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 knew? — 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 1:52 am
Sad state of affairs to be sure. Bowles as HC and DC is a race to the bottom. Licht has done nothing to improve players on defense. Hope they watched Seattle’s secondary and Dline in the SB. Another year of gaslighting by Bowles and Licht.
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.
February 28th, 2026 at 4:18 am
Teacherman … ‘But don’t forget teams pass more against us because our run defense is so good.’
Back when Suh & JPP were here, I’d agree 100%. Nowadays however, I think opponents focus on the pass more because we stink at Pass Defense.
Rushing Yardage Allowed means little if opponents don’t run on you; Rushing Yards per Attempt & Rushing TDs Allowed together clarify the Run Defense better IMO. Look at what our defense has Allowed during the Bowles’ years & our rankings …
o 2019: #29 Def – 362 Rush (#4) – 3.3 YPC (#1) – 11 TD (#7)
o 2020: #8 Def – 358 Rush (#1) – 3.6 YPC (#1) – 10 TD (#1)
o 2021: #5 Def – 366 Rush (#1) – 4.3 YPC (#15) – 11 TD (#5)
o 2022: #13 Def – 458 Rush (#16) – 4.5 YPC (#19) – 12 TD (#10)
o 2023: #7 Def – 422 Rush (#9) – 3.8 YPC (#8) – 11 TD (#8)
o 2024: #16 Def – 389 Rush (#3) – 4.3 YPC (#10) – 13 TD (#10)
o 2025: #20 Def – 396 Rush (#2) – 4.3 YPC (#14) – 16 TD (#16)
I give Bowles a pass for the 2019 ranking because it was the first year (learning the system) and because of Jameis’ incredible streak of passing & fumbling to our opponents. Todd’s worst year against the run was 2022 when he took over as HC & DC, the very same year we posted the best Pass Defense numbers (ranked #9 that year in Passing Yards Allowed, yet our defense overall ranked #13 and we finished with an 8-9 record).
My view overall though is that our Run Defense isn’t nearly as good without Suh as many believe it is. We desperately need those beasts in the middle with a really bad attitude.
February 28th, 2026 at 4:34 am
Todd Bowels is garbage 💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
February 28th, 2026 at 5:08 am
Too much zone and 10 yard cushions….
February 28th, 2026 at 6:44 am
Defense Rules
1. You’re the man.
2. You’re right “defense rules”
We need to upgrade 5-11 Gaines the Dwarf.
We need to upgrade Sideshow Hall.
We need to find a beast at OLB to replace Reddick.
Morrison was a dumb pick last year. We should have picked a DT.
Braswell was a dumb pick. We should have picked a NT.
I don’t know why we neglected the defensive line the last few years.
February 28th, 2026 at 6:46 am
We need a Gholston clone at DE. Not Sideshow Hall.
We need a 6-5 beast at DT to replace Gaines.
We need a huge NT to rotate with 50-50 Vea.
We need an OLB who can get 10 sacks.
We need FOUR defensive linemen!
And two middle linebackers.
February 28th, 2026 at 7:09 am
@Teacherman
Yep I said that I don’t think they realize how much they really do miss Kancey out there, too! I said the same thing about Morrison & Braswell. I would’ve passed on Braswell & I would’ve considered passing on Morrison, too! That’s why they really do need to consider trading down some because they’re still gonna have to address needs. Especially when they rarely do anything in FA.
February 28th, 2026 at 7:10 am
Defense Rules
When you say IF management makes the right decisions in FA and the draft. You do realize Bowles is part of that decision making and he has the final say as head coach right?
February 28th, 2026 at 8:21 am
This data can’t be right. Have it on the authority of RodMunch that the Bucs defense has been fine. The problem is Baker Mayfield. Free Baker and go get Shedeur Sanders for Munch and the other girls who post here.
