Horrible Defense On Backs Catching Passes
July 8th, 2025
(Lack of) pass coverage.
Wonder if K.J. Britt and J.J. Russell will get blamed for this.
Joe knows the problem with the Bucs last year was pass defense. Actually, it’s been the last two years when the Bucs ranked fourth-worst.
And Joe finds it borderline appalling that a defensive guy like Todd Bowles has had the Bucs’ pass defense ranked between 20th and 30th in the NFL since 2019 with the exception of one season. How? Why?
Inexcusable.
It may help if the Bucs learn how to stop running backs catching passes out of the backfield.
The Bucs were downright horrible when running backs were the target last season. Per Sharp Football Analysis 2025 Preview, the Bucs ranked No. 29 defending running backs in the passing game.
What puzzles Joe is Bowles is so smitten with outside linebackers dropping into pass coverage, shouldn’t the short passing routes (running backs) have been flooded with defenders?
That stat alone should be enough evidence for Bowles to knock off dropping so many outside linebackers back into pass coverage and instead have them rush the passer.
Either that, or someone is doing a pretty s(p)itty job coaching up the outside linebackers on how to defend the pass.
This spring, Bucs defensive assistant Larry Foote returned to coaching outside linebackers.
July 8th, 2025 at 5:34 am
Todd just got a contract extension. Why should he change anything when the Bucs are obviously satisfied with his current work?
July 8th, 2025 at 6:00 am
No good against backs or TEs. LBs were not up to the challenge.
We gotta do better this year. Tackling needs to be way better as well.
Go Bucs!
July 8th, 2025 at 6:36 am
Makes me ill thinking back to last year’s pathetic defense. We’ll be watching and waiting to see major improvement from YOU and the players Todd. I don’t want to hear a single time how there we’re communication breakdowns between position groups any more. It’s your job to make sure that everybody is on the same page.
July 8th, 2025 at 6:48 am
JBF … ‘Joe finds it borderline appalling that a defensive guy like Todd Bowles has had the Bucs’ pass defense ranked between 20th and 30th in the NFL since 2019 with the exception of one season. How? Why? Inexcusable.’
The season (2022) in which our Pass Defense ranked the highest (#9) was Todd’s worst season (8-9). Our defense surrendered 358 points that season (21.1 PPG) … to include 29 Passing TDs (the most since giving up 30 TDs in 2019). Better ‘rankings’ don’t necessarily equate to winning.
I’ve long assumed that Todd Bowles’ defensive schemes prioritize 1 thing: minimizing Points Allowed. TDs Allowed, both Passing & Rushing, have fluctuated considerably in his 6 years here. Instead of measuring performance in terms of Yardage Allowed, look at it in terms of TDs Allowed …
o 2019: 449 pt (#29) – 30 Pass TD (#25) – 11 Rush TD (#7)
o 2020: 355 pts (#8) – 29 Pass TD (#20) – 10 Rush TD (#1)
o 2021: 353 pts (#5) – 26 Pass TD (#13) – 11 Rush TD (#5)
o 2022: 358 pt (#13) – 29 Pass TD (#28) – 12 Rush TD (#10)
o 2023: 325 pts (#7) – 23 Pass TD (#17) – 11 Rush TD (#8)
o 2024: 385 pt (#16) – 27 Pass TD (#19) – 13 Rush TD (#10)
There’s actually a lot of consistency there in terms of Total TDs Allowed (37-41), with the exception of 2023 when our defense only allowed 34 TDs (23 Passing & 11 Rushing). That’s the least number of Passing TDs his defenses allowed in the 6 years, yet our Pass Defense ranked #29 in Passing Yards Allowed.
In the year (2022) that our Pass Defense ranked the best (at #9 in Passing Yards Allowed), we gave up 29 TDs, the most of any year since 2019.
July 8th, 2025 at 7:16 am
And Dean is still here.
July 8th, 2025 at 7:17 am
Shocking. It is almost as if there is a schematic weakness. I wonder if the rest of the NFL has figured it out?
July 8th, 2025 at 7:27 am
“And Joe finds it borderline appalling that a defensive guy like Todd Bowles has had the Bucs’ pass defense ranked between 20th and 30th in the NFL since 2019 with the exception of one season. How? Why?” And…we are talking about the guy who just got an extension – right?
July 8th, 2025 at 7:37 am
I don’t like giving up yards either but I like giving up TD’s less.
July 8th, 2025 at 7:48 am
Bucs were hurting at safety last year. This year, Bowles will stack the box with 3 safeties instead of two safeties. Most likely, Lavonte David will be the sole inside linebacker in many pass defense coverages.
July 8th, 2025 at 9:17 am
Seems to me that offenses know exactly what we are doing on just about every play. We have success on defense when we outplay someone or they make a mistake, not because of defensive scheming.
July 8th, 2025 at 9:40 am
I don’t get hung up on yardage allowed. Alot of that is skewed because we force teams to be 1-dimensional against us, as we’ve been a top 5 team in rush yards allowed every year since 2019. Part of that is personnel, but most of it is a hallmark of the scheme.
What we haven’t had is the talent to exploit that tendency of nullifying the opposing teams run game and forcing them to beat us through the air. That’s why it’s crucial we get better at generating pressure on a snap to snap basis, because all the positive things that come with that should come along with the ability to pressure the pocket on demand.
The Titans finished 2024 as the top pass defense in terms of yards allowed averaging 177 yards a game through the air. They also finished 3rd in total yards allowed, but also only won 3 games and allowed 27 ppg.