Pass Defense Killed The Bucs Example No. 3,285
July 11th, 2025
What is wrong with forcing punts?
Joe is old school when it comes to defensive football and makes zero apologies for it.
Joe understands Bucs coach Todd Bowles salivates over picks. Joe salivates over three-and-out defensive stands.
Punts are turnovers, too. A three-and-out should give a team decent field position. And a three-and-out will certainly save on wear and tear endured by your defense.
Those snaps add up in the fourth quarter and certainly add up come December and January.
The Bucs’ defense, simply put, was terrible at forcing three-and-outs in 2024.
Per handicapper-turned-stathead Warren Sharp, as cited in his Sharp Football Analysis 2025 Preview, the Bucs’ defense forced a three-and-out drive some 28 percent of the time. That was 28th-best in the NFL. Or, fifth-worst.
The Bucs played solid run defense, so this was on the pass defense. And fixing the pass defense will go a long way to helping the Bucs in their quest to make a playoff run.
It still blows Joe’s mind that since Bucs coach Todd Bowles arrived in Tampa Bay in 2019, only once has his pass defense not been in the 20s (the last two years, No. 29).
Bowles is a defensive guy. Won a Super Bowl ring as a starting safety and as an assistant coach. It’s time for Bowles to use that valuable experience to make the necessary changes so his pass defense is no longer the team’s albatross.
July 11th, 2025 at 12:40 am
16th in points per game last year. Made up for the pass D deficiencies via bend but not break mentality. When we have a legitimate pass rush with 4 rushers, that means another guy in coverage. Simple as that.
July 11th, 2025 at 12:58 am
Is it really a matter of Bowles making adjustments on defense? Or, is it a matter of the organization for years not prioritizing safety and ILB and backup CB’s for personnel upgrades?
The Bucs have clearly put the rebuilding emphasis on the offense and the DL for years now. After the first round pick this year, the DBs finally got some love, but still no love for the ILBs.
The Bucs chose to go into the 2024 season with Jordan Whitehead as the starting SS. Two of Whiteheads best three years were with the Jets in 2022 and 2023, and even then, his PFR AV was at the low end for a starter at 6. His best year with the Bucs was a single 7 mixed with in 4’s and 5’s. Having chosen him as their starting safety going into 2024. What were they expecting?
I suspect that they were “hoping” that Clark Kent Winfield would cover the whole field, but that hope was not realized as Winfield played hurt all year.
Lavonte David ranked in the bottom tier of LB’s for coverage with 350 snaps. So did Anthony Walker. With 350 snaps as a criterion, Dennis obviously didn’t qualify. Yet, those are probably the guys the Bucs will be relying on to protect the middle of the field in coverage this season.
If the passing defense gets out 20’s this year, it will probably not be because of any “necessary changes” that Bowles makes; it will probably be because of improvements in the pass rush and DB’s, and despite the coverage of the middle of the field by the current group of ILBs. (Fingers crossed for the UDFA rookie?)
The Bucs must have known for years that they were weak in middle of the field coverage. That is a problem the organization has chosen to face again by using its first round pick to take a WR. Hurray if the passing defense breaks out of the 20’s and into the teens.
July 11th, 2025 at 1:47 am
Points allowed is the only defensive stat that matters. Bowles defenses in Tampa Bay have been in the top 10 three out of six years….
2024 was an aberration with all the injuries and lack of depth – yet the Bucs were still 16th – middle of the pack in points allowed…..
The return of healthy Winfield and Dennis alone will do wonders for the pass defense!
Additions of Reddick, Morrison, Parrish, Walker – the return of Bryce Hall and better MLB depth means this 2025 Bucs defense is in much better shape now.
Also, Diaby, Kancey, McCollum and Tykee Smith should all continue to improve and its more likely than not that 2 or 3 of those 4 will have a “break out” season.
I expect coach Bowles will have this year’s defense back in the top 10 for points against with a better pass rush, better secondary and more depth at all 3 levels…..
That plus an expected top 5 or at worst top 10 offense should mean 11 or more wins, playoffs and a chance to get hot late and compete for another Super Bowl….
Enough with the Chicken Little articles harping on last year’s wounded defense.
We have a very good team that (while ‘rebuilding’) has gone to the playoffs the last 5 years straight, an amazing locker room environment, a franchise QB in his prime, the salary cap situation continues to improve and Jason Licht is the best drafting GM in the league.
