Puzzling Edge Rusher Usage
September 15th, 2026
So the Bucs had a miserable edge rush on Sunday in Cincinnati.
Perhaps it’s because their secret weapon got no snaps.
After all the David Walker hype from the Bucs’ front office and coaching staff, the second-year edge rusher finally got healthy this summer and had a very strong August. But he didn’t play defense on Sunday.
Zero snaps.
At edge rusher, Rueben Bain played 64 percent of the snaps. YaYa Diaby played 62 percent, his lowest snap percentage since 2024 (why?). Al-Quadin Muhammad got 41 percent and Anthony Nelson was at 36.
The Bucs couldn’t find one series for Walker. Odd. He looked very active on special teams, where he had one tackle and was in on another.
Joe assumes Todd Bowles doesn’t trust Walker against the run, which makes him unworthy of the field.
Ira Kaufman Reacts To The Bucs’ Loss In Cincinnati, And More
September 15th, 2026 at 6:40 am
Get rid of the Fckng head coach already
September 15th, 2026 at 6:44 am
Agree with Joe. He definitely needs to work on stopping the run, but very surprised he didn’t get a couple of snaps on obvious pass downs.
September 15th, 2026 at 6:44 am
Would it even matter. The guys not good. Period. I never heard we are bringing Warren sapp along or we are trying to find the right time to use him.
No he was so talented they had to have him on the field. Stop making excuses for average nfl .players
Diaby is very average. He never pops.
Hold opinion on bain. Until week 12 but it doesn’t look special after week one
This walker guy didn’t even flash in preseason against accountants.
September 15th, 2026 at 6:57 am
Itzok as John prine once said; ‘you are what you are, and you ain’t what you ain’t’.
And that’s where the head coach must come in with blitzes and adjustments because the talent or lack thereof, is what it is.
If …ifs and buts,we’re candies and nuts, we would all always be having a very merry Christmas man! Go Bucs… week 2!
September 15th, 2026 at 7:04 am
Negative people get negative results.
September 15th, 2026 at 7:15 am
Bowels is LOST unless he has superior athletes against bad teams under the perfect circumstances.
I have zero confidence in TB !
September 15th, 2026 at 7:20 am
Joe, bring back the Todd Bowles confidence poll.
September 15th, 2026 at 7:20 am
Bowles still doing Bowles things. Go watch the tape he is doing the same thing as last year and the year before that where he drops these edge rushers in pass coverage way to often. Rushers are supposed to rush the passer not play Defensive back.
September 15th, 2026 at 7:40 am
Come on now. Easy on the coach. He is not going to reveal his masterpiece in one game.
Once Baker started playing Santa the game was lost. No need to reveal more of it.
September 15th, 2026 at 7:43 am
Just like we have seen for years now the pass rush was nowhere to be found.
Burrow did not get pressured more than a handful of times.
I was actually surprised about the secondary and the DBs i thought they played quite good.
Its one game I will not over react although we saw some of the same glaring issues in Defense again.
But if we make Watson look like a Probowler on Sunday and Wentz at week 3 then Im sorry but I wont be bothered anymore and expect things to be different.
September 15th, 2026 at 7:43 am
Todd is fixing last years injury problems by keeping them in the bench more. He is right. Don’t you think?
Tomlin for 2027!!!!!
September 15th, 2026 at 7:53 am
It wasn’t just the edge rusher usage that was puzzling Joe, it was the whole DLine. When you look at the def snaps versus each player’s ‘productivity’, you have to come away shaking your head.
o Vea: 44 snaps (69%) … 0 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 1 QB hit
o Kancey: 40 snaps (62%) … 0 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 1 QB hit
o Robinson: 32 snaps (50%) … 5 tackle (3 solo), 0 TFL, 0 sack, 1 QB hit
o RNR: 16 snaps (25%) … 1 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 0 QB hit
o Roberts: 16 snaps (25%) … 0 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 0 QB hit
Capehart & Simmons didn’t play (probably didn’t dress even). Other than A’Shawn’s productivity, Vea, Kancey, RNR & Roberts contributed very very little it looks like (as in 1 tackle (assist) for the 4 of them). And yet, Cincy ran 27 times. Hmmm.
