How Good Was The Bucs’ Defense? And How Bad Was The Offense?
October 28th, 2025
What happened?
Even though the Bucs had a plodding, almost stagant offense Sunday in New Orleans, the defense played so damn well that one NFL observer gave the Bucs a very high grade for the win.
The lone offensive touchdown the Bucs scored was a mere one-yard plunge by Sean Tucker. Even then, he had to give it a third effort to barely break the goal line on fourth-and-one.
John Breech of CBS was so impressed with the defense that despite one of the worst offensive games in some time for the Bucs, Breech gave the Bucs a “B+” for the win.
With the Buccaneers’ offense banged up, Tampa Bay needed its defense to carry the load this week, and that’s exactly what happened here. They didn’t get the the shutout, but besides that, the Bucs defense essentially pitched a perfect game: They forced four turnovers and recorded four sacks, and the Saints didn’t run a single play inside of Tampa Bay’s 20-yard line. The biggest turnover came from Anthony Nelson, who had an impressive three-yard pick-six in the second quarter that opened up the scoring. Winning the games you’re supposed to win isn’t always an easy thing to do in the NFL — just ask the Bengals about that — but the Bucs got the job done this week, and now they’ve got a Week 9 bye to get healthy.
There is no way around it. The Bucs defense had itself a day. Shoot, Anthony Nelson nearly beat the slimy Saints by himself.
How good was the defense on Sunday? In the second half, the slimy Saints didn’t take a snap from Bucs territory until 7:59 left in the game. That’s pretty impressive.
Not only will this bye week give the Bucs a chance to get healed, but it should also give Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard some time to figure out how the same Bucs offense that lit up Seattle and San Francisco has suddenly gone into the crapper.
October 28th, 2025 at 4:36 am
Lets not get too excited. The Saints offense is horrific to the point that their best player only got 8 touches the entire game.
Bucs defense looked good but there was little competition.
October 28th, 2025 at 5:10 am
i disagree the bucs defense was fired up and wanted to make a statement after losing to detroit. detroits defense was a clinic. the bucs defense was pissed. new orleans is bad but not that bad they just turn the ball over a lot and commit stupid penalties they don’t know how to win thus their record. the saints defense is decent and played a good game against a depleted tb offense that is much easier to figure out nowi appreciate the bucs want to establish the run but they need to get baker going and in rithym, he’s been skying his passes
October 28th, 2025 at 5:34 am
Davenport … ‘Lets not get too excited. The Saints offense is horrific’.
The real bottom line is that the football gods smiled on us (in a short week & in our badly injured state) and let us play the worst team in the NFL. And we needed that big-time. The team we put on the field Sunday is badly beaten up & desperately needs this BYE to rehab.
For their part, the Saints’ offense has has only scored 121 points (11 TDs & 15 FGs) in 8 games, plus their defense added another TD with a fumble return. And they’ve been very consistently bad; the most points they scored in any 1 game (26) came in their win against the Giants … who committed FIVE turnovers that game.
Saints’ defense however is playing some respectable football. Yes they’ve given up 209 points in 8 games, but 7 pts came off a blocked punt return for a TD. And 44 of those points came in 1 game (Seattle throttled them). So in the other 7 games they’ve averaged 23.6 PPG … just about 1.5 PPG more than our defense is averaging. Their Run Defense is just fair (ranked #20), but their Pass Defense is doing quite well (ranked #9). They’re playing hard it looks like, but their offense isn’t helping them at all.
And THAT’S the defense that our offense went against Sunday. Folks need to give the Saints’ defense a little credit for their play. They held us to 88 yards rushing on 29 attempts; not that shabby. They limited us to 124 net passing yards in 24 pass attempts (thanks largely to sacking Baker 3 times). They also limited us to converting 4-of-15 3rd/4th down attempts. But regardless, you’re not gonna win many games when your offense turns the ball over 4 times & only scores 3 points.
October 28th, 2025 at 5:58 am
I think the O line really struggled and on top of that Bakers knee and oblique injury basically kept him in the box. He was trying to get through the game with a run heavy offense. I am also hoping Grizz gets some play calling help. Not impressed, no imagination, not close to Coen at this point.
