How Good Was The Bucs’ Defense? And How Bad Was The Offense?
October 28th, 2025
What happened?
Even though the Bucs had a plodding, almost stagant offense Sunday in New Orleans, the defense played so damn well that one NFL observer gave the Bucs a very high grade for the win.
The lone offensive touchdown the Bucs scored was a mere one-yard plunge by Sean Tucker. Even then, he had to give it a third effort to barely break the goal line on fourth-and-one.
John Breech of CBS was so impressed with the defense that despite one of the worst offensive game in some time for the Bucs, Breech gave the Bucs a “B+” for the win.
With the Buccaneers’ offense banged up, Tampa Bay needed its defense to carry the load this week, and that’s exactly what happened here. They didn’t get the the shutout, but besides that, the Bucs defense essentially pitched a perfect game: They forced four turnovers and recorded four sacks, and the Saints didn’t run a single play inside of Tampa Bay’s 20-yard line. The biggest turnover came from Anthony Nelson, who had an impressive three-yard pick-six in the second quarter that opened up the scoring. Winning the games you’re supposed to win isn’t always an easy thing to do in the NFL — just ask the Bengals about that — but the Bucs got the job done this week, and now they’ve got a Week 9 bye to get healthy.
No is no way around it. The Bucs defense had itself a day. Shoot, Anthony Nelson nearly beat the slimy Saints by himself.
How good was the defense on Sunday? In the second half, the slimy Saints didn’t take a snap from Bucs territory until 7:59 left in the game. That’s pretty impressive.
Not only will this bye week give the Bucs a chance to get healed up, but it should also give Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard some time to figure out how the same Bucs offense that lit up Seattle and San Francisco has suddenly gone into the crapper.