In an embarrassing showing by the defense that resulted in the Bucs losing in last-second fashion to the Texans 39-37, there are a ton of candidates for most disappointing. Let’s take a deeper look and list them.

Bucs Head Coach Todd Bowles

Bowles’ calling card is as a defensive mind who can scheme up pressure and cause opposing quarterbacks to make bad decisions. Well, C.J. Stroud didn’t make any bad decisions; the Bucs rarely got any pressure and the Texans offense dropped 39 points on the Bucs defense 10 days after the Bucs defense got embarrassed on Thursday Night Football.

Bowles opted to play soft coverage against a Texans offense that had the time left and timeouts needed to take advantage, giving up big play after big play. The Texans’ final drive featured plays of 14, 6, 14, and 26 yards to score the game-winning touchdown.

Bowles also once again had questionable time management at the end of the 1st half to top it off. He gives the Bucs no advantage on in-game decision-making and now has one of the worst defenses in the NFL, so the question now becomes…what is Bowles’ value?

CB Carlton Davis III

Texans QB CJ Stroud and WR Nico Collins – Photo by: USA Today

Carlton Davis was in coverage on two different Texans touchdowns. The first was a 29-yard go ball to Tank Dell where Davis let Dell get behind him and then got turned around when the ball was in the air. The second was on a 4th-and-goal that could have stopped the Texans from scoring altogether where he gave up too much room to Texans TE Dalton Schultz in the front of the end zone for an easy completion to give the Texans a 30-23 lead early in the 4th quarter. Davis would later give up the game-winning score to Dell again, this time for 26 yards.

This will likely go down as the worst game of Davis’ career. Even worse than the Tyreek Hill game during the regular season of their 2020 Super Bowl year.

S Ryan Neal

Ryan Neal is consistent in the fact that he has become almost a mainstay on this list week-in and week-out. This week is no different as Neal’s coverage lapse and subsequent bad pursuit angle allowed a 75-yard touchdown to Noah Brown. The Bucs tried to limit Neal’s negative effect in the passing game by subbing in defensive back Dee Delaney on obvious passing downs, but this came on the first play of the Texans’ opening drive in the 2nd half. Neal has not played nearly as well as he did in Seattle last year.

Neal would later be fully benched for Delaney.

CB Zyon McCollum

Zyon McCollum blew several coverages. Early in the game, it did not matter much as C.J. Stroud was missing easy throws to his receivers. But as the game wore on, those blown coverages became even more prescient as Stroud and the Texans’ offense unleashed on McCollum and the Bucs’ defense to the tune of 470 yards and five touchdowns.

ILB Lavonte David

Lavonte David was a revelation early in the game, showing up seemingly everywhere and notching a tackle-for-a-loss and a forced fumble. But as the game wore on David started making mistakes. A few key missed tackles in the second half allowed the Texans to keep drives going that led to crucial scores in their comeback effort.

David was also in coverage on several of the soft zone completions over the middle that helped the Texans move the ball down the field. David capped off his bad second half with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

SCB Christian Izien

Christian Izien was in coverage on several pass completions and incompletions alike where Texans’ receivers were open. On a near Antoine Winfield Jr. interception off of a bad connection between Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Nico Collins, Izien tried to press Collins, missed the jam, and then had to play catchup on the seam/slant.

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett and Texans QB CJ Stroud – Photo by: USA Today

Bucs Pass Rush

Despite three sacks on the day, the Bucs’ pass rush did not show up nearly often enough. Stroud was given too much time to throw on way too many dropbacks aiding in his historic day.

Stroud’s time-to-throw on the day may very well end up around three seconds, showing he had plenty of time to allow receivers to come open. When the Bucs were able to get some pressure, more often than not, they were unable to finish the play, allowing Stroud to navigate the pressure and turn potential negatives into positive plays.