It was a tale of two halves for the Buccaneer’s defense in Hard Rock Stadium last Sunday. The first half the Buccaneers played like they should have against a Jay Cutler-led Dolphin’s offense, recording three interceptions and a fumble recovery before the headed into the locker room.

Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith was pleased with his defense’s ability to take the ball away in Miami.

“That’s something that, over the last two seasons, I would say takeaways are something we’ve done the most consistently,” Smith said. “Our guys have a really good understanding of the importance of it and attacking the football. They come in bunches and it becomes a contagious thing.”

Enter the second half. Following a quarterback change, Matt Moore was able to mount a comeback that almost saw the Buccaneers blow a game that they had in hand. In fairness, that comeback can’t be put squarely on the shoulders of the defense. Offensive struggles left the defense on the field the majority of the second half when the game should have been put to bed. The only offensive drive that didn’t end in a punt was the final one that resulted in a game winning field goal from kicker Patrick Murray.

Bucs LB Kwon Alexander – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

While the defense worked with the cards the offense dealt them, they stayed on the field longer than they had to by struggling mightily on third down. The defense was stout on first and second down, forcing the Dolphins into plenty of third-and-long situations, but then allowed them to convert on third-and-long six times. Three of the third down conversions resulted in explosive plays of 45 yards or greater and one touchdown.

Smith was not nearly as pleased with the second half performance of his defense.

“We didn’t play third down well at all,” Smith said. “It’s been an Achilles heel for us. We did some things well in that ball game, but the third down was horrendous. We fought like crazy on first and second down to get them into third and long and, especially in that second half, we didn’t do a good job at all.”

Smith noted that it was not just one thing that resulted in the inability of get off the field.

“We weren’t able to put a whole lot of pressure on the quarterback and we weren’t able to cover the guys. It was two-fold. It wasn’t just one thing. We have to do a better job. A lot of it had to do with the calls, probably, because we didn’t get it done.”

Third down defense has been a problem for the Buccaneers all year. They are currently allowing the highest third down conversion percentage in the league with opponents converting just over 46 percent of third downs. That rate is even higher in away games with opponents achieving a 53 percent success rate.

Bucs DT Gerald McCoy

Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy knows how important it is to get off the field on third and long.

“We’re getting them in third and long,” McCoy said. “Now we have to get off the field. We did it great at home against New York, then we go down to Miami and had them in 3rd and 8 plus so many times and we can’t get off the field. That’s not good. We have to be more consistent.”