Bucs Not Passing The Smell Test (Yet)
November 14th, 2026
A quarterback away?
Basically, the Bucs are the little brother to the Seahawks and Vikings.
That’s how Chad Graff and Josh Kendall of The Athletic see Tampa Bay. In typing about their power rankings, they say the Bucs want to be like the Seahawks and Vikings. They’re just not good enough.
The Bucs have the defense, like Seattle and Minnesota, along with the rotten quarterback play too. But the quarterback play is just bad enough that the Bucs are the little brother.
They don’t get mentioned with the likes of the Vikings or Seahawks, but it’s actually the Bucs who have the NFL’s best defense since Week 3, based on EPA per play. But the offense is costing them games, including on Sunday night when Baker Mayfield threw a pair of interceptions and zero touchdowns.
Joe is very impressed how KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles has repaired the defense. It was bad for way too long and finally it seems to be a unit that can damn near win games.
But the play of Baker Mayfield and the rancid coaching he is getting from failed Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, wow.
Joe yesterday came across advanced stats on Mayfield that made Joe gasp.
Joe will share some of these stats next week. If Mayfield isn’t careful, he’s going to force the Bucs to draft a quarterback in April, obscene contract or not.
No decent coach is going to come in here next year (if Bowles doesn’t return) and hitch his wagon to Mayfield if his 2026 trend continues into January.
November 14th, 2026 at 11:20 am
Liam Coen – “how great do you want to be?”
Todd Bowles – “we belong”
November 14th, 2026 at 11:20 am
Might want to draft a pass catching tight end and receivers who can catch the damn balls.
November 14th, 2026 at 11:21 am
It’s not Mayfield, it’s the loss of Mike Evans. Mike had the ability to go down the field, hand fight with the cornerback or safety, and come up with the ball. How many times, inside the ten yard line, did we see Brady, and then Baker, throw one up high so Mike could out jump the defender. All that is missing now.
November 14th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Pass protection might help! Doesn’t bode well when the QB is running for his life instead of going through progressions!
November 14th, 2026 at 11:28 am
Wasn’t it bakers over throw what got Evans hurt last year running full stride diving to catch it and there goes his collar bone. Oh if we only had an accurate intelligent qb. It’s a 3-28 cursed Bucs life
November 14th, 2026 at 11:29 am
John… I was singing that tune the first 3 weeks.
OL has improved. Baker still has way too happy of feet back there and he was protected fine as he stared down the WR and threw that ghastly pick six.
I think his best excuse is still the OC but Bakers play has been unacceptable regardless. Protect the damn ball.
November 14th, 2026 at 11:33 am
We’re drafting a QB in April unless Baker has a dramatic turnaround in his play.
November 14th, 2026 at 11:36 am
John Sinclear Says:
November 14th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Pass protection might help! Doesn’t bode well when the QB is running for his life instead of going through progressions!=============================
Of course, but that’s not what people who should no better see. Just easier to blame it on Mayfield who doesn’t select the play, pick the WR’s, or the OLine. The best are the idiots here who insist that Baker “can’t throw the deep ball.” The throw and catch by Tez at the goal line sure looked like a perfectly thrown deep ball. Trevor Lawrence was written off as a bust until better line and receiver play turn his career in the right direction. When a QB is constantly running for his life, it should be obvious to most what the real problems are.
November 14th, 2026 at 11:39 am
It is lots of things, but did you see that article on expected EPA on obvious passing downs. Baker Mayfield was the worst.
That is not an offensive line state. That is not an OC stat.
That was a QB stat. It measures QB adjusting on the fly. In clear passing situations, the chess match starts before the snap. The quarterback is responsible for:
Identifying the Mike linebacker.
Declaring protections.
Setting slide rules or calling out hot reads/checkdowns if the defense brings a zero-blitz.
Is Baker ever identifying the pressure look? If not, the protection scheme is doomed from the start, no matter how well the linemen block their assigned men. The receivers don’t catch the ball because Baker did not put them in the obvious holes in the coverage.
How many times have we seen Baker getting paralyzed. He is looking down at the defensive lineman — hesitating — double or triple clutching — or panicking and throws directly to his first read.
Still has proven he is tough and has a great arm. The rest of it is subpar.
November 14th, 2026 at 11:44 am
Imagine if someone told you the Bucs CBs will be the best position groups and the WRs were going to be one if not the weakest?
November 14th, 2026 at 11:47 am
hee hee – 3-6 – #3 in division – #13 in conference – world beaters lol
November 14th, 2026 at 11:54 am
What is that smell? Oh right. It’s a Todd Bowles championship-caliber season.
Smells like winning to me! 3-6 might as well be 9-0. They are simply unstoppable.
