I think they were in love with Dennis and thought they could squeeze another year out of David. And Plan B was to buy KJ Britt some faster shoes.Bucs had Payton Wilson for the taking there in the third round and went for McMillian who will be lucky to have 30 catches by the end of this year.
Don't think the kid is a bad player by any means but we definitely could've used our draft picks smarter.
this post really hits home on the last part of my post above, especially when there seems to be questions about McMillan
youre probably right.
that was a bad plan
That last drive by SF demonstrated what is wrong with the Bucs defense. Pathetic.
Vi Jones only played 8-10 snaps yesterday so Britt was on the field a lot. The initial premise on Britt was that he was a good run defender and not good in coverage.
He is NOT a good run defender lol. Multiple times yesterday people ran by him, he couldn't free himself up from blocks and was not fast enough to fill the hole.
Any good team will exploit Britt amd the Bucs dont have much they can do about it unless Jones steps WAY up or they play a ton of dime . . but Whitehead just went out for the season
The lack of talent at critical areas is still the problem, the injuries to stars at NT/Safety made it worse, especially during the 4 game losing streak. Again, it is the area we knew would be a problem, it should be no surprise that it is.
I agree that they either over-estimated what they had on the defensive roster - or they didn’t, but knew they weren’t going to address it until 2025 (my guess).
As good as Coen, Mayfield, o-line, run game & WR’s have been this year, they can play with anyone. IF we can just get to average on defense for the balance of 2024 - we can have some fun.
I think the plan has always been to address the defense in 2025.
my two-cents.
The defense has gotten a little more healthy, hopefully they can GET to average. Unfortunately, the Giants game didn’t show us much as the Giant o-line didn’t give Tommy Cutlets enough protection to test us… but it did give us more time to get as healthy as we’ve been in several weeks - getting Tykee Smith back will help, as will giving Zyon another week to get healthier…
Carolina has become a concerning game, and I don’t care by how many we win by, we just MUST win that game.
Dallas & NOLA also seem to be clicking - so it’s not going to be a cakewalk. However, Atlanta seems to be fading.
Excited to see how it plays out.
the injuries to stars at NT/Safety made it worse, especially during the 4 game losing streak.
Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Jordan Whitehead played all four games during that losing streak.
These excuses simply don't play.
Bucs had Payton Wilson for the taking there in the third round and went for McMillian who will be lucky to have 30 catches by the end of this year.
Don't think the kid is a bad player by any means but we definitely could've used our draft picks smarter.
McMillian is looked down upon by the locker room and other people in the organization. He is going to be a bust in the end.
Muh source?
the injuries to stars at NT/Safety made it worse, especially during the 4 game losing streak.
Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Jordan Whitehead played all four games during that losing streak.
These excuses simply don't play.
good grief
Well, they did all play… they probably just took games off because Bowles was mad at them.the injuries to stars at NT/Safety made it worse, especially during the 4 game losing streak.
Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Jordan Whitehead played all four games during that losing streak.
These excuses simply don't play.
Minter has done such a good job with the Chargers and that defense.
Bottom tier unit last year, now best in the league in defensive scoring.
Need to bring in a dawg at DC next year.
Well, they did all play… they probably just took games off because Bowles was mad at them.the injuries to stars at NT/Safety made it worse, especially during the 4 game losing streak.
Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Jordan Whitehead played all four games during that losing streak.
These excuses simply don't play.
You’re flailing here with these excuses.
The team’s, and Bowles' as DC, most impressive performance this season was against the 10-1 Detroit Lions. They were without Antoine Winfield Jr. and Calijah Kancey. Let’s stop with the excuses, especially the inaccurate ones.
NT/Vita missed 2 games
S/AWJ missed 4 games
OLB/Diaby missed 1 game
CB/Dean missed 4 games
CB Bryce Hall - played one game - IR
DT/Kancey - missed 5 games
This is in addition to the missing Edge/ILB/CB we knew we did not have going into the season.
By contrast, offensive players who missed multiple games prior to the Ravens game are:
Goedeke - 4 games
Palmer - 2 games
Since the Ravens game -
Godwin - last 4 games - out IR.
Evans - 3 games
Wirfs - 1.5 games
facts.
NT/Vita missed 2 games
S/AWJ missed 4 games
OLB/Diaby missed 1 game
CB/Dean missed 4 games
CB Bryce Hall - played one game - IR
DT/Kancey - missed 5 games
This is in addition to the missing Edge/ILB/CB we knew we did not have going into the season.
Todd Bowles "we like our guys"
Well, they did all play… they probably just took games off because Bowles was mad at them.the injuries to stars at NT/Safety made it worse, especially during the 4 game losing streak.
Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Jordan Whitehead played all four games during that losing streak.
These excuses simply don't play.
You’re flailing here with these excuses.
The team’s, and Bowles' as DC, most impressive performance this season was against the 10-1 Detroit Lions. They were without Antoine Winfield Jr. and Calijah Kancey. Let’s stop with the excuses, especially the inaccurate ones.
I have to admit, I didn't realize Bryce Hall was on IR. He's a difference maker. That completely absolves the HC/DC from having the 29th overall and 24th scoring defense in the NFL.
Again, all teams have injuries. It's an excuse. The offense had/has injuries to important personnel too, but they don't need the excuse as they are top 10 overall and top 5 scoring.
When players are out injured, it's incumbent upon the coaching staff to implement schemes and coach up the replacement players for them to perform. Admittedly the Bucs roster doesn't have the depth that other teams do. That impacts performance. But I also feel the Bucs coaching staff on the defensive side could be doing a better job getting the defense to play better. The Bucs coaching staff on the offensive side has done a better job getting more from the replacement players. And you see that circles back to Bowles and "his guys".
