The opening six games of the Bucs’ 2022 season have been a disappointment. Of course, as recent as three years ago, a 3-3 record through six weeks would’ve felt promising. But the standard changed when Tom Brady arrived in 2020 and led Tampa Bay to a Lombardi Trophy that season before coming back and taking the team to a franchise-record 13 regular season wins last year. Nowadays, 3-3 won’t cut it. And the Bucs know that.

“We’ve been frustrated. We’ve definitely been frustrated, for sure,” Brady said during his Thursday press conference this week. “We have a lot of great competitors. Again, I don’t think anyone in your job is going to feel great if you’re doing your job and it’s not going well. It’s the same for football players, too.

“For us, when you’re at 3-3, yeah we wish were better, but we haven’t earned it. So we need to do a good job of earning it. That means going out and emphasizing the right things, working on the right things, practicing, gaining confidence and ultimately going out in the game and executing. That’s the reality of what we have to do. Our whole job is to try to go accomplish that. We’re putting a lot of focus on that.”

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

There’s a lot wrong with the Bucs right now. Offensively, they aren’t executing at a high level. That has led to about a 10-point dip in points per game compared to last season. The offensive line hasn’t been good enough. The run game hasn’t done enough. Tampa Bay’s had injuries to key receivers. Brady himself didn’t have the sharpest day last Sunday in Pittsburgh.

And on defense, the Bucs have seen a significant dropoff since their hot two-game start to the season. Cracks began to show a little bit in Week 3 before the Chiefs dominated them in Week 4. Late in Week 5, more problems emerged. Then, in a Week 6 loss to an undermanned Steelers team, the defense repeatedly failed to get off the field despite forcing Pittsburgh into third-and-long after third-and-long.

So, how can the Bucs be fixed? There’s plenty going on behind the scenes and in meeting rooms to figure that out, of course. But all of that means nothing if it doesn’t translate to the field.

Bucs Need Their Leaders To Be Their Leaders

This isn’t the same Bucs team as the one that lifted the Lombardi Trophy two seasons ago. It isn’t even the same team that won 13 games and came a blown coverage away from potentially hosting the NFC Championship Game last year. Key veteran leaders are gone. Ndamukong Suh, Jason Pierre-Paul and Rob Gronkowski all had a presence about them, and Tampa Bay needs its leaders to step up and replace the juice they brought.

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

Brady is obviously the team’s No. 1 guy. He’s the greatest quarterback of all time and has won more games than a lot of his teammates have even played. His leadership style isn’t always the nicest, but his teammates respect that he’s willing to get in their face to demand more from them. After a week of outside talk about Brady chewing out his offensive line on the sideline last Sunday, second-year center Robert Hainsey said that’s what he wants out of a teammate and leader.

“Improve, get better,” Hainsey said when asked about Brady’s message to his offensive line. “Everyone can call it what they want, but I want nothing else than a quarterback [like] that – a guy who’s willing to tell us what we need to do and step up, [as opposed to] just sitting over there and not getting us going and not trying to help us. He wouldn’t be who he is today [if not for that]. I love that from him and I know we all love that from him. It might look weird on TV, but that’s football – it’s a team sport and that’s what you want from great teammates and great leaders and he’s the best there is.”

Brady will lead the offense – that’s a given. But other guys need to step up, too. Evans is one of those guys. The team’s No. 1 receiver leads by example, and he said this week that he just needs to go out and do more for the offense.

“Just play better. Play better and keep doing what I do – balling hard and staying positive,” Evans said.

Leadership is more than standing in the middle of the field before the game and firing everyone up with a speech. It’s about action, and Tampa Bay’s leaders – its best players – need to lead the way to get this team out of its funk. Brady and Evans can be counted on to do so on offense. On defense, the Bucs need more.

The Core Of Tampa Bay’s Defense Needs To Get Its Identity Back

Devin White has to play better. He has to play smarter. Captains can’t extend the opposing team’s opening drive with a roughing the passer penalty and then go on to blow coverage on the touchdown that eventually ends that extended drive.

Vita Vea needs to do more. Voted a captain himself, he can’t keep getting pushed around in the run game the way he has been. He needs to step up and deliver the way he did throughout the 2021 season. He has to be the player that earned that big contract extension and his first Pro Bowl nod a year ago.

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The team needs its leading rusher, Shaquil Barrett, to step up and make plays. He’s gone four straight games without a sack. As a leader, he needs to do more.

Now, it’s not as if the defense has been to blame for the Bucs’ struggles all year. Lavonte David, a longtime captain, is playing good football. Antoine Winfield Jr., Jamel Dean, Mike Edwards and Carlton Davis III are playing fantastic football this season. Of course, in the Bucs’ three wins, they’ve leaned on the defense to make up for a lack of offense. So, as much as the defense needs its leaders to be better, the offense can’t be let off the hook either.

When asked this week if the defense feels like there’s a burden to step up and pick up the slack for the team’s struggling offense, Barrett spoke to the importance of complementary football.

“It goes both ways. There are times when we struggle and they pick us up, times when they struggle and we pick them up,” Barrett said. “That’s what makes us a great team – we can feed off of each other. I know they’re going to get it together, [there’s] no added burden. I always want [the defense] to lead our team and I know the offense wants to lead our team as well.”

That’s the reality of it – there will be times when Barrett and the defense need to lead the team. But there will be other times when Brady, Evans and the offense have to step up and pick up the defense. Right now, Tampa Bay needs more out of both units. Both sides of the ball have established leaders to get them back where they need to be.

Now Is The Time For The Bucs To Get Back On Track

Things haven’t been easy for the Bucs to start 2022. They won two big road games – in Dallas and in New Orleans – to start the season. But back-to-back home losses to the Packers and Chiefs brought them back down to earth, and they haven’t been clicking since. An ugly win over the Falcons and an embarrassing loss to the Steelers have them at 3-3. This week’s favorable matchup against the Panthers presents an opportunity for the team to get rolling ahead of a tough stretch.

Bucs WRs Mike Evans and Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

After Sunday’s game in Charlotte, Tampa Bay will turn around and host Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens on short rest, playing on Thursday Night Football in Week 8. Then, the Los Angeles Rams come to town in Week 9, and that’s a team the Bucs haven struggled with in recent years.

From there, a long trip to Germany to face the Seahawks, who have surprisingly been a tough out this season. It’s not an easy stretch for the Bucs, which makes a rebound this Sunday that much more important.

The talent is obviously there for Tampa Bay to re-establish itself as a contender. But can the team bring it all together? Evans certainly believes so.

“We’re still – are we tied first for the division? We’re still optimistic,” Evans said. “I mean, you can’t stop playing. We’re all professionals. We’ve got a division game coming up this week – we’ve got to win it. It’s a must-win for us.”

That’s true. The Bucs are still leading the NFC South, but 3-3 isn’t good enough. The Falcons are right on their heels, and any slip-up can be catastrophic down the road. So, being first in the division isn’t something Tampa Bay can hang its hats on and cling to while playing average-to-below-average football. The fact of the matter is, the Bucs aren’t playing to their potential. And sleepwalking through the season to the playoffs isn’t the right route to take.

“Yeah, we’re just looking at the positives, but we don’t want to underachieve,” Evans said. “That’s what we don’t want. We’ve just got to be better and soon.”

Evans is right. The Bucs really have to stop underachieving, and it has to be soon. If their leaders have to pick them up and drag them back to where they should be, then so be it.