Bucs Defense Shut Down Jared Goff
October 22nd, 2025
YAC doomed Bucs.
Yeah, the Bucs defense gave up big plays Monday night. But if you peel the onion skins back, there was a lot to like about the defense.
Big plays was not one of them. And the YAC yards Lions receivers had was very disappointing since the week before against the 49ers, preventing YAC was a big focus for the Bucs and they did a strong job not letting Christian McCaffrey burn them.
That didn’t happen Monday night.
The Bucs’ defense actually shut down Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Where the Lions made their yards, per NextGen Stats by way of Nick Shook of NFL.com, was in YAC.
Next Gen Stats Insight from Buccaneers-Lions (via NFL Pro): Jared Goff finished just 1 for 7 on passes over 10 air yards for 24 yards and an interception. Lions pass catchers gained 194 yards after the catch, the fifth-most by any team in a game this season, with YAC accounting for 80.5% of Goff’s passing yards.
Overall, Joe thought the defense did fine. In the previous six Lions home games, including a playoff loss to Washington, Detroit averaged 37 points a game. The Bucs held them to 24.
A little bit of tweaking, and the Bucs defense should be OK.
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:58 am
BINGO!!!!!!!
defense showed up!!!…cant say the same for the offense…
both units will get better…
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:01 am
The Bucs won’t have to face Gibbs every week fortunately. But they will have to deal with Bijon Robinson and a couple of other guys who our LBs can’t keep up with. There’s not a lot that can be done about this during the season. LVD and Dennis just aren’t good at coverage, and Bowles can only go so far to mitigate it.
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:08 am
Yet these soo smart fans want to blame Bowles for his defense losing the game haha these people are clowns. Is the defense the best not even close but what we did to the 9ers and the 2nd half of the eagles game and what they did to the lions outside the big plays our defense is doing a dam good job. If the offense showed up in the lions game we win that one. The defense should get better to as the season goes on
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:13 am
Tweaking is akin to tackling practice. Limit the YAC with a sure tackle after a short catch. There, tweaked it. 😉
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:27 am
We played solid defense for half of the eagles game and did relatively well against Detroit. These are two power house teams. if this is the defense going forward (big if) then we will be MUCH better than we were in the first half of the season
even with the loss of Mike.
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:29 am
first drive was comical as usual. best WR they got and he’s sooo open every play (that’s why he got the YAC). some horrible missed tackles too. guys forgetting to use the sideline as a defender, etc. i wish we’d go bump-and-run initially just to throw teams another look, something new, because you can always play the usual D if the blanket man coverage doesn’t work. would also keep teams from scripting the opening drive so easily.
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:44 am
gaslighting courtesy of uselessstats.com. the lions offense wasnt shut down so who cares. almost 400 yards and a W.
maybe the long passing game was sacrificed on purpose so they could hammer them in other ways. maybe the lions let the bucs have the “shutdown of goff” so they could run all over them.
i guess anything to pull some rat poison out of thin air….
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:52 am
Sounds like you would have preferred the Bucs gave up just 250 yards but 40 points.
October 22nd, 2025 at 10:07 am
If the Bucs offense could have controlled the ball better, I dont think its unreasonable to suggest the Lions would have had 1 or 2 less possessions and possibly have scored less than 20. I thought the Bucs defense played well after that first Lions flight… I mean drive.
October 22nd, 2025 at 10:16 am
Nothing worse than a yards guy. Didn’t realize wins were assigned based on yards gained.
Pretty sure Atlanta had the best offense and defense by yards a week ago.
Would you say their offense is a league leader?
October 22nd, 2025 at 11:18 am
The Lions rushed for 264 yds at a 5.1 YPC average. I remember watching the game and thinking, “I hope Detroit doesn’t open it up.” Bottom line; There was no reason for Goff to throw the long ball. The Bucs are lucky Detroit didn’t put up 50.
October 22nd, 2025 at 11:51 am
Dennis the Menace would have cost the Bucs the game if Bucs offense actually showed up on the field, yet His Geniusness keeps trotting him out there, putting the team in jeopardy. This is as much on the not-a-head-coach coordinator as many other failures.
October 22nd, 2025 at 12:30 pm
Defense shut down Goff. Keep telling yourself that.