Our OLBs were actually more productive.
o Bain: 41 snaps (64%) … 1 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 0 QB hit
o Diaby: 40 snaps (62%) … 1 tackle, 1 TFL, 0 sack, 0 QB hit
o Muhammad: 26 snaps (41%) … 1 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 2 QB hit
o Nelson: 23 snaps (36%) … 2 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 0 QB hit
And like you said Joe, Walker got 0 def snaps, but he did get 15 S/T snaps and got 1 tackle. Interestingly, our rookie Keionte Scott got 47 def snaps (73%), I guess meaning that we were in Nickel on almost three-quarters of our plays. To ‘pay for’ using a Nickel for the majority of the game, Todd cuts down on the number of DLinemen (3 to 2). Scott’s contribution: he did make 4 solo tackles, but also missed at least 2 others that proved to be critical.
September 15th, 2026 at 8:08 am
Trust in the defensive genius and the best GM ever at selecting edge.
September 15th, 2026 at 8:17 am
Bucs fans and all of this imaginary talent they see on this roster
I guess David Walker is another Simeon Rice in the imaginary world
😂 😂
September 15th, 2026 at 8:19 am
Doesn’t trust him against the run or he can’t cover? Ya know… “other things”
September 15th, 2026 at 8:33 am
“Vea: 44 snaps (69%) … 0 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 1 QB hit”
$6M raise for that? Last time I checked, a business pays you to work today. For those who said Vea doesn’t need to earn it, I ask – What does a business get if it makes a monetary tribute for work done many moons ago? Good feelings? Smiles and laughs? A plaque on the outside of the fan club building? Real useful for winning games today.
I expect more, especially from a guy who did the team dirty with public antics.
September 15th, 2026 at 8:34 am
Defense played better than last year but because they weren’t perfect it’s Bowles fault. These are the same folks who blame Bowles for bakers 3 fumbles , buckys fumble , gas prices so high and global warming. Y’all real smart. 🤡
September 15th, 2026 at 8:36 am
Walker looked like he had 3 or 4 tackles on special teams. I was impressed that he seemed to be in frame on every return.
September 15th, 2026 at 8:42 am
MISERABLE HEAD COACH equals MISERABLE results
September 15th, 2026 at 8:48 am
And these same clueless so-called fans was begging for Jack Pyburn
He didn’t even dressed out last night, l doubt if he dress out this season
This has got to be the most clueless fanbase in all of sports
September 15th, 2026 at 8:49 am
Puzzling???? What exactly has you puzzled at this point???? Are you blind???
It’s Todd Bowles!!!!! His Swiss cheese wide open soft as butter scheme!!!!
We have a HC that sucks out loud. And his DC is clueless how to run a defense.
Unfortunately they’re the same person!!!!! Might as well fire Robinson and make Bowles the HC\DC\OC.
Just think of the savings in salary the Glazer kids could save!!!!! 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
September 15th, 2026 at 9:07 am
The problem is how the talent is used, not the talent itself. If you ask a fish to fly or a bird to swim, it’s not going to turn out too well.
Let the pass rushers rush the passer. Let the big guys in the middle play the run and force the backs to the outside, where the linebackers can clean up. Let the defensive ends rush the passer and don’t worry about screens or the run because the scheme is designed for the linebackers to clean that stuff up.
Oh wait, we should be running a 4-3 with our current personnel, and that’s the problem: it’s Todd Bowles’ pride and refusal to do things differently. Some people said it last year: he would have Myles Garrett and put him in coverage. He makes no sense.
His scheme is confusing and, quite frankly, it’s dumb. It makes no sense. Defense is about playing fast—no thinking, just reacting to what you have seen on tape. His scheme makes guys hesitate, and he who hesitates finishes last.
September 15th, 2026 at 9:07 am
David Walker😂I told you he was a nothing burger. Let’s chat again IF he Ever makes a tackle or dare I say sack???
NO MORE David Walker posts.
