Cavalry Not Coming To Save The Defense
November 18th, 2025
The arrow is not pointing up for the Bucs.
Oh, it may be for the offense. The Bucs had their best game on the ground in Buffalo.
How much of that was improvement and how much of that was the soft Buffalo run defense? Well, only time will tell.
One guy whose arrow certainly is pointing up is Sean Tucker. He was the first running back to run for over 50 yards this season against New England a week ago. Then, at Buffalo, he ran for two touchdowns and over 100 yards, and caught a 28-yard touchdown pass.
So Joe is much less worried about the Bucky Irving-less running game than Joe used to be. Tucker is the hot hand. Run that hot hand until defenses prove they can stop him.
But the defense? Egads! The Bucs defense has been gouged for 849 yards in the past two games, both coming after the bye.
Sunday was the defense’s worst performance as Josh Allen went nuts, tying his own record in the Super Bowl era; he had a hand in six touchdowns — three passing, three running.
Only once before has a Bowles-led Bucs defense given up two straight 400-yard (or 500-yard) games. That was in 2023 when the Bucs allowed three-straight.
(The game before that streak started, the first game after the 2023 bye week, the Bucs gave up 380 yards to the Lions — what the hell are these guys doing during the bye weeks?)
The only way the Bucs were going to stop Allen on Sunday was to get him off the field and keep him there. The offense did its job. The defense shat itself.
Again.
At least with the offense, one could point to the cavalry coming. Bucs coach Todd Bowles had reassuring words yesterday about Chris Godwin’s potential return. Bucky doesn’t appear far away from returning.
And there is the quiet hope Mike Evans could be back by the end of the regular season. Maybe Jalen McMillan, too.
The defense? There’s no cavalry coming unless Calijah Kancey possibly returning is what you call cavalry.
So if the Bucs plan to do anything in the playoffs — hell, at this point, do they even make the playoffs the way the defense is playing? — Bowles is going to have to figure it out. The season may depend on his actions.
Neither Capt. York, Sgt. O’Rourke nor Sgt. York are coming to save the defense.
(Yes, Joe is well aware Sgt. York was never in the cavalry.)
November 18th, 2025 at 5:14 am
Christen miller 1st….Whit weeks 2nd
November 18th, 2025 at 5:19 am
Injuries are the only constant on this team – we may limp into the playoffs but without a pass rush we are no match for top teams. The Rams will be the best team out of all we have played so far so all signs point to another curb stomping. Its the late game Sunday which is 1am for me so I’m not staying up to watch it
November 18th, 2025 at 5:22 am
OK I’ve gotta say it Joe: Rachaad White’s not getting the respect he deserves (not even mentioned?). He ran the ball 10 times Sunday for 51 yards (5.1 YPC), plus went 2-of-3 receiving for 11 more yds. No TDs, but he wasn’t used in those situations (Sean Tucker was).
Sean Tucker had almost twice the carries (19 runs Sunday for 106 yds & 2 TDs), plus he was 2-for-2 receiving for 1 TD. Yet interestingly Tucker played fewer snaps. Rachaad logged 42 offensive snaps, while Tuck was out there for 31 offensive snaps.
How Grizz views the two of them obvious: Tucker is the break-away threat, just like Bucky has been, while Rachaad is the ‘Steady Eddy’ who can run, catch & block but isn’t that much of a break-away threat. That’s OK, we need BOTH to be successful.
And BTW, Rachaad carried it 9 times in the 1st half & got 5 first downs. They only used him ONCE in the 2nd half.
November 18th, 2025 at 5:55 am
shoulda put in some options for the trade deadline. now we watch a missed window on offense. just keep punting at 4th and 2 with avg ypc of 6.
November 18th, 2025 at 5:57 am
DR, we’ve got 3 good backs. Last year our first game against Carolina Bucky ran for about 130 yards or more. It was his best game rushing for the season. We were lucky to win that game in overtime. 2 weeks later we made the passing game our focus. 5 TD passes and a 48-14 route over the same Carolina team from 2 weeks before. So our defense is struggling? We’re missing some great receivers but no excuses. With a thin defense we better be throwing the ball all over the yard. Running for 200 yards is great but if we’re not throwing for 300 we’re going to be in big trouble. Over the years I’ve seen Mayfield hang alot of points with that arm. I’m afraid we’re going to need those points. And we won’t get enough handing it off to Racchad. White needs to be blocking for Baker to throw and catching check downs when Baker needs to dump it. Throw the ball first.
