Blitzes went up in smoke in 2025.

Regular readers know Joe thinks pressures are pretty close to a worthless stat. At best, their value is grossly overrated.

What is a pressure? It’s when a defender allegedly gets close to a quarterback. You know — BOO! I see you!

Joe likes to think a goal of any defender attacking the quarterback is a sack. But the way some people — including those who wield influence at One Buc Palace — talk about pressures (not sacks!), it makes Joe wonder.

To Joe, pressures are playing horseshoes and hand grenades, the only two things in life where “close” matters.

Quality quarterbacks are not phased by pressure. And Joe thinks it is a safe bet that if a team has plans to make a Super Bowl run, sooner or later in January or February, a defense is going to face a quality quarterback.

You know, just a wild hunch.

Only in the NFL do (some) people get worked up about an almost-stat. Do you ever see people applaud an almost-tackle? An almost-catch? An almost-successful field goal attempt?

But when you almost get a sack, a pressure, some rise to their feet to offer a standing-O. Joe just doesn’t get it. The only real positive Joe can glean from a pressure is that it demonstrates a defender is able to get past blocks. But still, he didn’t get home.

Bucs coach Todd Bowles dialed up a dizzy array of blitzes last season, as usual. He had to. Because he couldn’t get any pressures (oh, boy!) from his front-seven.

Blitzes are cool and fun if they work. But if they don’t…

Famed handicapper-turned-stathead Warren Sharp, in his Warren Sharp’s 2026 Football Preview, took a look at Bucs blitzes. The hard numbers are gruesome.

Tampa couldn’t record pressure unless it manufactured it with a blitz. They ranked #18 in pressure rate when not blitzing. This has been a Bowles problem for years in Tampa. When his defense is not blitzing, their pressure rate (29%) ranks #24, and their hit rate ranks #25.

So Bowles dials up well-above-average blitz rates (#5 highest in 2025). But on blitzes last year, his defense recorded just 11 total sacks, #17.

Consider that stat: #5 highest blitz rate, 185 total blitzes (#6 most), but only 11 sacks.

The Bucs’ said pass rush pretty much guaranteed some receiver got open. What Joe is curious about are the numbers Sharp did not provide: What was the result of all those plays where blitzes didn’t work?

Joe would have to think the numbers are gnarly.

It’s one thing if you have zero edge rush. It’s quite another to send blitzes play after play after play with minimal results.

Until the mindset at One Buc Palace changes (has it already?), where folks put a premium on an edge rush like most normal Super Bowl contenders do, why should Joe or any Bucs fan expect a different result?

It wasn’t long ago when the Bucs put a premium on edge rushers sacking quarterbacks. And look what happened: The Bucs hoisted the Lombardi Trophy!

A main reason the Bucs beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, one of the greatest defensive games in Super Bowl history, was largely because the Bucs had a ferocious edge rush that night. That’s no coincidence, folks.

Joe has been screaming about a lack of an edge rush for years. The only thing as consistent has been the lack of an edge rush.