The Bucs have to beat the Panthers on Saturday to have a chance at making the postseason. But they also have to make sure they don’t beat themselves as well in order to win it.

Penalties, turnovers, poor execution, missed assignments, missed tackles and much, much more has put Tampa Bay at a record of 7-9 and having lost seven of its last eight games. That’s why head coach Todd Bowles has continued to harp on the team fixing itself before even worrying about a rematch with Carolina.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR

“It’s working on us,” Bowles said this week. “Obviously, working on us. Understanding the things that we did wrong so we can get right. We don’t play 48 or 60 minutes of bad football, we play spurts and we have a couple plays. We’ve got to put it together. It’s the last game – one way or the other, we’ve got to find a way to win.”

There’s been plenty of defenses lapses by Tampa Bay. Looking at the loss to the Panthers two weeks ago, Todd Bowles inexplicably called a safety blitz with 12 seconds remaining and no timeouts for Carolina, leaving rookie receiver Tetairoa McMillan one-on-one against cornerback Jamel Dean, who botched the coverage and McMillan scored to give the Panthers the lead at halftime.

Bowles Weighs In On Bucs’ Tackling Issues

During their latest game, safety Tykee Smith made a mistake on two different coverages that led to touchdowns for the Dolphins. He was benched for Christian Izien because of it. And another problem that’s really come to the forefront lately for Tampa Bay has been the team’s tackling. Whether it’s lack of effort or poor execution, it’s just been bad.

“We’re physical, we just miss tackles at times, and we give up big plays at times,” Bowles said. “Which is inexcusable when you’re playing defense because everything can cost you, no matter how good you do everything else. You’re definitely not happy with the tackling and the busted assignments – you’re not happy with that at all. But they play hard – they play very hard, but that’s not good enough. We’ve got to play smarter.”

Bucs CB Benjamin Morrison and Dolphins RB De’Von Achane – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Sam Navarro

Bowles continued.

“It’s not so much as the first guy missing the tackles,” Bowles said. “I thought the downfield plays of the coverages have been more critical than the missed tackles in that [area]. I thought the missed tackles creeped up a little bit more in this past Miami game. There have been some missed tackles in the flat, but not as many as I thought busted coverages down the field.”

Bucs Offense Needs To Pick It Up, Too

While the defense has been the main source of the Bucs’ second half struggles, the defense certainly isn’t off the hook either. Baker Mayfield’s play has regressed as he’s thrown more interceptions down the stretch. Even with the returns of Bucky Irving, Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan, they haven’t gotten better results.

The Bucs scored only 20 points against the Panthers and just 17 facing Miami. Not exactly stellar. And once again, it’s common mistakes that have done them in.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Nathan Ray Seebeck

“It’s how well can you execute?” quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “You look at the things we’ve messed up in these last few games, you’ve got to be able to do the little details right. Everything – you never know when that play is going to really make the difference. So, be on your p’s and q’s on normal downs and distances, and obviously, third downs and red zone [we] have to be really locked in. How well can we do our jobs? That’s the goal.”