September 15th, 2026 at 9:09 am
Kancey: 40 snaps (62%) … 0 tackle, 0 TFL, 0 sack, 1 QB hit
most disappointed in CK94 performance!!!!…that stat line is embarrassing for a former 1st round pick who just had his 5th year option picked up….
what famous coach said, “dont tell me what he cant do, tell me what he can do”…..was that Parcell or Walsh?…..
if the kid is great at rushing the passer, turn him lose!!!!…line him up on the left then on the right…make him a pass rushing specialist…its not like we have a half dozen pass rushing guru’s on the defense…
how is Walker going to improve his run defense if he doesnt get the opportunity to do so in games?!?…..
its too early to call for any coaches head but bowles still is showing zero sense of urgency and he’s not putting the team or its players in the best position to win
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 15th, 2026 at 9:12 am
Josh
i agree
after last year, we shouldve hired a 43 DC(Jim Schwartz)
GO BUCS!!!!
September 15th, 2026 at 9:30 am
Dead last in the pressure rate last week… 21.6% ain’t gonna get it done Todd. I can’t fathom why he was given another year for his archaic defense to falther once again.
September 15th, 2026 at 9:38 am
@joebucsfan.com Can you write an article on why Bowles did t go for 2pts on the last TD? It was obvious. I think its just an example of why we need an offensive HC. IF you go for two and don’t make it OR kick the extra pt. Either you are behind by 6 or 7 with 330 to go. IF you go for 2 AND make it you are down be 5 meaning a fg by Bengals does not take you out of the game. AND you could even try an onside if you don’t trust defense. But kicking the extra it just didn’t get us anything. I hate to see Chicago and Jax keep scoring as they were available
September 15th, 2026 at 9:49 am
Yeah Buc front office and coaching staff hype. Yeah, but the same amount of hype came from Joe Bucs. When it doesn’t work out , finger pointing abound.
September 15th, 2026 at 9:49 am
You’re worried about Walkers usage? I’m worried about Kancy. We’ve been fed a line for 3 seasons that this guy is UNSTOPPABLE. That if he is healthy next to Vita Veya, with competent edge rushers and a decent backer group that Kancy is a game changer. You know what? This dude is dang near a BUST. I don’t know his assignments…I don’t know what Bowles defense is supposed to be doing. But no one’s game planning for Kancy. Who gives a deuce about Walker. Let’s worry about whose on the field NOT performing. When YAYA or Bain are hurt we will see Walker. And he will probably be exposed. Until then…sheesh
September 15th, 2026 at 9:55 am
Do you all remember our horrid special teams last year?
September 15th, 2026 at 10:01 am
What did our new bad azz DT Robinson do? Not sure I heard his name. And Winfield should be on the bench. I saw him avoid sticking his nose in to the lane the ball carier was in on more than one occasion. Rather he tried to trail the runner as he ran thru the hole. And he sucks in pass coverage too.
September 15th, 2026 at 10:11 am
@Joe – each week you should bring back the Todd Bowles confidence poll and leave it up for a day.
September 15th, 2026 at 10:19 am
It’s going to take you to some time he didn’t f****** play all offseason or practice all off season it seems like bulls was more worried about the secondary which they did a great job to be honest they held t Higgins and Jamar Chase they locked them down but he should have brought more pressure none of these guys played any snaps during the preseason this was their Mulligan game and I’ll give it to them I fully expect a whole different team next week
September 15th, 2026 at 10:30 am
It doesn’t matter who Bowels has, he has yet to develop one single consistent defensive player in all his yrs. here! If I’m wrong someone pls correct me with a name.
September 15th, 2026 at 10:37 am
Put him in on passing downs. Teams have used great pass rushers who can’t play the run that well on third and long since the 1980s, at least.
September 15th, 2026 at 10:41 am
Only 16 more games of the Todd Blows era
September 15th, 2026 at 10:44 am
Huh? I noticed the same thing Joe. And to think, Todd stuck with JTS for almost 4 years… SMH
Go Bucs!
September 15th, 2026 at 10:50 am
But Todd knows how to drop back edge rushers into coverage better than anyone!!!!
