It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ 2-Pt Conversion post-game column, which features two statements, two questions and two predictions based on the latest Bucs game.

The Bucs blew another double-digit lead in the fourth quarter in Sunday’s 26-19 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers to fall to 1-5 on the season. Tampa Bay’s defense, which recorded a season-high five sacks, played well enough to win, but Zac Robinson’s inept offense couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain. Rookie Jalon Daniels threw two costly second-half interceptions and was unable to muster up a game-tying touchdown in overtime.

2 BIG STATEMENTS

STATEMENT 1. Bucs Defense Shows How Talented It Is Despite Loss

Let’s get one thing straight. The Bucs defense didn’t do enough to get the win on Sunday versus the Steelers.

Tampa Bay’s defense seemed to run out of gas in overtime, and the sacks and stops that had shown up throughout the first three quarters started to slow down in the fourth quarter, and then were nowhere to be found in overtime.

The reason? Todd Bowles’ defense couldn’t get off the field late in the game in part because Tampa Bay’s offense couldn’t stay on it by sustaining any drives.

Pittsburgh held a an 11:46 to 3:14 time of possession advantage in the fourth quarter. Yet for some reason, Bowles decided it would be a good idea to trot his defense out first in overtime, which helped the Steelers easily march down the field for a 70-yard game-winning touchdown drive.

Yet another moment of poor game management by Bowles, but you knew that, didn’t you?

So let’s talk about a defense that held the Steelers to 19 points in regulation and to just three points through the first three quarters of the game. It was a defensive effort that should have been good enough to win with – if not for offensive ineptness, which seems like a regular thing these days in Tampa Bay.

Bucs OLBs Yaya Diaby and Rueben Bain Jr. and ILB Josiah Trotter – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

After getting a ton of pressure yet no sacks last week against Dallas, the Bucs defensive front finally had a breakout game, registering a season-high five sacks and 26 pressures, including 10 QB hits on Aaron Rodgers. David Walker had two to push his team lead to four sacks in six games, while Al-Quadin Muhammad got his first sack of the season as a Buccaneer and rookies Rueben Bain Jr. and Keionte Scott each got the first sacks of their careers.

Walker had a team-high five pressures to go along with three QB hits and five tackles, including two tackles for loss in his best game as a pro. Yet Bowles refuses to start him over Yaya Diaby, who led all outside linebackers with 47 snaps. Diaby is sackless through six games, and this is another example of Bowles failing to make some necessary maneuvers on the depth chart based on performance.

Diaby has played 125 pass rush snaps to Walker’s 57 snaps in those situations and has 10 pressures this year and a 9.1% pass rush win rate per PFF. Walker has a team-high 14 pressures and a team-high 26% pass rush win rate despite playing less than half the snaps. Does Bowles not recognize this?

Outside of Walker, who was PFF’s highest-graded player on Sunday with an 81.7 grade, and some promising rookies in Bain and Scott, cornerbacks Zyon McCollum, who had 11 tackles on Sunday, and Jacob Parrish have played well this season, in addition to safety Tykee Smith, who had 10 tackles versus Pittsburgh.

Rookie inside linebacker Josiah Trotter tied for the lead with 11 tackles and nearly had a second half pick-six, but couldn’t haul it in. Trotter’s 52 tackles leads the team by 18 over the next defender – and he missed a game, too.

While inside linebacker Alex Anzalone has been a disappointment as a free agent addition, defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson has been a godsend as a free agent pickup. Robinson leads all defensive linemen with 19 tackles and a sack, and also leads the Bucs in interceptions with two – picking up another one against Rodgers on a deflected pass on Sunday.

Bucs DT A’Shawn Robinson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

After years of being the weak link in Tampa Bay, the Bucs defense finally has enough talent to be quite good. The Bucs still rank second in the league in run defense, allowing just 75.5 yards per game. Yet the team remains middle of the pack in terms of scoring defense, ranking 17th in points allowed with an average of 23 points per game.

If you remove a Bengals defensive score in Week 1 and a Vikings punt return for a touchdown in Week 3, the Bucs defense is actually only surrendering 20.3 points per game, which would be tied for seventh in the league.

Whoever winds up coaching in Tampa Bay next year should inherit a pretty talented defense, which is a good thing moving forward.

STATEMENT 2. Bucs Lack A True No. 1 WR – And It’s Killing This Offense

We all know this team misses Mike Evans, who at age 33 is having a very fine year with the undefeated San Francisco 49ers.

And we all know this team doesn’t have a true No. 1 receiver to replace him. The premise was that the Bucs might not have an alpha receiver like Evans anymore, but that the offense could get by with a plethora of No. 2 receiver types. I bought into that wishful thinking in training camp – and repeated it, unfortunately.

The problem with the Bucs is that they not only don’t have a No. 1 receiver, they don’t have anyone who even resembles what a No. 2 receiver should look like. There is no reliable go-to guy in this Zac Robinson passing game. Based upon last year’s draft status and production, that player should be Emeka Egbuka, but on Sunday against Pittsburgh he was targeted 16 times and finished with seven catches, including a touchdown, for 48 yards – a paltry 6.9 yards per reception.