Its a great time to be a Bucs fan… and we’re not that far removed from “the lost decade” – so this string of success with the Super Bowl win, 4 straight division titles and a great young team to move forward with (including a dynamic offense) is so SWEET…..
(“I know its sweet – but dude what’s it say? SWEET! What’s mine say? DUDE….”)
July 11th, 2025 at 2:18 am
Joe the Washington playoff loss is Exhibit “A” They could not stop Wash.
That is a microcosm of season for the Defense in 2025. Sickening loss to Washington.
Like other games other games San Fran, KC. The defense could not make a stop /get off the field and lost those games.
If this does not change, then the division round at best is the ceiling for the 2025 Bucs.
If the can start making stops, then they have a legit shot at winning another Lombardi.
July 11th, 2025 at 3:38 am
The Bucs were one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL
What did they do?
They drafted a quality RB
They drafted a quality Center
They signed a new and better OG
This off-season they drafted two Cornerbacks
They drafted a Edge Rushers and DT
They signed a quality Edge Rusher in Free Agency
Hopefully the pass defense will improve
Just as the Rushing offense improved
July 11th, 2025 at 6:55 am
We can’t magically fix everything all at once. There’s only so much money and draft picks. The Bucs put the emphasis on where they did for their own reasons. We keep winning one more game every season fixing one more area of concern. Seems they’re choosing correctly. No team can overcome a certain number of injuries and we’re not off to the greatest start in that area. Let’s hope it doesn’t get any worse. We have the potential to do some real damage this season and go far into the playoffs.
July 11th, 2025 at 7:50 am
Have to agree with KABucs! This has been a rebuild process since the Super Bowl run. I am excited to see how an improved roster does this year. There will not be many more excuses for poor defenses.
July 11th, 2025 at 8:36 am
They can stop the run because it is so easy to throw the ball against the Bucs. Teams rarely run the ball which gives the low run yards per game numbers a bogus strength. Teams PASS at will because the Bucs can’t stop the passing game.
July 11th, 2025 at 8:50 am
Yes, as I have stated this whole off-season the Achilles heel of this team is that Putrid Pass Defense that can’t get off the field on 3rd down. This success of this year’s team will be helped or hindered by the same issue again. This Offense is Top 5 in the NFL. If Bowles fails to improve the D this year you have to wonder if that extension makes sense. Go BUCS!!
July 11th, 2025 at 8:53 am
Every person to post actually made sane thoughtful comments today! Refreshing to see this!!!
July 11th, 2025 at 8:56 am
Except for Truth be Told Says!
July 11th, 2025 at 9:00 am
Agree with Babygrace and all the other posters today. Love all of the well thought out comments. Definitely refreshing to see!
July 11th, 2025 at 9:06 am
@August 1976,
You’re 100% right about the Washington playoff game being a microcosm of the season. The defense got a big stop, the offense fumbled, the media and fans( specfically JBF) blame Bowles and the defense.
One more thing… the defense did get a big stop vs the 49ers. Up 17-13 and got the offense the ball back. You just dont remember it because the offense went 3 and out. Reminds me of the Washington game. Microcosm, right?
July 11th, 2025 at 9:14 am
Husted Wide Right,
The defense got a big stop against the Falcons with Lavonte David int
The offense got the ball scoring position, instead they went backwards, all the way out of FG range. Then the punter on and chip a short punt, so now the Falcons offense are in great field position.
July 11th, 2025 at 9:21 am
LakelandBuc
Oh trust me I know. And that’s the game the Bowles Blamers cite the most, completely ignoring how the offense destroyed the game at the end. They just repeat overall stats to defend the offense, ignoring how bad they were situationally.
July 11th, 2025 at 9:36 am
I know very little about the ins and outs of pass defense.
The phrase “Punts are turnovers, too” I have heard somewhere before. I believed it then and I believe it now. Picks are exciting and turnover margin is indeed important. Playing guys back in North freaking Dakota is not getting punts or turnovers!
Go Bucs!
July 11th, 2025 at 9:57 am
Scoring as many points as the offense did was impressive when you consider the defense was 28th in 3 and outs. Extending drives reduces possessions (playoff game was the epitome, 7 total possessions) and hurts the field position battle.
July 11th, 2025 at 10:27 am
The injuries on the back end were huge last year
July 11th, 2025 at 10:46 am
Bucman … ‘They can stop the run because it is so easy to throw the ball against the Bucs. Teams rarely run the ball which gives the low run yards per game numbers a bogus strength. Teams PASS at will because the Bucs can’t stop the passing game.’
