Apologies in advance—this is going to be another very negative rant. Don’t blame me; blame the results. I look forward to writing some positive articles soon, but I’m not sure when that will be.
The Defense Has Been Less than Desirable the Last Two Weeks
Over the past two games, the Bucs’ defense has given up 850 total yards and 72 points. That’s unacceptable for any defense at any level. It’s not like the Bucs’ offense didn’t do their best to control the game by piling up yards, maintaining time of possession, and scoring points. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter.
In my “Bucs Win If / Bills Win If” post last week, I hoped the defense would make enough splash plays to counteract the yards and points the Bills would rack up. Well, that didn’t happen. The Bills had receivers running wide open on several plays; there were total breakdowns in coverage. Plus, the Bucs couldn’t generate any pressure with their front four. Bills’ quarterback, Josh Allen was hardly touched the whole game (hit 1 time).
I’ve been saying this for three years, and I keep hearing, “JTS is young,” “Yaya had a great rookie year,” and “we drafted David Walker.” None of those excuses hold water. Yaya Diaby is a solid complementary edge rusher (think Greg Spires), and David Walker is a 4th round pick. Our front four wasn’t even close enough to pull Josh Allen’s flag if they were playing flag football. This is a serious problem—who takes the blame for it?
And there’s no help coming for the defense aside from Jamel Dean, who many wanted to walk the plank last year. Now he’s our supposed savior? Overall, we’re fairly healthy on defense now, at least with the guys we’ll have down the stretch.
I don’t see how this turns around for our defense.
Mid-Season Downward Spiral Is No Longer a Question
The Bucs have now lost three of their last four games, with the lone win coming against the struggling Saints. This pattern is all too familiar for Coach Todd Bowles’ teams, which often go through a 1-4 or 1-5 stretch. We’re likely to match that trend after this weekend’s game against the Rams. I’m not a gambling man, but it’s hard to resist putting some money down on the Rams for a little extra holiday cash. Sean McVay + Matthew Stafford + Todd Bowles + this defense adds up to a lot of points for the Rams. Our only hope is that this turns into a trap game for them, but I don’t think that will trip them up either.
Worst Kickoff Coverage
Lastly, I called for a change at Special Teams coach after week three of this season. The unit had already looked atrocious, giving up two blocked punts and one blocked field goal, but my biggest concern was the kickoff coverage. Special teams effectiveness relies heavily on coaching. All teams primarily use reserve players; it’s up to the coordinators to implement and teach a scheme. With recent rule changes to kickoffs, options for schemes are limited. The Bills had two kickoff returns that went past midfield and two more that crossed the 40-yard line. That’s ridiculous! What are you doing as a coach when this keeps happening over and over? It borders on incompetence. The NFL is a copycat league—watch some tape of other teams and learn from their schemes. If your personnel can’t execute what you’re asking, adapt to what others are doing. Maybe we have too many defensive backs getting pushed out of their lanes, or too many linebackers who aren’t quick enough. I don’t know, but whatever we’re doing isn’t working.
FINAL WORD
Even though our offense was moving the ball and scoring, I never really felt confident we’d pull out the game. The Bills made it look too easy on offense. After this weekend’s game against the Rams, I hope we can find a way to put together a defense that can slow down some of the less talented teams. Right now, this isn’t a playoff-caliber defense, and I’m worried about the game coming up in a few weeks against the Falcons. Kurt Cousins has a knack for torching Bucs/Bowles defenses. If he wins one game this season, it’ll likely be that one, and he could easily throw for 400+ yards and four touchdowns.
I apologize for the negativity—it’s my way of coping with this downturn. The close wins early in the season set high expectations, and we’ve had so many close calls that could have easily been losses, which would have made this season look even worse. I’m hoping Bowles can keep this team together through this rough patch and start building some momentum for a playoff run. That’s all we have after these last two performances… hope.
Thanks to the Bucs for the picture!
Not going for it on 4th and 2 at our own 40, down by 5 when our defense has already given up 37 points was borderline retarded behavior.
im not sure who made that decision but whoever it was assuming Todd Bowles, needs to be talked too this week.
mistakes happen but that really was conceding the game and made no sense at all
Not going for it on 4th and 2 at our own 40, down by 5 when our defense has already given up 37 points was borderline retarded behavior.
im not sure who made that decision but whoever it was assuming Todd Bowles, needs to be talked too this week.
mistakes happen but that really was conceding the game and made no sense at all
Obviously, zero idea on the actual decision-making, but not sure it would be that surprising that a defensive coach would be thinking his defense could come up with a stop. That could be a fatal flaw because I think you have to go for it in that scenario. In fact, they might even be calling their 2nd and 3rd down play with the understanding that 4th is go for it.
Not going for it on 4th and 2 at our own 40, down by 5 when our defense has already given up 37 points was borderline retarded behavior.
im not sure who made that decision but whoever it was assuming Todd Bowles, needs to be talked too this week.
mistakes happen but that really was conceding the game and made no sense at all
Obviously, zero idea on the actual decision-making, but not sure it would be that surprising that a defensive coach would be thinking his defense could come up with a stop. That could be a fatal flaw because I think you have to go for it in that scenario. In fact, they might even be calling their 2nd and 3rd down play with the understanding that 4th is go for it.
but....Bowles was 5-1 and he was being a little more aggressive than in prior years
that Buffalo brainfart was uncharacteristic of our earlier season success.
it's one thing to be a defensive minded head coach, it's another thing to not understand the flow of the game. Buffalo was having their way with us. There is no guarantee we would have converted but he basically lost the game with that decision, and most of us knew it right then and there.
Here is what could have happened and you let me know which one was least likely
1. Bucs convert the 2 yards, keep the drive going only down 1 score
2. Bucs dont covert the 2 yards, Buffalo gets ball at 40 and scores. BUT...alas...scores quicker than punting
3. Bucs punt the ball and Buffalo scores. Exactly what happened
4. Bucs punt the ball, and manage to stop Josh Allen and Buffalo which seems to have figured out the Bucs defense
So yes i understand Bowles was thinking #4....but that was foolish to think that was possible. He put the team at a disadvantage and he needs to be smarter than that. While our special teams and defense lost the game, this was the first 1 that i'd say coaching decisions played a big part in the L as well.
bowles looks like fool
it is as simple as it can be, you can‘t play this type of the defense if you do not have pass rush, every half-decent QB is goung to burn you … he simply doesn‘t understand that
Not going for it on 4th and 2 at our own 40, down by 5 when our defense has already given up 37 points was borderline retarded behavior.
im not sure who made that decision but whoever it was assuming Todd Bowles, needs to be talked too this week.
mistakes happen but that really was conceding the game and made no sense at all
You don't need to say that word.
It wasn't borderline. It was just retarded
