Michael Penix And The Bucs’ Pass Rush
October 31st, 2026
David Walker is ready.
Much to the consternation of KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles, the Bucs have suddenly become sack-happy.
Bowles doesn’t care for sacks. If that wasn’t obvious enough, earlier this year he came right out and said how much sacks are overrated and how they don’t win games.
(He was right two weeks ago. The Bucs had five sacks and lost.)
But then last week, the Bucs had five sacks and the Bucs throttled the Stinking Panthers. One sack even led to a Calijah Kancey scoop-and-score.
So the Bucs getting 10 sacks in two games is almost unfathomable to Joe. But it happened. Will this newfound pass rush finally throw off Michael Penix on Sunday?
Pamela Maldonado of BSPN has a hunch if the Bucs’ pass rush continues to light up quarterbacks on Sunday, Penix’s solid streak of touchdown passes could hit a roadblock.
Bijan Robinson can’t fix everything against Tampa Bay’s run defense. So that puts more on Penix, whose past two games look better because of six touchdown passes.
Penix is brittle. That’s really nothing new. But brittle quarterbacks, once you get heat on them, it gets in their heads. They start to get skittish. Panic.
And that, boys and girls, throws off quarterbacks. So if the sacks start to add up again, Joe can see Penix getting rattled and ineffective on Sunday at The Licht House.
October 31st, 2026 at 8:09 am
The Bucs have won games both with and without sacks being made. I don’t think it’s a defining trait of winning. I think scoring more points than the other team matters more. Good defense helps but touchdowns. I think that’s the whole point coach is making. I don’t think that means he doesn’t like sacks.
October 31st, 2026 at 8:09 am
Penix has played the Bucs once it was last year in September. He was 27/42 for 298 yards 1 td and sacked once. We won 20-10.
October 31st, 2026 at 8:31 am
I did some research a couple of weeks ago and through the first three weeks of the season found this: The teams that led in sacks for their games but not in turnovers were a combined 11-8. The teams that led in turnovers but not in sacks were 11-4. The teams that had more sacks and turnovers than their opponents were 19-2.
Joe sees what he wants to see and that’s fine but it’s not the entire picture. A dominating defense is what Bowles wants and he doesn’t fixate on sacks and sacks alone. Just like my stats won’t tell the whole story, there’s run prevention and passes defensed and third down conversions that come into play. This particular Joe I believe admires Whitey Herzog, a brilliant baseball mind. Unless I’m mistaken, Whitey was never fixated on leading the NL in home runs. Home runs are great and all but they do not define a winning team. I’d equate that with sacks. Both get the testosterone flowing but there’s more to winning a game than those particular stats.
October 31st, 2026 at 8:40 am
“So the Bucs getting 10 sacks in two games is almost unfathomable for Joe to wrap his head around.” What is unfathomable to Lt. Dan is that YaYa Diaby had three sacks in one game. That’s nearly half a season total for him!
October 31st, 2026 at 8:47 am
Funny, here we are again.
“Bowles doesn’t care for sacks”.
Please provide the quote from Todd that supports such a claim. You may think he doesn’t think they are important, doesn’t care much about them. But to say he doesn’t “care for” sacks means he prefers not to have have them.
Words matter, and when I mentioned this a few stories ago the words seem to change.
But it’s all good, we know we don’t come to JBF for journalism
October 31st, 2026 at 8:49 am
Get to Penix, cover Pitts.
October 31st, 2026 at 9:06 am
The number one factor determining who wins the game is who wants it more. Period.
October 31st, 2026 at 9:22 am
I live 90 miles southeast of Atlanta. If Bowles gets weak willed and plays soft defense again I’m never going to hear the end of it.
Kyle Pitts kills Bowles defenses.
October 31st, 2026 at 9:35 am
Who cares…What the defense is doing now is obviously working..
As McBay Says “Enjoy the journey”
Go Bucs!
October 31st, 2026 at 9:37 am
Sacks are one part of many that.must be in place for success. Its not that hard to understand.
October 31st, 2026 at 9:38 am
Both of Atlantas’ Oats are walking wounded coming into this game. Taylor is dealing with a hamstring and Williams is dealing with an ankle injury.
How funny would it be, with Yaya having a multi-sack game last game and Walker having one against Pittsburgh; Bain decides to come alive and give us 2 sacks(I’ll take TFLs on Bijan too, just as valuable imo) tomorrow.
