Todd Bowles’ Defense Vs. Tight Ends
September 24th, 2026
Defends his defense.
So far this season, a grand total of two games, if there is one constant on the Bucs defense (aside from sloppy tackling), it has been softness against tight ends.
But don’t tell that to KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ defense. Yesterday, Bowles offered examples of how tight ends have burned his defense, specifically the last two games.
After evidence was shared of how dating back to last year tight ends have had success against his defense, Bowles was asked why tight ends have his defense figured out. Bowles didn’t buy the premise as it related to Sunday in the loss to the Browns.
“I don’t think we struggled against it this past weekend,” Bowles said. “I mean, the first week, I thought we missed two zone drops, and this week we busted a coverage and they caught one pass.
“I don’t really see the [connection] from last year to this year. I thought we made big strides, and it’s too early to tell right now whether we will struggle against the tight ends or not.”
Dating back to the loss to New England last year, which started this 2-9 circling of the drain, the Bucs have given up 726 yards to tight ends, per Joe’s research.
The worst was Kyle Pitts of the Dixie Chicks lighting up the Bucs for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Trey McBride of the Cardinals had 66 yards receiving. Both performances came on the turf of The Licht House.
That’s an average of 66 receiving yards per game for tight ends.
Per SumerSports NFL data, only four tight ends this season average more than 66 yards a game (Dalton Kinkaid, Dalton Schultz, Travis Kelce and McBride).
Joe won’t hold Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki and his 78 yards and a touchdown against Bowles. At least not too much. Why? Because Joe thinks Bowles tried to pull a Bill Belicheat and succeeded.
Belicheat was notorious for taking away an offense’s best weapons. So who with Cincinnati was most likely to roast the Bucs? Receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. So Bowles decided those two were not going to hurt him and if the Bengals were going to kill the Bucs, it was to be lesser players.
And that’s just what happened. Chase and Higgins were limited. Gesicki was not.
Yeah, Joe could argue Bowles’ defense is soft on tight ends, or at least his defense is vulnerable to being exposed by tight ends. But Joe cannot kill Bowles for his defense overall for the first two weeks of the season. Remarkably, for a team that cannot tackle and has zero pass rush from starters (what’s new?), the defense is playing well, considering.
The Bucs rank 13th in yards allowed per game. For a team that can’t sack the quarterback and can’t tackle, that’s actually good.
And when it comes to points allowed per game, the Bucs defense ranks 7th. The Bucs are also ninth on stuff rate (stopping backs for no gain).
Imagine what this defense would be if it could scare quarterbacks and tackle?
Could the defense be better? Of course! But defense really isn’t the major problem with the Bucs. At least statistically.
Todd Bowles defense in 2 images pic.twitter.com/tlCNiQ6Ege
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 23, 2026
September 24th, 2026 at 7:15 am
If a team needs a score in the redzone they just call a play for the te vs a bowles defense
September 24th, 2026 at 7:24 am
Stats to justify mediocrity….ranking of TB’s defense, number of touchdowns over the last 3 yrs for Baker’s contract, percentage of “successful” draft picks Licht….all add up to a 0.500 record, 1 playoff win vs an imploding Eagles team, and a slow but steady slide back into obscurity. I will say it again, Licht is a good head scout. No shame in that, but he is NOT a leader, active manager, or creative thinker; and, the character of this team (coaches and players) are a direct reflection of those/his shortcomings
September 24th, 2026 at 7:26 am
They didn’t take Higgins, and Chase away. The real sad story is they didn’t need their best players to defeat us. Let that sink in. I’m sure if they trailed us at any point Burrow would’ve found both receivers wide arse open. Bucs keep losing because they’re not as talented as the Tampa media would have you believe, and they’re coached by an incompetent who sees no flaws in his defensive scheme.
September 24th, 2026 at 7:42 am
Joe: for a team that can’t tackle or rush the passer that’s actually good? No! It’s not. And it bodes far more poorly than it looks on the stat sheet. I suppose if we can’t score any TDs a defensive improvement won’t help much. I guess the Vikings only scored nine points last week but they only gave up three. Fact is: they do one thing that we do not. They play well enough to win. We play well enough to lose. Vikings 17-9.