October 28th, 2025 at 6:09 am
@DR, “And THAT’S the defense that our offense went against Sunday. Folks need to give the Saints’ defense a little credit for their play. They held us to 88 yards rushing on 29 attempts…”
I love you bro, but no. I very much disagree with Davenport where he does not give credit to the Bucs D bc the Saints suck it is the NFL, every opponent is tough – the Bucs D has been playing awesome since the 2nd half of the Lions game.
But DR, you fail to mention that the Saints run D was ranked 26th in the NFL. And we only managed to get 88 yards?! Not to mention the horrific, predictable, ugly multiple failed “run-up-the-middle” attempts at the goal line.
Just as the Bucs D has been playing great since the 2nd have of the Lions game, the Bucs O has been sucking the past 2 weeks (a result of very physical defenses?). Lets hope the bye gets them rested and ready to go in week 10.
October 28th, 2025 at 6:19 am
Coen limited the playbook after a flag-heavy first half in one of the early games. He did it to decrease holding calls. The strategy worked but also made the Bucs predictable. Look for him to at least partially open the playbook when Luke gets back. The team also misses its athletic right guard. That guy could pull and get downfield.
October 28th, 2025 at 6:31 am
Keep in mind, Bowles had his finger on the offense this week. He gave Grizz a little slap on the wrist for passing too much the previous week. The Bucs were just plodding up and down the field like the Steelers. Maybe Mayfield is more banged up than anyone is willing to admit.
October 28th, 2025 at 6:46 am
Bucnjim … ‘Maybe Mayfield is more banged up than anyone is willing to admit.’
I don’t see what else it can be. Baker hasn’t run a single time in the past 2 games. He got sacked 4 times in the Lions game, and 3 times in the Saints game.
And our offense has literally come to a grinding halt. Bucs were 4-of-16 on 3rd down conversions in the Lions game, and 3-of-13 in rthe Saints game. That 7-of-29 on 3rd down conversions in the past 2 games comes out to only 24% success rate. The worst in the NFL on the season is Tennessee with 29.97% (Bucs’ season average is 36.27%, ranking us #24 in the NFL after 8 games).
October 28th, 2025 at 7:38 am
Heal up boys
October 28th, 2025 at 8:02 am
The guy might have mentioned AWjr had TWO tuddys stolen from him
October 28th, 2025 at 8:12 am
I can’t wait until we get the offense and defense playing in the same game.
October 28th, 2025 at 9:41 am
BUCS have a CHAMPIONSHIP DEFENSE!!!!!
simple as that!!!
6-2!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 28th, 2025 at 9:46 am
Bucnjim Says:
October 28th, 2025 at 6:31 am
Keep in mind, Bowles had his finger on the offense this week.
******************************************************
COMPLETE BS!!!!!!
bowles only pointed out the obvious…grizz abandoned the run and became 1 dimensional….
i guess bowles had his “finger” on the offense when we score 38pts in SEA lol
6-2!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 28th, 2025 at 9:51 am
Grizz is over his head…. no imagination, predictable. Speed things up, don’t give the defense time to adjust and think, Bucs are always snapping the ball at 1 second left. Put more people in motion, they go out and just stand there. It all falls on the boy genius. Here is an idea, just let Baker call the plays. Grizz can set there and take credit for it.
October 28th, 2025 at 10:01 am
The key player is Baker Mayfield. He’s definitely is playing hurt. He’s not the same player coming from behind to win in the last minute of the game.
If he has to be absent in the bye week game, so be it. It better that he is fully ready and healthy to make a playoff run with key returning healthy players.
October 28th, 2025 at 10:44 am
Saints tend to play us tough on defense despite our NFC South dominance going back to the Brady years.
From 2019-2025 we’ve only scored 30+ on the Saints twice in 14 games and one of those was exactly 30.
This was more expected than shocking imo.
October 28th, 2025 at 11:25 am
PERSPECTIVE
Original Starters: Evans, Godwin, Jmac, Bucky, Goe, Mauch
6 of 11 starters – out
All starting WR 2024 – out
The entire right side of the OL – out
Plus, Wirfs is not himself
6-2 is a miracle
You’re complaining about the offense “suddenly” not looking good.
I’m wondering how they are winning.
