“Our Best Four-Man Pass Rush Game To Date”
December 2nd, 2025
Joe has gone to the All-22 film room and also has listened to head coach/defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.
The notorious Bucs edge rush Joe watches (and their overall pass rush) isn’t the same one Bowles sees.
Yesterday, Bowles lamented missed sacks against Arizona. He said there were five.
Joe wonders if Chet Holmgren counts almost blocks after each basketball game?
“One drive we missed three straight sacks. And coming up there, we’ve got to make those type of plays but I thought it was our best four-man pass rush game to date,” Bowles told WFLA.com.
Yes, there are quality Bucs pass rushes on film, ones that fell just short. Congratulations are in order to Logan Hall, Elijah Roberts and Vita Vea.
Edge rusher Haason Reddick? Bowles seemed encouraged by his return Sunday. “I thought he did a good job getting back there, he’s just got to finish the deal.”
Joe saw Reddick as a non-factor on Sunday. He didn’t hit Arizona QB Jacoby Brissett and he couldn’t win 1-on-1. And Reddick rarely took on a double team.
As for edge rusher Anthony Nelson, Joe hopes he was skewered in team meetings for rushing untouched on Brissett and mysteriously slowing down. It was is if Nelson thought Brissett was Michael Vick.
Joe applauds the standout hustle sack by YaYa Diaby on Sunday. He dropped Brissett on the sidelines, a couple of yards short of the line of scrimmage on a scramble.
All Joe has left for the Bucs pass rush, specifically the edge rush, is hope. Maybe Diaby (six sacks) still can raise his game this season.
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:06 am
Reddick makes a difference as team will worry more about him than Nelson. Nelson had a great game vs the Saints but after that we had 2 sacks in 3games. I am not saying Reddick is playing great but it is like Evans the first 3 games ,he had 40yds a game but teams had to account for Evans.
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:06 am
Hey Joe,
I thought Reddick had a decent game. He didn’t get sacks or qb hits like you mentioned, but the four-man rush was better than previous games. Brissett didn’t have a clean pocket, had to move off his spot often, and Cardinals moved ball off of the check downs (tackling sucked). I saw Reddick get chipped by a TE or RB coming out damn near every pass play. I know people will disagree, but that’s what I observed.
You should rewatch. –Joe
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:07 am
There’s that word hope again lol. Man I really wish they valued an edge rusher like we do. Not like Jason hasn’t tried drafting one. He’s deff trying just not good at it.
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:07 am
This roller coaster per game analysis by coaches and talking heads does get absurd at times
we played a 3-9 team and frankly a team at this point looking for a high draft pick
nothing automatically improved over one game , nothing is certain to be coming along. I keep hearing how the defense was better because it got some take aways but besides sacks those are initiated by the other teams making an error. evidence the Bucs still have a defensive issue were all over the field last Sunday
we squeaked out a win against 3-9 team. You can’t dress that pig with any lipstick to claim its now hot or entering a swan phase. The other pig was just uglier this time.
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:11 am
Love the Pig Comparo
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:14 am
Bowles is the center of everything that’s wrong with this team. He simply sucks as a head coach and sucks as a defensive coordinator. So we’re stuck with the double whammy dragging us down like an anchor around the neck. He never fixes anything. Literally. Same $hyt different week. When’s the last time he benched a player who wasn’t getting it done? Devin White? And that took about a season too long. We will never get to where we want to be with him. And the arrogance to continue to insist he’ll be HC and DC when it’s clear as day he’s failing miserably at both. When Carolina wins the division in the end maybe we’ll finally say goodbye to him. I can only hope.
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:18 am
against the worst offensive line faced all Year !! These guys continue to not get home even when they win !!
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:18 am
D looks better with Reddick
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:20 am
Here is a question….what were the other 7 players doing? Not covering passes
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:24 am
and for the love of football Bowles don’t let a DB that doest want to tackle start this week . BENCH his ASS !! Be in Charge Todd , i know you don’t know what that is without B A but Man Up and Be In Dam Charge Bowles !!
🤡 clean off the make up and be a Dam Head Coach .
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:27 am
“Joe wonders if Chet Holmgren counts almost blocks after each basketball game?” Hahahaha! Brilliant analogy.
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:47 am
Close but no cigar!
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:51 am
Yes! The 4 man rush gave us quite a few more “almost sacks”! One of our guys has to be in the running for the best almost sacker of the year!
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:52 am
Losing Kancey has affected the pass rush all year. That makes us lean on the blitzes, every opposing OC knows it, and watches for it. Need him back as bad as we need Evans back.
Don’t buy into the “Cards are a bad team”. Their record is bad, but they are not. 2/3 of their losses are 4 points or less, and they have scared a bunch of really good teams this year.
We had to play a good game to beat them. I think we would have lost without Bucky and Godwin
December 2nd, 2025 at 8:57 am
MikeBuc,
Tell it brother MB. You are spot on. Just words that fake an answer. Bucs defense bad enough to make any opposing QB look like a HOFer.
