How Good Was The Bucs Defense Last Year?
April 19th, 2026
“We had our share of gifts, Mike.”
The headline is not a typo.
Joe is asking because the Bucs tied for 12th in the NFL last season in most drives starting in opponents’ territory.
The data is via Warren Sharp, the noted NFL analytics guru and handicapper.
The stat absolutely does not define a defense. But it’s hard to be among the better teams in that area without playmakers on defense or special teams.
Jacksonville led the league with 30 drives started in opponents’ territory. (If bettors are looking for a reason the Jaguars will take a stop back next season, there it is. That’s a huge number to sustain.) Ranking a distant second were Miami and Detroit at 23 drives.
The Bucs were tied with a cluster of teams, which included the Seahawks, at 19 drives that started in opposing territory.
Joe re-watches all Bucs games every summer and is eager to track those 19 drives — what exactly put the Bucs in opposing territory to start, and how the drives finished.
April 19th, 2026 at 9:40 am
The doldrums of the offseason before the draft. The Bucs were poor on defense last year. Congrats on finding one data point that doesnt make them look as terrible as they actually were.
April 19th, 2026 at 9:48 am
I am pretty sure the Bucs were the only team which allowed a 3rd and 28 to end up in a first down by the opposition without the benefit of a defensive penalty. That pretty much tells the average fan everything he or she needs to know about Todd Bowles’ D in 2025. If anyone but Bowles were DC, he would have been fired right along with Grizzard and McGaughey for gross ineptitude. I can only guess that the Glazers figured they would stick with Todd unless they could hire Harbaugh which did not happen. Make or break year for Bowles, I hope the Glazers and Licht make the bar really high, not just improvement on last year’s train wreck of a season.
April 19th, 2026 at 9:58 am
It was absolute garbage last year and the year before lmao
April 19th, 2026 at 10:09 am
Last year the offense, special teams, defense stunk the field
There were no bright spots on this team
But l think the Bucs are trending in the right direction
April 19th, 2026 at 10:31 am
I was curious how the Bucs did by quarter on D in games because it seemed like the Bucs were much worse in the second half and especially the 4th quarter. However, hey were actually worse in the first half.
The facts of the Bucs 2025 points allowed are 24.2 pts per game – 20th
7.0 pts avg per4th qtr – tied for 19th
4.4 pts avg per 3rd qtr – tied for 15th
7.5 pts avg per 2nd qtr – tied for 19th
5.2 pts avg per game 1st qtr – tied for 23rd
The above does not differentiate for points given up by the D vs. those from special teams or by the O like on a pick 6 or turnover deep in their own territory (inside the 20)
April 19th, 2026 at 10:32 am
How good was the Bucs defense last year? It wasn’t, not as a whole. Some numbers were ok but overall to many brain farts and lack of talent to overcome. With all the ‘good weeks’ of practice that we heard about only for them to step on their junk on game day shows a lack of interest by some, and it only takes one guy to derail the play called. Weeding those guys out was one of the imperatives this off season, as well as getting a better, nastier attitude. That applies to the offense as well. Then adding some good talent and depth. To have a good team there has to be a good mix of all these things, guys that work hard and want to succeed are far better than guys who lazily think they can rely on their talent and then magically conjure it up on game day.
April 19th, 2026 at 10:32 am
too many brain cramps.
April 19th, 2026 at 10:35 am
You almost had me Joe until you dropped this gem, “playmakers on defense or special teams.” I’ll stick to what my eyeballs witnessed all year. The defense was offensive.
April 19th, 2026 at 10:37 am
We gave up 23 plays of 25+ yards
6 run plays 17 pass plays, 8 TD
Those 23 plays were a big part of our defensive yards allowed
April 19th, 2026 at 10:58 am
Hmm… Was the opponent just giving us a chance? A timely BS penalty or ten?
Bad spots? Sun got in their eyes? Makes no sense to this fan. Wonder if any were 4th down fails.
