Can’t Blame Antoine Winfield For Poor Pass Defense
December 27th, 2024
Irks BSPN analyst.
BSPN NFL analyst Ben Solak suggested there is only one man to finger for the poor Bucs’ pass defense.
And that person would be Bucs coach Todd Bowles, the de facto defensive coordinator.
Solak, speaking on colleague Mina Kimes’ podcast, was tough on Bowles after watching Troy Aikman Cooper Rush slice and dice the Bucs defense in the first half Sunday.
“Defensive regression/luck to the moon,” Solak howled. “This Bucs defense, man, there is so much air in the secondary. You would think they haven’t played zone coverage before. And they’ve done it all season.”
Now Solak wanted to be fair. While he didn’t cite the specific stats, he said the numbers for the pass defense with and without All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield are striking. Still, Solak said, that’s no excuse for Aikman Rush to go bananas.
“The CeeDee Lamb-less Cowboys should be the easiest pass [offense] to defend,” Solak said.
Yes, Lamb did burn the Bucs badly, but he left the game with an injury.
Solak doesn’t think Bowles adjusts his defense enough and he relies on the front-five, or a blitzing linebacker/defensive back to break through and disrupt the quarterback.
It’s fine if it works, Solak added. The trick is if no one breaks through, then tremendous pressure is put on the secondary.
And the Bucs secondary, Solak said, simply isn’t able to hold up: “It is so hot and cold and so inconsistent. There is so much space in the intermediate level with this team.”
This is why Solak believes the Bucs’ postseason chances are very murky.
December 27th, 2024 at 5:05 am
the D needs to be overhauled in the off season, we need leaders, linebackers, corners and edge rushers…
December 27th, 2024 at 5:22 am
Replace the DC and the HC, and the Bucs will be much improved. The defense is an embarrassment.
December 27th, 2024 at 5:40 am
According to the Bowles sycophants, it can’t possibly be Todd. Coaches can’t be held accountable for the actions of their players. That’s crazy.
December 27th, 2024 at 6:18 am
The Bucs Pass Defense stinks and is punishing to watch game in and game out. It is time for Bowles to go and hand over the reins to Liam and bring in Dennis Allen as new DC. It’s Baker’s team now. Go Bucs!
December 27th, 2024 at 7:32 am
Will it take a Carolina win to finally get rid of the defensive guru Bowles?
December 27th, 2024 at 7:33 am
Sulak is a simpleton. Has the guy even looked at our roster? AWJ hasn’t played many games and when he did he stunk up the joint. We’ve also lost Izien to injury now. We have a handful of starting caliber players on D, none of them are edge pass rushers. We have two tackles, one ILB, one CB.
December 27th, 2024 at 7:56 am
Winfield hasn’t been the same guy and Whitehead has been stink fooey too.
December 27th, 2024 at 8:10 am
Please I pray to the football gods we LOSE OUT and then FIRE Toilet Bowels and promote Liam. But here’s what probably happens We somehow win out but miss playoffs Glazers say oh the injuries on defense were too much to overcome so give Bowels one more year then BOOM Liam off to the Jets then our new OC doesn’t live up to the smoke they blow team ends up going like 5-12 then finally they fire everyone but it will be to late at that point Welcome to the new decade of rebuilding SAD JOKE
December 27th, 2024 at 9:01 am
Sulak, may be a simpleton,However, he is stating what all of us have been seeing for the entire season!!. Bowles defense depends on pressure on the qb. However, the team sinply does not have the personnel to get it done consistently.The secondary, is already soft and without pressure from the d line, well you see the answer on the field., Yes we watch big chunk play after big chunk play, or short quick passes to beat the rush and the D can’t get off the field. Like I said 2 things must happen. Bowles must adapt his defense to the personnel he has, which he hasn’t , what 15 games in. The second option is aquire the personnel he needs to run his
defensive scheme. At this point in the season neither is going to happen. In my opinion their is only 1solution. The Glazers must make the change.
December 27th, 2024 at 9:13 am
We don’t we blame u Todd Bowles
December 27th, 2024 at 9:29 am
It’s funny these national folks are just seeing enough Todd Bowles D to realize what we have all been howling about. But Todd doesn’t have an alternate scheme and he doesn’t have the horses to make his scheme work. Even when everyone is at 100% when the opposing QB is un-pressured our best package has a hard time stopping the dink and dunk that ends up going for 11 or 13yds a pop.
December 27th, 2024 at 9:31 am
If the Bucs wish to go deep into the playoffs this season they’ll have to score 40 points per game.
If we had Godwin and Otten back and Bucky was 100% I wouldn’t bet against that possibility.
December 27th, 2024 at 9:52 am
I actually saw WR running with the ball and the Bucs secondary has their back to play with no idea the ball was being ran right behind them. Now that is poor fundamentals or Bowles have guys so damn confused they don’t know where they should be.
December 27th, 2024 at 10:04 am
If Coen leaves I truly believe Godwin and many assistants go with him. Godwin was having a career year with him and if you recall was very unhappy last year with Canales offense. Don’t see him sticking around if Coen leaves. Something Tampa management better consider.
December 27th, 2024 at 10:28 am
Solak doesn’t think Bowles adjusts his defense enough and he relies on the front-five, or a blitzing linebacker
That’s why it was pointless to make a trade because we could have. Anyone who thinks having all our defenders and Chris Godwin back will make a difference didn’t watch the Atlanta games or the mentally weak Bucs fall apart against the Ravens. They need harder coach not a sarcastic one
December 27th, 2024 at 10:31 am
Seattle Defense was overhauled with a competent coordinator
Even with Winfield Jr out there this secondary was SOFT
December 27th, 2024 at 10:33 am
Yes we do Lvmy ..who do u blame for the timeouts poor game mangement, the no 2 pointer to win games failure to get his defense to tackle. Please go back to the bong. U can go with him when he gets fired
December 27th, 2024 at 11:41 am
Bucs sure Missed Winfield Jr. But, Bowles Coaching Decisions Sucked. Defense was Better playing Man to Man.
December 27th, 2024 at 11:42 am
Breaking news alert. The sky is blue! Talk about Solak stating the obvious.
December 27th, 2024 at 1:04 pm
“The CeeDee Lamb-less Cowboys should be the easiest pass [offense] to defend,”
And the Bucs pretty much shut it down in the 2nd half without Lamb.
December 27th, 2024 at 1:11 pm
Look how quickly a fresh mind upgraded the offense….
Time for the same on D – bye Todd!!!
December 27th, 2024 at 2:06 pm
Bowles is to blame. Deff not making excuses for him but look at all the starters we lost
Hall. DB out all season
Dean DB missed several games what’s new
Whitehead DB several games
Winfield DB several games
Mike Edwards DB signed just to miss a few games
Tykee smith DB several games
Christian izen DB several games
Dennis ILB most of the season
Britt ILB several games
Kancey Dline 4 or 5 games
Vita vea Dline 2 or 3 games
That’s a lot of starters or our depth pieces to work with. Most will say it’s every team deals with injuries and yes absolutely but man we lost a lot of starters and good ones to but bowels has got to make better adjustments in game
December 28th, 2024 at 8:34 am
All i know is the people who want Todd fired that’s fine. If its Liam that y’all want so badly i don’t want to hear any EXCUSES he better win us at the minimum 2SBs and 4-5 NFC CC appearances. Otherwise he’s just a failure like Todd as y’all would say