November 18th, 2025 at 5:58 am
Baker Mayfield needs to put up 50 points to win
November 18th, 2025 at 6:03 am
Just remember, Jason Licht didn’t think this was a Superbowl caliber team and subsequently sat on his hands at the trade deadline. The team got the message and they are just going through the motions now…and losing winnable games. Licht’s outsized ego is the downfall of this season.
Hey Licht, fans got the message too and I suppose we’ll go through the motions as well. Look out because lots of anger and apathy incoming.
November 18th, 2025 at 6:13 am
I blame Jason for this mess on defense. From the beginning of the season he kept predicting that YaYa, Kancy, Braswell would have breakout seasons. We all knew different and a lot of Bucs fans here didn’t believe a word he said. Then he had a chance to trade for an edge rusher and let the trade window close.
So now the Bucs have a championship offense with a peewee league defense. Honestly, he needs to be fired at the end of the season along with Bowles.
November 18th, 2025 at 6:31 am
I know this is an article about the defense, but I’m putting way more blame on the Special Teams. How this coach still has a job is way beyond me. Let’s look all the way back to game one. We’ve got blocked punts, blocked field goals, muffed kicks, long returns by opposing teams, no long returns by the Bucs, and a large amount of penalties. Hard for the Defense to stop teams when their average starting position is the 50-yard line. These actions deflate the ENTIRE team!
November 18th, 2025 at 6:35 am
Halfway through the season we re watching around the league teams that can actually content for a good playoff run putting some great defensive performances. And our beloved Bucs contiune to play the soft passive defense with zero 4man rush pressure comig out of a bye and in the 2 games giving up 72 points and 6 TDs of 45+ yds.
The team is not trending in the right direction. 2-4 record against winnig teams.
Same things every season but the coaching staff and front office think everything is fine. OK I guess.
But this team even when they were winning the close games (against bad teams) they never really looked like a team that can compete in the playoffs. Wins are good no matter how they come but at some point you must play consistent good football and our Bucs have not done that. That is the truth.
Go Bucs
November 18th, 2025 at 6:36 am
DR. My last post in no way did I mean to say we don’t want to have a run pass balance. I’d love to be 50 50. If we can show a top tier defense we could run it even more. But until I can see this defense improving I think we’re going to need to average 35 points. We’re going to need to score more.
November 18th, 2025 at 6:40 am
Jason Licht looks like he is 8 months pregnant.
November 18th, 2025 at 6:40 am
Bowles press conference yesterday was a slap in the face to Buc fans who actually have eyes and can see the garbage defense that this man is in charge of. He had the nerve to say we’re close to putting it all together.! The man thinks we’re fools. Let’s remind Todd that the vast majority of injuries are to the OFFENSE which we all know he has very little input on. Thank God for that.
My mindset has changed dramatically with this team. The Glazers are the fools for extending a bad coach who’s worn out his welcome here as far as I’m concerned.
November 18th, 2025 at 6:42 am
Two points: I’ve been saying since preseason, it should be Buck and Tuck as 1 & 2 with White as a third down back.
Also: Bowles is no defensive guru, savant, wizard, expert etc. He’s below mediocre at this stage.
Can’t wait to see Anthony Nelson cover Kyren Williams down the field like he did with James Cook. (sarcasm)
November 18th, 2025 at 6:44 am
If the Bills didn’t start every possession at the 50-yard line, there is no way they hang 44 points on us. Defense wasn’t good, but they were forced to defend half a field.
November 18th, 2025 at 6:52 am
If we beat the Rams this whole freakout will have been for naught.
November 18th, 2025 at 6:53 am
If you’re frustrated about the Bills game, no need to worry because the Rams D is second in the league allowing just 17.2 points per game. Everyone should do themselves a favor and just get some rest Sunday night. Bucs lose this one by 3 scores and by that I mean 3 TDs, Stfford will complete over 75% of his passes with 4 TDs. Yes, it’s going to be ugly, and no there’s no hope on the other side of this game. Just a band aid of a week schedule, if the Bucs are lucky enough to make the playoffs they will be ousted at home again in rd1
November 18th, 2025 at 7:01 am
Bucnjim – when an offense averages 7.8 yards per play, it does not matter where they start. The defense flat out sucked and ST was no better.