September 24th, 2026 at 7:51 am
The Bucs are 13th because they played Deshaun Watson! If they played ANYONE else they wouldn’t be close to that. The Bucs are almost last in Points allowed per game and near the bottom in passing yardage. Are they actually good at stopping the run or so bad at stopping the pass teams don’t even attempt to run? Lack of attempts will give a false sense of actually being good at something. The middle of the field is still pitch and catch for anyone half way decent.
September 24th, 2026 at 7:53 am
Fire Fraud Bowels
🤮🤬🤮🤬🤮🤬
September 24th, 2026 at 7:59 am
Everyone needs to pipe down about bowles. He is playing 4d chess while the rest of the league is playing checkers. He’s leaving recievers wide open on purpose. Next time he gives that look to an opposing team they will think the plays wide open. Nope bowles just baited them into a turnover.
His genius cannot be matched watch as he’s the first 0-4 coach to not only make the playoffs but the superb owl. He’s losing on purpose to get a better match up in the playoffs, but all of you idiots are too dumb to realize what he’s doing
If the Blazers were smart bowles would get a 5 year extension now before his price goes way up
September 24th, 2026 at 8:00 am
The Bucs’ D are 24th in points allowed this year and were 20th last year. I don’t think that’s good enough to give Bowles’ approach a pass as a containment strategy.
September 24th, 2026 at 8:01 am
“I don’t really see the [connection] from last year to this year. I thought we made big strides, and it’s too early to tell right now whether we will struggle against the tight ends or not.”
Yet another example of this fraud needs to go. He is disconnected from reality evidently.
September 24th, 2026 at 8:02 am
I am fairly certain Todd is not being fully truthful on this one. Teams have figured out how to attack his defense and he has not been able to, or willing to do much to fix it. The book on beating the Bucs has been out for a couple of years, at least. So far it looks like more of the same.
Go Bucs!
September 24th, 2026 at 8:03 am
When the game is on the line, the opposition marches down the field and scores. Same old/same old.
September 24th, 2026 at 8:07 am
For purposes of comparison, the team is currently 20th in offensive (not total) points scored, and was 19th last year.
September 24th, 2026 at 8:19 am
I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone, or better yet Groundhog Day! I’m going insane!
September 24th, 2026 at 8:20 am
Hey, Bill Murray got the girl in the end!
September 24th, 2026 at 8:22 am
For me, I don’t understand what the problem on defense really is, Zion sucked really really bad in week 2. Ten yards off the line is getting really STUPID BOWLES. He’s fast enough to play up on the line if he would live up to his talent. And that’s your fault to BOWLES. You are no longer worth anything to me because you have ruined our team sir. It would take some big ones Glazers and you don’t have them so, WE SUFFER. I remember a man that just out of nowhere one day said, I’m going to buy the Buccaneers!! We all hated Culverhouse at the end of his ownership. This man came in and made a few changes, we won a Superbowl, it took while and you brought Brady here and, another title. Great but now it’s time and I know Brady taught ya’ll some things, but you are the only ones that can make the changes that need to be made. New front office to, no longer facing the right direction and the storms are brewing.
September 24th, 2026 at 8:39 am
Just visiting, yeah this def won’t have that kind of happy ending. I really want to break out of this, but I have no faith!
September 24th, 2026 at 8:48 am
NCbucfan: Yeah, it helps when Hollywood is writing the script. lol
September 24th, 2026 at 8:51 am
Performance against TE’s is a direct measure of how well the ILB’ere are playing. Anzalone not doing very well so far. To say the least.
September 24th, 2026 at 8:53 am
Where was the Safeties on the Blake Whiteheart TD?
I’ve never seen a TE so wide open on a pass in the Red Zone
And he walked into the End Zone untouched
I’ve been saying this for the past 3 years
We are not getting anything from our Safeties
I don’t know if it’s the scheme or them
September 24th, 2026 at 8:53 am
Stats don’t lie
Gesicki 5 Catches for 78 yards 1 TD
Fannin Jr 5 Catches for 54 yards
September 24th, 2026 at 8:54 am
And what if this team could put up 30 points a game. Then the defense would be fine. Hmmm it’s a team sport. (Not defending Bowles at all he needs to go)
September 24th, 2026 at 8:58 am
Same old song and dance. Tampa sports media running a smoke screen for Todd.
