Defense must improve.
It may have been worse than you thought.
Look, there is no doubt that the Bucs defense, specifically the pass defense, is what sunk the Bucs’ pirate ship last year.
Just think, all the Bucs needed was on friggin’ stop on defense in the wild card round loss to the Commandos, and the Bucs would have advanced, likely playing the Eagles who the Bucs stomped earlier in the year.
(Yeah, yeah, the Eagles had their top two receivers out in the game. What, the Bucs were supposed to lay down because of that? That’s what good teams are supposed to do, stomp on opponents when they are at a disadvantage.)
Just one punt. One punt is all the Bucs needed! All this hollering and whining about takeaways, the Bucs didn’t need a takeaway. They just need to force a punt and the defense couldn’t even do that! Shameful.)
In his _[Sharp Football Analysis 2025 Preview](https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/warren-sharp-book-2025-football-preview/)_, Sharp sifted through his advanced stats and laid out the case that the Bucs defense nearly Pearl Harbored the season, forget a playoff game.
> On top of scoring 118 points in the first quarter, the Bucs ADDED a whopping 134 more points in the second quarter.
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> That ranked #10 in the NFL and was MORE than what they scored in the second quarter in 2023.
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> How were they ahead in only seven of 17 games, fewer than in 2023.
Sharp looked at his data and pointed a finger directly at Bucs coach Todd Bowles for not figuring out an answer to the leaking pirate ship, caused by the defense.
In short, Sharp believes the Bucs defense wasted a special offense last season.
> The answer had nothing to do with Coen or the offense. They were exceptional. Blame Todd Bowles and the defense.
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> In the first half, on a per play basis, they ranked:
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> #29 in EPA/play #26 in success rate
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> #29 in yards/play
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> And on a drive basis, they ranked:
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> #28 in points allowed/drive #30 in scoring drive rate #31 in turnovers forced per drive
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> #25 in touchdowns allowed/drive
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> So once again, just like in 2023, Baker Mayfield had to play from behind and try to explode in the fourth quarter to win games in 2024.
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> The 2024 Bucs scored 152 points in the fourth quarter, #1 most in the NFL.
Well, Joe hopes Bowles has things figured out for this fall. Bowles has had all offseason to tweak his defense. The Bucs have added two talented rookie corners. The Bucs added a proven veteran edge rusher (finally!). The Bucs signed some depth at inside linebacker.
If Bowles cannot get the defense to play better with all of those additions to his personnel, maybe it may be time for him to hire a defensive coordinator and hand the reins over to someone else.