2-Point Conversion: Todd Bowles, Bucs Defense Turn Aggressive

It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ post-game 2-Point Conversion column, which features two big statements, two probing questions and two bold predictions.

The Bucs ended their four-game losing streak with a 20-6 win at home against the Tennessee Titans. Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles made some changes in personnel and personnel usage to help the defense register four sacks of rookie quarterback Will Levis and hit him 13 times. The Bucs defense put the clamps on running back Derrick Henry and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, while Mike Evans and Rachaad White caught touchdown passes from Baker Mayfield.

Tampa Bay improved to 4-5 and gained some ground in the NFC South race due to losses by Atlanta and New Orleans on Sunday.

2 BIG STATEMENTS

STATEMENT 1: Todd Bowles, Bucs Defense Turn Aggressive

Football at the NFL level can be incredibly sophisticated, and full of intricate nuances in terms of personnel packages, personnel deployments, routes, concepts, combo-coverages, stunts up front, and complex blitz packages.

The NFL can be quite complicated – sometimes way more than it has to be.

Sometimes playing great football – even at the highest level – can be as simple as a coach just putting players in position to do what they do best.

And playing the best players.

And featuring the best players.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Dave Canales each did that on Sunday in a much-needed 20-6 win over visiting Tennessee.

The victory snapped the Bucs’ four-game losing streak and drew the team closer to being on top of the NFC South once again.

A week after the Bucs defense was shellacked for an NFL rookie record 470 yards and five touchdowns by Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud in a 39-37 loss at Houston, Bowles and his unit bounced back.

Gone was the predictable Cover 3, Cover 2 and Quarters soft coverage that featured linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David spot dropping in zone coverage on nearly every down every week. Against Tennessee, David and White were often lining up in the A gap in a “double mug” look with one – or both – coming on a blitz.

A week after barely pressuring Stroud, just blitzing him three times on 20 second half drop-backs, Bowles brought pressure against Titans rookie Will Levis nearly every down. Bowles was merciless, his players were relentless and Levis was sacked four times. More importantly, Levis was hit 13 times.

One of those hits came from seldom-used pass rusher Markees Watts, an undrafted free agent who dazzled in the preseason, and led to Antoine Winfield Jr.’s first interception of the season. Watts has been inactive for most of the year, but behind the scenes he’s been wreaking havoc in practice. So, kudos to Bowles for activating him and deploying him in pass rush situations on Sunday.

Bowles also used inside linebacker Devin White the right way – which is blitzing him and having him attack the line of scrimmage rather than drop so much in coverage, where he loses some of his aggressiveness. White is so much better moving forward than he is in reverse, and it showed against the Titans. He finished with four tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and two quarterback hits.

Bowles also deployed Calijah Kancey an awful lot at defensive end in a four-man front along with Logan Hall and Vita Vea inside at defensive tackle with either YaYa Diaby or Anthony Nelson at the other end position in Tampa Bay’s four-man front. Kancey is a star in the making and had three tackles, including two tackles for loss and two QB hits.

The Bucs had a season-high 10 tackles for loss and held Henry to just 24 yards on 11 carries.

“That’s something that we want to do as a defense – we want to attack,” Kancey said. “We don’t want to absorb. That’s just the mentality we have here and that’s what we wanted to do. If we could get them behind the chains on first and second down, then on third downs we could go out there and have fun. That was our goal as a defense – just to not get 22 going, and to have fun on third down.”

Where was this attacking style of play last week against Stroud? At least Bowles didn’t make the same mistake twice and sit back in zone coverage and let another rookie QB pick the secondary apart. Instead, Bowles attacked.

“We were probably more aggressive today like we were all year like we used to be, just getting back to the basics and doing the things that we do well and playing fast football,” Bowles said.

When Levis had to throw the ball, Bowles wisely subbed out Ryan Neal at safety and replaced him with Dee Delaney. Neal was used mostly on run downs and finished with three tackles. Delaney didn’t record a tackle but had a pass breakup. More importantly, Neal didn’t give up a big play in the passing game or a touchdown this week.

As for Canales, the one thing he did better this week on the heels of a 37-point outburst in Houston last week was get the ball to Mike Evans – over and over and over again. Evans was only targeted five times against the Texans and had just four catches for 87 yards.

Canales just fed Evans and didn’t worry as much about Cade Otton, Trey Palmer and Deven Thompkins, who were targeted a total of nine times and caught a combined five passes for 36 yards.

Despite a few drops, including a gimme touchdown, Evans caught six of the 10 targets thrown his way for 143 yards and a TD. He averaged 23.8 yards per catch and was a big-play machine for the Bucs.

Canales also called for another screen pass for running back Rachaad White. A week after recording a 33-yard catch-and-run at Houston, White scored a touchdown on a beautiful, 43-yard screen, getting a great perimeter block from fellow rookie Trey Palmer.

The Bucs’ playmakers showed up and made plays to finally snap the team’s four-game losing streak. But Bowles and Canales also get credit for putting those playmakers in the best position to make those plays on Sunday.

“We watched the game tape together and we understood who could do what and who could go where,” Bowles said. “We start letting guys do what they do best, and then we just put all together, and let them play and put it in their hands.”