Go Bucs!
April 19th, 2026 at 11:05 am
The Bucs biggest issues on defense since Bowles has been DC is getting off the field on 3rd downs. I dont wanna hear stats..I watch every game and when it’s 3rd down Im usually shocked when the get a stop and there’s no flag.
The only way to be better on 3rd down is to be a le to effect the pocket and cover on the back end a d across the middle. Poor pass rush along with LBers like SVD and LVD that couldn’t cover, made it easy for offenses to convert. The other issue is Bowles scheme almost NEVER puts his safeties in positions over the top to make plays.
I dont expect Bowles to change. What I expect is JL will draft some good defensive players and the fans will call for his firing because they just won’t be as good as they were in college due to bring confused by Bowles horrendous scheme.
This is the truth. Bowles scheme is trash and only confuses it’s own players, not opposing QBs and OCs.
April 19th, 2026 at 11:27 am
The last 2 years the Bucs defense has progressed from worst to terrible!
April 19th, 2026 at 11:33 am
Licht and Bowles have ignored the defense and look where we are now?
April 19th, 2026 at 11:39 am
Joe if you’re going to rewatch 2025 Bucs games, better have cases of cold beer, some bottles of really good bourbon and maybe an anxiety medicine prescription. Fugly.
April 19th, 2026 at 11:50 am
The defense did a few things fairly well, but wouldn’t get off the field on third down and they were prone to simply quitting.
April 19th, 2026 at 11:51 am
Don’t know what all that means. My eyes have not deceived me. The Bucs defense run by DC, Todd Bowles, has been pathetic the last couple of years. That is why there will be 6 or 7 new starters in 2026. Hoping for a turnaround but have
zero confidence in TB. However, am willing to accept that the defense lacked talent including AWjr. Hope a talent infusion turns things around. I note, however, that blog , fake analyst, RODMUNCH, has insisted that the defense wasn’t a problem last couple of years. Wondering why Bucs are expected to draft mostly defenders later this week? Answer is Munch is a fraud.
April 19th, 2026 at 1:24 pm
Special Teams really put the Bucs in a terrible position last season. If we let the opponent field the kickoff they’d return it to the 50 yard line. If they purposely kicked in out of the end zone they’d get the ball at the 35. Hard to stop teams that are basically in field goal range before they take a snap. Not sticking up for the D because they had plenty of chances, but its very hard to correct the field position game like this.
April 19th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
Bucs defense was excellent
Bowles is awesome
Bucs will go to Super Bowl
REALLY
JUST LIKE JOE I can say anything but TRUTH IS TRUTH
Bucs where on the coach last year
April 19th, 2026 at 1:38 pm
LOl , not sure I get this. I don’t care what stats you use. If you watched the Bucs D last year and the year before, it was clear they were just down right awful. Yes , last year was the worst and now all they can do is go up. However, they have so many holes. Yes like the prior article said they need up grades at all but one position. Well the only position left was safety and while T Smith was usually good considering he is new, Winfield left a lot to be desired. Make no mistake please this D is down right awful period!!!
April 19th, 2026 at 1:40 pm
Fanofdabucs … ‘The Bucs biggest issues on defense since Bowles has been DC is getting off the field on 3rd downs.’
And yet, your eyes deceived you.
o Bucs had the #20 ranked defense in 2025.
o Bucs allowed a 39.5% 3rd down conversion percentage in 2025 (79 successes out of 200 attempts) … to rank #15.
o Bucs allowed a 46.7% 4th down conversion percentage in 2025 (14 successes out of 30 attempts) … to rank #6.
So we actually performed BETTER on 3rd & 4th down in terms of our ranking than we did in our overall defensive ranking.
But look at our Red Zone TD Percentage allowed … 43 attempts but we allowed opponents to score TDs on 30 of those, for a ludicrous 69.8% TDs allowed. That was the WORST (#32) in the NFL in 2025.