I expect us to fire missiles at the LOS early tomorrow and throw some of those funky alignments Bowles has been tossing out there.
Also, more AQM on the inside on long down/pass scenarios.
October 31st, 2026 at 9:45 am
(Think I first read this here) “10% of sacks result in a fumble”
THAT’S a good reason for more of them
October 31st, 2026 at 9:57 am
Consternation: A sudden alarming feeling of anxiety, dread, shock, dismay that leaves someone confused and not knowing to do next. I really don’t think the Kat with the kit to blitz over 40% of the time is feeling any consternation about the our sacks nor QB pressures. Todd is probably thinking ” that’s what I’m talking about”. We have several young guys who are understanding Todd’s s system and starting to fire on all cylinders. This defense under Todd Bowles is showing signs of greatness. Consternation????
October 31st, 2026 at 9:57 am
Over 14% of sacks result in a fumble.
October 31st, 2026 at 10:09 am
Little Mikey is brittle and will get hurt Sunday.
October 31st, 2026 at 10:12 am
This is a critical game for the Bucs. It could define the season’s outcome on whether or not Todd Bowles and company live to coach another season.
October 31st, 2026 at 10:12 am
Semantics! Pressures and sacks, especially when rushing only 4, help the secondary and impacts the opposition passing game which can help to win the game. You still have to defend the run and play well offensively and on special teams. It’s a team game. Sometimes a little luck is needed too.
October 31st, 2026 at 10:13 am
No idea what got into Otton and Durham and the other TEs but hats off to them for stellar blocking last week. Keep that up and we could pull off a solid win this week. The Oline did great obviously and Chewbacca looks solid.
Man on man – beat your guy and pound the rock. Follow that up with slants and the occasional deep throw.
Stop the run on D and put Penix on the ground. Let’s go!
October 31st, 2026 at 11:03 am
Off topic but 74 bucs fan” pound the rock” reminded me of John Riggins and the counter trey. Riggins weighed in at about 240, our biggest back is only 210 but our tight ends are 250ish with Ko going 265. The Skins ran a lot of 2 tight end sets back then so it was not obvious when they ran that play. The Skins dominated games using the counter trey. We can too. Riggins, the diesel would spend all week at a hospital in traction, show up.on Sunday and pound the rock. It’s great football.
October 31st, 2026 at 11:10 am
Pitts: 6 TDs in 8 games vs Bucs.
October 31st, 2026 at 11:13 am
Look for Todd to “mush rush” to contain Penix, and drop guys into zones to try to contain the RBs. With safeties dropping deep so nothing is over their heads. Hopefully Voss gets a lot of snaps, he is a wizard at covering Pitts.
October 31st, 2026 at 11:14 am
What a pleasant surprise. A slate of very good, well thought out comments. And not a troll in sight. Must be too early. I agree with most of the comments above. I was even going to rant about the definition of consternation and it’s inaccuracy being used in the post, but someone beat me to it. Excellent work.
October 31st, 2026 at 11:51 am
If I was the DC, I’d send Walker and Bain QB hunting and keep Trotter as the spy in case Penix decides to run.
Play tight man coverage outside and force them to run. Don’t let Pitts go HOF on you either.
A wet soggy mess probably means a lower score. We need 20-27 points to have a chance.
Under 20 might spell doom. 2-6 would be cause to start the year down. Just win.
Go Bucs.
October 31st, 2026 at 12:13 pm
“If I was the DC, I’d send Walker and Bain QB hunting and keep Trotter as the spy in case Penix decides to run“
Penix has all of 1.275 knees, he’s not taking off anywhere and is not threatening anybody with his rebuilt legs. 4 scrambles this year, 11 net yards. We don’t need to spy him, but what we do need to do is make it so he’s delivering unstable platforms.
Yaya keep his hand in the dirt, we find some gaps in their pass pro, and get Zyon-Parrish to continue playing they way they have and we’ll have shot.
October 31st, 2026 at 12:15 pm
Trotters’ challenge will likely be keeping tabs on Bijan, who is going to get his touches. Best we can do, is limit his access to open field and/or meet him there whilst stopping him is the best shot we’ve got at containing him run and pass.
