Bucs Nation
The book on the 2025 Buccaneers is nearly penned, and it’s not shaping up to be a happy ending.
The Bucs’ precipitous nosedive continued Sunday after a shaky course correction attempt last week, as the home team floundered in poor weather against a divisional rival in a 24-20 defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Saints. Pretty much no part of the team inspired confidence, with all three phases experiencing game-breaking issues that hampered it against a (now) 3-win Saints team.
We’re in the part of the season where teams should be hitting their stride. Instead, the Bucs have lost 5 of their last 7 and have one win since their bye week. Baker Mayfield has been terribly ineffective, injuries keep mounting, the defense is toothless, and special teams continues to have inexcusable lapses every week.
I’m doing shoutouts because it’s my job, but nothing that has transpired in the last 6 weeks should be inspiring any degree of confidence heading into a Thursday night tilt against Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. What could go wrong?
An ankle injury limited Irving some later in the game, which will need monitored, but his explosiveness again bailed out an otherwise paltry offensive attack.
He scored his second touchdown in as many weeks on a 24-yard screen and logged another explosive later in the form of a 32-yard scamper. His 81 total yards on 17 touches paced the Bucs, so it would be devastating to see him sidelined once more.
Rachaad White played well again, with 11 carries for 53 yards, and Sean Tucker got more involved (7 carries for 29 yards and a score) after disappearing last week. Overall, the three-headed attack worked well most of the day, and it’d be nice to maintain that balance on a consistent basis.
Not much else to say otherwise. Chris Godwin kept showing off his regained form, leading all receivers with 5 catches for 55 yards. With Emeka Egbuka severely regressing and the other targets not doing enough, his re-insertion into the lineup as been much needed.
If this defense didn’t create turnovers and sacks at higher-than-average levels, I shutter to think about how bad the numbers would look.
This is not a good unit, there’s no denying it anymore. And it’s the same issues they keep having year after year: the coverage and pass rush don’t support each other, nobody can finish plays consistently, miscommunications and busts are rampant.
What are Todd Bowles, Larry Foote, and Co. doing each week? Where is all this dissonance coming from when you’ve had largely the same coaches running the same scheme for many years, as well as the same players operating within that scheme? I cannot fathom how Bowles could possibly explain this away any longer.
Simply put, if there isn’t a massive turnaround in the final four games, it’s hard to see a world where he continues to coach the...