3-7 is going to cause the fan base to re-up their season tickets for the next 10 years in advance.
I’m not sure they can squeeze any more fans into the stadium! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
November 14th, 2026 at 12:02 pm
ProfesserBS is an expert at bad odors. That’s why he constantly smells his own finger.
November 14th, 2026 at 12:30 pm
Baker is not getting it done and I am a fan. Think his rhythm is way off and his OC and WRs are of no help. I truly believe if we had Coen as OC the Bucs would be good for Two more wins at this point. As far as Bowles, he should have been screaming for a trade to get a WR as Hurst and EE are total garbage and Johnson isn’t far behind. Now the Bucs are stuck with these clowns.
BTW, Shep is back on the Jets practice squad the last I heard. If so, the Bucs need to sign him to the active roster and Hurst can go to the practice squad.
November 14th, 2026 at 12:33 pm
FOR XMAS…Please give us some recievers who are not hurt or droping the ball all the time it counts.
November 14th, 2026 at 12:47 pm
I’m less concerned about receivers dropping balls right now. The offense is out of rhythm in the passing game. I’m not sure they know what they’re doing on passing downs. When there’s a rhythm, they’ll catch them. I think they’re in their heads too much and that leads to lapses in focus. This is a coaching failure from the top down. Our guys can catch the ball. But we don’t have the guys to be a more vertical offense. Hurst could become that if given more opportunities. We need to draft another vertical receiver. Next year, when Egbuka is past his turf toe and we draft another downfield threat, we could have Hurst and the new guy on the outside and Egbuka in the slot. That could become a real passing game with the right coordinator. Of course, the pass blocking will need to improve and Mayfield will have to get out of his extended slump.
November 14th, 2026 at 12:51 pm
drafting a qb is a no brainier
November 14th, 2026 at 1:29 pm
Dont tell the truth you will get banned like me. This blog is Fantasy Football with woke mods.
November 14th, 2026 at 1:29 pm
Vegas thinks we are winning the division and getting a home playoff game ,, smell test or not
November 14th, 2026 at 1:32 pm
TX to Brainstorm for focus on Reality. Mods …Up Yours I do not care.
November 14th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
How will these Joe’s spin 4-9
November 14th, 2026 at 1:42 pm
They’re not passing the smell test, but they do smell. Actually, they stink bad.
November 14th, 2026 at 1:48 pm
baker needs the right OC to get him back on track. It’s like that with a lot of players. Baker had his best season with Coen. Baker didn’t do terrible with canales and shoot for half a season baker was killing it with grizz. I want baker but only with the right coach. Who that coach is most likely nobody knows. If and it’s a big if but if the defense plays the rest of the season the way they are you then bowles won’t be let go. Which can be bitter sweep. Really like the way the defense is playing. This is championship defense type of football. Do they make mistakes of course. Only the haters will point to the few they have made which yes have cost us 2 games. Go find the best defense ever in the history of the nfl and show that they didn’t make a few mistakes as well.
November 14th, 2026 at 2:34 pm
My favorite smell is this 2026 Buccaneers season. It’s a pleasant fragrance. As many real fans predicted, Bowles is having his best ever coaching season and the team is responding. Don’t over emphasize unimportant statistics. The team plays together and sticks together. It’s the other things that matter most.
November 14th, 2026 at 3:46 pm
Honestly, isn’t the expectation Bowles has a solid D on the field every season, since he is a defensive guru? The issue has and always will be his ability to coach the entire team. Look at all the OCs this team has gone through since he has become HC. Now BA is out there talking about coaching again. The timing is suspect. I get this feeling ZR will be blamed for the failures of this season, just like Grizz fell on the sword for Bowles last season.
November 14th, 2026 at 4:01 pm
We simply must draft a QB in 2027. Baker isn’t getting it done and hasn’t for over a year.
November 14th, 2026 at 4:17 pm
Bill in Seminole Says:
November 14th, 2026 at 11:21 am
It’s not Mayfield, it’s the loss of Mike Evans. Mike had the ability to go down the field, hand fight with the cornerback or safety, and come up with the ball. How many times, inside the ten yard line, did we see Brady, and then Baker, throw one up high so Mike could out jump the defender. All that is missing now.
_________
And yet we were winning games when ME13 wasn’t playing because he was injured.
🤔
November 14th, 2026 at 4:19 pm
It’s a mite early for draft decisions just yet. I haven’t looked at tomorrow’s games yet, but I sure hope they have a super tough game tomorrow with overtime.
November 14th, 2026 at 4:24 pm
Because drafting a QB always works out!! There are 20 Josh Rosens for every Josh Allen