Vita Vea: Defense Had “Come To Jesus” Meeting This Week
October 9th, 2026
Defense rallied together.
“This Joe” swears to only seeing two interviews of Vita Vea where he actually had interesting things to say.
Joe is not anti-Vea. Not at all. But almost all the time, Vea treats interviews as either a joke or a total waste of his time. So much so Joe rarely talks to Vea.
The first time Joe saw a postgame interview where Vea was sincere was after he scored a touchdown in Atlanta in 2019.
The other was tonight.
Sitting at the Amazon Thursday Night Football set in Jerry’s World, Vea told his old Bucs teammate Richard Sherman that the Bucs defense got together this week and all grievances were aired.
Alex Anzalone said on Amazon after the game that KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles was key in getting the Bucs’ minds right to forget about the loss to the Packers and quickly focus on the Cowboys.
Anzalone didn’t elaborate but Sherman heard that and wanted to know from Vea what Bowles said.
Richard Sherman: What did he say that — Todd ain’t gonna say a lot during these meetings. He ain’t gonna get all rah-rah. He’s not going to get high, he’s not going to get low. What was different about this week?
Vita Vea: I think it was more so us players. I think we got together as a unit and talked amongst ourselves. It was one of those come-to-Jesus moments. ‘We’re not really 0-4. We’re not playing like we are 0-4.’ We were shutting it down on defense. Offense was doing their thing. We were just not finishing at the end of the game. It was one of those things we harped on throughout the whole week. I know we had a short week. It was one of those things that we got together as a whole unit. We knew we had to figure it out.
The defense sure did. They got a chokehold on maybe the best offense in the NFL and even though Dallas finally got that offense into gear late, it wasn’t enough because the defense made just enough plays to put the game away.
Jerry Jones was so peeved, he slammed the desk he was sitting at in his palace up in his suite.
Joe could watch a clip of that over and over and over again, all night long. On a loop for hours.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:08 am
divine intervention for big vita…………….and the bucs…!
October 9th, 2026 at 12:10 am
The defense has been great this year.
4th going into the game.
Tonight, the refs give the Cowboys a TD (after the refs gave the Packers two TDs), and the Bucs still win and hold them to just 16 points, while getting three turnovers — but since they got zero sacks, they’re terrible and should be dismantled.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:11 am
Let’s goo defense. For long time they have bin the Achilles heels of our team and now they have finally stood up. They aren’t perfect and let them get close but dam they played good most of the game. Just imagine if they could actually generate a pass rush. lol
October 9th, 2026 at 12:11 am
Pretty amusing. The way the question was worded, they were trying to get VV to credit Todd for his adjustments and team leadership. Vita pivoted and said it was more of a players thing.
Bowles deserves no credit. Damage that he has caused cannot be overcome in the grand scheme. Tonight though, the team won in spite of Todd Bowles.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:13 am
If Baker doesn’t singlehandedly lose the first two games, the Bucs are, at worst, 3-2 right now.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:16 am
One down and many more to go
Look out here we come
October 9th, 2026 at 12:17 am
Your 2026 history making Tampa Bay Buccaneers
October 9th, 2026 at 12:20 am
I’m so excited l can’t sleep tonight
This first one is always the most exciting one
Now we about 10 more of them
October 9th, 2026 at 12:21 am
Rod
lol. That’s exactly what I was thinking. Yaya got a freaking pick which is > a sack. Sal looked off kilter all night and without the sacks. I definitely want more of them, but that was a great game. David walker looks like our best pass rusher!
October 9th, 2026 at 12:22 am
Dak* not Sal
October 9th, 2026 at 12:24 am
TAKE THE DAM POINTS!!!!!!
Kick the field goal and its 27-10. Up three scores, don’t play a “prevent the win” defense and Dallas mage have packed it in.
Lack of clock awareness cost the team 3 points. Is Todd trying to get fired?
October 9th, 2026 at 12:25 am
Still can’t get over the hands to the face call on Kancey, zebra blew that one, should have kicked the FG to go up 27-10……whatever I’ll take a win over Jurrah anyway I can
October 9th, 2026 at 12:26 am
As Joe wrote, Anzalone did give Bowles credit. And Richard Sherman wanted to know what Bowles said (since Anzalone never elaborated).
Don’t think it was a leading question at all.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:27 am
Ha-Ha-Ha Says:
October 9th, 2026 at 12:24 am
TAKE THE DAM POINTS!!!!!!