October 22nd, 2025 at 12:38 pm
i wish the bucs running game would have shown up but with white in the lead it isnt happening. it didnt happen for his multiple years of being RB1 and it isnt happening now with Bucky hurt. the coaches have no confidence in him, especially grizzard obviously. 3 games under 150 yards total yet people around here keep clamoring how great he is….he’s not.
next post “Rashadd White Saved The Bucs”
October 22nd, 2025 at 12:39 pm
Oh yea, the defense sure shut down Lions Monday night. Why then do I hear Aikman screaming, “Wide open” time after time?
We got beat all around in that game regardless of all the BS spread around.
October 22nd, 2025 at 1:08 pm
Remember when Mike Smith’s defense was ranked #1 against the run but like #32 against the pass? Teams didn’t run because they didn’t have too with receivers running free all over the place.
We got out butts kicked Monday night. It happens. Time to turn the page and take it out on the Aints.
October 22nd, 2025 at 1:09 pm
Keeping Detroit’s offense to 24 points is not terrible. The offense was terrible–line, running attack, Baker’s missed throws. Even with all that, if Baker would have hit Tez in the end zone toward the end of the game I think they would have won. They will beat them next time.
October 22nd, 2025 at 1:27 pm
bowles and defense did good usually it takes till halftime to adjust. the main problem is still falling behind fast to these top teams. it rattled the team offensively play calling , 2 pt conversion fail
October 22nd, 2025 at 1:29 pm
Amazing what happens Bowles doesn’t play that super soft zone trash – the defense actually looks good. I don’t care if you give up some big plays here and there when you’re getting turnovers. Holding one of the best offenses in football to 24 points, when the refs spotted the Lions more than half of that, is a great night for the defense.
I don’t know how Todd watches that tape, then says, screw it, we need to play soft and let teams move the ball at will unchallenged. I really really really hope that Todd will stop making excuses for why he can’t play a real defense, and just play this defense for the rest of the year.
October 22nd, 2025 at 1:30 pm
Defense was great except gave up big plays.
Offense was great on short passes and sucked on everything else.
24-9.
But that’s that. It’s over. It was a great gauge of where they are at. It is fodder of they have a rematch in the playoffs.
I hope they bounce back and beat the Saints. This game suddenly looks tougher.
October 22nd, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Defense has been the whipping boy around here for years.
They’ve been blamed for losses unfairly and rarely given any credit for our wins.
I have as much, or more, confidence in our defense as I do our offense at this point.
Last minute heroics by Baker (made possible by the defense keeping games within reach) is not a recipe for sustained success.
Rewatching the game and our defense kept making stop after stop after stop only for the offense to give them the ball back almost immediately. Defense was amazing in spite of a few bad plays.
October 22nd, 2025 at 2:48 pm
Detroit kept Detroit from scoring more not the other way around lets be honest. Tell me what exactly we did well ill wait lol
October 22nd, 2025 at 2:55 pm
How hard or easy it is to defeat the Saints depends on the lineup we will have. With the injuries we have had on both sides of the ball I am not expecting the game to be that easy. I do expect Baker to perform better this time around.
Go Bucs!!
October 22nd, 2025 at 3:06 pm
@Rod
“Amazing what happens Bowles doesn’t play that super soft zone trash”
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You mean like the zone they were in for most, if not all, of our picks this year ?
October 22nd, 2025 at 4:06 pm
it was 24 to 9 – the Lions shut it down the 4th Q – they could see that Baker was off…why turn it over….kind of like taking pitches until the pitcher can find the plate…
Just one game that 99% of us probably marked as a loss anyway…lets tighten up and get this win at NO..
Go Bucs!
October 22nd, 2025 at 4:24 pm
Ufcguy Says:
October 22nd, 2025 at 2:48 pm
Detroit kept Detroit from scoring more not the other way around lets be honest. Tell me what exactly we did well ill wait lol
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You mean aside from the forced fumble, the interception, the 4th down stand to get the ball back, the 5 forced punts, the 3 for 13 3rd down defense, the 1 for 2 on 4th down, the 4 sacks or holding Detroit well under its average esp at home ???
October 22nd, 2025 at 6:24 pm
I saw a totally different game. Holding Goff to 20-29 and 250 yards is hardly throttling Goff. Lions had nearly 400 yards in total offense as Gibbs did whatever he wanted. By what convoluted logic is it OK to give up big chunks of yardage and TD’s and then say the DEFENSE played great because they forced an occasional punt? From the first Lions drive to the last when they were trying to run out the clock, Detroit never looked pressed.