Don’t Blame Riley Dixon
September 18th, 2025
Unblocked Jakob Johnson (No. 43) blocked a Bucs punt on Monday night.
It seems Hall of Fame QB turned game broadcaster Troy Aikman saying Bucs punter Riley Dixon had a punt blocked because he didn’t kick the ball fast enough has set off a firestorm of hate being thrown at Dixon.
Joe has been flabbergasted.
Dixon sure appeared to go through his normal routine and it was the Bucs’ lack of blocking that buried him.
The All-22 film shows Dixon made contact with the ball in less than three seconds from the time of the snap — not time of his catch, time of the snap from the Bucs’ long snapper.
Jakob Johnson came off the left edge of the Texans front unblocked. Completely unblocked. In fact, Sean Tucker was blocking that edge for the Bucs and seemed to pinch inside maybe a hair more than he was supposed to.
Regardless, a guy well known for his special teams prowess, Bucs icon Rondé Barber laughed off Aikman’s comments on this week’s edition of The Rondé Barber Show. Barber concurred with Joe. The Bucs allowed a completely unblocked, unimpeded runner at the punter, and that’s why the punt was blocked.
On the actual punt, the Texans rushed eight at Dixon. On an earlier punt in the third quarter, Houston rushed seven at Dixon and nearly blocked his punt thanks to Tucker getting manhandled. It seems they saw a weakness, added an extra rusher and the Bucs didn’t adjust.
September 18th, 2025 at 8:12 am
Missed FG’s Blocked Punts….Many blunders. Sum ting wong.
September 18th, 2025 at 8:16 am
Where is the reporting on Bowles reaction to the special teams collapse? I haven’t seen much of anything about missed kicks, blocked punts, blown kick coverage,…
September 18th, 2025 at 8:19 am
Great punters also have great peripheral vision and a sixth sense about how close the rush is and can expedite the kicking process quickly. Chris Gardocki played 16 seasons and never had a punt blocked. Reggie Roby played 16 seasons and only had 5 blocked.
The real issue here is why didn’t the special teams coach talk to our punter after the punt prior to this one? That punt was dang near blocked and that coach should have cautioned our punter that he needed to quicken up.
September 18th, 2025 at 8:20 am
I was always taught when punting a ball with a rush coming at you, you never want a low contact point. Dixon had a very low contact point multiple times, there was almost another punt blocked also. Low contact point simply makes it easier to block a punt. Combine that with a decent kick rush and problems are bound to happen.
GO BUCS!!!
September 18th, 2025 at 8:25 am
Considering all the injuries our team has suffered the Bucs Special teams need to be near perfect to make up for the projected drop off at other positions. So let’s see it boys-TIME TO STEP UP.
September 18th, 2025 at 8:27 am
“In fact, Sean Tucker was blocking that edge for the Bucs and seemed to pinch inside maybe a hair more than he was supposed to.“
Swing and a miss.
Is Tucker supposed to block the extra 2-men overloaded to his side?
Pretty sure Ryan Miller as the upback is supposed to be keeping an eye on the LOS becuase he’s the last line of defense.
Go watch the play again, there are extras lined up ove Tucker and while he is engaged,Miller is realizing in real time there were numbers to his side.
September 18th, 2025 at 8:29 am
Perhaps Tucker isn’t the ideal player to block on the edges.
September 18th, 2025 at 8:35 am
The eye test tells me Dixon is slow on all his punts. Someone may have come in unblocked, but it’s because the Texans saw the time laps on his previous kicks and knew they could get there. Not hating on Dixon because most punters experience this, but if he doesn’t speed things up it’s going to happen more often.
September 18th, 2025 at 8:36 am
When I saw that lineup that the Texans came out in after the Bucs shift, I screamed at my TV for the Bucs to call a timeout. There was no way they would be able to block that successfully. In hindsight, we may have needed those timeouts, but that could have been a terrible outcome if they scooped and scored. I saw it, surely the Bucs saw it at least from upstairs
September 18th, 2025 at 8:49 am
rrsrq Agree on the shift. I said a few kind words that I will not repeat.