September 15th, 2026 at 10:53 am
A weapon isn’t a weapon if he’s never done anything to show it. No, doing it against his own team in practice doesn’t count.
September 15th, 2026 at 10:55 am
Joe – who cares? The more relevant question is “where was the pass rush”?
September 15th, 2026 at 11:00 am
This is ALL of the Glazers because they decided to stand pat with Bowles and his LAME scheme.
September 15th, 2026 at 11:05 am
He doesnt care about pressuring the QB. He cares about forcing field goal attempts. He doesnt blitz to get QB pressure, he blitzes to stop the run.
The next great pass rusher that Todd Bowles develops will be his first.
September 15th, 2026 at 11:10 am
Bain had 1 tackle Ya Ya had 1 also and you don’t trust Walker against the run? I must be missing something.
September 15th, 2026 at 11:10 am
Even though Denver got beat last night, didn’t they look much faster than the Bucs, they just could not tackle (same as Bucs)
R Mason Thomas looked fast for KC. Bain not so much for the Bucs.
September 15th, 2026 at 11:30 am
Even with 0 Snaps, Walker is tied with Vea, Yaya, Bain, Robinson, Muhammad, and Nelson in sacks.
September 15th, 2026 at 11:52 am
Everytime I read the comments Im left disappointed at how utterly stupid so many Bucs fans are. I guess if a defensive lineman isnt Warren Sapp then we should get rid of them
September 15th, 2026 at 11:54 am
Just bunch of clown comments, and JBF is gaslighting them. Context is important to the discussion, but that just doesn’t fill the narrative of hating Bowles, no matter what.
Aside from the Bucs offense spotting the Bengals 6 pts and short fields, defense played from behind for almost the entire game. And one could argue, with 4 offensive turnovers, it’s their play as a unit that kept the Bucs in striking distance. Holding a dangerous offense to field goals. Burrow was getting rid of the ball fast. Anyone recall any deep balls by Burrow? Bowles also went with a 4-man pass rush, knowing Burrow can handle the blitz. Credit to the Bengals, they’ve made upgrades on their line and held up. Our defense was not dominated. They were steady. Their 2 top receivers were held to under 100 yards.
As far as Walker is concerned. Dude is undersized and will be at best situational. I think if we were playing with the lead he may have gotten more snaps, instead Bowles went with his bigger guys.
Anzalone had a horrible game. Bain had a rough week 1 rookie outing against a massive first round RT in Mims. We are way overacting after this week 1 game.
September 15th, 2026 at 12:33 pm
All y’all do is bitch and whine from your couches shut the hell up already and root for this team instead of being so damn miserable negative people all the damn time
September 15th, 2026 at 1:05 pm
Dude, it’s becoming increasingly hard to root for a Todd Bowles coached team. Sorry some of you think we’re bad fans, it’s more like we’re pissed off fans. Pissed the Glazers retained him. We’ve simply had enough. Give us something to root for! Tired of coach it better, play it better. We’re venting now, there’s nothing to root for as long as Todd is coach.
September 15th, 2026 at 1:43 pm
Let me guess….”We ask our LBs to do more than just rush the passer…” He isn’t ready yet?
September 15th, 2026 at 3:28 pm
Vea doesn’t even move his legs.
He just stands up and gets blocked.
We had zero pressure rushing 4. Zero.
Our defensive line didn’t collapse thé pocket at all.
Blitzing in the 2nd half helped.
But we didn’t get any pressure when we rushed 4.
You know who looked good?
Mafe. The free agent OLB thé Bengals signed away from the Seahawks.
The former 1st round pick who ran a 4.5 an an OLB.
The guy we didn’t sign.
September 15th, 2026 at 3:34 pm
Hodad… I concur.
September 15th, 2026 at 3:42 pm
If Walker is a situational pass rusher, there seemed to be several third and longs where he could have been in there. Those Bengals conversions (against soft zone with no rush) were as much the difference in the game as the turnovers.
