Todd Bowles Explains 9 Tackles For Loss Against The Jets
September 24th, 2025
The mind of Vita Vea.
It’s almost hard to believe the Tampa Bay defense fell apart late Sunday against the Jets.
That was not the way things were looking to that point. In fact, the Bucs were posting standout defensive numbers.
When the dust settled, the Bucs had nine tackles for loss, a ridiculously strong number. Head coach/defensive coordinator Todd Bowles explained that success on the Buccaneers Radio Network.
It seems an in-game adjustment stifled the Jets.
“Penetration, penetration, and like I said, we talked on the sidelines, me and Vita [Vea] talked about it, about putting him in a different position,” Bowles said. “So we kind of put him up face on the center a little bit where he could penetrate a little bit more and not let the center get up to the second level. And I thought the [line]backers did a good job scraping and some DBs had some [tackles for loss] as well. So it was a group effort.”
Bowles said earlier in the broadcast that he takes very seriously the in-game suggestions of Vea, Lavonte David and Antoine Winfield. He cited those players’ ability to read the game and apply what they see.
Vea doesn’t have a sack yet this season after 7 last year, but he’s having a heck of a first month.
September 24th, 2025 at 2:25 pm
Vita Vea and Todd… Where run games go to die 🪦
September 24th, 2025 at 2:37 pm
Love me some TFL’s. Hopefully we’ll have 27 against the Beagles.
September 24th, 2025 at 2:42 pm
Vea has been a MONSTER and the defense has been swarming to the ball on runs.
September 24th, 2025 at 3:00 pm
Vea is just wrecking plays. If his three game performances continue, he should be in discussions for Defensive MVP.
September 24th, 2025 at 3:06 pm
Now explain missed tackles on defense and special teams and blocked kicks…
September 24th, 2025 at 3:15 pm
I really hope the eagles get in their own heads and cost themselves the game. If not, I could see this becoming a skid for the Bucs until week 7-8
September 24th, 2025 at 3:20 pm
What’s a sugget?
September 24th, 2025 at 3:40 pm
The defense played great. I don’t really see them falling apart at the end. The TD that made it 23-13 ate up some clock & they didn’t give up a big play. I think the problem was they missed some tackles and gave up a couple first downs.
The next drive was a big penalty and an extremely bad call on a non-catch for a touchdown by LAZARD that would’ve turned it over on downs for the third time in the game, I believe.
The offense kicked that field goal to go up 26-13 but then did nothing the end suing drive. A little too conservative.
Obviously, they need to close that out a little bit better but overall they dominated and they did it with their top three receivers out at the end and an entirely new offensive line. This team is only going to get better and better.
September 24th, 2025 at 4:02 pm
Everyone keeps talking about the Defenses collapse. Why no mention of the offense (Grizzard) going turtle and running it on every 1st and most second downs multiple series in a row? I know, the O line is battered, Barton & Bredeson are out of position but it seemed the playing calling became very predictable for a stretch of the 3rd & 4th quarter.
September 24th, 2025 at 4:11 pm
I think the Eagles are very beatable. Well, unless we beat ourselves with penalties, crappy S/Ts play, turnovers, sloppy defense, etc.
Yes they’re 3-0 like we are, but their recipe is virtually always the same. They’re gonna run the ball a ton, pass it ‘just enough to be unpredictable & keep us honest’, not turn the ball over, play solid defense. The game will be close … by design. Sound familiar? It’s almost like the Bucs playing the Bucs, EXCEPT that we have the better QB & weapons.
Look at their first 3 games:
o Game 1: Eagles 24 Cowboys 20 … Eagles had 62 plays for 34:52 TOP – ZERO giveaways/1 takeaway – 38 runs (158 yds – 4.2 YPC – 3 TD) – 23 passes (19 complete – 152 yds – 0 TD) – Eagles were 8-for-13 in 3rd down conversions. Defense had 0 sacks, 3 ‘pressures’, 3 TFLs & 6 PDs. Interesting ALL of the points in the game, by both teams, were scored in the first 36 minutes of the game.
o Game 2: Eagles 20 Chiefs 17 … Eagles had 58 plays for 32:34 TOP – ZERO giveaways/1 takeaway – 34 runs (122 yds – 3.6 YPC – 2 TD) – 22 passes (15 complete – 101 yds – 0 TD) – Eagles were 6-for-15 in 3rd/4th down conversions. Defense had 2 sacks, 11 ‘pressures’, 4 TFLs & 4 PDs. Defense made an INT in the 4th qtr that the Eagles’ offense turned into a TD (difference in the game). Same game plan.