February 28th, 2026 at 8:21 am
We had a pathetic 38 sacks and our secondary was bottom 3 in the league. We made every QB we played especially the rookies look like Joe Montana because we got no pressure on them and they picked our lousy secondary apart. Morrison is a complete bust. He will not get better. He needs to go. Our defense sucks. PERIOD! I have said all along that while I don’t think Bowles is a great coach, he can only poorly coach the talent that Jason Licht puts in front of him, and that is where the real problem lies. Jason’s draft picks that don’t pan out. Yes he has had some really good ones, but he has had way too many bad ones. I have heard that Jason makes picks based on the way players look on paper. If you aren’t making picks based on your own eyeballs on players to look for instinct and heart along with talent, then you are not doing your job. I blame Jason Licht and nobody else for our bad season. He had a choice to draft the pass rusher we needed or the receiver we didn’t, and he chose the receiver. I am as glad to have Emeka on our team as everybody else is, but it doesn’t change the fact the Jason did not put the best interest of the team at that moment in the forefront. In truth his arrogance convinced him to make a vanity pick and he cost us our season. Because if we had a decent pass rush we would have made the playoffs and won our division with or without Emeka. That is just the damn truth whether we like it or not.
February 28th, 2026 at 8:36 am
Cchead … ‘You do realize Bowles is part of that decision making’.
I also realize that Todd Bowles knows that he’s on a very hot seat and he HAS TO WIN this year or he’ll be toast. One HC who we know for sure is taking 2026 off … Mike Tomlin … may very well decide he wants to coach again in 2027.
It’s not like the Glazers haven’t taken a similar path before.
February 28th, 2026 at 8:57 am
Teacherman – teams don’t even try to run the ball because it is so EASY to pass.
February 28th, 2026 at 8:57 am
Teacherman … ‘We need FOUR defensive linemen! And two middle linebackers.’
Over 2026 & 2027 we will need 4 DLine & 2 MLB. But we can’t afford that in just 2026 so Vea & SVD will fill 2 of those 6 NEEDS. Convinced that this’ll be SVD’s last year with us, and since Vea will be 32 next year, Bucs may choose to pass on another contract. I guess it largely depends on how 2026 goes & how much he’s asking for.
I’m a huge believer that it all starts in the trenches. IF you have beasts in the trenches on both sides of the ball, you can cover a lot of potential ‘weaknesses’ in other areas. I’m also convinced that most of those beasts need to come from the Top-4 Rnds of the draft if at all possible. It was no coincidence that our best recent defensive years came when we had Vea (Rnd 1), Suh (Rnd 1) & JPP (Rnd 1) on the field for lots of def snaps.
That said, GMs should use 1 of the Top Picks on OLine or DLine/Edge every single year IMO. It takes 10 guys to fill those positions and the greats have 8-12 year careers. We’ve done very well at drafting quality OLinemen (Wirfs, Graham, Mauch, Goedeke), but we’ve pretty much sucked at drafting DLinemen & Edges. Need to do better.
February 28th, 2026 at 8:58 am
Teacher says:
You don’t realize teams pass on us because our run defense is so good.
Actually it’s the opposite. Our run defense looks good because teams know they can pass on this defense all day and don’t need to run the ball.
February 28th, 2026 at 9:02 am
Defense Rules:
Spot on! The Bucs went All In during the Brady years and have been paying for it ever since. JL has done a masterful job of keeping this team competitive when he’s has to work eith little to no cap space and ton if dead money.
February 28th, 2026 at 9:11 am
If ME13 does not come back, we know what direction this franchise is headed. ME13 made it clear its not about the money. He wants another ring and basically called out JL and company to bring the guys in to make it happen. The only way this defense will be any good is if they get the talent. Bowles cannot and I mean CANNOT function without superior talent. That is not the sign of a defensive genius. I’ve said this before, if you can’t or won’t get the players, then get a DC that can make the most average player look like a pro-bowler. This is not complicated folks, but these guys make it complicated to hide their deficiencies and incompetence. We are done with the lip service and BS that comes out of this ownership, HC and FO. Either make it happen or move along. If this is about making profit, then win games and the money will come. Stop being cheap and trying to run the Bucs like they are some company in a private equity portfolio.