So our inability to keep opponents from scoring TDs once they got inside our Red Zone was Problem #1) accounting for roughly HALF of the points we surrendered). Lakeland perfectly detailed Problem #2: Bucs’ defense allowed way too many explosive plays … 8 TDs of 25 yds or longer (obviously outside the Red Zone). We allowed 13 rushing TDs & 26 passing TDs for a total of 39 TDs allowed. So Problem #1 & Problem #2 pretty much accounts for that total.
April 19th, 2026 at 1:43 pm
People…do not seem to realize Bowzo is still HC/DC. Good luck.
April 19th, 2026 at 2:02 pm
Joe … ‘Bucs tied for 12th in the NFL last season in most drives starting in opponents’ territory. Joe re-watches all Bucs games every summer and is eager to track those 19 drives — what exactly put the Bucs in opposing territory to start, and how the drives finished.’
I’ll be interested Joe to see what you come up with. Last season was a true Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. Bucs’ defense started a ton of drives with terrible field position because of our offense (16 turnovers) and our Special Teams (got so bad Bowles started having them kick it into the End Zone & opponents got it on the 35-yard-line). Defense dealt with A BUNCH of short fields, and proceeded to surrender A BUNCH of points (390 pts allowed by our defense … 16 rushing TDs, 30 passing TDs, 24 FGs and 42 pts after TD. Plus of course 1 Pick-6, 1 blocked punt return & 1blocked FG return. Good description of ‘the perfect storm’.
April 19th, 2026 at 2:33 pm
Why Joe don’t ask how many times BAKER was clutch in big games?
April 19th, 2026 at 2:35 pm
Final 6 games of the year, when it mattered most and the playoffs were on the line…
Bucs were 10th in points allowed.
Bucs were 28th in points scored.
April 19th, 2026 at 3:29 pm
Our defense was nearly historically awful. They simply couldn’t get it done we needed it most.
April 19th, 2026 at 3:34 pm
Pretty sure I’d never put last year’s defense and the word good together at any point. Certainly special teams assisted in giving up a lot of big kickoff and punt returns. That part most certainly will be better. How many times did we have a late lead only to give up a score and ask Baker and offense to try and score with little time on the clock? I’m confident in saying Baker felt all the pressure because the defense was Swiss cheese.
April 19th, 2026 at 3:54 pm
Munch,
Nobody is buying your nonsense. Go back and blow on your clarinet. Bucs defense and DC stunk. This week proves the point when Licht takes mostly defensive draft talent.
April 19th, 2026 at 3:59 pm
Gipper Says:
April 19th, 2026 at 3:54 pm
Munch,
Nobody is buying your nonsense.
——-
Yes, stats like points for and points against are nonsense that mean nothing in the NFL.
Oh wait, I checked the rule book and it turns out you win games by scoring more points than the other team.
So it turns out that points for and points again are not in fact nonsense, it’s literally how you win games.
Anywho, since we’re talking nonsense, isn’t it about time you claim that Baker is better in the playoffs than Brady because he has a higher passer rating. LOL!
April 19th, 2026 at 4:31 pm
Rod. I’ve seen Brady lose a handful of Super Bowls and he’s been lucky enough in a few that his defense pulled him out. Baker hasn’t lost a single Super Bowl. And those are the facts.
April 19th, 2026 at 4:35 pm
3rd and 28
April 19th, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Kenton Smith Says:
Baker hasn’t lost a single Super Bowl.
———–
Can’t argue with facts, and that is a fact.
April 19th, 2026 at 4:46 pm
lol once again commenters making up things to fit the narrative in their heads. D was not to Tampa standards the past two years, but they trended the right direction at the end of the year season. Offense, unfortunately, trended the wrong direction
April 19th, 2026 at 5:54 pm
So much hate here.
As to the topic, it’s kind of a pointless stat.
Last year everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. It started out great, then every bad possibility came together all at once.
