Defense Doesn’t Have A Major Crack
October 31st, 2025
Big November needed.
Hey, if Joe is going to use a two-game sample to wring hands over the Bucs’ offense, then Joe will also give props to the Bucs’ defense in those same games.
Sure, the Bucs lost to Detroit. Eh, it happens. The Lions, given previous, um, transactions with the zebras, were frothing at the mouth waiting for the Bucs to enter their den. The stars were not aligned.
But then the Bucs’ defense seal-clubbed the slimy Saints. Nearly pitched a shutout.
Typing for Yahoo!, Charles McDonald said the month of November will be the make-or-break month for the Bucs. They could be sitting pretty on Thanksgiving leading the pack for home-field advantage in the playoffs or the Bucs could have a rotten Thanksgiving, backed into a corner fighting for their playoff lives.
McDonald believes Baker Mayfield cannot have a bad game like he did against the Lions if the Bucs desire the top seed.
When the Bucs play high-quality teams like the Lions, that level of performance isn’t going to cut it because Tampa’s defense has too many cracks in the armor to shut down good offenses in the NFL. The Bucs are a bit slow at the second level and extremely gettable if teams can get past their defensive line. Their overall numbers are solid for the season, but teams like the Seahawks, Lions and even Jets have had success moving the ball against them.
Again, Joe isn’t sweating how the Bucs got a scare from the Seahawks or got beat by the Lions. Good teams will test a team. Or they should.
Joe doesn’t believe the Bucs have a major crack on defense, unless it’s pass defense by SirVocea Dennis.
Let’s break down the Lions game, shall we? In the six previous games prior to the Bucs-Lions game, the Lions averaged 37 points a game at home, including in a playoff loss to the Commandos last winter.
The Bucs held the Lions to 24.
And the offense did little to nothing to keep the defense on the bench and rest. Holding a strong offense like the Lions to 13 points below their average is damn good.
And hold any team to 24 points, that’s a winnable game.
So the banged up Bus players hopefully healed up the past few days — and into next week. The Bucs will need them.
(Future NFL MVP?) Baker Mayfield and Tristan Wirfs of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers chatting with @Jackie_Redmond and apparently the big OT had some skating lessons when he was younger 😅 pic.twitter.com/W3uqvk4EkB
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) October 31, 2025
October 31st, 2025 at 4:46 am
Defense was not great the first few games – gave up a lot of big plays and points… They played solid against a great Lions offense and really dominated the Saints last week. So we’ll see if that arrow up trend continues…
Taking the ball away frequently played a big part in success the last 2 games. Turnovers cannot be counted on week in and week out, however, so we’ll have to see how well the Defense can play against good offenses the next 2 games (Pats, Bills) before we declare that the Defense is “good” this year…..
The offense IS good – but has not been good the last 2 games primarily because Baker is playing hurt and is not the same player we saw the first 6 games of the season.
Even with all the injuries to his OL and top weapons (Evans, Godwin, JMac, Bucky) – Baker was making it work with Heck, RG dujour, White, EE, Tez and Shepard when he was healthy.
Hopefully the time off will be very beneficial for Mayfield and he can come back strong and finish the season healthy.
October 31st, 2025 at 5:58 am
Our corners are the fastest in the NFL. We are anything *but* slow at the second level.
October 31st, 2025 at 6:33 am
We may not get our offense back to full strength for awhile. But we have Baker Mayfield and Tristan Wirfs at the 2 most important positions on offense. And they think they can beat anyone. Who am I to dispute that?
October 31st, 2025 at 6:58 am
Thanks for posting that video Joe! Tristan Wirfs is awesome. I can’t imagine someone his size being agile on skates. Would not want him boarding me.
October 31st, 2025 at 8:01 am
A defense without a crack still seems to get gashed repeatedly by good teams. The soft zone style and “miscommunication” still persists. No defense is perfect but, all too often, the better teams expose the flaws in the scheme.