February 28th, 2026 at 9:17 am
Luckily for us, we signed Bowles to an extension before another team snatched him up.
He should write books about his complex defensive scheme.
Give the rest of the NFL a chance to compete against his SB caliber defense.
We are blessed to have such a guru in our midst.
#SuperBowles
February 28th, 2026 at 9:35 am
To turn around the Bucs defensive performance is no small task. Todd Bowles has a monumental task and it starts with him. By embracing it and expecting his players to completely buy in, only than will the players stop making senseless mistakes. The players must own their responsibilities by doing their job and counting on their teammates to do there job.
The players must study not only on the practice field but in their free time.Tom Brady is the pinnacle of eating and living that mindset.
I believe players IQ is critical. Forest Gump may have seem dumb but he understood certain things had to be done if you wanted success.
The NFL requires player athletic performance and the smarts to execute plays on the the field with precision.
The Bucs defense has to improve. Todd Bowles and coaches must teach and hold players accountable
February 28th, 2026 at 10:21 am
Becky … ‘Morrison is a complete bust. He will not get better. He needs to go.’
I wasn’t an advocate for drafting Morrison. We drafted him in Rnd 2 (pick #53) & his draft profile ranked him as a 6.20 … will eventually become a starter. Since he missed all of Training Camp due to a hamstring injury (that dogged him all season apparently), he was definitely ‘behind the 8-ball’ as a rookie.
Only played in 10 games, picking up 359 def snaps (almost half of those were in the last 3 games). Targeted 41 times, allowing 24 completions (58.5%) with 4 PDs, but allowed 3 TDs & had a Missed Tackle Rate of 18.8% . That’s horrendous, but consistent with what his draft profile stated.
Ben played man & zone at Notre Dame, so was an attractive pick (11 INTs is excellent too). But he missed most of his senior year because he needed hip surgery (yet another of JL’s rehab cases?). Here’s what Yahoo Sports said about him last season …
‘Injuries dogged Morrison even into the NFL. He missed seven games in 2025, due to nagging hamstring injury he’d suffered in the preseason. When Morrison did play, he struggled. Pro Football Focus had him as the 108th-ranked cornerback out of 114, ranking him 95th in coverage and 110th in run defense. Additionally, Morrison struggled in tackling, missing more than 21 percent of his tackles, which was the highest rate of any Buccaneer defender who played at least 100 snaps.’
Sounds like he’s got a lot of potential, but he’s very inconsistent and is a poor tackler (not very strong either apparently). Putting Morrison & McCollum out there together as our 2 starting outside CBs sounds rather promising … for our opponents.
February 28th, 2026 at 10:25 am
@defense rules
You always bring the facts.
Morrison had no business being on the field last year!
Dean was playing like a top 5 corner. And Morrison played like one of the ten worst!
Morrison should have redshirted last year.
But he never should have been drafted in the first place.
Bowles put his heart over his head and made a terrible choice.
Morrison is his god-son.
February 28th, 2026 at 11:35 am
We need more of this says one poster, another says we need to get rid of these guys,another says we have a gem in Morrison, and another says he’ a bust.
This is all sound and fury signifying nothing.
This team is cursed for another season with TB/JL running the show. They are NOT going to be better this year. Too many glaring holes. Other teams draft new and improved players too. But they are usually not dragging around boat anchors like TB/JL.
I hope I will still be around in ’67 to see what a real HC and GM can do with this star-crossed team.
February 28th, 2026 at 11:43 am
Teacherman … ‘Morrison is his god-son.’
I’d read that Morrison’s father Darryl was a Redskins’ Safety back in the 90’s. Turns out that Todd Bowles was there in 1993 when Darryl was drafted and served as his mentor. Didn’t know he was Benjamin’s God-father but that’s an interesting tidbit.
