“Patchwork” Bucs Secondary
January 8th, 2025
Bucs need Antoine Winfield “desperately.”
Not a whole lot of teams go far in the playoffs with three-fourths of their starting secondary on the shelf. But that could be what the Bucs are looking at when they face one of the better young quarterbacks in the league.
The Commandos are not the same lousy team the Bucs pounded on to open the season. And while Jayden Daniels is lighting up defenses with both his arm and his legs, unlike in that first meeting four months ago, the Bucs secondary will be anything but healthy.
Jamel Dean and Antoine Winfield are both iffy for Sunday’s playoff game. Jordan Whitehead? Sara Walsh of NFL Network mentioned last night his season is done due to his car wreck going to One Buc Palace on Saturday.
The Bucs’ best backup safety, Christian Izien, is also out for the year having blown a pec against the Cowboys.
“They need him desperately,” Walsh said of Winfield, an All-Pro safety last year. “Their other starting safety, Jordan Whitehead, was lost for the remainder of the season after he got into a car accident on Saturday going to the team facility.
“The other guy who would start at safety, Christian Izien, he was lost three weeks ago for the remainder of the season. So this has really been a patchwork Bucs defense, at least in the secondary.”
So what will the Commandos do Sunday? Walsh believes they will unleash Daniels on the Bucs’ secondary.
“If you are looking at Washington, and how they may exploit them, you may take some shots if you are Jayden Daniels and Dan Quinn and that group,” Walsh said.
They’d be stupid not to. This tells Joe that since the Bucs have one of the best running attacks in the game and the Commandos have a sorry rush defense, it’s time to play keep away and ground and pound the Commandos into sawdust.
Joe wouldn’t even be surprised if Sean Tucker gouges the Commandos defense, too.
Daniels cannot hurt the beat-up Bucs secondary if he doesn’t have the ball.
The Bucs hope to have some familiar faces back on defense Sunday. The latest on the #bucs defensive backs. #nflnetwork #bucs pic.twitter.com/vZKDfIOoeG
— Sara Walsh (@Sara_Walsh) January 8, 2025
January 8th, 2025 at 12:09 am
If Dean isnt out there Sunday night, move on from him and find someone who isnt Carlton Davis 2.0
January 8th, 2025 at 12:54 am
At least they won’t have to worry about the deadly yellow snow.
January 8th, 2025 at 12:57 am
Dan Campbell shut down one of the best WR duos in the NFL by playing press man with a DJ and a Bartender guarding them man to man. The pressure scheme was innovative, unpredictable, and executed flawlessly. Not telegraphed And the guys applying the pressure looked like rabid dogs that had been starved for three weeks, getting released on a pen of one legged cats. Coaching. A novel concept.
January 8th, 2025 at 1:05 am
Again…
Detroit has been hit with injuries and so have we, right?
And
Detroit schemed up a great D against the Vikings for sure
BUT
Bucs defense last 7 games 17 ppg allowed
Lions defense last 7 games 23.6 ppg
January 8th, 2025 at 1:14 am
Our offense will need some long drives and to play close to mistake free.
Our pass rush has to get there early and often to compensate for playing 3rd and 4th stringers in the secondary. Win 1st down. Red zone defense will be key.
January 8th, 2025 at 1:28 am
GoneGator – reading averages is nice and all. Did you happen to watch Lions Vikings on Sunday night? Does it register that the Bucs have been playing the bottom feeders of the NFL over the same span as the Lions were playing contenders? Naa. Doesn’t fit the narrative.
Here’s the easy conclusion.
Dan Campbell’s team never comes out flat. Never. They are aggressive and actually manages to shut down one of the league’s top offenses with DJs bartenders and cocktail waitresses.
Contrast that…..oh never mind.
January 8th, 2025 at 1:56 am
Jethro, most of that credit should be given to Aaron Glenn and not Dan Campbell. Dan didn’t devise that defensive game plan.
January 8th, 2025 at 1:56 am
Patchwork might not be so bad. For playoff football, it’s pretty much threadbare in a blizzard! Patches are what we should be hoping to find!
