A Better Pass Defense Could Bring Huge Results
January 20th, 2025
Repairing the pass defense.
Joe thinks the following items are correct and has a hunch most fans will agree.
1) The Bucs have a good offense.
2) The Bucs have a p!ss poor pass defense.
As Evan Closky of WTSP-TV Channel 10 correctly pointed out the Bucs lost six games this past season by less than a touchdown.
How many of those losses could have been wins with just an average pass defense, forget a good pass defense?
Joe truly believes the Bucs offense will be better in 2025, barring injuries. It will possibly (likely?) be the second season with Liam Coen running the show. When the Bucs showed up for OTAs and underwear football last spring, everyone was learning the new offense.
Well, these guys know the offense now. So the learning curve is nearly gone.
But the pass defense. Joe is just too worn out and depressed about no edge rush. But the secondary outside of Zyon McCollum collectively stunk.
For whatever reason, All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield was a shell of himself. He injured his foot in the season opener and after that Joe can only think of one big play he made after that. It was clearly his worst NFL season.
Jordan Whitehead? Joe has not been told a word about Whitehead by anyone at One Buc Palace. But Joe is willing to bet if you injected a suit with truth serum, they would have buyer’s remorse.
And Joe is nearly at the end of his rope with Jamel Dean. Unlike many fans, Joe doesn’t believe Dean is a bad player, he just cannot stay on the field.
In each of the Bucs’ season-ending playoff losses the last three years, either Dean couldn’t finish the game with an injury, or wasn’t available because of an injury.
If a guy cannot answer the bell in the playoffs, what’s the point? The Bucs must get a cornerback they can trust.
The Bucs also will have a major hole at linebacker that could be the worst in the NFL if Lavonte David retires.
So yeah, the Bucs have massive work to do in the second and third levels of the defense.
Please don’t get Joe started about the invisible edge rush this early on a Monday morning.
A better pass defense and the Bucs could do serious damage in the NFC.
January 20th, 2025 at 4:16 am
Pray LVD Returns
Resign Godwin
Draft LB then CB then LB again
Get Free Agent Edge
January 20th, 2025 at 4:49 am
We need playmakers in the backend. Turnovers can change the momentum
and set up easy scores. Buffalo survived last night because they created them with the sack fumble, a punchout and a timely INT. And the weather was almost like a twelfth man that turned out to be a huge advantage for Buffalo.
January 20th, 2025 at 4:50 am
Joe! I would add Idzien to Zion! He balled out no matter what position he was asked to play. If he wasn’t injured we wouldn’t have missed Dean
January 20th, 2025 at 4:55 am
Agree on Dean , although he prevented a touchdown last week , he doesn’t make enough plays when he can actually suit up. His availability is not good enough.
January 20th, 2025 at 5:01 am
Unfortunately, guessing the same about Whitehead. Hate to see Lavonte retire. Overall, I think Todd and the players know their concerns and will work on them. A needed edge rusher should be on their minds too.
bob in valrico – Correct about Buffalo, Orchard Park. A lot of slipping and sliding. And that is why their new stadium is without a roof too. Both games yesterday were snow games and fun to watch.
January 20th, 2025 at 5:30 am
Dean had a history of injuries when drafted. McCollum looked bewildered and lost many times, and he was bailed out by off target passes, making it look like he was making a play when he was not.
If this was 5 card stud, they should draw four. Completely redo the defensive backfield. Keep Winfield. Go find new starters. Get aggressive guys who have some attitude and edge about them. Whether rookies or FAs.
January 20th, 2025 at 5:32 am
Re-sign CG, LVD, Nelson, Hainsey, Hall, Opeta, Gaines, Brendeson, Edwards
Don’t keep JTS, Britt, Skule, Trask, Russell, Edmond, Ryan Neal
TBD on keeping: Gholston, Shepherd, Shaq (mid-season injury replacements if needed?)
Trade Dean for draft picks.
Look for a LB, Edge and CB in FA or trade. Then draft a DT and one more Edge, LB and CB. Draft a couple of O-Linemen and look for RB, ILB and WR/KR in UFA to complete a successful off season.
January 20th, 2025 at 5:45 am
My question is, I was reading an article on pewter plank yesterday and Bowles was asking about replacing any assistant coaches this off season. From what pewter plank wrote his relay was the coaches are doing a good job the team just need to play harder and execute better. I am really confused here. I’ve been hearing this same thing for 2 years. I thought if a team’s not playing hard or executing, shouldn’t somebody be moved or replaced like players, coaches or both. I am just asking
January 20th, 2025 at 5:46 am
I hope joe realizes that coaching plays a huge part in losing those one score games…Todd Bowles is 2-6 in one score games FYI.
