Short-Yardage Defense
July 14th, 2026
Strong (short-yardage) defense.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles has never shied away from his defensive goal: Stop the run first, last and always.
Joe could argue Bowles’ Achilles heel as a coach is his pass defense. Only once since Bowles arrived in Tampa Bay in 2019 has his pass defense finished ranked above No. 20. That’s likely because he puts so much emphasis into stopping the run.
And while the Bucs’ defense last year was sad overall — allowing the second-most points scored in the fourth quarter really is inexcusable — the Bucs’ short-yardage defense was outstanding.
As documented by Alex Blickle of Aaron Schatz’s FTN Football Almanac, the Bucs’ short-yardage defense was one of the NFL’s best in 2025.
The Bucs defense was No. 1 in DVOA on second-and-short and No. 3 in DVOA on third-and-short.
The key number with this stat is unknown. How often (few?) did the defense face second- or third-and-short?
Naturally, if a team has a soft defense, there likely aren’t too many times the same defense sees a third-and-short play. The opposing offense too often is on first down instead. The Bucs ranked 15th in third-down defense.
July 14th, 2026 at 5:00 am
Makes sense… it’s a passing league set up to reward big shots down the field so naturally our defensive philosophy is to load up against the exact opposite lol. I’m not a TB basher but man he does himself ZERO favors.
July 14th, 2026 at 6:00 am
If you can stuff the run regularly – the opponent is forced to be somewhat one dimensional with their play calls.
If you can stuff the run AND have a consistent pass rush – then that makes things VERY difficult for offenses.
The rules of this game have changed so much in the last 30 years – and almost every one of those changes favor the offense…. favor the passing game in particular…..
But what hasn’t changed is that if a defense has trouble stopping the run – and gets gashed regularly on the ground – then that defense is in BIG BIG trouble – especially come playoff time. Teams will exploit that weakness relentlessly.
July 14th, 2026 at 6:00 am
If this team comes out of the gate slow it’s not going to be pretty around here.
Especially if it’s the defense that’s struggling again.
July 14th, 2026 at 7:00 am
Pickgrin says “but what hasn’t changed is that if a defense has trouble stopping the run…that defense is in BIG, BIG, trouble.” Bowles knows what it’s all about, just like Pickgrin does. He’s not had the players but he’s been adamant about getting the offense stocked first. Bowles is the right choice for this team and he’s fixing to have his best year as a head coach in this league.
July 14th, 2026 at 7:19 am
except for the patriots game
July 14th, 2026 at 7:38 am
Be interested to know of our 4th down defense, we seemed to fail on most of those
July 14th, 2026 at 8:01 am
Obviously, if you’re usually successful stopping the run you’re going to see a lot more passes. Pass plays offer a lot more opportunity for an offense to screw up. If you can’t stop the run you’re in for a long slog of a game. Where we have a problem lately is that we have zero pass rush. If the QB has all day he will pick you to shreds.
July 14th, 2026 at 9:38 am
Stop the pass – last. Always.
July 14th, 2026 at 10:11 am
As far as pass coverage goes the short middle should be better with Anzalone and Trotter back there. Smith is pretty good as long as long as the play doesn’t get past him. I know everybody loves him but he never seems to want to pursue. Scott is supposedly like a linebacker at nickel. Sure, are corners are going to need the pass rush to actually work or they’re just doomed. That brings up the pass rush. That other guy from the lions seems like a big improvement over Reddick. Bain should have been a top ten pick. They say Trotter can blitz. Walker? Wait and see. Yaya wants some wawa in this contract year. An improved pass rush will help those boys in the back out exponentially.
July 14th, 2026 at 11:10 am
The Bucs’ red zone defense was among the worst last year. ‘Nuff said.
Am really wondering if Bowles aims to put in six defensive backs on passing downs this season. Remember, he was a safety and prefers to add extra safeties in place of CBs as the extra defensive back. And Scott, say, could likely double as an extra passing down LB.
July 14th, 2026 at 11:14 am
Discourage the run, so you can get more opportunities to pressure the pocket.
Nvm rendering a team 1-dimesional and how that effects an offenses plan of attack once they also realize they won’t get far running into our front. That’s when we get the opportunities to see how legit this new rotation up front is
July 14th, 2026 at 11:24 am
Wonder how we were on 3rd and 4th down late when the game was on the line. I would wager not as good. When we were desperate for a stop? Nada. Forcing punts? Didn’t we go an entire game without forcing a single punt last year?
Go Bucs!
July 14th, 2026 at 11:39 am
3-28
So why is 3rd and long an almost guaranteed 1st down?
July 14th, 2026 at 1:01 pm
Pickgrin Says:
July 14th, 2026 at 6:00 am
If you can stuff the run regularly – the opponent is forced to be somewhat one dimensional with their play calls.
^^^^^^^^^^
If this is true, why are Bowles defenses regularly shredded by average/below average QB’s? Was Kirk Cousins good against anybody besides Bowles and his lousy defense? Someone please send a memo to Bowles, this isn’t the 1970’s or 1980’s NFL anymore, teams can pass the ball, too.
July 14th, 2026 at 1:01 pm
A very predictable defense is easy to pick apart by even low tier QB’s.
Cousins and Ewers are great resources to pose these queries to.
With no effort to change tactics the inevitable outcome is relatively simple to ascertain.
That’s what makes it so vexing. Almost like an inexperienced child who drifts through life clueless of reality.
I’m sure those capable of escaping such a vortex could be quite loquacious on the subject.