September 15th, 2026 at 4:13 pm
Hopefully it’s just first game rust and we have a bounce bacc game since we have won the first game the past 4 years maybe losing the first game will get them into gear before mid season so we don’t have our annual mid season slump and win double digits this year hoping for the best this year but with the amount of turn overs in that game we should have lost by 20+ Chase was a non factor so we definitely had something right just hard to win when you spot them 4 turn overs in the first half LFG get ur stuff together team GO BUCS!!!!!
September 15th, 2026 at 4:27 pm
Where is David Walker like cmon , he balled out in pre season
September 15th, 2026 at 4:29 pm
Ijs cause ya boy YAYA is trash asf he needs to give it up he is just like Chris Braswell
September 15th, 2026 at 4:42 pm
So the Bucs aren’t as bad as you think from Sundays game against Cinci and they aren’t gonna be as good as you think from beating Cleveland
September 15th, 2026 at 4:46 pm
Teacherman … ‘Vea doesn’t even move his legs. He just stands up and gets blocked. We had zero pressure rushing 4. Zero.’
You & I saw about the same thing unfortunately. I was expecting our pass rush to be virtually unstoppable. Vea, Robinson, Kancey, plus Diaby & Bain … unstoppable. Wow was I wrong!
Vea didn’t look to be in ‘game-shape’ at all (he got zero penetration all game it looked like). Kancey got in there a couple of times, but mostly he’s ineffective unless Vea’s eating multiple blocks & making his job much easier. Neither one of them had a single tackle, and I saw the Cincy OLine taking Vea out of his gap several times on running plays (Trot did a good job of cleaning up the messes apparently).
I still contend that the problem is with our DC using too much Nickel & short-changing the DLine by 1. Put Vea, Kancey AND Robinson out there, plus the 2 OLBs, and I’m convinced we could generate a much better pass rush. I’m wondering if Todd’s using the Nickel (in on 73% of Sunday’s plays) as a 3rd LBer & potential blitzer (if the play allows). Scott blitzed 6 times Sunday. What I can’t wrap my head around is what are the Nickel’s real responsibilities? Is it to cover the middle of the field? If so, something went wrong apparently. Scott was targeted 3 times, with 3 completions.
September 15th, 2026 at 5:00 pm
This should surprise anyone. If there is one thing we have learned about Bowles and he reaffirms every MF’ing season… he has no clue how to use edge rushers.
September 15th, 2026 at 5:01 pm
Shouldnt*
September 15th, 2026 at 7:37 pm
I agree 100% Oahu! Bain is not an olb he is a de. If Bowles can pull his head out of his a$$ and figure that out, we may actually have a pass rush. DONT DROP BAIN IN COVERAGE!!
September 15th, 2026 at 9:07 pm
Bowels blows!!!!
God so over this guy and his terrible defense.
September 15th, 2026 at 9:22 pm
Itzok Says:
“I never heard we are bringing Warren sapp along or we are trying to find the right time to use him. No he was so talented they had to have him on the field.”
Huge difference. Sapp was a first rounder and he played a different system and position.
September 15th, 2026 at 9:23 pm
SSAME OLD RESULT WITH BOWLES .THE GAME HAS PASS3D HIM BUY .GLAZER BOYS SRE ALSO WOTHLESS .THERE SOCCER PEOPLE ! NOT FOOTBALL PEOPLE ! THE KEEP A HEAD COACH THST DOES THE SAME OLD LOSING SCHEME ! CANNELS GONE ! ,COEN GONE ! THERE DOING FINE SO FAR .WE SUCK ! WE GET BOTTOM OF BARREL ROBERTSON THAT DID NOTHING WITH THE FALCONS FIRE BOWLES ALREADY THE TEAM IS,AWFUL!
September 16th, 2026 at 1:51 am
Burrow was getting rid of the ball in under 2.5 seconds – wasn’t holding it all day like Baker as. When that happens you generally aren’t going to get many pressures or sacks.
At the same time, the secondary was doing a great job against probably the top duo of WR’s in the game.
There really wasn’t too many issues on the defensive side of things, other than you’d like to see them get a stop at the end – but to suggest in any way this loss was about another other than Baker is nonsense.
September 16th, 2026 at 11:53 am
7 years to build a defense and we were almost last in pressure for week 1 ….again .