January 20th, 2025 at 6:10 am
Focus of the draft: Best player available as long as its defense. LB and secondary.
January 20th, 2025 at 6:21 am
This isn’t the first year we’ve had secondary issues. They seem to be getting worse, not better. To keep the same coaches, and expecting different results is insane. Todd is fond of saying we need to cuach it better, and play it better. That ain’t happening with the same coaches, and yes players. This team is going nowhere with no changes.
January 20th, 2025 at 6:24 am
Joe tapped into most of the fans frustrations with this Bucs linebackers and secondary issues. To Todd Bowles…..FIX IT ALREADY!!!!!!
January 20th, 2025 at 6:40 am
Mondy, Bowles was actually 3-5 in one score games this year (counting 8 points as a single score). I’m assuming you’re adding the playoff outcome to your number which I didn’t.
Todd’s three year total is actually .500 which is the same as Sean McVay’s in one score games. Sean’s record in those three years is 25-26. Todd’s is 27-24.
I doubt there’s many Rams fans calling for Sean’s head after this year.
I find that interesting in that Sean is considered to be a top coach in the league and yet his record is nearly identical to Bowles. Offense vs defense maybe? Age difference maybe? Just an intriguing example to me in that both teams are considered to be a great mix of youth plus SB experience and both have excellent grades in their last two drafts.
January 20th, 2025 at 6:50 am
The Bucs have a good offense… when they’re not screwing it up with penalties and turnovers.
The Bucs have a p!ss poor pass defense, because they don’t have an Edge Rusher who makes plays that affect the games and injuries.
In the meantime, the draft and Carlton Davis is a FA.
January 20th, 2025 at 7:14 am
I agree 100 percent. Improve the edge through free agency. Drafting too late to get an get an impact edge. Then draft defense, defense, defense.
January 20th, 2025 at 7:46 am
We really need to focus on developing Trey Palmer, Devin Culp, and learn to implement Payne Durham more. Sterling Shephard was decent this year but nothing to rely on. We need some strong younger talent when our two top WR’s are either nursing injuries or recovering from injuries every year. If we are confident that we need grow our current players, then we need to go all in on defense.
January 20th, 2025 at 8:23 am
First Last,
No Trey Palmer! Let’s move on from him. He’s another Jaden Darden. Players learn from middle school that as a punt returner u run to pick up yards n not head outta bounds all the time. Trey is wasting a spot. We need to focus on players who can be developed but not Trey cause he comes with an attitude, he has all mouth n with Sterling Sheppard in his ear, that makes things worse. Let’s be done with Britt, Russell, JTS, Dean, Palmer, Skule, Sheppard, Trask, Neal.
January 20th, 2025 at 8:32 am
Neal actually played pretty well in part time play this year
January 20th, 2025 at 8:39 am
Injuries and a questionable scheme were two metrics the D could not overcome.
Scheme can be fixed. But injuries? How do you keep guts from getting hurt?
January 20th, 2025 at 8:45 am
Palmer will be looking for a job this summer.
January 20th, 2025 at 8:47 am
Basically approach this draft/ off-season as if there is no J. Dean (that shouldn’t be hard to imagine), no Lavonte (not a comforting thought), a screaming need at Edge (despite what Bowles says) and a starting safety. (what happened to Whitehead. Did he also fall victim to poor coaching or just being in a a crappy defense) Speaking of poor coaching remember that kid, Chris Braswell..They got nothing out of that cat. Yes, he was a rookie. And other needs to be named later.
January 20th, 2025 at 8:57 am
Licht and Bowles will be getting to work on shoring up the D as soon as both take a break. We need a punter and punter returner, too. The new kickoff format sucks, but what do you expect out of a bunch of greedy dumbos who own the league. As usual, Joe is back to pizzing on pre-season games. Hope I’m dead before the nitwits go to 20 regular season games. El Puko!
January 20th, 2025 at 8:58 am
*punt returner
January 20th, 2025 at 9:02 am
With a legit pass rush, the issues in the Secondary slowly become hidden. The same way an o-line can make the entire offense seem better than they actually are. The game is won in the trenches and we don’t have the rusher to take us to the next level. Imagine Vita and Kancey one on one with a legit rusher!
January 20th, 2025 at 9:46 am
I’d like to read some Sirvocea Dennis news in this offseason. How has he come back from this shoulder injury? Will he be fully ready by OTA’s? Hope he’s working his azz off rehabbing.
