The Bucs defense was shredded by Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ offense to the tune of 343 yards and four touchdowns in their 34-24 loss on Sunday afternoon. A number of elements contributed to the Bucs’ struggles, including miscommunications in the secondary and a lack of pressure. But perhaps the biggest challenge came when Jamel Dean left the game early with a knee injury, putting backups Dee Delaney and Ross Cockrell into elevated roles.

While it didn’t look pretty out there, Arians was actually pleased with the performance of his two backup corners, putting the blame on the rest of the secondary for the mishaps.

Bucs CB Dee Delaney – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“He (Delaney) played really, really well,” Arians said. “He gave up one play where he got picked a little bit. But he might have played best in the secondary that we had, and Ross Cockrell was probably next best. The rest of the guys, they need to pick it up. And when we have interceptions right in our hands, we need to catch them.”

Tampa Bay was burned by former Buc DeSean Jackson, who scored on a 75-yard touchdown pass after running by a confused Mike Edwards. Jackson had another big play later, taking a short reception up the field for 40 yards after Devin White crashed into Carlton Davis.

“It was some communication and some just really bad technique,” Arians said. “The coverage, they just played it really shitty.”

The secondary deserves some blame, but an inability to impact the quarterback led to several big plays. The Bucs have just three sacks through three games despite blitzing a league-high 45 percent of the time. With a depleted secondary, Tampa Bay needs all the help they can get.

“You can’t ask our secondary, especially with the shape it’s in, to go play a ton of man-to-man,” Arians said. “That limits you. The ball is not going to be held for sacks to happen, so it’s a little bit of both. We have to do a better job of getting some man-to-man pressures in there and getting after the quarterback. Then when we’re also playing zone, we need to get home. The secondary and the front is not right. They’re just not meshing very well.”