October 28th, 2025 at 12:35 pm
The Jets are worse than the Saints. Even with the heavy lifting c/o the zebs, they still lost and stunk. As @Kayla pointed out earlier this week, NOLA has quite a few 1st round draft picks starting. But our crippled offense….my god. Records don’t lie; we are 6-2. I am thrilled for Anthony Davis, Tez Johnson, and even lowly SVD. Our secondary is waking up. Dean getting a sack? ST has cleaned up their act. Anyone run back a punt for a TD on us? Plus, McLaughlin is doing his usual hitting them from 50+ yards. I am taking breathers this Bye. Bake has got to get treatment and soak in the tub. He hasn’t been his usual feisty self the last 2 games.
October 28th, 2025 at 12:41 pm
The offense looked bad for 2 reasons….no Mike and no Bucky. That’s it.
October 28th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
Baker is playing hurt…. that is the biggest difference in the way the offense has looked the last 2 games.
Very hopeful that Mayfield can get healed up during the week off. Not sure how bad the knee is but I’m quite sure that oblique injury has been effecting his ability to throw accurately.
October 28th, 2025 at 1:31 pm
Defense Rules – You are right on the money on Mayfield. He is playing hurt. Nobody seemed to notice, but they activated QB3 off the practice squad for the Saints game. QB3 is NEVER activated unless there is a likelihood one of the first two may not be able to finish the game. Hopefully Joe can snoop this out this week? Joe??
October 28th, 2025 at 1:55 pm
Thought this was an article about defense being good, offense struggling. Not just another so and so said something post.
oh well…. Let’s hope Grizz is working on a plan to get the O rolling again and Todd can keep the D hungry and sound 🤞🏼
October 28th, 2025 at 2:23 pm
John Sinclear … ‘Nobody seemed to notice, but they activated QB3 off the practice squad for the Saints game. QB3 is NEVER activated unless there is a likelihood one of the first two may not be able to finish the game.’
Nice catch!
October 28th, 2025 at 2:23 pm
The Bucs defense had 14 points taken off the board from the incompetent refs. That could have given the defense 21 pts. That’s more pts than the offense has scored the last 2 games. Dang refs. Gotta get the offense back on track
October 28th, 2025 at 2:49 pm
#1bucsfan … Remember in Training Camp when everyone said the strengths of this team will be the WRs & the RBs. We were deep in both position groups.
Well, I guess ‘deep’ is relative to how many injuries you absorb. Losing McMillan first, then Godwin a 2nd time, and of course Mike going down all kinda limited our WR group quite a bit. Not to mention Egbuka kinda struggling these last 3 games (he’s not close to 100% either).
Losing Bucky put a damper on our RB group, but realistically he was only averaging 3.3 YPC before getting hurt. Rachaad’s average is down and so is Tucker’s. Problem isn’t our RBs though, it’s the OLine. Fix that and RB group will start doing a LOT better. They need the beasts blocking for them.
In the meantime, sure do wish that Grizz would tap into our TE group. I personally think there’s a LOT more talent in there than we’ve been allowed to see. And Baker actually has had some pretty good years throwing to his TEs (college & pro’s). Matter of fact, if the Ravens are really interested in shopping Mark Andrews, I’d love to see us pick him up.
October 28th, 2025 at 3:20 pm
Gizzard Leftwich seems to be inept with blocking schemes, especially blitzes up the gut. Vomitous. At least the screen game looks like it’s a high school JV design.
But, to his credit, he’s oblivious to up the gut blitzes being destructive to the passing game and the checkdowns are blanketed. And don’t forget his secret weapon. Ist and goal from the one!
Who does the Gizzard report to and will any corrective action be taken?
It never was with Leftwich after BA stepped down. Will it be different?
October 28th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
PS – most head coaches are accountable for the performance of all three phases. Kind of like the job description of a head coach.
Magoo seems to have responded. Good. Now, Todd, be a head coach to your rookie deer in the headlights during the next two weeks. Good.
October 28th, 2025 at 5:42 pm
All of a sudden we have gone back to running the ball on the majority of first downs. The offense is more predictable when there is a pattern and it’s gotten back to that pattern…at least in the first half.
Let the defense expect a run up the middle and run play action on first down for short gains. Then the defense has to guess on 2nd and manageable. Thats what worked the last three years. This OC wants to “pound the rock” but he’s trying too hard without his best back.
Also, give the better runner ( tucker ) more carries until Bucky comes back. Duh???