A year after Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith had his best season in 2021, he’s having the worst season of his career in 2022.

With four games left, Smith leads the league with 11 penalties. His six sacks surrendered are tied for sixth-most in the NFL.

Smith’s career-high in penalties was 13 in 2016, which was his second year in Tampa Bay. The most sacks he’s allowed was eight in 2018. Last year, Smith gave up just one sack and was only flagged six times.

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

It’s not just the number of penalties that Smith has given up that is alarming. It’s when those flags are thrown that has been the killer.

In the waning moments of Tampa Bay’s 17-16 comeback win over New Orleans, a holding call on Smith wiped out a touchdown by Chris Godwin. Thankfully the Bucs scored two plays later on a touchdown catch by Rashaad White with three seconds left.

Last week in a 35-7 loss at San Francisco, another Smith holding infraction took points off the scoreboard. Smith’s holding call negated a 68-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans that would have tied the score at 7-7 in the first quarter.

Yet despite Smith’s rough year, which he has attributed to personal issues, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said that he remains the best option at left tackle.

“We’ve considered everything and Donovan right now is our best option,” Bowles said, when asked if he would consider starting reserve Brandon Walton at left tackle.

Bowles said that Smith’s breakdowns, which contribute to holding calls and sacks are fixable.

“They’re physically correctable,” Bowles said. “We’ve got to correct them. You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again. It’s costing us.”

Bucs Will Face Talented Bengals D-Line Without Wirfs

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: USA Today

Bowles noted that Smith and the Bucs offensive line will be facing another talented defensive line this week with Cincinnati a week after facing Nick Bosa and San Francisco’s dominant defensive line.

“They’re tough, they’re very physical and they play hard,” Bowles said. “Obviously D.J. [Reader] is a big guy, he’s been doing it for a while now. They’ve got guys on the edge that can play, they’ve got guys in middle and on the back end that can play. We’re going to face a tough D-line every week. That’s the NFL – you’re going to face one every week. So we’ve got to be ready to play and we’ve got to be physical too.”

The 6-foot-3, 335-pound Reader presents a big challenge at defensive tackle for the Bucs, while defensive ends Sam Hubbard (6.5 sacks) and Trey Hendrickson (six) are a problem as edge rushers. Hendrickson broke his wrist last week against Cleveland and his status for Sunday’s game is uncertain. He recorded three sacks against Smith in two games in 2020.

On Wednesday Bowles said that Wirfs wouldn’t be ready to return to action from his sprained ankle in time for the Bengals game.

“No, I don’t think so,” Bowles said. “He’s working to get better, but I don’t think it’s this week.”