Bucs G.M. Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ 2-Point Conversion post-game column, which features two statements, two questions and two predictions based on the latest Bucs game.

Tampa Bay got whipped by the Lions in Detroit on Monday Night Football, 24-9, in a game that was over from the start. Baker Mayfield and the offense never found a consistent rhythm and the Bucs defense couldn’t stop running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who went over 200 total yards and scored two touchdowns. To make matters worse, outside linebacker Haason Reddick suffered knee and ankle injuries and star receiver Mike Evans suffered what could be a season-ending clavicle injury in his return to action, thus ending his quest for a 12th straight 1,000-yard receiving season.

2 BIG STATEMENTS


STATEMENT 1. Bucs Need To Trade For An Edge Rusher

History suggests that the Bucs need at least one dominant pass rusher to make it to – and win – a Super Bowl. In 2002, it was defensive tackle Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice. In 2020, it was outside linebackers Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul.

Right now, the Bucs don’t have any dominant pass rushers.

Not after losing outside Haason Reddick to knee and ankle injuries in Tampa Bay’s 24-9 loss at Detroit on Monday Night Football. Not that Reddick was necessarily dominant this season, but he did have a team-leading 26 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, to go along with 1.5 sacks.

Yaya Diaby, who had a strip-sack of Jared Goff, leads the team with four sacks and is second on the team with 23 pressures. He is a good, ascending pass rusher, but he finished the Lions game with just one sack and one pressure. Diaby made a great play, but couldn’t sustain pressure against Goff.

The guess here is that Reddick misses several weeks after getting his leg rolled up on by Lions right tackle Penei Sewell. And when Reddick returns, how effective will he be, especially if he has a high ankle sprain, which can be tricky injuries to overcome in-season?

Anthony Nelson and Diaby are not going to lead the Bucs to the Super Bowl. Certainly not with Chris Braswell and Markees Watts as reserve edge rushers.

It’s time for general manager Jason Licht to do something he probably doesn’t want to do –consider making a trade for an edge rusher. The last time he did that, it worked it pretty well.

During the 2018 offseason, Licht traded a third-round pick for Pierre-Paul, who was 29 at the time and helped the Bucs win a Super Bowl a few years later in 2020 at age 31. That third-round pick was the highest compensation that Tampa Bay’s G.M. has ever surrendered.

Yet it was well worth it – and he needs to consider doing it again.

Bucs GM Jason Licht & HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

In my 30 years of covering this franchise, the Bucs have truly had just four “special seasons” – years where they were legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Those years were in 1999, 2002, 2020 and 2021.

Four seasons in three decades. That’s it.

A heartbreaking loss in the NFC Championship Game in St. Louis ended the 1999 season, and a crushing defeat at home to the L.A. Rams in the NFC Divisional playoffs closed the curtain on a 13-win Bucs team in 2021. We know what happened in 2002 and 2020.

Special seasons don’t come around that often.

Just look at Washington. The Commanders were 12-5 last year in the first season of Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels in D.C. and made it to the NFC Championship Game. Yet the Commanders are just 3-4 this year and look more like pretenders than contenders.

This has the makings of a special season in Tampa Bay – even with a slew of injuries. Despite possibly losing Mike Evans for the rest of the season, this team is still 5-2. Tampa Bay played most of the 2024 season without Chris Godwin Jr. and still won 10 games and another NFC South title.

Licht needs to recognize that and part ways with a precious draft pick to help capitalize on this promising start. Of course, the obvious questions are “which pass rusher?” and “how much will it cost?”

Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson – Photo by: USA Today

The obvious answer is Cincinnati defensive end Trey Hendrickson, a Florida native who has posted back-to-back seasons with 17.5 sacks. Hendrickson is 30 and turns 31 in December.

But age 32 can be a scary age for pass rushers in Tampa Bay. That was the age that Pierre-Paul’s body broke down in 2021, Simeon Rice’s shoulder gave out in 2006, and the age when Shaq Barrett no longer had anything left in the tank. A lot of good pass rushers fall off the cliff in their early 30s.

Hendrickson, a four-time Pro Bowler, wants a multi-year deal worth at least $35 million per season. He has four sacks this season, but the latest reports out of Cincinnati say that the Bengals, who are 3-4 after the Joe Flacco trade, aren’t going to trade him and will just use the franchise tag on him next year. It would likely take a second-round pick to cause the Bengals to even pick up the phone and listen to Licht propose a trade – maybe even more.