November 18th, 2025 at 7:06 am
Todd Bowles and Jason Licht are losing the locker room fast.
November 18th, 2025 at 7:22 am
Seems everybody is absentee concerning this as usual, floundering team.
Licht is NoWhere to be found and those who were patting him on the back have joined another party. You know, in the “Winners Circle” of which Licht isn’t a member of since apparently he’s found Other interests rather than the job he’s paid to do.
The Glazers are on the brink of being this year’s Baffoon’s since the legendary tell of “The Emporer Has No Clothes” fits quite well with the Glazers And Toddy Bowls. They are REAL SUCKERS! And THAT WOULD INCLUDE the very little Jason Limp is offering to this team! What have YOU done for the teams well being Jason Limp? In fact just what have you done for Any of us lately mr Limp?
A heavy sigh.. I wanted BADLY to be wrong about Todd Bowles and he started off strong this year. But the facts are the facts. He’s done a UNBELIEVABLE JOB of “Letting It” ALL fall apart.
And ultimately who’s to blame? Every single one of them.
Absentee Ownership from the very top to the very bottom.. Get ready for the next lost decade because apparently, nobody cares AGAIN!
Who’s left? Nobody… Nobody’s running the store
November 18th, 2025 at 7:27 am
Licht made a huge error not grabbing a WR at the trade deadline, BUT clueless Todd who is an average at best coach, has been passed by.
He leads the Def, he makes the final decision on the special teams coach and assignments and if he said I need 1 more weapon on offense at the trade deadline. The GM best go get that weapon.
Plenty of blame can go around; all roads end at Todd.
I don’t care if we win a 5th NFC S championship, Dungy is a HoF coach and was let go after a bad call in the NFC championship.
We need a better HC, one that will hire a D coordinator and doesn’t need help telling time!
November 18th, 2025 at 7:51 am
All of you blaming Licht and trying to give clueless Todd a pass –
Has it occurred to anyone that perhaps Jason went to Todd and asked him if he needed any help at the deadline? And Todd – being Todd – told him no. He would win with “his guys”? It’s not like he doesn’t have a track record of being stubbornly loyal to lousy players – JTS , Braswell, Devin White and now the force feeding of an obviously bad Morrison (when he has veteran options).
November 18th, 2025 at 8:10 am
There’s obviously a LOT of Bucs’ fans frustrated with Todd Bowles. And I’m admittedly one of them. And irritated with Jason Licht also. We knew we had issues (especially on defense) before the season started, but we applied bandaids instead of bonafide fixes & pressed on. Well, a #22 defense that’s allowing a disgusting 25.0 PPG average is the result of that approach. And that’s with relatively few defensive injuries.
This defense seemingly lacks Field Leadership. I thought that LVD, Vea & Winfield would be the 3 Alphas in this defense. When I compare their leadership to Brooks, Sapp & Lynch it comes up woefully short. One of those 3 HOFers was always making a BIG PLAY to rally the rest of the defense (and the team). Leadership by example. What a concept.
BIG PLAYS by LVD, Vea & Winfield (or any other defenders) have been far too few this year. Instead, this defense has allowed far too many EXPLOSIVE PLAYS, and that’s killed us game after game. That’s on the players, that’s on coaching, and yes, that’s UNACCEPTABLE. It’s gone on for far too long. Fix it and fix it now, with either better schemes or better players.
November 18th, 2025 at 8:21 am
Bowles is tending toward mediocrity once again, letting his defense lead the way. He needs to hire a modern DC.
November 18th, 2025 at 8:22 am
DR the problem is that the Brooks, Sapp, Lynch gang were making plays all over the place, the only one doing that for this team seems to a lesser degree Winfield. My question is how do we fix it? Like Joe said no one coming to save the D, Reddick has been invisible this year. We have rookies doing rookie things but where do we get the linebackers or Lineman if we’re in the playoffs? Those guys are gone before we pick, usually, so that means looking for someone from another team. Or 2 in FA. Jason did it with JPP and again with Shaq so it can be done. It seems to me that is the only way to get it there with this team. Could the D right the ship and their mental attitude to win going into the playoffs? Yes and once there anything can happen but the team has to be playing well going in and at this point it’s not.