September 18th, 2025 at 8:56 am
From the first time I saw Dixon punt for us in pre-season – I thought – man, this dude is slow to kick the ball out of there….. we’re gonna get punts blocked this year if he doesn’t speed up his process…..
And here we are – it didn’t take long for that ish to manifest…. 2nd game….
Its going to happen again – more than once, if Dixon doesn’t figure out how to get those punts kicked faster….
September 18th, 2025 at 8:57 am
I think Aikman and Buck are the gold standard of broadcasting football and they are the best right now, but that was a really stupid comment by Aikman.
September 18th, 2025 at 9:07 am
Eh I’m not worried about our P or ST units issues right now. It may just be OL and long snapper issues more than anything. Injuries will change a lot of things.
I am more concerned about slow starts.
Not consistently healthy and that’s a problem.
September 18th, 2025 at 9:16 am
Everybody and their brother could see the right side was overloaded. The Punter should have seen it. The coaches should have seen it. The guys on the right should have seen it.
September 18th, 2025 at 9:18 am
Grover: it was Bang Ding Ow.
September 18th, 2025 at 9:19 am
I am glad for the different perspective — I for one — thought that the Texans showed full blitz and that Riley did not speed his routine even a little.
Isn’t that a little bit of a requirement on a punter when they show full blitz — just curious what others think.
And got to be honest. I am confused with the whole got to him in less than 3 seconds. What is the actual normal time that from ball snap that a punter is typically kicking the ball? I thought it was always under 3 seconds.
Love for DR or Kenton or someone else with knowledge to give me a little knowledge back on that.
September 18th, 2025 at 9:22 am
I got this from one of the AI’s:
Anything slower than 2.3 seconds is considered dangerous because it gives defenders enough time to penetrate and block the punt. Elite punters and long snappers aim to stay consistently in that sub-2.0 second window.
Here’s the breakdown from AI (AI can always be wrong IMO):
Snap to catch (punter receives ball): ~0.7–0.8 seconds.
Catch to punt (two steps and kick): ~1.2–1.3 seconds.
September 18th, 2025 at 9:46 am
geno711, I don’t really know about time from snap to foot but I do know this. There’s no excuse for the punt team to ever let someone get off the edge untouched to the punter. I’m not blaming the punter. But I am blaming the punter for that final punt. Never give them that chance with 3 minutes to play. Our special teams sucked and I wasn’t the least bit shocked we got a punt blocked. Lucky they didn’t cost us the game. Instead a valuable lesson. Hopefully learned!
September 18th, 2025 at 9:47 am
I was thinking the same thing. Glad to hear Ronde speak up as well as Joe. Aikman and Buck need to be benched. That broadcast was awful. MNF has had legendary folks since the beginning and BSPN has some of the worst these days.
Go Bucs!
September 18th, 2025 at 9:50 am
I meant to say we should have punted it out of bounds on that last play. Stoops punted it to Tyreek Hill inside of a minute and Hill took it 85 yards and Ok State beat OU and Stoops said it was the biggest blunder of his career. I don’t know about that, but…
September 18th, 2025 at 9:53 am
on that last punt I meant to say. The one they returned. We all liked our last play!
September 18th, 2025 at 10:09 am
dixon should have done a 360 then stiff arm the would be tackler and high step for the first down
September 18th, 2025 at 10:27 am
I’ll accept that, but the rest of the ST looked like Keith Armstrong was back on the sidelines.
September 18th, 2025 at 11:10 am
“”I’ll accept that, but the rest of the ST looked like Keith Armstrong was back on the sidelines.””
It sure did. The complete collapse of the ST is unacceptable. FIX IT. It’s the last thing we need to see since the entire team is injured.
