This Bucs team is terrible. Throw a dart blindfolded and you’ll hit something disappointing. Here are my dart throws.

S Tykee Smith

Tykee Smith at times this year has been the Bucs’ best defensive back. Those versions of him were not present in this game. Early in the game, Smith got caught on a poor angle while playing a deep half zone. Theo Wease was able to get an advantageous vertical angle on Smith down the left sideline. That created an easy shot play from Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers for a 63-yard touchdown on 3rd and 8 when the Bucs were in position to get a defensive stop. Instead, Miami tied the game at 7-all.

Smith would seemingly get benched shortly after that play as Christian Izien took over for him for the majority of the game.

LB SirVocea Dennis

Dennis has proven that the Bucs’ faith in him to be a starter this year was unfounded. On the Dolphins’ third drive of the game, he missed a key tackle early in the drive, which allowed Dolphins running back DeVon Achane to break off an 11-yard gain. Just a couple of plays later, Dennis had a clear shot at Ewers on a sim pressure for a would-be sack. But Dennis slowed his pace and allowed the Dolphins signal-caller to fire off a deep shot to tight end Greg Dulcich deep down the middle of the field for a 23-yard gain to put Miami in field goal range. The Dolphins would take a 10-7 lead shortly thereafter.

Dolphins TE Greg Dulcich – Photo by: Nathan Ray Seebeck

Dennis was victimized later in the game on 3rd and goal inside the two-minute warning in the first half. He was the underneath coverage player on tight end Greg Dulcich when the Dolphins needed 10 yards for the score. He couldn’t keep proper inside leverage and Ewers was able to fire a strike for the Dolphins’ second touchdown of the game, giving them a 17-7 lead.

Dennis had seven combined tackles, but several missed attempts as well.

Bucs Defensive Tackling Effort

Some of this is a lack of athleticism at the linebacking level. Lavonte David’s athletic drop off this season has been steep and Dennis has been out-leveraged, out-athleted, and just plain outplayed in space throughout the year. All of that was on display in a contest against an offense that specializes in creating open space opportunities for their playmakers in space against linebackers. But the missed tackles didn’t stop with the linebackers.

Dolphins RB De’Von Achane – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Sam Navarro

Cornerback Benjamin Morrison bounced off of ball carriers. Defensive linemen, including Vita Vea and Jason Pierre-Paul failed to drag Achane down. Even the Bucs’ safeties, Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith, struggled to get good angles that would help them bring down Achane and tight end Greg Dulcich. Even the normally reliable Jamel Dean failed to secure a takedown in an effort that looked nothing like a team fighting to remain in the playoff picture.

The most egregious aesthetically was a Haason Reddick push (this is the best I can describe it) on Achane late in the third quarter that was absolutely atrocious – but somehow looks like a microcosm of the Bucs’ defense this year. The Dolphins running back used the effort to keep running forward for a big gain and a first down.

Bucs Special Teams

A blocked kick, a long kick return off a missed tackle that went out of bounds at the Miami 31-yard line, and a poorly placed punt overshadowed a couple of positive plays from the Bucs’ third unit. The blocked 55-yard field goal attempt from kicker Chase McLaughlin at the end of the first half looms large at the end of the game as Tampa Bay lost by just three points.

Special teams coach Thomas McGaughey’s side of the ball has let the team down all season long. This game was just another in a long-line of disappointing performances that took points off the board for the Bucs and put points on the board for their opponents.

QB Baker Mayfield

Mayfield’s highs are as high as anyone’s. But then the lows seem to happen at the absolute worst times. That happened once again in this game as he underthrew an open Jalen McMillan on a deep post. The pass was undercut by Dolphins defensive back Jason Marshall, who fell as corralled the pass and ended what was shaping up to be a promising drive from the Bucs’ offense.

Mayfield’s interception sucked the life out of the offense and set up a Miami score.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Jim Dedmon -IMAGN Images

In the fourth quarter, Mayfield once again was trying to will the team into the game. Coming off of a Herculean effort where he somehow stayed on his feet as he was engulfed from behind but ducked and shook former Bucs outside linebacker Quinton Bell before rolling out and finding Mike Evans for a first down, he didn’t see safety Ashtyn Davis break back to his throw on a deep pass to Emeka Egbuka. Davis undercut the throw for another interception that killed another potential scoring drive.

Mayfield finished the day with 33-of-44 for 346 yards and two touchdowns. But it was the two interceptions that were back-breakers. He also lost a fumble late in the game to make it three turnovers on the day.

LT Ben Chukwuma

Chukwuma, making his second start of his career, allowed Bradley Chubb to get into the backfield for not one, but two sacks on the day. The second was the backbreaker. After Tampa Bay’s defense was able to overcome Mayfield’s second interception with a three-and-out to somehow give the team one more opportunity to get back in the game, Chukwuma allowed Chubb to win the outside edge on a 2nd and 3 at the Miami 31.

After turning the corner, Chubb got his hand out as Mayfield pulled back to throw and caused Mayfield to fumble the ball. Quinton Bell made up for his missed sack on the drive prior, falling on the ball and killing all hope for a Bucs comeback. Chukwuma allowed 4-5 pressures and a couple of sacks on the day.

Bucs Coaching Staff

The Bucs had to have the mindset of a do-or-die game. For all they knew, it was one. Had the Panthers beat the Seahawks, only a win in Miami would have kept Tampa Bay in contention for the NFC South division title and a possible playoff berth. If you had no knowledge of the NFL and someone asked you to watch this game and guess which team had those stakes on the line and which team had already been eliminated from the playoffs, which team would you have identified as which?

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Absolutely no one would identify the Bucs as the team that needed the win. The listlessness with which this team played with is a reflection of the coaching staff. This is a staff that has said week after week that they have everything in front of them. That they know what’s at stake. That they aren’t going to let the opportunity slip away and they know how to break out of the losing slide.

All of that is willful ignorance. They played nothing like a team that had everything to lose. And if it weren’t for a Seahawks superteam, they would have lost everything. Head coach Todd Bowles looks like he has zero answers.

OC Josh Grizzard And The Bucs’ Run Game

Grizzard spoke this week of finding balance in his playcalling. He failed to find it. Mayfield dropped back to pass 50 times. The Bucs ran the ball just 13 times, averaging less than 3 yards per tote on designed run. Grizzard has shown an ability to learn from his mistakes this year, but often with over-corrections the week after.

This week was no different. After running too much on first down and not using any under-center play action, Grizzard called UCPA almost exclusively to start the game.

His second down run calls never seemed to hit, leading to the low yards per carry. His pass calls failed to find many leverage spots to exploit a Dolphins secondary that lacked a ton of talent against a Bucs receiving room that should be considered a super unit. In all, the Bucs’ offense struggled to find a groove, and that’s ultimately what an offensive coordinator is supposed to do when calling plays.