Kick the field goal and its 27-10. Up three scores, don’t play a “prevent the win” defense and Dallas mage have packed it in.
Lack of clock awareness cost the team 3 points. Is Todd trying to get fired?
———–
No kidding.
Low-T Todd finally chooses that moment to man-up, when there’s literally zero reason to be agressive.
Incredibly stupid, and had the Bucs lost, I’d have been 100% on the side of firing him before he even got on the team plane. The media should non-stop grill him for that indefensible call.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:29 am
At 0-4 I definitely would’ve kicked the FG.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:32 am
I’ve always said the stupid analytics are destroying football & yep you just kick the FG & go up 27-10. Either kick the FG or punt the ball like you should be doing.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:33 am
Watching Jones lose is almost as much fun as watching the Bucs win.
October 9th, 2026 at 12:37 am
Munch….why not give Baker your address so the two of you can talk this over?
October 9th, 2026 at 12:44 am
i was ok with bowles going for the touchdown over the field goal…
the vibe was……..”fug it, let’s do it”…
it was the right call with the way the D was balling all night…
yes make the cowboys march 99 yards, and eat clock…but the D kinda flopped out on the drive, and let them move quickly down the field for a td…
the bowles call wasn’t the problem…it was the D failing to respond on that next drive, after tucker didn’t get in
October 9th, 2026 at 1:00 am
Y’all will hate on bowles no matter what just STFU already
October 9th, 2026 at 4:43 am
Most of you anti-Bowles “fans” are morons… Before tonight’s game Dallas had the #2 scoring offense averaging close to 31 points a game… and some how the Bucs defense limited the Cowboys to half their average (actually the lowest offensive point output this season), and the defense/special teams generated +3 turnovers differential despite starting -5 in turnover ratio before kickoff. Sure the 99 yard drive was painful to endure, but despite that giving Dallas some late game momentum, it didn’t matter in the end, a timely interception and Bucky ripping a 22 yard run to shut the door on Dallas should be a reason to celebrate, but some how winning 24-16 wasn’t good enough for some fans, whose misery will get more bleak if in 10 days the Bucs somehow shocks the world (again) and beat the Steelers. The team didn’t generate sexy stats like making a half-dozen sacks, but the pass rush did enough to making Dak Prescott make throws where the timing was disrupted just enough that the team 10 passes defensed (4 by Parrish alone).
You malcontents would still complain if the defense managed to hold Dallas to just 10 points… and probably complain why the soft defense allowed Dallas to take a 10-7 lead into the half. Despite that, the offense put up 419 total yards (season high) and 24 first downs and won the TOP 39:21 to 20:39, but some how getting a late FG was more important to go up 3 score, than allowing the offense the opportunity to balloon the lead to 21… in a season when late leads or multiple score leads have been few and far between. It was a matter of time before Dallas offense would click and get their share of desperation points, but it was too little, too late to matter.
October 9th, 2026 at 5:29 am
As much as I am a Bowels detractor, I will say this. I think Bowel knew kicking the FG was the right decision but went for it to show confidence in his players. But man, he sure needed that dropped Dallas INT to survive that decision.
October 9th, 2026 at 7:15 am
The decision regarding the field goal was difficult. Its easy in retrospect but then? There was no easy answer.
October 9th, 2026 at 8:08 am
Mikw Says:
October 9th, 2026 at 1:00 am
Y’all will hate on bowles no matter what just STFU already
PREACH!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 9th, 2026 at 12:12 pm
SoCalBucsFan79, Amen x 100!! Big reason why this long-time AND long suffering Bucs fan doesn’t post much anymore. I knew this team was better than that 0-4 start. I have seen plenty of lousy Bucs teams in my almost 50 years of rooting for them. This one doesn’t come close. And the constant Bowles’ trashing. What if Bucs had scored when Bowles called that 4th down play. He was telling the team he had confidence in them. The young guys needed it. 0-4 start for players who are extremely competitive? Put yourselves in their shoes. I bet that fired up that secondary to look for that pic that sealed the win. Bring on the Steelers. Bucs will be ready. Go Bucs!!
October 9th, 2026 at 12:22 pm
When the Bucs marched down the field for their 1st TD, you could hear a pin drop in Dallas stadium like, Are these the Tampa Bay Bucs we wee suppose to stomp to death? Great victory in a full house of cowboy fans. They could not believe it.