The next obvious choice is Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby, who has four sacks this year and is coming off a 7.5-sack season in 2024. Crosby, a four-time Pro Bowler, just turned 28. Would John Spytek want to do his old boss a favor and part ways with a cornerstone member of the Raiders? It’s doubtful considering that Las Vegas just signed him to a three-year, $106.5 million extension and wouldn’t want to take a massive $35.1 million cap hit.

It would take a massive amount of draft pick compensation to make the Raiders want to do that. At least a first- and second-rounder. And I doubt Licht would give up a king’s ransom for Crosby.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and Raiders DE Maxx Crosby – Photo by: USA Today

The Dolphins have a pair of edge rushers who could be on the market in Bradley Chubb and Jaelen Phillips. Chubb has three years left on a massive contract that will pay him $19.45 million in 2026 when he’ll be 30, and then $18.48 million in 2027.

Chubb missed the entire 2024 season after tearing his right ACL in Week 17 of the 2023 season. And he tore his left ACL when he was with the Broncos back in 2019, which is the same one he tore back in high school.

Yet acquiring Chubb would likely only cost a mid-round pick. He has four sacks this year, but only 15 pressures in seven games along with a 59 pass rush grade from Pro Football Focus. Diaby has a 65.5 pass rush grade and Reddick has a 60.6 PFF pass rush grade by comparison.

Phillips has a 79.7 pass rush grade and 22 pressures, but just two sacks this year. The former first-round pick is only 26 and is on the fifth-year option of his contract and will want a contract extension. Phillips has a checkered injury history with an Achilles tear in November of 2023 where he missed nearly half of that season, and then an ACL tear in September of 2024 that cost him much of last year.

Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, the fifth overall pick in 2022, has a 61.5 PFF pass rush grade and has 22 pressures along with 2.5 sacks as a reserve behind Brian Burns and Abdul Carter. He makes the most sense to trade for, but he’s on his fifth-year option and will be a free agent next year. The 25-year old pass rusher will likely be in demand at the trade deadline, and it will likely cost a Day 2 pick at least.

Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux – Photo by: USA Today

Tennessee edge rusher Arden Key has a 57.1 pass rush grade with just nine pressures in five games with 1.5 sacks. He’s dealing with an injury right now and may not be worth trading for. He matched his career-high last year with 6.5 sacks. The 29-year old Key is in the final year of his contract.

Outside of Hendrickson, Crosby and perhaps Thibodeaux, there aren’t a lot of great edge rusher options to choose from.

But Nelson is better as a backup than he is a starter, and Braswell is looking like a bust as a pass rusher. Watts has shown to be nothing more than a special teams player. Banking on practice squad edge rusher Mo Kamara would be a huge gamble as he could be nothing more than a Watts-type player.

Licht and the Bucs have to know that NFC rivals like the 49ers and Eagles are also in the market for an edge rusher after San Francisco lost Nick Bosa and Za’Darius Smith abruptly retired on Philadelphia. Carolina, which is 4-3 and suddenly a threat in the NFC South, is also rumored to be in the market for an edge rusher.

Standing by while NFC foes seek pass rush help doesn’t seem like a winning strategy. With rookie pass rusher David Walker and rookie safety J.J. Roberts on injured reserve for this season, it’s like Licht and the Bucs already have some bonus draft picks coming in 2026 when those players return to the field – even though Roberts was undrafted.

It will be interesting to see what happens – or if anything does happen – to help Tampa Bay’s pass rush off the edge prior to the November 4 trade deadline.


STATEMENT 2. The Lions Wanted It More On Monday Night Football

The Bucs weren’t ready to handle the responsibility of being the top team in the NFC.

And the Lions weren’t ready to hand over supremacy in the NFC to the Bucs, either.

That was evident in Detroit’s dominant 24-9 win.

The Lions were the more mentally tough team and rose to the occasion on Monday Night Football. That mentality was transformed into physicality, as Dan Campbell’s team took it Tampa Bay for all four quarters from the first drive on as the Lions took a 7-0 lead on their first possession.

Football is about blocking and tackling, and the Lions ran harder, blocked better, hit harder and tackled better than the Bucs did. Detroit, which is now 5-2 after finishing 15-2 last season, showed that it is still the class of the NFC, and took out its frustration of losing at Kansas City last Sunday night on Tampa Bay.

Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and Bucs LB Lavonte David – Photo by: USA Today

Look no further than a key two-yard run by Jahmyr Gibbs on fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter. Reserve outside linebacker Anthony Nelson had Gibbs in his grasp in the backfield, but couldn’t make the tackle. Then defensive tackle Greg Gaines flowed down the line of scrimmage and hit Gibbs, but couldn’t bring him down. Even a shot by safety Antoine Winfield Jr. wasn’t enough to stop Gibbs, who powered ahead and dove for the first down marker.

