The PewterReport.com Roundtable features the opinions of the PR staff as it tackles a Tampa Bay Buccaneers-related topic each week.

This week’s topic: What is the Bucs’ biggest area of concern right now?

Scott Reynolds: Tampa Bay’s Lack Of Pass Rush
Health at cornerback is the obvious answer here heading into the Week 2 home opener against Philadelphia, but being a guy who admires defensive line play, I’m going to say Tampa Bay’s biggest concern is its pass rush. In order to have good secondary play there has to be a good pass rush. Covering receivers, tight ends and running backs is half of a rodeo. Instead of hanging on for eight seconds like cowboys do, it’s four seconds for cornerbacks – and most receivers can cover almost 40 yards in four seconds. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees is hard to sack because of his quick release, but he was only sacked once and hit five times on 45 pass attempts. That’s not good enough, and that’s just as much as a reason why Brees passed for 439 yards and three touchdowns in Sunday’s 48-40 win in New Orleans.

Bucs DE Carl Nassib – Photo by: Getty Images

Injuries to veteran cornerbacks Brent Grimes and Vernon Hargreaves are thin right now, but it wouldn’t matter if the Bucs had Ronde Barber and Brian Kelly back there if the pass rush doesn’t affect opposing quarterbacks any more than it did on Sunday against the Saints. Bucs general manager Jason Licht put an awful lot of resources into acquiring veteran defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul and Vinny Curry and defensive tackles Beau Allen, Mitch Unrein and Vita Vea, the team’s first-round pick, in addition to defensive end Carl Nassib, who was claimed off waivers from Cleveland. Unrein and Vea were hurt and didn’t play on Sunday, but those who did play along the defensive line didn’t give the Bucs the type of return on investment they were hoping for.

Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy (three tackles, two QB pressures), Curry (one tackle, one sack and two QB pressures) and defensive end Noah Spence (zero tackles, one QB pressure) were the only defensive linemen to register statistics on Sunday, although the statisticians somehow didn’t credit Nassib for a quarterback pressure because he had one. Pierre-Paul was invisible in his Bucs debut, despite playing 48 plays, which was 75 percent of the snaps. Curry also played 48 snaps, while Allen played 31 plays, Will Gholston logged 26 snaps, Nassib played 25 plays in his debut and Spence had four snaps. If Tampa Bay is going to weather the storm with a banged up secondary, the defensive line has to come through with more than a collective five quarterback pressures, four tackles and one sack this week against Nick Foles and the Eagles offense.

Mark Cook: Early Injuries At Cornerback
When people would ask me how the Bucs were going to do this season, I said the same thing. This team has talent, will need some good luck to go their way and they need to stay healthy. Do that, and this team gives itself a chance at making the playoffs.

Bucs CB Vernon Hargreaves III – Photo by: Getty Images

Unfortunately the injury bug has already taken a toll on this team, and at a crucial position of concern coming into the season, the secondary. First it was cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III early in camp, then Brent Grimes missed time. Next, free safety Justin Evans was banged up in practice one day last month then M.J. Stewart took his turn on the sidelines. The good news was, all of those players appeared to be ready to go for Week 1. Then Grimes hurt his groin last Thursday and didn’t even make the trip to New Orleans.

The Bucs scrambled, but then took another hit when Hargreaves left with a shoulder injury after having an outstanding game. In fact, my apologies to Hargreaves for not having him on the Most Impressive List last Sunday. I rewatched the game this week and he really stood out. And now, news came out on Tuesday night that his shoulder injury was more serious than first thought and will be placed on injured reserve.

The Bucs rookie duo of Stewart and Carlton Davis, and maybe even safety Jordan Whitehead, looks like they will be counted on heavily this week and most likely all season long. Tampa Bay will also have to rely on Ryan Smith to play cornerback too, which is a risky proposition. To think the Bucs defense can score 48 points a game every week is far-fetched and the team will need to get the rookies up to speed – quickly. And also pray the rest of the secondary stays well and Grimes gets back on the field soon.

Trevor Sikkema: Mike Smith’s Scheme
I don’t – you guys. I just don’t know about this scheme.

This is year three of Mike Smith’s defense in Tampa Bay, and on Week 1 his defense gave up 40 points for many of the same shortcomings we’ve seen over the last two years. Now, I want to be fair. It was Week 1, and the first week is always the most difficult to plan for as a defensive coordinator. You also have to be honest with who they were playing: future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees and an excellent offensive coach in Sean Payton. But is this not the kind of offenses they’re going to see come playoff time, if this team makes it to where they want to go?

Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

You see, that’s what worries me the most. It’s not that it was just Week 1. I’m just running out of faith that Smith can scheme a game plan together during the duration of the playoffs, as opponents get tougher and tougher. We haven’t seen him string a series of defensive wins together since the 2016 season, and even then it was due to turnovers, which have a strong element of luck to them.

Now that the injuries are starting to pile up, that, in theory, isn’t going to make things any easier for Smith to truly to out-scheme offensive coordinators. The Bucs have a tough schedule this year, and they’re going to need Smith to have a revelation in his game plans. The last two years weren’t good enough, and neither was Week 1.

Can the rest of the season be? That’s my main concern.