Overcoming a few things is the norm. But once in a blue moon, so many things go wrong that it all adds up to disaster.
We’ll handle the defense in the draft and second phase of free agency…but I’m still not happy with the backup QB situation.
We have: Baker Mayfield, Connor Bazelak (no experience), and Jake Browning (won zero games in his 3 starts in 2025).
We need someone who can actually win as a backup.
April 19th, 2026 at 7:26 pm
Munch,
There you go again with your man crush on Tom Brady. Do you still have that shirtless poster of Brady hanging in your bedroom? Even Brady acknowledges that Brady has a terrific arm and great leadership skills. Unlike Brady, Baker plays when he has to with 4th string guards and without Tristan Wirfs. Hope that Licht gets the $50mill/yr deal done soon, so you can jump off Tampa Bay bridge.
April 19th, 2026 at 7:49 pm
Bigbuc. How about Baker don’t throw a pick or miss Payne Durham wide open in the middle of the field and 3rd and 28 don’t happen. When will people hold Baker Mayfield accountable for not closing out games or losing games on game winning drives like the Panthers game? He threw a pick and lost the game and the defense got blamed for it .
April 19th, 2026 at 9:08 pm
ONeill, Baker saved this team from being a 3-4 win team and was solely responsible for at least 4-5 wins all by his lonesome. Sure he may have contributed to a few losses but he single handedly Superman-ed you several wins making up for the bad days the defense was having. I’ll take that any day. The defense was completely unable to pull its weight most weeks, it was unable to make up for the offense when they had some bad days. Therefore the blame still mostly lies on the defense. Now appreciate the fact you have a damn franchise qb or we will send you to be a NJ fan
April 19th, 2026 at 9:48 pm
Ugo Says:
April 19th, 2026 at 9:08 pm
ONeill, Baker saved this team from being a 3-4 win team and was solely responsible for at least 4-5 wins all by his lonesome.
———–
So what you’re saying is he ‘singlehandedly’ won games?
April 20th, 2026 at 3:25 pm
Ugo. Please don’t no other team wants BAKER as a staring quarterback but you Baker fan boys and his family.
April 20th, 2026 at 5:48 pm
Defense was 19th, offense was 21st. i know, injuries and OC. well explain 2023 with a healthy Ol and EVERY skill player starting all 17 and canales as the OC, the offense was 23rd. Remeber that 4-7 start when they would have picked inside the top 10 as late as december? That same year our defense was 7th in scoring.
Funny the Bears last year had the 29th ranked defense and went 11-6 in a divison where all 4 teams had a winning record, and won a playoff game. year before that, The Commanders defense gave up more points then ours and they went 12-5 with a rookie Qb. made it all the way to the title game with a defense that gave up over 35 ppg in the playoffs. All that while being in the same divison as the eventual Sb champs Eagles.
Id like to see how many drives the OPPOSING offenses took over in our territory…after say a interception???Remeber the Bills game we were up by 6 and Mini me threw a pick and gave buffalo a short feild. very next play, Allen throws a 20 yd td pass and the Bills never relinquished the lead.
A guy like Allen does not need help or a short feild. baker was not “hurt” that game either. We heard no peep of a injury. he actually ran head first into the end zone. Buffalo just got a 40 ball hung on them by Miami and Tua. meanwhile Baker was 16/28 for 173 yards, 1td and 1 int. The offense nearly ran for 200 yards thru 3 quarters.
At what point? SO for him to win 12-13 games ONCE he needs: weak division, Liam, Ol being a top 5 line and Bucky playing like a top 5 back . 2 prolific wideouts and a 70 catch tightend PLUS a defense thats top 7 in scoring with AWJ doing a prime Ed Reed impersonation.
So basically for him to do ONCE what most of the top guys do almost yearly, he needs the defense from 2023 and the offense from 2024 and playing in a historically weak divison. Thats pretty damining.