fantasy,’ and establish a legit pass rush and some bulk up front, Todd’s defense just gets played.
October 27th, 2024 at 3:57 pm
We can not lean on this defense. The team is a reflection of the HC.