January 20th, 2025 at 9:47 am
Look. When Whitehead left in FA after the SB, most Bucs fans were disappointed that he left the team. He was a hell of a player, and he maintained that effort while playing with the Jets. So, why wouldn’t the team want him back. Did he fall off his last year with the Jets or were they just cleaning house to make CAP space related to Rodgers? Who knows? I don’t fault anyone in the Bucs organization for bringing him back.
January 20th, 2025 at 9:53 am
Interesting comments but Joe is absolutely correct that the defense priority needs to be EDGE. Don’t think there will be a worthwhile EDGE available at 19. Heard that maybe TJ Watt might be available. With Myles Garrett, that would be two recent DPOY that would add instant credibility to Tampa defense. Licht has to explore the cost of both. Worth considering that there are no defensive players in the upcoming draft that are equal to either of Watt or Garrett.
January 20th, 2025 at 9:59 am
Make all the improvements and upgrades you want the core problem remains: Todd Bowles.
January 20th, 2025 at 10:16 am
Fantastic analysis of where our defense stands & what it needs to improve Joe. The most important defensive stat IMO is POINTS ALLOWED. How you minimize Points Allowed seems to vary considerably though. For instance, compare the Bucs’ DEFENSE rankings to the 3 teams in the NFC North who had winning records, all better than ours …
o Bucs (10-7): Overall (#16) – Run Yds (#4) – Pass Yds (#29)
o Lions (15-2): Overall (#7) – Run Yds (#5) – Pass Yds (#30)
o Vikings (14-3): Overall (#5) – Run Yds (#2) – Pass Yds (#28)
o Packers (11-6): Overall (#6) – Run Yds (#7) – Pass Yds (#13)
Lions, Vikings & Packers all had very good winning records, had offenses that ranked in the Top-10 in POINTS SCORED, and had defenses that ranked in the Top-10 in terms of POINTS ALLOWED. That’s pretty decent ‘balance’ in terms of team performance IMO. They all made the playoffs and they all got eliminated from the playoffs in ONE game. Oops.
Looks like the Bucs, Lions & Vikings share a similar defensive philosophy: STOP THE RUN as a priority, and BLITZ the daylights out of opposing offenses. All 4 teams were excellent at stopping the run, but only the Packers had decent Pass Defense ratings.
I think poor Pass Defense performance has something to do with excessive blitzing. Vikings blitzed the most in the NFL last year (603 times), Bucs blitzed the 2nd-most (461 times), and Lions blitzed the 3rd-most (356). Packers in comparison blitzed relatively little (142 times). Vikings (#28), Lions (#30) & Bucs (#29) had terrible pass defenses … yet they all had solid winning records & all made the playoffs.
Can’t speak to what’s going on in the NFC North, but in the case of our Bucs, excessive blitzing is hurting us IMO. We’ve got decent stats for Sacks (46) and Pressures (175), but in reality we don’t seem to be getting CONSISTENT PRESSURE on opposing QBs. We allowed them to complete 66.3% of their passes … 630 pass attempts (#31 ranking) with 418 passes completed for 4147 passing yards (#29 ranking). Far too many ‘vacant areas’ when we blitz as much as we do, and if we don’t get to the QB in time, we get zapped.
I agree with you that we need MORE out of our edge rush (our interior DLine seems to be doing the heavy lifting right now). Would love to see us transition back to the 4-3 and hopefully get pressure with our Front-4 instead of blitzing so much. Having 3 LBs SHOULD improve coverage in the middle of the field, although right now we don’t have any starters IMO (still think LVD will retire). LOTS of LB & Edge free agents available this year though. Time to spend some money.
January 20th, 2025 at 10:43 am
Every effective pass defense starts up front. Every effective pass defense starts up front. EVERY effective pass defense starts UP FRONT.
An ineffective pass rush won’t get into a quarterback’s head, and ANY NFL-caliber quarterback (even Cooper Rush) who doesn’t have to assign mental real estate to a pass rush will have enough mental acuity to find the open receiver. The foregoing is EVEN MORE TRUE on 80% of blitzes!
Do we have great pass-defending LBs? Not really. L David is quite good, but he’s only one man.
Do we have great pass-defending CBs? Kinda, yeah. McCollum is really good. Dean is capable of tight coverage and batting away potential interceptions. At least that still counts as a PD. Tykee Smith is going to be every opposing OC’s nightmare in his second year.
Do we have great pass-defending safeties? One, for sure (when healthy). The other, not so much, but he’s (historically) great in run-support, so he stays.