December 2nd, 2025 at 9:00 am
Yes no doubt pass rush is better with Reddick in there. He is needed at this point. Fact two. McColumn needs to sit, he is hurting the defense. Even analyists on tv commented how McColumn can’t let the receiver get on top of him like he was allowing. Fact 3, Please tell me why this team can’t tackle?. It gets talked about all the time by Bowles , but nothing changes. The Patroits they tackle, Detroit they tackle, why can’t the Bucs? It seems if you are going to keep talking about it but it stays the same then something else is in order.
December 2nd, 2025 at 9:23 am
What 4-man pass rush? The moment they stopped bringing the 5th or 6th man and started playing soft zone the Cards carved-up this D. Hot knife through butter, just like every QB we’ve played this year (and in year’s past) when no one gets to the QB. I don’t know if you can call the turnovers ‘flukes,’ but I do feel like they bailed us out-big time. The Cards were basically doing whatever they wanted on both sides of the ball.
December 2nd, 2025 at 9:29 am
We missed sacks against what is regarded league wide as a bad offensive line. On the plus side we let an old man QB run through the defense multiple times.
The horseshoes and hand grenades defense.
December 2nd, 2025 at 9:34 am
Reddick isn’t nearly the same player he was 3 years ago but he is playing much better than what his numbers are saying. They had a 53.3% pressure rate in week 13th which was best in the league. They just haven’t been able to finish like they haven’t been able to all season. They need to find a true number 1 pass rusher to tie it all together because they have solid pieces, just no stars
December 2nd, 2025 at 9:39 am
bowlisms at their finest. i guess brissett would have had 400 yards passing if it wasnt for all those wonderful almost sacks.
December 2nd, 2025 at 10:09 am
Best rush all year against one of the worst olines in the league and it still didn’t look that good 👍 lol ok
December 2nd, 2025 at 10:23 am
We need better players in our front 7. LVD was an A+ player, but time is undefeated. Vea is a stud, but he’s 1 and a half dimensional player. We simply do not have anyone near to the class of Crosby, Parsons, Garrett, Hunter, Anderson, etc etc. Kancy maybe, but he never plays. Diaby is having a nice season for his draft status.
December 2nd, 2025 at 11:19 am
Reddick looked good so we must have been watching a different game. He looks to be playing a bit conservative though
December 2nd, 2025 at 11:54 am
Joe!
“Joe has gone to the All-22 film room and also has listened to head coach/defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.”
If there’s ever been a combination of events that will encourage heavy binge drinking, that’s it!
December 2nd, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Don’t forget Braswell, lol!
December 2nd, 2025 at 1:43 pm
Aqualung. Threw you a hanging curveball,didn’t he? You sure didn’t miss, I’ll give you that. But Aqua, do you remember what Bowlesdefense did the ending, easier part of the schedule last year? Points allowed he was top of the league and they only gave up like one second half TD the last 5 or 6 games. We gave up 17 points last week. What I’m saying Aqua, is you had better be getting while the getting is good. Because the Only constant is Change and you’re fixing to learn that age old lesson again. We’re going to finish this thing strong. I hope that doesn’t slow down your posting because you’re alot of fun. And you know alot about the game. You just don’t know the difference between a good and a bad coach.
December 2nd, 2025 at 1:54 pm
“Our Best Four-Man Pass Rush Game To Date”
———-
Now I didn’t do this the entire game, but I track the coverage and rush on several drives in the 2nd half – and every single time the Bucs rushed 4, the Cardinals moved the ball at will. Every single time. Meanwhile, every single time the Bucs brought pressure, they got to Brissett, who I think completely one 24-yard pass (I think) and otherwise looked terrible and the Bucs forced stops.
I have no idea when the 4-man rush worked — or maybe it was a backhanded compliment by Bowles, meaning this was the best of the year and it still sucked.
Also, after being a HOF’er for the Saints game, Nelson has reminded everyone of why he’s a career backup. Good news, however, we play the Saints again this week so Nelson has a chance to get more tape for his HOF argument (hopefully).
December 2nd, 2025 at 2:27 pm
“One drive we missed 3 straight sacks”
That could be the motto for this defense. I have never seen the front 4, or even five when they blitz, get their hands on QBs so much without being able to finish.
December 2nd, 2025 at 3:10 pm
Coach “our best four man pass rush game to date” Bowles – watch the NFL – other teams manage to wreak more havoc weekly with a 3 man front than this week’s spectacular results with our 4 man rush.
Expectations drive results. Again, our coach’s words convey his low bar for the team.
December 2nd, 2025 at 5:10 pm
Against a journeyman backup qb with one of the worst olines in the league. Que the pat ourselves on the back dance. Fire over confident mistake prone clueless Bowles!
December 2nd, 2025 at 6:28 pm
It looked like YaYa was one of the few Bucs defenders that seem to hustle the whole game.
December 2nd, 2025 at 9:49 pm
Tackling. Tackling. Tackling. Tackling. Tackling.
Sort it out and the D will be fine.
December 3rd, 2025 at 12:52 am
The last time a crock smelled this bad, it’s when they gave Secretariat his laxative right before the Belmont.
December 3rd, 2025 at 6:57 am
Having Reddick back was huge. Did a lot of things that the common person would notice. With him and possibly Kancey back, it will be huge for us.