That is absolute garbage.

Egbuka has 28 catches for 240 yards (8.6 avg.) and two touchdowns this year. He’s on pace to catch 79 passes for 680 yards and five touchdowns this year – which would lead the Buccaneers in all receiving categories. That’s anemic, and Robinson’s ridiculously compacted passing game, which is riddled with short routes, is mostly to blame.

Remember that Egbuka had 63 catches for 938 yards (14.8 avg.) and six touchdowns last year as a rookie. Egbuka is capable of being far more productive than he’s been.

Ted Hurst III might be the most physically gifted receiver in Tampa Bay. He produced Sunday’s longest play for the Bucs with a 22-yard catch, and he has a 40-yard touchdown this season back in Week 3. At 6-foot-4 with 4.44 speed, he has the tools to be a dynamic weapon in an offense that routinely doesn’t do anything of a vertical nature.

Play-calling is holding back Hurst’s development. Robinson should be leaning into the rookie with more targets, instead he was only targeted six times in five quarters on Sunday – catching three passes for 40 yards. Hurst didn’t have a single target the previous week at Dallas, which was criminal.

Through six games, he has 11 catches for 168 yards (15.3 avg.), which ranks fourth on the team. Hurst’s 15.3-yard average is the best among all players in Tampa Bay with at least 10 catches. Maybe try to force Hurst into a No. 1 role and see what the rookie can do.

All I know is he’s not gaining any experience running routes and not catching the ball. All he’s doing is conditioning – not helping the Bucs offense get first downs or touchdowns.

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1. How Bad Is Zac Robinson’s Offense?

It’s bad. I’m almost to the point where I’m going to call for offensive coordinator Zac Robinson to be fired unless Baker Mayfield returns to action this Sunday and all of a sudden this offense starts living up to its potential and putting more points on the scoreboard. Here’s the malaise this offense is mired in right now:

WEEK 1: 20 points
WEEK 2: 19 points
WEEK 3: 16 points
WEEK 4: 14 points
WEEK 5: 24 points
WEEK 6: 19 points

Bucs OC Zac Robinson – Photo by: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Tampa Bay has the league’s 25th-ranked scoring offense, averaging a feeble 19.8 points per game under Robinson. But it’s even worse than that. Taking out the defensive touchdown that Josiah Trotter scored in Week 1, the Bucs offense is actually averaging 18.3 points per game.

Robinson can’t blame the poor performance of his offense on rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, either. Tampa Bay scored 55 points in three Mayfield starts and 57 points with Daniels under center for the last three games.

If the Bucs offense struggles to score points again at Carolina, could senior assistant Ken Zampese, who has play-calling experience, pass game coordinator T.J. Yates or quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer be any worse than Robinson?

QUESTION 2. How Bad Are The Bucs Losing Their Fans?

Really bad. The stadium went from having 15,000-20,000 empty seats in Week 2 against the Browns to a 50-50 crowd when the Vikings came to town. Then it was a 60-40 crowd – advantage Green Bay – when the Packers turned Raymond James Stadium into Lambeau South in Week 4 before the Steelers fans invaded with their Terrible Towels and took over with a 70-30 – at least – crowd advantage.

Bucs fans are very unhappy with this team’s performance – not just this year, but dating back to last year’s 8-9 season that featured a 2-7 collapse after a 6-2 start. Head coach Todd Bowles has a 36-38 record in Tampa Bay along with two winning seasons and two losing seasons. He’s heading toward a third losing season in 2026 and is very unpopular with the fan base.

The fans are also unhappy with the Glazers’ decision to retain Bowles rather than hire an offensive-minded head coach, and fans are voting with their dollars by not buying tickets or selling their tickets to enemy fans and choosing not to attend home games. Now that strong fan bases like Green Bay and Pittsburgh have come and gone, it’s reasonable to expect that attendance is only going to get worse as the season goes on. Falcons and Saints fans don’t travel, neither do Chargers fans or Rams fans from the West Coast.

Unless this team starts winning a bunch of games, Ray-Jay could be a ghost town in November and December.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1. Baker Mayfield Returns At Quarterback This Week

I think Baker Mayfield, who is expected to return to practice this week, winds up plays on Sunday in Carolina.

Just a hunch – no inside information. Mayfield is dying to get back under center to help the team.

PREDICTION 2. Bucs Lose At Carolina Next Week

I can’t pick this team to win against better teams in good conscience. That’s why I picked them to lose to the Steelers, who are now 4-2 after Sunday’s win at Raymond James Stadium. I have no idea how Baker Mayfield or Jalon Daniels would fare against the Panthers defense in Zac Robinson’s anemic offense. Carolina’s offense is averaging 29.2 points per game. I don’t think Tampa Bay’s offense has the ability to score enough to keep up.