Bottom line, we need to start addressing the problem where defending the passing game itself starts: at the line of scrimmage. We need OLBs that can set the edge in run defense on their way to feasting on QBs flushed from the pocket. We need DEs that can penetrate and give O-linemen long days at the office. We need DTs that can eat up blockers and still push them back into the quarterback’s face and make their lizard brains start to think that moving laterally is a great idea.
If we do those things, suddenly our current pass defense will start looking a TON better. If we do that AND upgrade by getting one interior LB and one CB better, we’ll be in fantastic shape.
Far easier said than done, I know… but that’s why the people responsible for doing it get paid millions.
January 20th, 2025 at 10:45 am
Not sure why people look at 1-2 years of Bowles instead of the entire time he’s been here. The pass defense went from average when he was coordinator to disgusting as soon as he named co coordinators. The problem with the defense is his inside linebacker is the passing game specialist. Kacy rogers is the run game coordinator. Edge rush won’t have time to affect a quarterback if you’re playing soft zone unless Bowles is banking on someone attacking him with a short passing game. I agree we need edge rushers but it won’t help Bowles stubbornness to change anything except personnel and yea we need a corner but Izien is already here unless he wants to continue to keep like 5 safeties on the roster and make him a backup to a rookie or worse whitehead
January 20th, 2025 at 11:38 am
A new, full time defensive coordinator is essential to fixing the woeful
Pass defense. New, fresh ideas, and taking burden off the head coach so he can focus full time on the most important job on the team.
January 20th, 2025 at 11:49 am
Pass rush is less important than secondary. If we have good cover guys back there, the pass rush will come naturally.
January 20th, 2025 at 12:38 pm
Sign a free agent pass rusher because an edge rusher in the draft is not Licht’s strong point. Stick with defensive backs and o lineman in the draft maybe a linebacker and d lineman
January 20th, 2025 at 1:48 pm
UKBuccaneer Says:
January 20th, 2025 at 11:49 am
Pass rush is less important than secondary. If we have good cover guys back there, the pass rush will come naturally.
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Respectfully disagree. Last night on Jackson late TD throw he had about 10 seconds to wait for a receiver to shake free in the end zone. Great pass rush makes elite QB’s look mediocre and mediocre CB’s look elite. Gotta pressure the QB constantly. Make him uncomfortable and throw early. Great EDGE is a force multiplier for Kancey and Vea. Go get one.
January 20th, 2025 at 2:06 pm
And the Bucs lost those 6 close games because they lost the turnover battle. Funny how much better the defense looks in games where Mayfield isn’t handing the ball over to the other team. Even Arians had a losing record with the Bucs until Brady came along and started protecting the football.
January 20th, 2025 at 2:26 pm
yberDilemma Says:
January 20th, 2025 at 2:06 pm
And the Bucs lost those 6 close games because they lost the turnover battle. Funny how much better the defense looks in games where Mayfield isn’t handing the ball over to the other team. Even Arians had a losing record with the Bucs until Brady came along and started protecting the football.
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Get a new story. Bucs had almost an identical % record with turnovers than not. Of course, most obvious was first NO game where Baker had 3 INT’s and Bucs won 51-24. Nobody likes turnovers but there is more to most football games than that. Turnovers are used by coaches to rationalize why their great game plans failed. There was more than one game this season the Bucs lost where they had ZERO turnovers. What the Bucs never had this year was a consistent, lock down defense. KC Chiefs struggled offensively all season but they have a great defense that always shows up.
January 20th, 2025 at 4:05 pm
D.R.
“I think poor Pass Defense performance has something to do with excessive blitzing.”
I do not necessarily disagree but I’m interested in you expanding on that.
Todd certainly had gimmicky defenses last year including his usual heavy dose of blitzing. Given the fact that the Bucs finished 6th in team sacks last year it seems the blitzes worked to improve the pass rush but if I read you correctly at the expense of the back end of the D where blitzers left openings for the QB’s to pick apart.
i respect coaching but at the end of the day for me the players play and the coaches coach. If the players do not or cannot make the plays then perhaps we look deeper. Is it really the fault of the coach if he doesn’t have the talent?
Is it the fault of Jason for not providing the talent? Injuries? Is it the fault of the talent’s effort (perhaps attributable to the coach) or is it simply the result of mortgaging the future with cap hell in order to secure Brady/Gronk et al and a second SB?
Personally I think it’s all of the above but if you see one area that stands out I’m curious as to your take.
January 20th, 2025 at 9:15 pm
Agree with Davenport. The core problem with Bucs is…….Lack of a head coach with a brain.
January 21st, 2025 at 1:44 am
We are an edge rush away from being a Super Bowl caliber team. Whatever it takes to add a quality pass rusher off the edge it must be done. This could be a 14 win team next year with a decent offseason.