He did very well at Notre Dame prior to his injury, but drafting a CB with hip issues is taking a big chance IMO (especially in Rnd 2). Hopefully he’s fully healthy this year & the hip issues are behind him. We NEED him to have a very good year, especially if we don’t re-sign Jamel Dean.
February 28th, 2026 at 11:54 am
A coach as old as Bowles would have a defensive coaching tree out there somewhere if he were a true defensive guru. Nobody in the NFL is trying to replicate what he puts on the field.
February 28th, 2026 at 1:25 pm
Defense Rules Says:
February 28th, 2026 at 8:36 am
Cchead … ‘You do realize Bowles is part of that decision making’.
I also realize that Todd Bowles knows that he’s on a very hot seat and he HAS TO WIN this year or he’ll be toast. One HC who we know for sure is taking 2026 off … Mike Tomlin … may very well decide he wants to coach again in 2027.
It’s not like the Glazers haven’t taken a similar path before.
I agree with you 100 %
February 28th, 2026 at 1:50 pm
Its okay 👍 Its fine! Todd is even hungrier this season than he was last season. If he would have only cut out a few meals man OH man the sky would have been the limit last season. Thank god hes hungrier now. There’s guys that self scout and find ways to always motivate themselves every time they think they have it figured it out. Todd’s the guy that needs to be abused, embarrassed, lambasted, almost fired, lose and lose and lose AND then hes like im hungrier this time. We got a gem here fellas!
February 28th, 2026 at 2:10 pm
Todd is really great. Stop being mean to the Todds.
February 28th, 2026 at 2:28 pm
This is an Ownership fail…all you have to do is look at his genius defensive rankings.
February 28th, 2026 at 3:07 pm
Joe says this: 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.
and this why Bucs football is vomit inducing–the Falcons game stands out the defense is pitiful and I can no longer be hopeful or optimistic 4 wins in 2026
February 28th, 2026 at 4:07 pm
This entire organization has gotten soft. It’s an absolute outrage that the coward Glazers retained Todd Bowles. The great collapse of 25 highlighted the complete and utter ineptitude of Bowles. He even said that as coaches we’ve done all that we could to turn the losing streak around. That statement alone is shocking and very revealing. 90% of us know we’re stuck with a very inferior HC. ANd his arrogance is astounding by not hiring a DC after his failures.
Jason Licht should be on the hot seat as well. His failures are many.
February 28th, 2026 at 4:50 pm
@Defense Rules
Yeah, I’m not saying they haven’t had some cap restrictions, you laid out the data backing up my point. Each of the last 3 years there has been less dead money and a bit more room to maneuver.
Not much and none of us would trade the SB and Brady years just to have cap space. We can debate Lichts moves and with hindsight say he hasn’t given Bowes enough but we can’t say he didn’t try. Between draft picks and vet signings last offseason he gave Todd 4 guys for the front 7 and 2 new CBs. 3 of those 4 guys (Reddick, Anthony and David Walker) did almost nothing for the team unfortunately.
Lichts 2 biggest blunders lately are going into 2025 with an inexperienced playcaller, and retaining Bowles. I will say this over and over, Licht assembled enough talent to win 10 games and make the playoffs with a legit coach in Coen, who immediately won 12 games with Jax. We went backwards because of Bowles and Licht, but most of us knew that was likely with Bowles as coach. Didnt wanna believe it, wanted to have hope and buy what Bowles was selling but it’s all stale goods.
I have full confidence in Licht having another good offseason that addresses th holes we all want plugged. I’m almost certain that it will be wasted on this coaching staff, hopefully Zac proves me wrong and the offense can carry us again.
February 28th, 2026 at 4:53 pm
If I had any faith in Bowles, after seeing Bakers first year with Canales and the Bucs, I would have had Licht mortgage more of the future cap to stay all in.
