Will Playing Dime Defense Fix Bucs’ Pass Coverage Woes?

The Bucs have a coverage problem that was exposed in Thursday’s 36-30 overtime loss at Atlanta. The middle of the field was wide open all night for Kirk Cousins, who passed for a Falcons-record 509 yards and four touchdowns, with over 300 of those yards coming across the middle.

And who is the middle linebacker in Tampa Bay? K.J. Britt, who has some athletic limitations that hinder him in coverage. So the Falcons naturally targeted his area of the field repeatedly in the win.

Not that Britt was solely to blame for the loss, but he was Pro Football Focus’ worst-graded Bucs defender in Week 5 with a 38.3 overall grade and a 46.5 coverage grade. Britt allowed three catches for 28 yards and missed a tackle.

So with SirVocea Dennis, who is on injured reserve with what could be a season-ending shoulder injury, unavailable to help, what can defensive play-caller and head coach Todd Bowles do to improve the pass coverage in the middle of the field before Saints quarterback Derek Carr takes his turns exploiting Britt and others on Sunday in New Orleans?

Will Bowles deploy a dime defense featuring just one linebacker and three safeties along with three cornerbacks?

Is bringing back former inside linebacker Devin White even an option?

Pewter Report’s Josh Queipo analyzed the Bucs’ disastrous shortcomings in the middle of the field on Friday.

Now let’s further examine the problem – and discuss the possible solution.

The Bucs Miss SirVocea Dennis – Terribly

To say that the Bucs missed SirVocea Dennis on Thursday night in Atlanta is an understatement. Dennis platooned with Britt and played in third-and-long situations and obvious passing downs. The second-year linebacker out of Pitt has a 74.3 coverage grade for the season.

K.J. Britt is a liability in pass coverage. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles won’t say it out loud, but his actions speak volumes. When Bowles demoted Devin White last year, he kept him in on obvious passing downs for his ability to blitz and to use his speed in coverage. Britt is a downhill thumper, who actually had a rough night in the run game versus the Falcons because he’s a stiff athlete who isn’t very agile. That lack of agility really shows up in pass coverage, too.

“It wasn’t tough because it was our normal stuff that we normally run but at the same time, you know, we want to have more speed on the field at certain times,” Bowles said about how tough it was not having Dennis available against the Falcons. “K.J is a very good zone player but at times we want to have some speed guys on the field and the communication has to be better, especially with the safeties. When we lost Jordan [Whitehead], we lost some of the communication aspect of it and then we just missed some drops and missed some tackles.”

So that’s why Bowles platooned Britt with White at the end of last year and has platooned Britt with Dennis at the start of this year. Bowles needs more speed on the field as Britt is one of the slower linebackers on the team. When Bowles defends him in press conferences, it’s just lip service.

“I mean, we’re confident in K.J., but at the same time, we need to make more tackles,” Bowles said. “I thought our zone drops and our tackling weren’t very good and that’s where we kind of got behind the eight ball.”

The Bucs played zone coverage over 80% of the time against the Falcons because Bowles feared mismatches in coverage with Britt being responsible for covering running backs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier, or getting mismatched against speedy, athletic tight end Kyle Pitts.

He cannot allow his defense to be handicapped by Britt’s inability to man cover, as it creates a defense that is predictable and easy to attack. Just ask Kirk Cousins, who threw the ball at and around the Bucs’ spot-dropping inside linebackers all night.

Lavonte David Is Showing His Age, But Bringing Back Devin White Won’t Help

If you look at the stat sheet, Lavonte David had a good night. He had eight tackles – one fewer than fellow linebacker K.J. Britt – along with two pass breakups and a key fourth-quarter interception on fourth down that looked like it might have sealed the win for Tampa Bay with less than two minutes left.

But according to Pro Football Focus, David was targeted 11 times in coverage and allowed nine catches for 107 yards in Atlanta. His PFF coverage grade of 48.5 was nearly as bad as Britt’s 46.5 coverage grade.

It’s tough for any football player to have to play on Sunday and then turn around on a short week and play on Thursday night. But it’s even more difficult for 34-year old linebackers like David, as football is a young man’s game. Considering the sweltering heat and humidity in Tampa for the Bucs’ 33-16 win over the Eagles, David might have only started the Falcons game with a half of tank of energy.