Three starting Defensive Backs were unavailable for the game against the Saints – Dean, Winfield, and Whitehead.
The combined salaries of those three players total 80% of all of the money the Bucs are spending this year for Defensive Backs.
Starting CB Zyon McCollum is still in the third year of the contract he signed as a 5th round draft pick.
Starting S/NB Tykee Smith is still in the first year of the contract he signed as a 3rd round draft pick.
Backup CB Josh Hayes is still in the second year of the contract he signed as a 6th round draft pick.
Backup S Mike Edwards played his four year rookie contract with Tampa and intercepted 5 passes. He had 1 interception playing for Kansas City in 2023. In 2024, he was ranked as the 14th free agent S (148th free agent overall). He signed with Buffalo, but he only played in three games; his only stat at Buffalo was a single solo tackle. The Bills released him on November 5th. He signed with the Titans the next day, but the Titans cut him a week later and Tampa claimed him from the Waiver Wire. It looks like he is getting $500K for the rest of the season. In five games, he has 11 tackles and 1 Pass Defended.
Backup S Kaevon Merriweather is in the second year of the contract he signed as an undrafted free agent.
People complain about Tampa playing too much soft zone in the first half of games.
But, until Dean and Winfield come back HEALTHY, not getting beat deep is going to be critical for Tampa’s.
Let Tampa play soft zone, blitz every play, wear down Washington’s Pass Protection and pressure their QB plenty in the first half so that the OL & QB are feeling pressure every play in the second half whether it is coming or not.
Then, in the second half, the Bucs can start playing tighter in coverage and blitz occasionally but try to get pressure with just the DL as much as possible.
January 8th, 2025 at 2:58 am
Anyone advocating that soft is good needs to watch the clinic the Lions put on Sunday night. Injured worse than us. Nothing soft or passive or scared or confused about them. It’s man to man. You’re not confused, you stick to your guy. Period.
We just don’t have the coaching to pull it off. Of course we don’t have the coaching to play off coverage well, either.
January 8th, 2025 at 3:21 am
time for winfield to f*cking man up and suit up.
January 8th, 2025 at 5:15 am
I swear some people do not understand football concepts and it shows. The Lions were able to play man effectively because they bracketed the outside receivers with their Safeties. We currently do not have the safeties that can do that effectively. They did not play man the whole game as you just can’t do that. They were effective because the pass rush made Darnold uncomfortable.
January 8th, 2025 at 5:52 am
I do not understand these injuries ,,, shoot em and play! Dennis and his shoulder ,, shoot it up and play ,, This is the playoffs ,, if you can walk , you can play !!! You have 8 months to heal up if you lose ,,, I guess it depends on the guy,,, Baker could have broken ribs, Knee bent back, swollen hand , that guy would still play !
January 8th, 2025 at 7:14 am
Tombsen, 100%.
Vikings receivers were open all night. Darnold just missed them because the Lions didn’t have to bring the house to get pressure.
Just a theory I have as to why our 2nd half scoring defense is so much better than the 1st half. Every week Todd is given the list of people starting in his secondary. It’s never the same four people. The 1st half is this new collection of DBs figuring out what’s going on, and Todd fixes it at halftime.
January 8th, 2025 at 7:15 am
This might be a good time for our masterful defensive guru Bowles to come up with a scheme to slow down their offense.
January 8th, 2025 at 7:21 am
And another thing, the way Darnold played on Sunday night was the reason why he was almost out of the league. He literally shuts down when you get pressure on him. If anything the stunts and games that the Lions played on the DL is what should be applauded. That wouldn’t work against a mobile qb though.
January 8th, 2025 at 8:04 am
Injuries don’t matter just tie up your excuses and get the win. Nobody complained about injuries after 48-14 against Carolina with these same injuries. Mike Edwards and whitehead combined for two tackles that game. If you’re Bowles this is a must win commanders aren’t better than regardless of injuries we’re better
January 8th, 2025 at 8:07 am
Dan Campbell’s team never comes out flat. Never. They are aggressive and actually manages to shut down one of the league’s top offenses with DJs bartenders and cocktail waitresses.
