Big Blue View
The Tampa Bay defense has not been great
The 2-8 New York Giants host the 4-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 12. Both teams are fresh off a bye week. Tampa Bay is favored by 5.5 points, and the Over/Under is 41.5 points. Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers were 4-2 but lost four games in a row, mostly in a competitive fashion.
The Giants finally turned the page on starting quarterback Daniel Jones and promoted third-string quarterback Tommy DeVito to primary signal caller. Drew Lock will remain as the second-string quarterback.
DeVito will face a Todd Bowles coached defense that emphasizes stopping the run while blitzing the quarterback at a 29.1% rate (seventh highest). Expect a loaded box against the Buccaneers, who rank second in loaded box rate. According to NFL Pro, the Buccaneers load their box at a 56.4% rate; this number advantage is reinforced with Vita Vea in the middle — one of the best run-stopping defensive linemen in the league.
Despite the focus, Tampa Bay is league average in rushing yards allowed; they surrendered 125.1 rushing yards per game. Baltimore rushed for 244 yards against the Buccaneers in Week 7. They held the Chiefs and Falcons to less than 130 rushing yards in Weeks 8 and 9 and the 49ers to just 75 rushing yards in Christian McCaffrey’s return.
The run defense is the strength, and Kirk Cousins exploited the pass-defensive weakness in Week 5 to the tune of 509 yards and four touchdowns. The Buccaneers allow the third-most passing yards per game (264.1) and total yards per game (389.3). They’re 27th in points surrendered (26.6).
Bowles’ defense allows the 24th-highest third down completion rate (43.3), and they’re tied at 17th in red zone touchdown percentage (57.89) with the New England Patriots. They recorded five interceptions and 10 forced fumbles.
Tampa Bay is tied with the Eagles and Browns at ninth in the league with 28 sacks. Vea leads the team with five. Second-year defensive linemen Calijah Kancey has four, and Lavonte David and Logan Hall have three sacks. C.J. Brewer, Yaya Diaby, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, and Anthony Nelson each have a pair of sacks.
Second-year edge defender Yaya Diaby leads the Buccaneers with 38 pressures; Vea has 24, and Tryon-Shoyinka has 20. The next highest is veteran linebacker Lavonte David with 15. David also leads the team with 72 tackles; just behind him is safety Jordan Whitehead with 71 and linebacker K.J. Britt with 61.
There was a discernible difference in Brian Daboll’s 2023 offense with Tommy DeVito at the helm. DeVito targeted outside the numbers:
We discussed DeVito’s penchant to throw outside the numbers last season. This ability gave Daboll a different approach, and the Giants found moderate success, but DeVito struggled to target the middle of the field. DeVito was 7 of 17 with one touchdown and two interceptions when targeting beyond ten yards between the numbers, with zero completed passes of 20 yards between the numbers.
The...