September 18th, 2025 at 11:28 am
It looked like he was taking his sweet time on every punt that night, and a few of them were nearly blocked, not just one. Gotta speed that process up, Riley.
That’s said, I am far more concerned with our kicker suddenly being a head case. 3 missed kicks, none of which were very far, in just 2 weeks is incredibly concerning.
September 18th, 2025 at 11:28 am
It was a 💯 TRUE statement by Aikman. I’m not sure it would’ve made much of a difference on that particular one that was blocked, but I did notice it on his first two punts of the game, and said the exact same thing then, at the time. I’ve noticed it with him before. I KNEW the Texans were going to get to him eventually, if he didn’t speed it up! You CAN’T just continue to go through your regular routine and timing, when they’re bringing the rush. You HAVE TO be able to recognize and see it as it’s happening, and make sure you FIRST, get the damn thing off CLEAN.
September 18th, 2025 at 11:33 am
He was real damn lucky to have even gotten that first or second off… They had him dead to rights, and somehow missed.
September 18th, 2025 at 11:39 am
@BucsFan – I said the exact same thing on that night! I was shocked. Couldn’t believe it. Obviously, Troy (and the Texans) had picked up on it too, earlier on during the game.
September 18th, 2025 at 11:46 am
Aikman’s point was, Dixon was completely unaware there was a game going on. This is why the fall of Camarda was so sad. He was an athlete. Dixon looked like he was in a coma.
Here’s two words.
Thomas McGaughey
Can’t protect the unaware punter, can’t cover a punt or kickoff, sure as hell never even try to block a punt, can’t make extra points or Field Goals, apparent don’t know that you get the ball on the 35 on a touchback after kickoff. How this inept stooge still has a job is a crime against Bucs fans. Maybe he reports to himself too, LOL.
September 18th, 2025 at 11:47 am
Hi Kenton. As I said, I thanked Joe for the different perspective that I had not seen. So, I acknowledged the fault of the blocking there.
What I was asking you to do there was give an assessment of the time to kick.
I now see two things.
Going forward — If Tucker fails ever again — he is getting replaced! The dude may not even be on the game day roster if he cannot perform that outside chip adequately.
What I am more concerned about is the pace of Riley Dixon going forward.
Every man on the field has a job. Sean Tucker failed. No doubt!
The punter also failed, he’s got to have an internal clock. When they show a max-rush look, he’s gotta speed up his routine. It’s on him to get that ball off no matter what.
Tucker — All he has to do is get a chip on the rusher. Just enough to redirect him for a split second. A chip. That’s it. That’s all we needed. And he didn’t do it.
Two guys failed. One is easier to replace — Tucker — there are 4 or 5 guys on the team that can do that job. The other is harder to replace — there is only one punter on the team.
September 18th, 2025 at 11:56 am
“In hindsight, we may have needed those timeouts, but that could have been a terrible outcome if they scooped and scored. I saw it, surely the Bucs saw it at least from upstairs“
Kaevon Merriweather saved us twice this past game. Once on the block punt like you said, and on the big punt return making that tackle. May not be starting safety material, but he still serves a purpose.
September 18th, 2025 at 12:00 pm
It looks to me like our interior line is being taught to take 3 big shuffle steps backwards and “ catch” the defenders as they rush. Why are we not just making immediate contact and holding our ground l? If you do that and your guy slides off of you to continue rushing, the ball should already be gone.
September 18th, 2025 at 12:11 pm
I saw the same thing as you Joe.
September 18th, 2025 at 12:26 pm
Aikmen also seemed to think the Bucs should have considered punting it on 4th down with under two minutes to go in the game. He’s a HOF player, but what the heck?
September 18th, 2025 at 12:45 pm
Kenton.
I may be misunderstanding your point out of bounds comment. The Bucs are punting with 3 minutes and 40 seconds left from their own 29-yard line.
Suggesting that a team should be kicking the ball out of bounds is not an obvious choice.