STATEMENT 2. Bucs Defense Shuts Down Derrick Henry, DeAndre Hopkins

The key to beating Tennessee was stopping Derrick Henry before he started. That meant stacking the box with seven and sometimes eight defenders and playing man coverage behind that front. Head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles was super aggressive against Henry with a myriad of run blitzes, and it paid off.

“It was big to win first down,” Bowles said. “I’m pretty sure we won first downs. Letting Henry get started on first down, giving them second and manageable, third and manageable, makes for a long day.”

Instead of dropping inside linebackers Lavonte David and Devin White in coverage like he’s done for weeks, Bowles had them attack the line of scrimmage relentlessly. David and White combined for nine tackles, three tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, two pass breakups and one sack.

“Devin and Lavonte did a heck of a job getting downhill,” Bowles said. “They had to get downhill for two reasons – to try to get to the quarterback, and to try not to let 22 [running back Derrick Henry] get going. He’s a heck of a back. He really forced the issue today and did a lot of good things for us and freed some people up there.”

With Henry stymied in the first half, Bowles knew that the Titans would try to establish him in the second half, trailing just 7-3. Henry had seven carries for 12 yards in the first half. Bowles’ defense would limit him to just 12 yards on four carries in the second, plus tackle him for a four-yard loss on a catch after halftime.

Henry finished with just 20 total yards, his lowest output since 2017.

“Well, we knew they didn’t go to him as much in the first half, so that was the priority – him [DeAndre] Hopkins. They were going to have to get the ball them guys to win in the second half. So, it was the extra priority in the second half in making sure he didn’t get going.”

With Bowles playing more man coverage on Sunday, the combination of Jamel Dean and Zyon McCollum, who started in place of the injured Carlton Davis III, shut down Hopkins, holding him to just 27 yards on three catches.

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: On A Day With Many Standout Performers, Who Really Impressed?

Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey is quickly becoming a star in Tampa Bay but keep an eye on fellow rookie defender Yaya Diaby. The outside linebacker recorded his second sack in the past three games and had a big tackle for loss against 247-pound running back Derrick Henry.

The 6-foot-3, 263-pound Diaby plowed into Henry and drove him back behind the line of scrimmage in an impressive display of strength. That was one of Tampa Bay’s 10 tackles for loss in Sunday’s win.

“He’s a strong man, especially against the run, and he presses the pocket against the passer,” Todd Bowles said. “So, he’s only going to get better and better.”

Kancey has been impressed with the play of Diaby, who is cutting into Joe Tryon Shoyinka’s playing time.

“Yes, he’s starting to come on,” Kancey said. “Yaya and I have had some talks about how we can do more to help this team. We talk post-practice, pre-practice and throughout the day – just how we can help this team do more. And we went out and did our job and we did a little more today – and it showed.”

Bowles needs to play Diaby and fellow rookie pass rusher Markees Watts more and Tryon-Shoyinka less down the stretch. Diaby is showing signs of potentially becoming a starting-caliber edge rusher during his rookie season.

QUESTION 2: Will The Real Bucs Defense Please Stand Up?

A week after allowing the Texans to amass 496 yards and score 39 points, the Bucs defense limited the Titans to just 209 total yards (167 passing, 42 rushing) and six points. The 209 total yards were the second fewest allowed by Tampa Bay this season (197 at New Orleans).

Was the Houston game an aberration? Or was the Tennessee game the outlier? It really depends on how Todd Bowles chooses to deploy his personnel in the weeks to come. If he calls plays aggressively and sticks to blitzing and putting pressuring on opposing quarterbacks, the Bucs have a greater chance of having outcomes like Sunday’s against the Titans.

If Bowles reverts back to playing a bunch of soft zone coverage and trying to get pressure with just the front four there could be a few more games where QBs pile up the passing yardage – and the points. And that will lead to a few more losses.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1: Tampa Bay Will Lose At San Francisco

Just accept it, Pewter People. The 49ers are the better team with better coaches. They are 6-3 and just destroyed a pretty good Jacksonville Jaguars team, 34-3. The Bucs are going to lose in San Francisco again, probably in a similar fashion as last year’s 35-7 defeat.

Yes, upsets can – and do – happen in the NFL. The Bucs have a puncher’s chance, especially with some confidence coming from a win over the Titans that snapped a four-game losing streak. But if you resign yourself to the fact that the Bucs will be 4-6 after playing the 49ers it will make next Sunday more palatable. The real season – the final six games ­– are all winnable and feature four NFC South games. Those games will tell the tale of the 2023 Buccaneers.

PREDICTION 2: Bucs Will Probably Win The NFC South

Just like last year, the division lead in the NFC South is like hot potato. Nobody wants it. The Bucs had it early and gave it to the Falcons. They had it for a week and gave it to the Saints. With Atlanta losing three straight and New Orleans losing three of its last five, Tampa Bay is still in the thick of the division race – even at 4-5.

Tampa Bay needs to win at Atlanta after losing to the Falcons at home. If the Bucs can do that, beat the Saints again – this time in Tampa Bay – and sweep the Panthers that could be enough to win the NFC South for a third straight season. The Bucs might need to find one more win – either at Indianapolis or at home against Jacksonville – but winning the division is still doable.

And perhaps probable.