An Opening For The Bucs’ Pass Rush
September 12th, 2025
Three first-round draft picks.
Joe didn’t see a lot of designed runs for Falcons QB Michael Penix on Sunday, so it’s fair to say he dropped back to pass more than 45 times against Tampa Bay.
The Bucs tallied just one sack.
That’s a miserable sack percentage that would make even the worst defensive coordinator cringe.
At least the Bucs got one sack, a sweet victory on a double team by new edge rusher Haason Reddick. That third-down sack was a true drive-killer that forced a Falcons field goal.
So what will the Bucs’ pass rush do in Houston on Monday night?
Former Texans defensive tackle Seth Payne, a 10-year veteran of the NFL trenches, covers the team and talked about the Texans’ offensive line on his YouTube show. He didn’t sound impressed by their pass blocking against the Rams in Week 1. Payne praised Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud for many good throws under heavy pressure, and Payne talked about the offense’s combination of either poorly called protections or poorly excecuted protections.
Remember, the Texans have a first-time playcaller in Nick Caley. His offense didn’t find the end zone against the Rams and Stroud ate three sacks in a 14-9 loss.
Payne also talked about how Texans offensive linemen were beaten individually and how he believes running backs missed chip blocks, and he said Stroud “called the wrong protections” at times.
Damn, Payne sure painted a messy picture if you’re a Texans fan. So can the Bucs find a way to smack around a quarterback for a change?
And now Texans starting center Jake Andrews has a bad ankle after being carted off against Los Angeles. He hasn’t practiced this week.
It’s time for the three first-round picks on the Bucs’ defensive front to start feasting and beasting.
Payne went on to say he’s unimpressed by the Bucs’ individual pass rushers but is more impressed with the effectiveness of Todd Bowles’ blitzes.
September 12th, 2025 at 8:23 pm
This Dline doesn’t have a history of feasting and beating. I wouldn’t hold my breath. They may be a playoff team, but a SB team? Don’t think so.
September 12th, 2025 at 8:29 pm
Stroud will get a major woody when he remembers what happened the LAST time he played us
September 12th, 2025 at 8:33 pm
Houston’s O line is very young and inexperienced. This should be a big game for our D line
September 12th, 2025 at 8:34 pm
Ummm..guy lost me with the last statement. Not impressed by Reddick as a pass rusher? Not impressed by YaYa? Vita can wreck a pocket. But hes impressed by Bowlws blitzes?? Clown
September 12th, 2025 at 9:02 pm
One sack in 45 drop backs isn’t great. Reddick only got 1 sack against a backup tackle. Kancey got none. Vita got none and a roughing the passer. Yaya got one but it was called back. The Rams have a great DL so I’m not expecting that kind of production. I expect Bake to pull off another win as long as he gets the ball last, unlike the last meeting. LFG!
September 12th, 2025 at 9:04 pm
Remember this article and come back to it Tuesday. If CJ Stroud looks like an MVP Monday night, then Bowels defense is worse than we thought. We have great players on defense, they have a crap Oline missing a center and a rookie playcaller. We should beat the snot out of them. When Calijah Kancey is possibly your 5th best defender there shouldn’t be any excuses why we are not demolishing opponents.
September 12th, 2025 at 9:08 pm
Reddick, Vea, Kancey, Diaby should be able to and need to get home. We will go far if those 4 produce.
Open holes on offense and we will be smooth sailing.
September 12th, 2025 at 9:11 pm
Kancey sack this week, take it to the bank.
September 12th, 2025 at 9:31 pm
Every time I read an opponent is weak, blah, blah, blah, l brace myself for a dawg fight. Plus it’s in TX so gawd knows with the refs? Bucs need to bring it on all sides of the ball.
September 12th, 2025 at 10:20 pm
To me defense was ok. Only 1 sack not good.
But 7 tackles for loss great and 3 passes batted down at the line of scrimmage.
The biggest worry to me is over 100 yards of YAC given up by Dennis.
Got to bet teams will be looking to exploit him in the future.