October 31st, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Penix goes into his shell when he doesn’t feel safe in the pocket – Bucs have the right ingredients to keep him feeling uneasy
October 31st, 2026 at 12:34 pm
The weather will be a much bigger factor. If forecast holds true we may be looking at a slip and slide run game. That would come down to coaching and will power. Even with our elite run defense Bijan is different and getting into a running showdown with Bijan is a disadvantage for us.
October 31st, 2026 at 2:11 pm
McBay,
It’s been said that sarcasm is the highest form of intelligence and has also been defined as the ability to insult idiots without them knowing it. I don’t think you’re fooling anyone with your feeble witless attempts.
October 31st, 2026 at 2:55 pm
Holy vibrant, crisp, clean, focused football discussion Batman! Awesome stuff, all.
Joe starts with a sharp point about how there is an opportunity tomorrow to get Penix rattled and keep him that way. A QB with two wonky knees and two injured OTs sure is a ripe target and many good points follow in the comments.
There is no single key but one thing I would like more than the uptick in sacks trend continue is to see is Drake London and Jahan Dotson getting all but blanked. The Bucs have been taking away dynamic WR duos from the go this season. What these DBs did against Chase-Higgins and Lamb-Pickins knocked my socks off.
Drake London has been worth his #8 selection since he stepped on an NFL field but he and Penix have real chemistry. Their with and without each other sabermetrics are undeniable. Dotson was taken at #16 in the same draft as London and I fear Penix or a 2027 draftee could ride these two WRs entering their prime years along Bijan to big boy NFL QB status quickly.
I doubt that starts tomorrow though. Another thing working with the Bucs 2026 trends is yes, Atlanta has a strong run defense but guess how teams have been consistently gouging them for chunk yardage? RB dump-offs/Zac Robinson’s thus far infuriating specialty. I think they’ll work tomorrow and its the perfect opportunity to bring them back after all but shelving them for a few games. Robinson knows these defenders strengths and weakness.
Kenny G needs a TD or three. So does Chris G. Bust these fools with dump-offs to both.
Let the defense and everyone involved in the offense deliver Baker his bloody satisfaction vs Stefanski on platters. No one wants him thinking for a moment he ought to go get it himself.
May all Bucs players and commenters keep on shining.
October 31st, 2026 at 3:08 pm
We’ll hold up against the run tomorrow. He’ll get a coupe three that will go for too much but it won’t be the reason we lose. That will fall on the lack of offense that we’ll see out of the buccos.
Then we’ll see pitts get several big plays.
October 31st, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Ohhh Noooo Mr Todd
October 31st, 2026 at 3:55 pm
“Much to the consternation of KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles, the Bucs have suddenly become sack-happy”
“Bowles doesn’t care for sacks. If that wasn’t obvious enough, earlier this year he came right out and said how much sacks are overrated and how they don’t win games.”
—————————-
Just because Todd doesn’t share Joes obsession with sacks, esp from the edge DOES NOT MEAN he “doesn’t care for sacks”. Joe continuing to misinterpret his words in order to present a negative narrative is disingenuous at best.
We’ll all (including Todd I’m sure) be hoping for sacks. QB hits, TFLs etc
October 31st, 2026 at 4:29 pm
@Simple T,
100%. I’m not even a Bowles guy. Said many times he should have been replaced last year. But there is plenty to criticize without presenting things that simply are not true.
October 31st, 2026 at 4:30 pm
big bowlezito’s wefense is doing a good job…
seems like the defense might have gotten fixed in the off season as they had planned…
big bowlezito needs to lay of the kit kats today…helloween could wreck the good man’s intestinal fortitude 🙂
October 31st, 2026 at 4:31 pm
lay off*
(no pun intended)
October 31st, 2026 at 5:08 pm
sacks kill drive which give your offense the ball back to score points, the team that scores the most points wins. seems simple but zac and todd can’t figure it out.
formula to bucs win-go all out to stop bijan …put awj on pitts full time, run sean tucker in the mud – tez and cg on third down- baker the miracle of no turn overs = win the game
October 31st, 2026 at 5:16 pm
Hard hittn
Divisional clash
It means something to both teams
Nice!!
October 31st, 2026 at 6:12 pm
Trotter blows up the tight end over the middle..Vea knows this is a must win..
Mayfield cmonman!!
Run all 3 backs
October 31st, 2026 at 6:47 pm
thank God we are not playing Cousins