October 31st, 2025 at 8:05 am
Agree about the slow in the second level comment, what? Also, cool 4 XL Marty St. Louie throw back Tristan.
October 31st, 2025 at 8:06 am
The offense wasn’t “good” the first 4 games of the season. I don’t know why there’s this “offense good, defense bad” recounting of our first 4 games in the season like we didn’t have to come back partly because of their inability to score.
Even in the games like the Seahawks game, we don’t win that at the end without that LVD pick.
We definitely don’t win against the Jets of all teams, that gave our offense(only scored 1 TD) fits. Not to mention winning the TO margin by +2 and the defense score 1 of our 2 TDs in that game.
Houston was the same deal, you hold a team to 19 points but have to “comeback” to just win by 1 point?
Fact is, the defense has been just a tad more consistent on a game to game basis than our offense, even with the bad play and have made just as many plays to turn games in our favor as the offense.
Reality is our offense got hot for 2 games Seattle & SF, the other 6 games they’ve had their struggles same as the defense. What’s gotten us to 6-2 is the right plays being made in key situations.
October 31st, 2025 at 8:28 am
WBL
well said!!!!
outside of SEA & SF the offense has been very disappointing…
defense has played a lot better than folks want to give them credit for…
6-2!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 31st, 2025 at 8:32 am
Having key players returning from injuries will determine the Bucs ability for a Super Bowl 🏆
Veta was a key player returning for the 2020 Bucs and a big reason for their win.
With Evans, Goede, Godwin, McMillan and a relativity healthy team, the Bucs chances are looking good. They can win it all and it’s coming down to how many players they return healthy.
October 31st, 2025 at 8:42 am
O line has been a mess all year. Griz needs to call quick drop and throw to keep Dlines from teeing off on the deeper routes. That seems obvious.
October 31st, 2025 at 8:55 am
When the team HAS to make a stop, they can’t. When they HAVE to have a critical stop, they can’t do it. Well at least against good teams.
Patriots, Bills and Rams are going to abuse the middle of the field and all put between 27-30 points each
Todd can beat the bad teams, and out coach bad coaches but he can rarely beat good coaches
October 31st, 2025 at 8:57 am
@Allen Lofton
Please stop calling for players to return
McMillan has broken bones in his neck, he is not coming back
If Evans comes back he will be rusty and need time to get back into it, he’s not coming back younger
October 31st, 2025 at 9:25 am
Todd and the bucs sure did “BEAT” & “STOP” 5-3 9ers team and a 5-2 Seahawks team…
but im sure the smart folks in the back of the short bus will say those arent good teams lol….
you’ve been eating crow as much as squid face!!!!….lol…
6-2!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 31st, 2025 at 9:26 am
‘Joe doesn’t believe the Bucs have a crack on defense, unless it’s pass defense by SirVocea Dennis.’
I need to start smoking what you’re smoking Joe, because you’re a LOT more optimistic about our defense than I am. Bucs’ defense is currently ranked #16 … dead center middle-of-the-pack … having given up 178 points in 8 games (22.3 PPG average). It’s been up-and-down all season (the old Dr Jekyll/ Mr Hyde syndrome).
Our saving grace has been TAKEAWAYS, not our pass rush. Bucs defense has generated 12 turnovers so far this season (could extrapolate to 26 takeaways in 17 games, same as we had in 2023 when our defense ranked #7 overall). Yet our takeaways haven’t been evenly distributed this season; we had only 2 takeaways (vs 2 giveaways) in the first 4 games, but then 10 takeaways (vs 3 giveaways) in the last 4 games. And yes, they were difference-makers.
Bucs went 3-1 in the first 4 games because Baker led THREE last minute 4th qtr comebacks. We went 3-1 in the next 4 games because (1) Baker led yet another 4th qtr comeback, and (2) Bucs had a Turnover Differential of PLUS 7 in those 4 games (and our offense took good advantage of those turnovers).