I was at the Bucs at Lions game. Campbell’s team was flat. Campbell made bad play call decisions. Mismanaged the clock.
These absurd outbursts that other coaches always have their guys up or don’t make in game mistakes is just that: ABSURD.
These guys on the site that pick out one game of the another team, like the Lions v. Vikings game, and acts like that is how good a team is every game based upon maybe one of their best games of the season is ABURD as well.
Throwing stones but not really analyzing. Stupid.
January 8th, 2025 at 8:20 am
Not saying you’re wrong, but by this “logic” do you also get rid of Winfield?
Since 2019 Dean has missed 13 games.
Since 2020 Winfield has missed 13 games.
Imo, Bowles’s use of his secondary is a contributing factor to the constant injuries back there. Slamming smaller guys into the oline is not the same shadowing a wr for an entire game.
January 8th, 2025 at 8:29 am
geno711 you seem to have reasonable understanding of the game of football. It’s good to see around here. Anyone who wants to blow Dan Campbells (horn) needs to look back no further than last year’s NFC championship game. Not many coaches could have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory like that. And Bowles out coached him the second game of this season. No way we should have won that game. I sure hope we win Sunday. If we win I think we’re gonna be in Detroit in 2 weeks. We will see how the bartenders and cocktail waitresses handle Mike and Jaylon and Cade and an offense that doesn’t flinch. First and foremost we have to show Sunday night that we mean business. And we mean business.
January 8th, 2025 at 8:31 am
On the shuffling madness of locomotive breath….
January 8th, 2025 at 8:52 am
Thanks Geno, Kenton, and Gone Gator for bringing some reality to the discussion.
Thanks Toopanco for a well thought out documented post.
I do not wish to steal or plagiarize so I confess yesterday another poster whom I wish I could remember turned on a light bulb for me.
The legitimate whine has been the Bucs D starts so poorly in the first half and then tightens it up in the 2nd. Dangerfield plays the soft coverage and does everything to cut off deep bombs. Then things tighten up in the 2nd.
I realize that Dangerfield may be wrong but there is a method to his madness.
You all are too young to have lived through the Ali/Foreman fight. Foreman was supposed to kill Ali. Foreman was Mike Tyson before Iron Mike and he was feared in the boxing world.
Foreman comes out blazing, me in my boxing ignorance think, OMG he’s beating the hell out of the Champ!!! Ah but the Champ knew more than me and unveiled his now famous “rope a dope” strategy and then sending Foreman back home as freaking cooking utensil pitchman. Is it possible Bowles knows more than us?
Right or wrong Bowles version of rope a dope HAS protected a patchwork secondary. I don’t think he’s going to give it up Sunday. The Commanders are GOING TO MOVE THE BALL!!! Can the Bucs move it farther or more accurately simply score points the only stat that counts.
January 8th, 2025 at 8:58 am
time for winfield and dean to get out there and ball with zyon…
hayes isn’t really cutting it, but obviously doing the best he can…
get tykee out there…
and edwards and hopefully ryan neal can rock and roll a bit, along with merriweather…
the group needs to come together rn with winfield leading the way
January 8th, 2025 at 9:02 am
Prior to the Vikings week 18 tilt, the Lions gave up 362, 323 and 400 yards passing during weeks 15-17 against Buffalo, Chicago and San Francisco respectively. Two of the three teams the Lions played were already eliminated from playoff contention, but some how this gets ignored because they were able to effectively shutdown the Vikings passing game. The Lions D also gave up 31 points to the Packers in a week 14 needing a Jake Bates field goal at the end of regulation to seal the deal 34-31. Questionable clock management by the now-fired Matt Eberflus avoided a Thanksgiving disaster in the first matchup with the Bears, where Chicago held the last possession of 15 plays (for the last 3:31 of the game) starting at their own 1 yard line, and despite giving up 3 sacks in the drive reached as close as the Lions 25 yard line, but weren’t able to get points to tie or win the game.