In theory you are giving Houston the ball at their own 38-yard line. I think Bucs fans would be booing if there was a 32 to 36 yard punt out of bounds. That is very good field position with them needing only a FG to take the lead.
It does not seem like an obvious strategy to me, and I would think many other folks.
I get the benefit to kicking it out of bounds.
But the math is pretty clear — you remember the Pythagorean theorem — you are shortening the distance of your full-length kick by 9 to 15 yards when you kick it out of bounds.
That’s a solid strategy when you are punting from the 50-yard line.
It’s not such a great a strategy when kicking from your own 29-yard line.
September 18th, 2025 at 12:59 pm
Just for perspective, in a typical year 1% or less of the punts get blocked in the NFL. Last year for instance, 22 teams had ZERO punts blocked (Bucs were 1 of those teams BTW). This season only 2 teams have had punts blocked thus far: Bucs and Browns. That’s not the company we want to be in.
Far as I’m concerned, there’s no excuse for allowing a blocked punt. If guys miss blocks, put in someone else who won’t. If the punter kicking is too slow, find one who’s faster. If the S/Ts coach can’t fix him, find another coach who can.
One thing’s for sure: once 1 NFL team identifies a weakness, every other team we face will be remember that & try to take advantage. That can’t be allowed to happen again. No excuses.
September 18th, 2025 at 1:10 pm
Aikman also referred to RW as Bucky about 6 times… He’s shlt as a commentator
September 18th, 2025 at 1:20 pm
geno711. Misunderstanding maybe. The punt we’re talking about Geno our punter was trying to kick it out of bounds. He almost did, too. I’m sure he was told don’t give them a chance to return it. He got too cute and almost got us beat. That returner caught it right on the sideline. No way he should have had that chance. Not in that situation. Bad football. Fundamentally.
September 18th, 2025 at 1:35 pm
FYI to people suggesting punters punt out of bounds… newsflash, they don’t do ia anymore and haven’t done it in the 2020’s. Nobody punts out of bounds. Too many variables and all of them bad… you shank it and kick 20 yards out of bounds, you shank it the other way and it is an easily returnable ball for a return defense that was expecting it to be out of play… and even if it does work… you’re lucky to net 40 yards… a regular punt down the middle with hang-time is about 50 yards these days with a short return. Risk reward is off on punting out of bounds.
September 18th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
geno711, alot of folks here are saying the punter needs to speed up. I know we all saw it and he was barely getting the ball off. But the coaches watching film went directly to the blockers. You talking about them blitzing. Only 2 calls for the return team. Punt block (you call it blitz) or Punt return. So not much debate on who was at fault on the blocked punt although the punter will always try to shave a tenth of a second. Maybe some debate on our punting from our 29 but I can’t help but think he was told to not let them field that punt in that situation. Why else was it that close to being kicked out of bounds? Don’t think you lose 9-15 yards kicking it out of bounds. I just know if I was coaching that situation I would’ve said keep it away from their returners.
September 18th, 2025 at 1:42 pm
Aikman is a boob and doesn’t seem to like the Bucs at all. At least that’s what I have sensed every time I have had the misfortune of hearing him call game.
Glad I’m not the only one who thought it was an idiotic take.
September 18th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
Brandon. Punters have changed. Use to be punts from the 50 punters always aimed for the “coffin corner”. Now I notice they just kick it high and depend on getting the right bounce. But to say that coaches don’t avoid certain returners and game situation returns is Wrong. And the only! way to do that is a sideline or corner kick. You Can’t punt it straight and accomplish the objective of keeping it out of the realm of the returner getting his hands on it. Don’t matter if it’s the 1920’s or the 2020’s. Watch the games closely, you’ll see it still happens often.
September 18th, 2025 at 2:41 pm
Who was the person in the preseason who said in the comments that the Bucs wouldn’t trade Tucker for a 1st round pick, he’s that valuable… Literally one of the dumbest comments I’ve ever seen on this site, and that is saying something.