Sorry Pass Defense
February 28th, 2026
At least pass defense is consistent.
No one who is considered a defensive guru allows this to happen.
Since Bucs coach Todd Bowles arrived in Tampa Bay in 2019, the Bucs pass defense has almost always finished ranked in the 20s for passing yards allowed.
That shouldn’t happen.
The one year that Bowles and the Bucs had a good pass defense was in 2022, Bowles’ first season as Bucs head coach.
And here is another example from Ryan McCrystal of Sharp Football Analysis.
Allowed 7.9 yards per attempt when the defense failed to generate pressure, ranked 27th.
While that suggests the Bucs can’t get after the quarterback — what’s new? — Joe will suggest the 7.9 yards per pass attempt is pretty close to par for the course with the Bucs.
Consider that the Bucs finished 26th overall in passing yards allowed per attempt. That includes all opponents’ passes, not just passes without pressure.
So no matter how you slice it, the Bucs pass defense stinks. Almost always has since 2019.
February 28th, 2026 at 12:16 am
Sorry DC!… IBS a Guru is a JOKE…
February 28th, 2026 at 12:34 am
Not a good look in a passing league.
February 28th, 2026 at 12:41 am
When did Todd come again?????
February 28th, 2026 at 12:50 am
This is why Mike Evans is probably wearing a new uniform soon. I feel like I am taking crazy pills!
I still can’t believe the management/owner decisions that have taken place the last 8 months.
They must be too busy shaking hands and whiffing themselves to watch the actual games.
There is so much evidence out there for why this guy shouldn’t be a DC let alone a HC. In the last year, Licht and the Glazers have set this team back 5 years.
Each of the last 3 years, cap space has been opening and presumably young talent has been added to this roster and somehow they don’t see that Bowles is wasting it.
February 28th, 2026 at 2:11 am
But don’t forget teams pass more against us because our run defense is so good.
In the final game of the season, with Kancey on the field,
We shut down the Panthers run game.
They had 19 yards!
19 yards on the ground!
We need Kancey back and a third DT who can replace Gaines.
February 28th, 2026 at 3:08 am
Saddens me. Ronde must be distaught. Brooks and Hardy must be really ticked off! For a team that has always had tough defenses this is even worse for all of us long time fans. Yes, even in the 0-26 years we had some standout dudes.
Go Bucs!
February 28th, 2026 at 3:13 am
Not wrong
February 28th, 2026 at 3:26 am
Saskbucs … ‘Each of the last 3 years, cap space has been opening and presumably young talent has been added to this roster and somehow they don’t see that Bowles is wasting it.’
Guess I see it as almost the exact opposite Saskbucs; Bucs have been paying dearly in 2023-2025 for our Brady years of 2020-2022, and it’s set us back tremendously in terms of defensive talent especially.
o 2023: Dead money – $81.6 mil (#1 in NFL).
o 2024: Dead money – $62.5 mil (#9 in NFL).
o 2025: Dead money – $50.9 mil (#16 in NFL).
o 2026: Dead money – $0.3 mil (#31 in NFL).
Bucs’ front office obviously made a decision to focus on clearing our Dead money ‘debt’ as rapidly as possible (and clearing out almost $200 mil over 3 years is extremely rapid). There’s a cost that accompanies that strategy however: you have very little money left over to ‘buy talent’ (free agents to help fill holes?).
Our starting offense stayed reasonably solid & well-paid, but our offensive DEPTH suffered (as we evidenced in 2025?). Our starting defense wasn’t nearly as solid nor well-paid, and our defensive DEPTH was even shakier. Fans can blame Bowles all they want (and yes, coaches always deserve a share of the blame for poor performance), but it was more a lack of TALENT that was responsible for our dismal defensive stats in 2025 especially.
We’re now in a position to start fixing that IF team management makes the right free agent decisions AND draft decisions. Defense must be our focus this year because it NEEDS a near-total rebuild over about a 2-year period. I’ve said many times that I don’t like that Todd Bowles is dual-hatted as both the HC AND DC, but that’s the decision that owners chose, and that’s what we’ll go with. However, we can still improve the defensive talent level tremendously & HOPEFULLY that’s exactly where JL & TB focus this year.
o Free agency: 1 starting-quality veteran beastly DT, 1 starting-quality veteran ILB, 1 starting-quality veteran Edge (use any other monies available to beef up offensive & defensive DEPTH).
o Draft: 1 beastly DT/NT (Rnd 1) … 1 starting-quality ILB (Rnd 2) … BPAs ILB, DT/DE, Edge, CB (Rnds 3 & 4) … after that BPAs still available in Rnds 5-7.