o Game 3: Eagles 33 Rams 26 … Eagles had 63 plays for 30:35 TOP – 1 giveaway/1 takeaway – 27 runs (86 yds – 3.2 YPC – 1 TD) – 32 passes (21 complete – 226 yds – 3 TD) and Hurts got sacked 4 times – Eagles were 5-for-14 in 3rd down conversions, BUT 4-for-5 in 4th down conversions. Defense had 1 sack, 8 ‘pressures’, 2 TFLs & 4 PDs. Rams were ahead 26-7 in the 3rd qtr, but Eagles came back with 2 TDs to make it close then had to block TWO FGs & score on 1 of them to win (hmmm, sounds almost familiar).
Bottom line: We can beat the Eagles, but we could just as easily beat ourselves. Hopefully this machine is running on all cylinders come Sunday.
September 24th, 2025 at 4:38 pm
TFLs & sacks are pretty much the same thing tbh only difference is running backs can’t pass the ball forward to avoid being tagged behind the LOS
September 24th, 2025 at 4:49 pm
DR, looking at your usual excellent breakdown, do the Eaglets have the degree of injuries we have? Reading the summary of the 3 games, there is no real drastic change in the game pattern. One thing I was wondering: number of penalties called? These teams are NFL darlings, but still, some zeb woke up and threw some flags. Hey D-Rok: lay off the Beagle insults. I have 2 and they are great pups. There are plenty of other word insults you can come up with.
September 24th, 2025 at 5:03 pm
Bowles just needed to keep it close. It was not close enough.
September 24th, 2025 at 6:02 pm
orlbucfan … You’re right, there doesn’t seem to be any ‘real drastic change in the game patterns’. Through 3 games Eagles have run the ball on 54% of their plays. And that’s reflected in their 1st downs: 55 total of which 31 are by running, 19 by passing & 5 via penalties. Bucs BTW are almost the exact opposite: 60 total 1st downs, of which 18 are by running, 34 by passing & 8 via penalties.
Interestingly too, their Run Defense isn’t nearly as good as ours, but their Pass Defense is much better. Eagles have given up 400 yds rushing (ranked #24) but only 557 yds passing (ranked #11). Bucs OTOH have given up only 252 yds rushing (ranked #6) but 639 yds passing (ranked #19). Looks like we stack up well against the Eagles strength though (running the ball).
Last season we beat them 33-16 by holding them to only 20 runs (113 yds) in the game. Season before that they whooped us 25-11 by running the ball 40 times for 201 yds. But then we whooped them in the playoffs that year by holding them to only 15 runs (42 yds rushing). There really is no magic to beating Philly.
September 24th, 2025 at 6:17 pm
I think they come out and whip their ass case they won the whole enchilada and Bucs lost to Washington and should still be peeved about it. They were the better team last year and they are this year. Also Eagles lost some good players, Buc have only to injury so we’ll see.
September 24th, 2025 at 7:19 pm
Bucs have 3rd best fantasy defense in league!
September 24th, 2025 at 10:01 pm
Defense Rules, fundamentals rule. Good work showing that. STOP THE RUN. I heard Baker interviewed today and he said the same thing about the Eagles game. It’ll be won in the trenches. He said our 2 most physical players on the offense are gone for the season (Ko and Luke). So they’ll all have to step up. A few weeks ago you talked about beating yourself. We might watch this game and be watching for just that. We may get loose and beat them by 24 but probably comes down to who makes the mistake latest in the game. Block, tackle, and take care of the ball. The more things change the more they stay the same.
September 24th, 2025 at 10:30 pm
@orl:
Nothing against Beagles at all. I love all dogs; in fact, I rescue them. Sitting now with my pittie Daisy on my lap. It was just a play on words to denigrate the Eagles…obviously.
September 24th, 2025 at 11:15 pm
D-Rok, most posters with a functional brain stem knew what you meant.
September 25th, 2025 at 12:24 am
Wow! Not a stat geek but I pay attention to TFLs.
That is a crazy good number. For me it is indicative of our front four and LBs were getting after it. LVD played a way better game than some believe. AWJ was crucial as usual.
Go Bucs!
September 25th, 2025 at 8:12 am
@D-Rok: no insult intended. In fact, I am an animal lover. My faves are dawgs and horses. I consider all animal rescue folks heroes and saints. 🙂 Speaking of Pitties, I owned Dobes for 30 years. Guess I was having a bad hair day. LOL. There’s plenty of fun in doing word insults on our opponents. Anywho, GO BUCS!!