Bucs Excel At Almost-Sacks
December 21st, 2025
Pressures don’t mean squat.
Aside from YaYa Diaby, the Bucs are so awful at an edge rush, they reached back to five years ago to a glorious year to bank on a former star getting a sack or two in the next three games to save the team from choking away a playoff berth.
Never mind this same player, Jason Pierre-Paul, pulled out off his rocking chair in retirement, hasn’t had a sack in the NFL since 2022.
And despite the Bucs not being able to buy a sack from the edge aside from an occasional sack by YaYa, the Bucs sure do excel at football’s version of horseshoes and hand grenades.
Joe doesn’t believe quarterback pressures mean a damn thing against good quarterbacks. Against rotten quarterbacks or perhaps rookies, they might. And Joe is pretty confident in the playoffs, if the Bucs make the playoffs, the Bucs have a better than average shot of facing a really good quarterback as opposed to a rotten quarterback or a skittish rookie.
Guess what does work on rookies, stiffs and All-Pro quarterbacks alike? Sacks.
So why is Joe bringing all of this up? Entering this week’s games, the Bucs are one of the best teams at quarterback pressures.
Per Tony Holzman-Escareno, a senior researcher at NFL.com, NextGen Stats says the Bucs rank No. 3, averaging 15.3 pressures a game.
This gets Joe tingly all over.
Want evidence that pressures/almost-sacks don’t mean a damn thing? The Bucs are No. 3 in average number of pressures per game. The Bucs are also No. 30 in passing yards allowed per game.
Pressures: Pppffftt! Give Joe a friggin’ break.
And damn it, Bucs, will you find an edge rusher in 2026, somewhere, anywhere? For crying out loud!
Lowest pressure percentage faced this season:
1. Aaron Rodgers – 21.9
2. Matthew Stafford – 26.4
3. Bo Nix – 27.4
4. Sam Darnold – 28.3Most QB pressures per game this season:
1. Broncos – 16.7
2. Seahawks – 16.4
3. Buccaneers – 15.4
4. Rams – 14.5Per @NextGenStats
— NFL Researcher (@NFL_Researcher) December 19, 2025
December 21st, 2025 at 1:03 am
Oh don’t pick on them. At least they’re excelling in something.
December 21st, 2025 at 1:52 am
And almost wins. Tood has the best 2-15 team in franchise history.
December 21st, 2025 at 7:41 am
Put Otton on the almost list. He is the best almost player on the team. The pure definition of a almost guy. Almost makes a catch, almost gets open, almost breaks a tackle, almost gets the line of gain.
December 21st, 2025 at 9:41 am
Pretend pressure here. Stat heads need to qualify ‘pressure’ to something that truly causes the QB to react negatively, say forced to run or release the ball in under 2.6 seconds with minimal separation by all eligible receivers.
Sorry – our Bucs version of ‘pressure’ is getting close to a QB at 4-to-5 seconds while he is surveying the field, again, after completing all his reads, with the OLB now 8 yards behind the TE and with the RB who was not needed to block now out in space with separation.
Ours is not the same ‘pressure’ that other top 3 pressure teams bring. Opposing QBs love our ‘pressure’.
December 21st, 2025 at 9:49 am
Our excellent ‘pressure’ stats cause our defensive issues. Our ‘pressure’ allows the opposing QB a world of time to wait for coverage mismatches to emerge and coverage breakdowns to play out.
December 21st, 2025 at 10:04 am
Pressures:
1. Broncos – 16.7
2. Seahawks – 16.4
3. Buccaneers – 15.4
4. Rams – 14.5
Blitz Rate (according to Sharp) / Total Team Sacks
5. Broncos – 31.1% / 58 sacks (#1) (10 sacks more than #2, ATL)
6. Bucs – 31% / 33 sacks (#15)
24. Seahawks – 21.3% / 42 sacks (#4)
29. Rams – 18.9% / 41 sacks (#5)
The Bucs have one of the higher blitz rates at #6 (and “pressure” rates at #3), yet are middle of the pack in total team sacks (#15).
Yaya has 6 sacks and VV and Roberts each have 2.5 for a total of 10.5 sacks out of a measly 33 sacks. Yes boys and girls, our D line sucks getting after the QB.
I don’t know, but maybe Yaya should NEVER be chasing WRs if he is the best at getting after the QBs???
December 21st, 2025 at 10:58 am
Broncos , Seahawks and Rams are the other top 4 teams and they all suck right ? Maybe pressures do work for everyone but the Bucs .
December 21st, 2025 at 1:34 pm
Pressure works if the receivers are covered. If the receiver is wide open it’s pointless. Fire over confident mistake prone clueless opposing qb loving Bowles! Immediately.
December 23rd, 2025 at 11:54 am
Saying pressures don’t mean a damn thing is such a typical overreaction from yourself. Every quarterback in the history of football has a significantly lower passing rating when under pressure (excluding sacks) than when they aren’t under pressure. Of course sacks are very important but to say pressures are meaningless shows you just don’t understand the game.
December 23rd, 2025 at 11:58 am
The one game this year when Baker was under consistent pressure was the Lions game (he was only sacked a few times) and he’s been a complete mental case when dropping back to pass ever since. Not a coincidence.