Bucs head coach Todd Bowles  – Photo by: USA Today

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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport X account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to SR each week via X using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: This offense is good enough to win the Super Bowl. What can we do to get the defense to at least complement the offense? Is this a one off, or is the defense just not that good?

ANSWER: Tampa Bay’s offense is overcoming some early season injuries and is becoming a real force in the league. We’ve seen the offense score 23 points in Week 1, 20 points in Week 2, 22 out of the 29 points in Week 3, and then 23 out of the 25 points in Week 4. In fact, the Bucs have scored at least 20 points in each of the last 20 games, including the 2024 postseason, which is a franchise record and the current longest such streak in the NFL. The last time the Buccaneers have failed to score at least 20 points was in a 26-7 loss in Week 3 last year.

Yet in Seattle, the Bucs offense truly came alive with four touchdowns and three field goals to total 38 points (including a key two-point conversion). Credit new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard for some fantastic play calls, and quarterback Baker Mayfield and rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka for some fantastic connections downfield. Running back Rachaad White also deserves credit for filling in for the injured Bucky Irving with two rushing touchdowns against a stingy Seattle defense that didn’t allow a single rushing score prior to Sunday.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

When it comes to the defense, it’s about putting together four quarters. Tampa Bay’s defense gave up 17 of the team’s 24 points in the first half versus Philadelphia last week, but then held the Eagles to just one touchdown in the second half. In Seattle, the Bucs were a few seconds away from pitching a first half shutout before surrendering a touchdown, then allowing the Seahawks to score 28 more points in the second half.

Yet, I don’t think Tampa Bay’s defense played horrible defense. The lack of pressure on Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold was truly the worst part. Even worse than surrendering 122 yards on the ground, including 86 yards on 10 carries (8.6 avg.) to Kenneth Walker III. I think part of the reason Todd Bowles did not blitz Darnold much was because he was down two of his top cornerbacks in starter Jamel Dean and rookie reserve Benjamin Morrison. Tampa Bay had to play rookie Jacob Parrish the whole game and veteran Kindle Vildor, who has been inactive for most of the season.

Instead of just saying Bowles’ defense played like crap, I’m going to give Darnold his due. Just like Mayfield was for the Bucs, Darnold was in the zone on Sunday. He completed 28-of-34 passes (82.4%) for 341 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. Darnold’s passes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp and others were pinpoint accurate despite some really solid coverage by Bucs defenders. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to your opponent, and I think that’s the case here, yet the Bucs absolutely have to find a way to limit their opponents to field goals rather than five touchdowns.

I think this is a one off situation for Bowles’ defense, which did come up with two huge takeaways and won the turnover battle. I said the Bucs needed to do in Friday’s SR’s FAB 5 column on PewterReport.com in order to win and they did. The Buccaneers became the Ballhawakaneers in Seattle and did enough defensively to grab a hard-fought road win against a very good NFC team.

QUESTION: Was that Baker Mayfield’s best game ever?

ANSWER: Statistically speaking Sunday’s game versus the Seahawks was not Baker Mayfield’s best game passing the ball. That distinction belongs to Mayfield’s game at Green Bay in 2023 in 34-20 win over the Packers. Mayfield had the first perfect passer rating of 158.3 in his career on December 17, 2023, where he threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns. He also became the first opponent quarterback to post a perfect passer rating at Lambeau Field.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

But his epic game against Seattle in Tampa Bay’s 38-35 win was darn close. Mayfield completed 29-of-33 passes for 379 yards and two touchdowns for a 134.7 QB rating. More importantly, the Bucs QB didn’t have a turnover, which was a key component in the team’s win. Mayfield completed 87.9% of his passes, which is the highest completion percentage of any NFL quarterback this year.

Mayfield’s MVP-caliber season continues to roll along and he’s on pace to throw for 34 touchdowns and just four interceptions this season if his current averages hold up over an entire season. What’s even more important than the statistics is that Mayfield has been ulta-clutch this year, as Tampa Bay has now won four games in the last two minutes thanks to the offense putting up the final points in those games.

QUESTION: The kicking was good, the punting was good, but the kick coverage was absolutely awful and led to short fields in Seattle. The unit is a liability every week for something and it has cost/almost cost this team wins. The defense was awful today but special teams certainly did not help. What’s the solution?

ANSWER: Bucs special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey has to be feeling like he’s playing the old Whack A Mole arcade game. One week it’s a blocked punt by the Texans. The next week it’s a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown against the Jets. Then it’s another blocked punt, this time returned for a touchdown by the Eagles. In Seattle it was the inability to slow down the Seahawks’ kick return game.