This false narrative that Dan Campbell always got his depleted team more prepared is just cherry picking one game. One thing the Lions that are clearly better at is creating turnovers, but only 5 (of 24 overall) have been generated in their last 7 games, with a turnover differential of 0 (5 giveaways). Tampa despite only generating 6 (of 18 overall) turnovers during the same period, also had a worse turnover differential of -5 (11 giveaways), but still managed to win 6 of 7.
January 8th, 2025 at 9:09 am
Playing zone is complicated especially under Bowles too often corners are looking at safeties or vice verse like where were you. Todd defense performed decent in the playoffs last year to be honest but that was with starters. As long as we don’t see that damn zero blitz like against the Rams I think with this offense who knows
January 8th, 2025 at 9:12 am
Whatever adjustments than Bowles makes at halftime need to made after Q1. Stop waiting until halftime. In Q1, Bowles needs to stop watching our offense (hopefully a long scoring drive) and instead meet with his coaches and players and make adjustments.
McLaurin is a very good receiver and has developed into Daniels favorite target. Take him away with double teams or he’ll blow the Bucs up. The edge players need to keep Daniels in the pocket and stop his big runs.
January 8th, 2025 at 9:21 am
I “trust” Bowles to put together the best defensive gameplan he can conjure based on his scheme and the personell. The problem is that soft 1st half scheme allows the qb to get in rhtym. By the 2nd half when he dials up the tighter man coverage and the D Line is wearing down the Commanders O Line we just have to hope the game isn’t out of hand.
The way the Saints played the 1st half was ideal. Enough shorter passes to keep Rattler in rhythm, enough drive time to put the defense on the field and wear them out. Those dudes looked gassed. It’s a real testament to the players and staff that they came out and were still effective in the 2nd half. And it was also because the Bucs were able to get some Offense finally and hold the ball.
If I’m the Commanders I’m hoping my D keeps Baker off the field. And if you’re Tampa you hope you can get significant ball control.
January 8th, 2025 at 9:27 am
I sincerely hope that Antoine Winfield Jr is ready to play as he’s been off for 4 weeks. I think if Mike Edwards is healthy and paired with Winfield I am more than okay with those two at the back half of the secondary, Tykee Smith in at nickel corner.
Ryan Neal and Merriweather can spell at safety if needed. And have Thomas played very good at slot corner on the Texans previously.
Certainly if Dean is out that to me is the biggest concern because we already lost Hall at the beginning of the year, Hayes is not a starting NFL corner in my opinion. I don’t know whatever happened to Funderburk but I would sooner have him out there.
January 8th, 2025 at 9:37 am
geno711 Says:
January 8th, 2025 at 8:07 am
Dan Campbell’s team never comes out flat. Never. They are aggressive and actually manages to shut down one of the league’s top offenses with DJs bartenders and cocktail waitresses.
—————-
And yet the Lions lost to Bowles and our Bucs. Go figure.
January 8th, 2025 at 9:50 am
Will you football experts please get over yourselves. Your slams of the average football fan reek of arrogance. Most people have busy lives and no time to dissect every aspect of the game.
January 8th, 2025 at 10:21 am
Whichever team is hungrier and brings its A+ game will win. Daniels was a fleet gazelle in that first game the Bucs won with a healthy roster. He has a season of experience under his belt now. BUT, the Bucs have a short, feisty, SMART veteran named Baker Mayfield. Plus, a maturing OLine and TEs and RBs who can catch balls. Sigh….CG14 is the only one missing on our O. This will be a chess match with our O vs. their D. Also Bucs, watch out for the zebs. Licht, could we please get a new punter in the off-season? You found Camarda so you can get another good one. Go Bucs!!
January 8th, 2025 at 10:22 am
I hate tech glitches!
January 8th, 2025 at 11:22 am
If you watched the Lions Vikings game you know that in the first half Minny moved the ball. Detroit D clamped down in the redzone. Vikings were inside the redzone maybe inside the 10 four times and came away with 6 points!
