PR Roundtable: What’s The Biggest Issue With Bucs Defense?

A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday during the Bucs’ regular season. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough question. This week’s prompt: What’s the biggest issue with the Bucs defense?

Scott Reynolds: Bucs’ Four-Man Pass Rush Is A Big Let Down

The Bucs’ lack of pass rush has really been hurting the team this year, especially up front with the defensive line and the outside linebackers, which is where the majority of sacks and pressures should be coming from. Through eight games the Bucs have notched 21 sacks, which is less than three per game. That puts Tampa Bay on pace to record 44 sacks this season, which would be the lowest sack total in the Todd Bowles era dating back to 2019. What’s even more troubling is that five of those sacks have come from inside linebackers Lavonte David (two) and Devin White (one) and free safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (two).

That means that the defensive linemen and outside linebackers have contributed just 16 in eight games – a pedestrian average of just two per game. Nose tackle Vita Vea still leads the team with 3.5, followed by three sacks apiece from outside linebackers Shaq Barrett and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. Barrett no longer has the sudden burst to threaten offensive tackles on a down-in, down-out basis. Tryon-Shoyinka looks more like an athlete playing football than an instinctive pass rusher.

New outside linebackers coach George Edwards has been a disappointment and has not made an impact at all on this unit. Tampa Bay’s composite team pass rush grade is 69.2, according to Pro Football Focus, which ranks 22nd in the league.  The reserve outside linebackers only have a combined five sacks, led by Anthony Nelson’s two. The Bucs only have three strip-sacks from their defensive front, resulting in just one turnover. It’s just not good enough.

Rookie defensive tackle Calijah Kancey is already the Bucs’ best pass rusher up front, notching his second career sack in Houston. He would have more, but essentially missed the first four games of the season, in addition to most of training camp and all of the preseason, which stunted his development. But Kancey isn’t getting much help from his teammates. Defensive tackle Logan Hall, the Bucs’ top pick in 2022, has disappointed and has just half a sack on the year. Is Hall a bust or is Kacy Rodgers failing to develop him? Maybe it’s both.

C.J. Stroud had all day to throw on Sunday due to the lack of pass rush and wound up throwing for an NFL rookie-record 470 yards. The Bucs secondary didn’t play well, but was burned as a result of the lack of pressure on Stroud. Most QBs want to throw the ball under 2.5 seconds. Stroud held on to the ball for an average of 3.11 seconds because he had so much time in the pocket. That proved to be fatal for Tampa Bay’s defense.

Matt Matera: Lack Of Interceptions By Starters In The Secondary

This Bucs defense has been built by playmakers for years. They’ve only had one playmaker show up in the secondary and that’s Antoine Winfield Jr, but even he isn’t intercepting the ball. Now Winfield gets a pass because he’s done literally everything else for the defense, including forcing three fumbles and recovering them, but what about the rest of the group?

Part of the frustration over the Bucs’ starters in the secondary to take the ball away is that Tampa Bay is pouring a ton of money into Carlton Davis III and Jamel Dean. What has the team gotten in return? Davis has recorded one interception in his last 31 games. In that same time frame Dean has recorded two, and they were from the same game back in Week 2 of last year. Neither of these players are living up to their contract at the moment. 

Some of it is because Todd Bowles is calling way too much zone when these players are best at man-to-man, but the point still remains. The other starter in the secondary, strong safety Ryan Neal, has been discussed time and time again regarding his struggles in coverage.

Shockingly enough the Bucs are tied for second in the NFL in turnover ratio at +8. The Bucs have ripped the ball out at an extraordinary rate, forcing and recovering eight fumbles, tied for most in the league. Many times though it’s tough to advance the ball on fumbles because a team has multiple players diving after the football. Interceptions give a team much more of an opportunity to head up the field and make a big play.

The last interception recorded by the Bucs was defensive lineman Will Gholston in Week 8 against the Bills. That was Gholston’s first of his career. The lone pick for him is more than Winfield, Neal, Davis and Dean have combined. Outside linebacker Shaq Barrett has more than all of them as well with his pick-six near the goal line in Week 2.

Slot corner Christian Izien does have a team-leading two interceptions on the season, but he’s not part of their base package, and he’s also a rookie. Then there is backup Dee Delaney, who also has two picks on the year. These guys are making plays while the others are not except for Winfield. Outside of the fluke Gholston pick, the Bucs haven’t intercepted the ball since Week 4. This needs to get better if they plan on winning another game soon.

Bailey Adams: Bucs Defense Can’t Get Off The Field On Third Downs

There’s been a lot of maddening things about this Bucs defense in 2023. The very basic answer to this question is “almost everything” because defense is supposed to be this team’s identity under Todd Bowles and if the defense is bad, Bowles offers very little else as a head coach.

But to narrow it down, I’m pointing to third-down defense as the most frustrating aspect of the Bucs defense this year. The unit is allowing opponents to convert on 48.2% of third downs this season, which ranks 31st in the league. That right there is already a losing recipe before adding all of the other shortcomings into it.