Bucs ST coordinator Thomas McGaughey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Seattle’s kick return game averaged 28 yards per return with Dareke Young leading the way with five returns for 154 yards (30.8 avg.). Young had returns for 43 yards and 50 yards in the second half to set up short fields that eventually led to Seahawks touchdowns. I was concerned that if the Bucs kicked the go-ahead touchdown late in the game and there was still time on the clock that the Seahawks would win the game on a kickoff return for a touchdown.

What’s the solution? I don’t know. I don’t envy McGaughey right now and there are still 12 more games left in the regular season. There is a chance he’s not the special teams coordinator next year, and if his units don’t get fixed and stay fixed I’d be in favor of replacing him with assistant Keith Tandy in-season. What I do know is that the blocking – and now coverage – units of special teams scare the crap out of me. It’s like being on a roller coaster, but not the fun kind. That kind that makes you nauseous and want to get off the ride halfway through.

QUESTION: Where was Vita Vea on Sunday? Was it scheme or playing through injury? Our most disruptive player got a goose egg in the box score. Love him – need him!

ANSWER: I’ve got to go back and look at the tape today. It is odd to see Vita Vea not show up on the box score at all at the end of a game. Vea had a big game last week with two coverage sacks on Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. To see him not record a single statistic, especially in Seattle as he played at the University of Washington nearby.

But it wasn’t just Vea that was disappointing. It was the entire four-man pass rush upfront. Haason Reddick and Yaya Diaby missed an opportunity to sack Sam Darnold on a critical fourth down on Seattle’s final touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter. The Bucs didn’t register a single sack and only Diaby and Reddick each registered a QB hit. Defensive tackle Logan Hall was penalized for a bad roughing the passer penalty in the second half. Outside of that, Darnold had plenty of time to throw the ball.

Seahawks QB Sam Darnold – Photo by: USA Today

Outside of the near miss by Reddick and Diaby, the only other time than Darnold was truly pressured was on Antoine Winfield Jr.’s blitz on the final Seahawks drive of the game. Thankfully, SirVocea Dennis drew the block of the running back on his simultaneous blitz, which freed up Winfield to rush Darnold’s throw, which bounced off Hall’s helmet and into the waiting arms of linebacker Lavonte David.

I think the reason Bowles didn’t blitz Darnold as much was because he was down two cornerbacks in this game. But the fact that Tampa Bay’s front four got very little pressure on Darnold and allowed him to get too comfortable in the pocket is very worrisome moving forward.

QUESTION: Is it time to pay Josh Grizzard so he doesn’t leave like the previous other OCs? This week especially, Todd Bowles’ defense looked terrible. Thankfully Lavonte David saved the day. But this defense has been bad, and the stats are misleading. Josh Grizzard’s offense is carrying this team. Glazers, pay the man!

ANSWER: Well, coming into Sunday’s game, Tampa Bay’s defense was ranked fourth in total yards allowed (272.8 avg.), ranked fifth in run defense (85 avg.) and was third-best on third downs (32.65% conversions). So I wouldn’t say that Todd Bowles’ unit was playing bad football. Sunday in Seattle was certainly not Tampa Bay’s finest moment defensively, especially in the second half as the defense surrendered four touchdowns. But the Seahawks are a very good team and Sam Darnold was clearly in the zone. Thankfully, so was Baker Mayfield for the Bucs.

As for offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, I thought he did a masterful job of play-calling in Seattle. The Bucs had to win a game shootout style, especially in the second half as the score was just 13-7 at halftime. It was tough to run against the Seahawks’ sixth-rated run defense on Sunday, evidenced by just 56 yards on 24 carries (2.3 avg.) for the Bucs. But Grizzard called enough runs to keep the offense balanced, and Rachaad White made the most of his opportunities with two touchdowns and a key, 12-yard run to pick up a crucial first down and set Tampa Bay up for a game-winning field goal.

Bucs C Graham Barton, OC Josh Grizzard and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I know that Bucs fans are shell-shocked over losing the team’s last two offensive coordinators Dave Canales and Liam Coen to head coaching jobs in Carolina and Jacksonville, respectively, over the last two years. Todd Bowles has become a kingmaker when it comes to picking offensive coordinators, and let’s hope that Grizzard is not the next one-and-done in Tampa Bay. If the Bucs have another strong year offensively I’m sure the Glazers would open up the checkbook and make Grizzard one of the highest-paid offensive coordinators in the NFL. They were prepared to do that last January with Coen, but Jacksonville’s head coaching offer was understandably too tempting to turn down.

Something tells me that Grizzard, whose personality is more lowkey than the uber positive Canales and the hard-charging Coen, will not be as sought after just one year as a play-caller at every level. Yet the current NFL trend of hiring young, offensive-minded head coaches is still quite popular, and the better Baker Mayfield plays the more notoriety Grizzard is going to get from the national media. That will in turn raise his profile to where he will get some interest as a head coaching candidate in the offseason. Brace yourselves, Bucs fans. It’s coming.