Bucs were 2 defensive stops or a more aggressive gameplan away from a winnable game in Philly for a chance at the NFC Champ game so I don’t think it’s foolish to say the Bucs were close despite that cap situation.
Sadly, we have gotten further away from that and sure Vea and David are older but we arent further because of roster talent.
February 28th, 2026 at 5:26 pm
Not just bowles, lovie was just as bad…possibly worse? I think the glaciers require an agreement of constant soft zone coverage to be eligible for the job.
This team is a dumpster fire. I cant wait to see the excuses for Bowles after this season.
February 28th, 2026 at 7:58 pm
Bowles and his excuses…He was busy “helping” the offense to worry about the defense…The offense was worse late in the season, so what does that say? Also, the defense was terrible in 2024 when the offense was good, what’s Todd’s excuse for that? Was he too busy helping the special teams to worry about the defense?
Speaking of special teams, how many years has that been terrible under Bowles watch? The whole time? The way that special teams have never gotten better and most of the young players haven’t developed shows that Bowles has easy, SOFT practices and loser “walk throughs”. SOFT coach, SOFT team.
February 28th, 2026 at 8:21 pm
Glazers suck
February 28th, 2026 at 9:36 pm
@BucU 💯
February 28th, 2026 at 10:20 pm
Special teams was the worst. In fact everything changed after week 6, for some reason. Something really is wrong with this organization. I’m not so sure it’s going to get fixed so quickly.
February 28th, 2026 at 10:46 pm
[Critique is welcomed if not encouraged on this site. But spamming this site with the same one-liner on the same subject over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, 30-50 times a day, that’s crossing the line, especially when Joe has to dig every one of those spams out of the moderation queue. And this just in to help your blood pressure: Todd Bowles isn’t going anywhere for at least the next 10 months. Give it — and yourself — a rest, man. — Joe]
February 28th, 2026 at 11:40 pm
Well, Todd was on the sidelines when the Bucs with Arians and Brady won the Super Bowl. That’s what makes him so great.
March 1st, 2026 at 3:41 am
Saskbucs … ‘I have full confidence in Licht having another good offseason that addresses th holes we all want plugged. I’m almost certain that it will be wasted on this coaching staff, hopefully Zac proves me wrong and the offense can carry us again.’
Nice ‘bottom line’ Saskbucs, although we disagree. I don’t share your confidence in JL; he’s improved tremendously over the years but I still don’t like his (and TB’s) draft strategies (BPA prioritized over NEED priorities). We didn’t address our known starting defensive NEEDS last season, and it bit us in the butt, big-time.
Todd Bowles has a lot of deficiencies IMO, but his defenses do perform much better the higher the level of talent he has to work with. (Duh, a no-brainer?). Our defensive talent-level has been steadily dropping, as has our offensive DEPTH. Throw too many injuries to starters on top of that, and it becomes a prescription for disaster. Ask Andy Reid’s 2025 Chiefs (6-11?); he had similar issues and produced similar results.
Guess I don’t see that our offense carried us anywhere last season. Well, except to a #20 ranking (worse than our #18 defense) that scored over 120 points LESS than we did in 2024 (7.2 PPG LESS on average than we scored in 2024). That carried us backwards. IF our injured OLinemen are 100% recovered now, and IF we add a (1) quality TE; (2) quality WR; (3) quality RB; (4) quality backup QB; and (5) 3 quality backup OLinemen THEN Zac Robinson will have a chance to improve our offense. Without high quality starters (especially on the OLine to protect him), Baker struggles. With a quality team surrounding him, he’s very good & can lead us to a Top-10 ranking.
March 1st, 2026 at 12:58 pm
Madden has him as THEEE defensive guru :)))
March 2nd, 2026 at 5:52 am
Trolls are entertaining today….Not!
Fire Bowles crowd is getting very, very old.
Go Bucs!