In their Week 3 home loss, the Bucs allowed the Eagles to convert on 10 of their 16 third downs. In a Week 6 loss to Detroit, Tampa Bay gave up a 9-of-16 mark on third downs. In the next two losses, the defense allowed the Falcons and Bills to each go 7-of-13 on third downs.

Ironically, the best third-down performance this defense has had in a loss was this past Sunday, when the Texans went just 3-of-11 while still managing to score 39 points.

It hasn’t just been a bunch of third-and-1’s and third-and2’s, either. Tampa Bay is giving up third-and-longs constantly. Whether it’s the lack of pass rush, missed assignments, playing off-coverage or lack of communication, there’s always something that allows the opposing offense to pick up just enough yardage to keep the chains moving and keep the Buccaneers offense off the field.

The Bucs are 21st in average time of possession and while the offense does its part in that by going three-and-out far too often, the defense’s inability to get off the field when it has the chance to is allowing other teams to control games.

Josh Queipo: It Starts At The Top With Todd Bowles

Long been known as a defensive mastermind, has the NFL potentially figured out Bucs head coach Todd Bowles? If you look at my colleagues’ answers (all of them very well-supported and in their own rights deserving of consideration) you find the biggest issue is … the entire defense. The pass rush is not getting home despite the Bucs blitzing at, once again, the highest rates in the NFL.

The Bucs are fifth in the NFL, per Pro Football Reference, with a blitz rate of 35.2%. But their 20.8% pressure rate is 21st in the league. And the more defenders you bring into the rush, the less you leave in coverage, where the Bucs’ back seven has been largely atrocious in recent weeks.

Ryan Neal has been beyond defendable, and is likely benched for the rest of the season, but Zyon McCollum, Jamel Dean and Chris Izien all had horrible games against the Texans. And then there was Carlton Davis III …

Absolutely all time terrible game for CD3. Perr PFF:

Targeted 8 times, 7 catches, 112 yards (16.0 yds/rec), 3 TD’s. The one incompletion? A Tank Dell drop…

Dell’s 6-114-2 line could have bigger if not for two drops…

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) November 7, 2023

And finally, the game-planning must be questioned as well. The Bucs got their backsides handed to them in each of the past two matchups by offensive coordinators who just out-schemed Bowles. In Buffalo, Josh Allen was able to get the ball out of his hands in less than 2 seconds on 30 of his 39 drop backs. This is because he had easy options to throw to as the Bucs allowed miles of separation between themselves and the Bills receivers.

And the Texans had receivers open – WIDE OPEN – on darn near every single pass. As bad as it was, and it WAS BAD, several C.J. Stroud inaccurate passes in the first half and four drops by receivers saved the Bucs defense from looking even worse.

To recap, the pass rush which has long been a function of Todd Bowles’ scheme is not getting home. The secondary where they have invested several day-two picks and just under $100 million in, is having, outside of Antoine Winfield Jr., collectively their worst year. They can’t get off the field on third downs. Their star players are making very few splash plays.

Every single Pewter Reporter is right. But when ALL of that is happening … it’s an indictment on the guy controlling and leading the whole thing.

Adam Slivon: Lack Of Supporting Firepower On Bucs’ Defense 

When looking at the Bucs defense this season, there has been a litany of issues. Leading up to the Texans game, head coach Todd Bowles spoke about how the unit must get better and start getting sacks and turnovers. Well, that did not happen, and it was their worst showing thus far.

Antoine Winfield Jr., Lavonte David, and Vita Vea have more than done their part to prop up the defense. Outside of them, there has not been enough consistency and the rest of the starters have done little to provide a next line of defense, so to speak.

In the secondary, Carlton Davis III and Jamel Dean have both underperformed and Davis, in particular, had a dreadful 60 minutes in Houston. For being paid like top-15 cornerbacks in the NFL, they have been average at best and not worth their respective price tags.

On the topic of the secondary, Zyon McCollum has remained very up-and-down in his second season, while Christian Izien has come back down to earth after interceptions in his first two games. After hoping to get a free-agent bargain, Ryan Neal has struggled to the point that he was benched for Dee Delaney on Sunday. For a group that Todd Bowles preaches to have communication and a high football IQ, that has yet to fully show up on the field.

Looking at the front seven, the group has underwhelmed except for David and Vea. Shaq Barrett has been good, but not quite near the level of great that he reached between 2019-2021. Calijah Kancey has shown promise to be disruptive, but he is still developing as a rookie.

Joe Tryon-Shoyinka looks far from a long-term starter, ditto for Logan Hall. In Devin White’s case, he has been – Devin White. He has moments of “getting live” but not nearly enough to warrant a new contract from the Bucs.

While the Bucs defense has plenty of firepower, plenty of starters have not gotten the job done and have either plateaued or regressed. That is the biggest issue for a defense that needs to get it together in a hurry.