Throughout all this first half of the season, our defense (and our offense and our S/Ts) have played great at times, and very meh at other times. We’ve been fortunate thus far, but no right to boast that we’re King of the Mountain, yet. Just about every game’s been a dogfight (and our dogs have gotten pretty beaten up).
IF we really want to make it to the Super Bowl, we need to beef up some position groups. Banking on certain players coming back sooner rather than later isn’t the prudent thing to do. Making a couple of trades now could help us not only this year but also next year. Make it happen Jason.
October 31st, 2025 at 9:52 am
Once a player is injured, depending on the injury and timing with bye week they are playing with that all year till the off season. The offense took the big injuries this year. The defense has come back from those but now have to remain injury free the rest of the year. Losing Walker before the season was tough cause we don’t know what we have in him. Kancey was bad too but it’s given Roberts a chance to play and he’s doing well.
I don’t subscribe to mid season trades but this year might be different. Certainly at receiver. 3 starters are gone, don’t know the CG injury or how it will play out. Line could use the help as well. But with regard to the team as a whole, in our last Super Bowl win it took us 1/2 the season to come together and that was with the GOAT and losing Vita for the year. The key was health along both sides and the continuity kicking in. With some players HOPEFULLY coming back soon that would certainly help but let’s remember Grizz is in his 1st year and we have needed the rest. I think we come out of the gate doing well. Don’t like predicting picks but I can see us winning the next 3 games against. NE a win, Rams and Bills will be tough but winnable. But again it’s 1 game at a time.
October 31st, 2025 at 10:25 am
just another curve fitting joe special thread to whip up the homers.
like a used car salesman, “well this sweet ride has no accidents” (but is flood salvage write off). always coming up with another one.
like “oh the bucs defense shut down jared goff” (meanwhile they rushed for 130) or another special of the week “we shut down the superbowl winning eagles offense! (in the second half)
its funny but sad really. getting all excited after whipping “The Rattler” ooooo.
October 31st, 2025 at 11:56 am
Right now, figure out how to fix the OL and the blocking schemes. A head coach would sit with his rookie OC and do that. Sir Can’t Cover is a huge crack on defense and exposes the rest of the operation. That’s the trade piece, an ILB who can cover and tackle in space. But Todd loves Sir, so…
October 31st, 2025 at 2:29 pm
Just can’t let it go lronlung Todd still living rent free in your head.
October 31st, 2025 at 3:05 pm
I’m proud of the D. They are steadily improving. I don’t know about “no cracks” but this roster is much improved in keep areas, specifically in the secondary.
Takeaways are way up and Todd’s pressure packages are working.
Disappointed in the offense. They have no identity and they’ve lost some confidence along with injured players. Hoping we get some pieces back but more so hope Grizz can get creative and turn this thing around 🤞🏼
O-line needs to be eating raw meat and getting slapped around by Carbs until they get pi$sed off. I know those guys have pride – they need to come back from the bye and act like it 💪🏼🏈
October 31st, 2025 at 3:10 pm
What’s the job of a head coach, Woodpecker? Watch as the team gets worse? LOL!
October 31st, 2025 at 3:42 pm
You have got to stop with this gaslighting about the Bucs defense.
Detroit held themselves back and took points off the board multiple times. It has nothing to with the Bucs defense (although they were good on 3rd down).
They did however play well against New Orleans, one of the absolute worst teams in the league.
October 31st, 2025 at 7:40 pm
Defense was good enough to beat the eagles. Or special teams screwed us in our offense was a little erratic. We were committing the turnovers instead of forcing them.
We absolutely could have beaten Detroit if the offense could put anything together. The defense was on the field too much offense unable to sustain drives. I think Detroit is a little too good for us to have that many starters out. But the defense was fully going after Goff, he was feeling the heat. Mayfield needed to be fully healthy and on point accuracy-wise for there to be a chance.
I will not talk about the refs in detail for either game. If there’s a borderline call, it will go against us every time. If a play is being reviewed, the knuckleheads in New York or wherever they are will somehow, some way have it go against Tampa.