For all the Bucs complaining about bad pass defense think about that. Dennis allowed 12 air yards of passing and another 104 yards of YAC. Atlanta’s passing yard of 289 would be much less and if we even hold onto one of those INTs — it is a really solid day for our defense.
September 12th, 2025 at 10:27 pm
Bucs need a Killer Killer Instinct and there isn’t a Hardy Nickerson to be found
,, remember that !!
September 12th, 2025 at 11:24 pm
OBF. Refs in TX?????? Huh? Do you know anything about football???? What an odd take?????
We should drop our DL into coverage more?!?!? Todd is a Genius. Worked perfectly against ATL. 1 sack.
So let’s math. 45 pass plays, 4 defensive linemen = 180 potential opportunities for someone to register a sack.Obviously we can’t get 180, but 1 out of 180 pass rushes registered a sack.
Not bad. Just terrible. Nothing less than 3 sacks and a win will be a failure vs the Texans
We kept Bowles and let Coen go. This will be the moment we look back on years from now as the time we wasted a SB caliber team on a bunch of over the hill coaches stuck in the 90s.
September 13th, 2025 at 12:29 am
Agree with geno711. Defense was good and getting better. Houston is toast and they don’t even know it yet.
September 13th, 2025 at 12:39 am
Most of that YAC was on one play.
The bigger issue is that we didn’t get a ton of PR on the third string RT.
I didn’t think the pass rush was good up the middle last Sunday, but I do agree that the whole got better as the game went along.
Kancey has to push.
September 13th, 2025 at 1:03 am
Joe, who are the 3 first round picks on the DL? Vita, Kancey and? Logan hall 2nd round?
September 13th, 2025 at 1:05 am
I suppose you were talking about Haason. Was confused by “defensive front”.
September 13th, 2025 at 1:06 am
Yup. Reddick was a first-round pick.
September 13th, 2025 at 1:41 am
I’m far more worried about our own OL in this game
September 13th, 2025 at 3:37 am
Yup!
Now is the time fellas.
Would love to see lots less blitzes from Bowles and lots more real pressure from our four man rush. We shall see.
Go Bucs!
September 13th, 2025 at 4:49 am
I don’t count sacks. I count wins. Turnover differential is much more important than wins. No turnovers!
September 13th, 2025 at 5:39 am
Every single one of our starters on the front with the exception of Vita finished with 4 or more pressures.
Reddick had 7 by himself and 3 of those came in under 2.5 seconds. Individually tied 5th league wide in pressure rate. Not bad for a 30 yr old on a 1-yr prove it deal.
Diaby also rang the bell, but it was called back because Dean JAMMED his man at the LOS.
Take that how you want. Obvious the penalty sucked in the moment, BUT the application is what we want Dean doing with that ridiculous frame of his.
Bowles didn’t simulate as much pressure as he had to last season in week 1. We also sent 4 a lot more than we did last season with a good amount of 5-man pressures.
Still early in the season, but we’ve got the ingredients to start cooking these offensive fronts on a more consistent basis in my opinion. Just got to see how our guys mesh as they get more reps together.
I’m looking forward to seeing how we go about containing and confusing CJ Stroud behind a patchwork(and struggling) OL next Monday.
September 13th, 2025 at 5:51 am
All their talk about…saks, saks,saks, is just that…TALK! They (D-linemen) never live up to they’re talk. I’d love to see that change this Sunday, but I’ll believe it when I see it!
September 13th, 2025 at 6:54 am
Need the D line to take over a game. Let’s start with this one in Houston.
September 13th, 2025 at 8:02 am
As a Bucs fan, to me the only number that matters is the number in the win column.
September 13th, 2025 at 8:17 am
Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t remember any of Todd’s exotic blitz’s getting home Sunday? We had ONE sack, one called back. That doesn’t sound like successful blitzing to me. It’s time for the front four to put the opposing QB on the ground! Let Hall, and Roberts get some cracks rushing as 4-3 D ends, you know what they did in college? Tired of hearing about Todd’s magic blitzing that doesn’t work 99% of the time. We need to get more creative with our front four packages. Try different combos giving more players more opportunities. Seems we’re doing the same old, getting the same old results.