Fascinating Bucman. Three sentences that pretty much cover the whole gamut of what’s been going on with our defense for several years. Yes we’ve had recurring problems with injuries, with starting personnel, with depth. But the biggest issue we’ve had going on is probably scheme, and our defensive priorities within that scheme.
Bucs used the 4-3 since our inception, and did very well with it, until we switched to the 3-4 in 2019. Looking at our history, Bucs have pretty much been known as a defensive team throughout the years. The year we won our 1st Super Bowl (2002), our defense ranked #1 in Points Allowed (only 196 pts), #1 in Total Yards Allowed, #1 in Pass Defense, #5 in Run Defense, #3 in 3rd Down Conversions with 33.6% Allowed, and #3 in Takeaways with 38. Those are the types of HIGH rankings required for a team to allow LESS than 200 points (which we did that year).
This past year our Bucs gave up almost TWICE as many points (385 pts) as we did in 2002. Huge differences in rankings in the various categories … our defense ranked #16 in Points Allowed, #18 in Total Yards Allowed, #29 in Pass Defense, #4 in Run Defense, #14 in 3rd Down Conversions with 38.1% Allowed, and #16 in Takeaways with 18. Essentially the only thing that stayed about the same was our Run Defense (because that’s what we’ve prioritized IMO).
So yes the oppositions’ Run Attempts are down each season & we typically rank way up there (last year opponents ran against us only 389 times for a #3 ranking). Seems to imply that we’re doing a good job of defending our gaps … and forcing opponents to choose to pass against us instead. Yes we ranked #4 in Least Rushing Yards Allowed (with 1663 yds), but that’s misleading I’m thinking because it was only based on 389 attempts. I think the real number to look at is Rushing Yards per Attempt, and that came out to 4.3 YPA for a #10 ranking). That’s roughly what we had in 2022 when Todd seemingly deprioritized the Run Defense in favor of Pass Defense (our Rushing Yards per Attempt rose that year to 4.5 YPA for a #19 ranking).
Generally speaking I think that teams are best at what they prioritize. In our case, we prioritize Run Defense as Job #1, and we do pretty good at that. Most opponents prefer not to run on us because we do a pretty good job stopping it (usually). We also blitz a bunch because we’re not getting consistent pressure on opposing QBs without blitzing (MAYBE pass rush is 2nd to maintaining gap integrity?). And when we do blitz we leave large areas of the field relatively undefended. Duh, looks like it’s just a numbers thingie.
Not sure what the best approach is because of our personnel. We’ve got a light OLine IMO (Vea exception obviously), and a 3-man or even 4-man rush against a 5-man OLine (with RB and/or TE help blocking) probably won’t yield a CONSISTENT PASS RUSH. I’d kinda like to see us experiment with a 4-man rush though with 3 LBs to better cover the middle of the field. Not sure if our defensive personnel are best-suited for that, but it’d be interesting to try in Training Camp.
July 11th, 2025 at 11:29 am
Talent level
Secondary was weak
No pass rush
July 11th, 2025 at 11:40 am
We get our fair share of sacks and all of that during the season but the lack of a top flight pass rusher becomes glaringly apparent in those big playoff games or those games against the best teams in the league in the regular season.
July 11th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
He’s 61 if has not used his valuable experience now will he ever?
July 11th, 2025 at 12:57 pm
anyone making excuses for the pass defense just doesnt get it or doesnt want to accept it.
if there is improvement in pass defense stats it will be because of the players, not the coaching. the coaching is old and tired.
liam coen showed one buc place and all bucs fans love him or hate him for what happened what a fresh coach can do with a team. same with ariens. i hope grizzard is the same.
the defense wont be, neither will the HC. those will both be old and tired, unimaginative and stale.
July 11th, 2025 at 1:04 pm
The Bowles Cover None defense.
July 11th, 2025 at 2:18 pm
We are probably 28th in spending on pass defense i bet, maybe not but we need to get better fast i agree
July 11th, 2025 at 3:40 pm
I feel that Dean in particular played way too soft and allowed short passes far too often allowing teams to nickle and dime us up and down the field.
July 11th, 2025 at 5:12 pm
It’s time. Either the pass defense plays like an NFL caliber defense or Todd is teaching an HR course at Temple University a year from now.
I am very skeptical. Todd has been horrible trying to do two jobs at once.
July 11th, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Truly believe When/IF they replace him with a young gifted OC turned HC, Bowels will be easily forgotten…