Unfortunately that won’t be so easy for the Bucs when you have to defend the legs of Daniels instead of Darnold.
The last thing we can afford to do is send 5-6 guys a bunch and leave Hayes and Neal or whoever is back there on an island. Rush 4, contain, stick JTS or Russell or whoever is fastest on LOS patrol, spying Daniels…. let David handle Ertz and occasionally send him. Maybe I am out to lunch but that’s how I see it. As you said, Daniels is not the same as week 1, sending a bunch of pressure this time will burn us bad this time around I believe.
January 8th, 2025 at 11:50 am
Yes Jethro I did watch the game, hence my comment on the good job they did.
I also watch all of our games 2-3 times.
They succeeded against the Vikings because of good coaching by the Lions and bad coaching by Minnesota. Aaron Glenn deserves the credit anyway, not Campbell.
Yes, our schedule hasn’t been as tough in the last 7 games as the 1st but we have played some teams who have scored plenty on, and have played hard against other good teams.
Detroit has played Chicago twice (allowed 20 & 17) and San Fran (allowed 34) as well as allowing 48 to the Bills and 31 to Green Bay.
Admit it Dave, you didn’t know shlt about Detroit or Tampas ppg.
You changed your name but you’re still the same turd hunting dummy you were before.
You just refuse to look below the surface. And when others do it for you and give you FACTS you excuse them away or ignore them.
And btw – I told you before if you’d keep my name out of your comments I’d leave you alone… But if you want to go back to the way it was before your name change 😉 we can do that 👍🏼
January 8th, 2025 at 12:56 pm
I’m enjoying all the flame wars and jousting when it’s done respectfully.
I go back and forth with Rod and Couch and others but it’s all just good clean fun.
I get that some people need to vent their frustations and so I get it.
Sometimes the flame wars are even entertaining. Just finished binge watching “The Warrior” on Netflix about the Chinese gangs (tongs) that were in SF at the end of the Civil war. Lot’s of threats and fun but for a blog this one was pretty entertaining.
Yet another reason to enjoy you Gone Gator.
“I told you before if you’d keep my name out of your comments I’d leave you alone… But if you want to go back to the way it was before your name change 😉 we can do that 👍🏼”
Change the word comments to business and you could have been an enforcer for the tongs. LMAO Well played.
January 8th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
@stpetebucsfan
Have you watched Peaky Blinders? I gave it a look out of desperation after catching the trailer and really liked it.
January 8th, 2025 at 2:38 pm
Peaky Blinders is awesome with some caveats in that it immerses you in history and parts of society that are usually unmentioned and unmentionable.
And …
Adults only!
Triggering issues for some related to sex, drugs and violence!
January 8th, 2025 at 3:28 pm
just ask carl the truth williams hell tell ya whats up
January 8th, 2025 at 4:48 pm
“The other guy who would start at safety, Christian Izien, he was lost three weeks ago for the remainder of the season. So, this has really been a patchwork Bucs defense, at least in the secondary.”
This guy has been the glue holding down the defense in Winfield’s absence and all he gets is the other guy.
Some other teams in the off-season are going to snag that “other guy” and make him their starting guy. Major disrespectful!
January 8th, 2025 at 6:57 pm
Yeah GoneGator and Toopanca Peaky Blinders was great!!! Of course I’m from Irish descent so there is prejudice involved. LOL
And speaking of gangster shows and the Irish”The Warrior” is a combo. It’s the poor Chinese against the poor Irish.
Both shows were terrific but Warrior has a ton on Kung Fu fighting it was based on some of Bruce Lee’s writing. Normally I grow weary of that because in real life dudes do not get kicked squarely in the face and simply shake it off and keep fighting. Having said that the choreography in the fight scenes was incredibly athletic and so the scenes kept me entertained.
January 8th, 2025 at 8:34 pm
@stpete
Just got around to doing a 23 and me thing. Something like 90% Irish. I should have known – drank enough liquor to put a battleship aground before I finally had to quit altogether – Lol.
January 8th, 2025 at 8:37 pm
And I’ll put The Warrior on my list!