The reason I point this out is that if Todd Bowles were to examine his roster and not have the confidence to platoon Britt with J.J. Russell, who has just 47 career pass rush snaps, or undrafted free agent Antonio Grier Jr., who was signed from the practice squad to replace SirVocea Dennis on the active roster, then he may have to turn to playing a dime defense.

Dime defense means playing six defensive backs and just one linebacker. That one linebacker would have to be David, who has a 62.7 coverage grade this year through five games, which is understandably the lowest of his illustrious 13-year career.

Bowles has to hope that David’s poor night in coverage was caused in part by fatigue from the short week, and that he’ll be better in coverage with the rest that comes from having the weekend off. He really has no other choice right now at inside linebacker.

Before you start thinking that a trade for former Bucs inside linebacker Devin White might be a good idea due to his familiarity with Todd Bowles defense, I’ll remind you that he’s not only not starting in Philadelphia, he’s been a healthy scratch on the inactive list for most of the season.

For a reason.

Devin White isn’t a good player right now. The Bucs knew it, which is why they let him go in free agency. And the Eagles know it now, which is why he’s been inactive.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht won’t consider it based on some of White’s antics from a year ago and his declining play since the start of the 2022 season. And Licht certainly won’t part ways with draft capital as he deems it to valuable in team building for the future. Tampa Bay has really hit on some key players in the last three years, especially.

Who Would Replace K.J. Britt In Dime Defense?

If Todd Bowles were to deploy a dime defense, it would feature three safeties, three cornerbacks and one linebacker. The good news for the Bucs is that they have a bunch of safeties on the team who they really like. Unfortunately, the one safety they love the most, All-Pro Antoine Winfield Jr., has been sidelined with a foot injury since Week 1.

“When he comes back, we have those types of (dime) packages in, but with the injuries, we can’t afford to use those right now,” Bowles said.

In fact, Winfield’s injury is the reason why Bowles couldn’t use a dime defense against the Falcons on Thursday night, especially with Tampa Bay only having two walk-through practices prior to traveling to Atlanta. There just wasn’t enough time to properly implement it into the game plan on a short week.

Here is a look at Tampa Bay’s safeties who Bowles has to tinker with, along with their 2024 Pro Football Focus coverage grades.

Bucs Starting Safeties

Antoine Winfield Jr. – 5-9, 203 – 57.3 PFF coverage grade
Jordan Whitehead – 5-10, 198 – 70.2 PFF coverage grade

Possible Dime Safety Candidates

DB Tykee Smith – 5-10, 202 – 64.2 PFF coverage grade
FS Christian Izien – 5-10, 200 – 56.7 PFF coverage grade
SS Kaevon Merriweather – 6-0, 212 – 56.6 PFF coverage grade
DB Tavierre Thomas – 5-10, 205 – 68 PFF coverage grade

Practice Squad Safeties

S Rashad Wisdom – 5-9, 210 – 68.6 PFF preseason coverage grade
S Marcus Banks – 6-0, 190 – 55.9 PFF preseason coverage grade

Rookie Tykee Smith took over at nickelback this year for Christian Izien, who has filled in at free safety for the injured Winfield. Both of those players would be in play for the role of dime safety, but Izien might be the ideal candidate. He started all 19 games at nickelback during his rookie season and was Bowles’ choice to fill in for Winfield at free safety.

Izien seems to have the trust of the coaching staff, who picked him over Tavierre Thomas to fill in at outside cornerback in the waning moments of the Week 1 win over Washington when Zyon McCollum, Bryce Hall and Josh Hayes all left the game due to injuries.

With Smith coming off a rough game at Atlanta where he gave up two touchdowns, putting more on his plate might not be ideal, according to Bowles.

“He’s one of the guys we talked about [playing in dime],” Bowles said. “Again, [we’re] trying not to overload his plate, being a rookie and all, so we have to move some guys around, but he’s definitely one of the guys that’s a candidate to do that type of stuff.”

The weakness in dime defense in taking a linebacker off the field in favor of a smaller, yet faster player in a safety is run defense. Opponents might decide to run the ball on third-and-medium plays to take advantage of a lighter personnel grouping on defense.

The biggest safety on the field is Kaevon Merriweather at 6-foot, 212 pounds. He earned some playing time last year  as well as this year and is better in the box than playing deep. So either Izien or Merriweather seem like the most ideal candidates to be the third safety on the field if Bowles opts for dime defensive packages.

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