It’s not that bad!!! It could be worse!!!! Pay no attention to the scoreboard!!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
September 24th, 2026 at 9:02 am
The end result is what matters. Stats and analytics help identify where the issues are, they don’t fix the root causes. Bowles has never shown he can consistently identify and address the root causes effectively. He 110% sticks to his defensive idealogy, because its all he knows. The battlefield is always changing and you need to adjust and adapt to overcome. Sticking to one approach because it worked last time will only lead to failure.
September 24th, 2026 at 9:08 am
Gesicki had no catches for zero yards this past weekend. Against us he was Tony Gonzalez.
September 24th, 2026 at 9:10 am
One thing for sure
Todd Bowles and Jason Licht will find a scapegoat
They scapegoated Byron Leftwich so good
The Bucs fanbase was calling for Leftwich head
I don’t see how a OC can fall from grace as quickly as Leftwich did
Bruce and Leftwich averaged over 29 points per game for 3 years
But, soon as Todd Bowles became HC, the offense plummet to 18 ppg
And Bowles and Licht sold it to the Glazers and the fanbase
That it was all Leftwich fault, I’m not saying that Leftwich should’ve been the HC
I’m saying that Licht and Bowles sold this fanbase a bag of goods
And the fanbase bought into, and they repeated it with Grizz last season
You Reap what you Sow
September 24th, 2026 at 9:12 am
Brother can we just get this guy out already. I am sick of living in this nightmare that is the Bowles era.
September 24th, 2026 at 9:22 am
My point is,
Todd Bowles shouldn’t have been the HC in the first place
And he should’ve been sacked after the 2022 season
But this fanbase and the owners went for Leftwich head
What they forgot, it was Leftwich and Brady
That brought the Bucs all the way back against the Rams
And Todd Bowles was the one that blew the game
September 24th, 2026 at 9:27 am
they did contain Chase and Higgins ,Burrows has had no problem in the past of running up scores..The only bright spot so far for this team..That Cincinnati team should’ve scored 50 plus ,but im sorry to say the tampa defense kept them in the game.
September 24th, 2026 at 9:28 am
Bowles’ biggest weakness has been defending TEs since day 1. He won’t change and Anzalone isn’t helping. Maybe one of the assistants can convince Bowles to put Keionte Scott on the TEs.
September 24th, 2026 at 10:07 am
Against the Bengals the defense only forced 1 punt the entire game. I’m not sure but I don’t think that is very good.
September 24th, 2026 at 10:17 am
If you’re a fantasy manager, I’d read this as start the TE who’s on the team that’s playing the Bucs.
September 24th, 2026 at 11:51 am
Do I detect a little testiness in Bowels’ response? I hope he doesn’t go to the Glazers and ask them to pull a Trump with Joe’s credentials.
Uh, Joe didn’t ask the question. Also, Joe would be just fine with no credential. No need to panic. –Joe
September 24th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
What happened to my post?
September 24th, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Bowels can’t defend period. Why are we wasting space on this clown whose doing nothing more than lining his pockets.
September 24th, 2026 at 12:52 pm
What opposing teams have tight ends?
September 24th, 2026 at 1:31 pm
Joel… for the love of God… PLEASE CALL SEAN MCDERMOTT’S AGENT!
September 24th, 2026 at 1:53 pm
giescki looked like slim jesus vs the bucs
September 24th, 2026 at 2:03 pm
middle of the field is still wide open…
it’s been an unresolved issue for quite a while now…
opposing teams are all well aware
September 24th, 2026 at 2:05 pm
Should ask why ” we missed two zone drops”. Why constant mistakes?
September 24th, 2026 at 2:06 pm
the lame pass rush is not helping it one bit either…
look at kancey….he isn’t doing anything…he is exactly who i said he is…he is the little fish who swims with the big fish…big fish being vita…vita is out of shape from the holdout and lack of training camp – and doing nothing really himself……so what is kancey doing…?…nothing……because he lives off the big fish…it’s been a little fish next to the big fish scenario since day one – yet no one see it but me…?…it makes me wonder
September 24th, 2026 at 2:09 pm
fix the pass rush and a lot of the middle of the field issues naturally will go away………………..but for some reason, even with what seems to be a crew if horses, we are in the same boat as always…no pass rush…
let’s see……as week 3 approaches, tweaks should def be made by a creative minded HC…………but do we have a creative minded head coach…?…that is the question
September 24th, 2026 at 4:25 pm
No good coach would walk into this mess now, and just add 15 losses to their record.
A good coach is gonna want time to fix things, before they put his name on it.