Gibbs finished with 136 yards and two rushing touchdowns in addition to three catches for 82 yards.

Also credit Detroit’s secondary, which was entirely filled with backups, for playing extremely hard on Monday night. And the Lions pass rush played with a sense of urgency up front, knowing that the back end needed all the help it could get.

Just imagine what the score would have been and how few yards the Bucs would have generated if safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch had played, along with cornerbacks D.J. Reed, Terrion Arnold and Avonte Maddox – all of whom missed the game due to injury.

The Bucs, who are now 5-2 after the loss on Monday night, aren’t quite ready to be the hunted yet. In my recent Pewter Pulse video, I warned that Tampa Bay might not be ready for this moment – handling higher expectations and plenty of media attention.

It doesn’t mean that the Bucs can’t reach that level this year. Monday’s loss just proved that Tampa Bay isn’t ready yet at this point in the season. The Bucs needed to match the Lions’ physicality, execution and poise, and they clearly didn’t on Monday Night Football.

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1. What Was The Main Problem With The Bucs Offense?

It’s easy to say it was Baker Mayfield because the Bucs QB was rattled from the start, skittish in the pocket and throwing the ball high and inaccurate most of the night. Mayfield easily played his worst game of the year and his MVP candidacy took a big hit as a result.

Mayfield completed 28-of-50 passes (56 percent) for 228 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He never found a rhythm and had Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson open for touchdowns in the second half and couldn’t hit them. Mayfield had receivers open all night and just couldn’t hit them.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

But it was more than just Mayfield. Offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard didn’t stick to the run enough in the first quarter and the fact that Mayfield dropped back to throw the ball 54 times – he was sacked four times – and Tampa Bay only had 11 runs was not the recipe for success. Grizzard, a rookie play-caller, will learn a big lesson from Monday night’s outcome.

Up front, center Graham Barton got owned for much of the night by nose tackle Alim McNeill, who put on a Vita Vea-like performance on Monday night. Barton getting beat like a drum caused the interior of the pocket to collapse and also stymied the Bucs interior ground game. McNeill only finished with one tackle in the box score and had a pass broken up at the line of scrimmage, but made his presence felt all night.

QUESTION 2. What Was The Main Problem With Tampa Bay’s Defense?

Missed tackles. Head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles has to be sick to his stomach after seeing all of the missed tackles upon watching the game film. Defensive tackle Logan Hall missed several point-blank tackles at the line of scrimmage – and behind it – on running back Jahmyr Gibbs.

Linebacker SirVocea Dennis also missed several tackles on Gibbs and couldn’t catch him out of the backfield as the Lions running back turned three receptions into 82 yards. I can’t wait to go back and watch the film and count the missed tackles and also see how many misses Pro Football Focus counts. I have to imagine it’s quite a few.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1. Bucs Bounce Back At New Orleans

There are plenty of lessons the Bucs can learn from their loss to the Lions, and one of them is to make the next opponent pay for last week’s loss. Kansas City thrashed Detroit, 30-17, on Sunday Night Football. The Lions came out looking for blood against the Bucs as a result, making amends for their sub-par performance the previous week.

Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Now it’s the Bucs’ turn. Tampa Bay needs to play angry football against New Orleans. That shouldn’t be hard, given this is an NFC South foe that the Bucs simply can’t stand. The Bucs need to take their frustrations out on the Saints and not just collect a sixth win on the season heading into the bye week. Tampa Bay needs to carry a pissed off feeling all week into the bayou and play physical, nasty football on Sunday.

I think that happens and the Bucs improve to 6-2 heading into a much-needed bye week.

PREDICTION 2. Mike Evans Returns For The Playoffs

It was sad to see Tampa Bay wide receiver Mike Evans, who was disoriented and in tremendous pain after breaking his collarbone, leave the field like a fallen warrior on Monday Night Football. Evans might be out the rest of the season, or he may wind up playing again in late December or early January, depending on how bad of a break his clavicle is and how quickly it can heal.

But Evans should be back by the playoffs, and that could be a huge boost for the Bucs offense, which will get running back Bucky Irving, right tackle Luke Goedeke and wide receiver Jalen McMillan back at various points after the bye week.

Remember, during the 2020 season defensive tackle Vita Vea suffered a broken leg in Week 5 and missed the rest of the year, yet returned to help the Bucs win the NFC Championship Game and ultimately the Super Bowl. Wouldn’t it be something if Evans did the same thing upon his return later this year?