Todd Bowles Explains Pass Rush Issues
October 6th, 2025
Sam Darnold dropped back to pass 34 times yesterday and wasn’t sacked.
Head coach/defensive coordinator Todd Bowles addressed this today on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
“I thought we missed quite a few [sacks,]” Bowles said. “We didn’t pressure as much as we typically do yesterday; we played off with a few guys banged up, so we tried to help out the secondary some in certain areas. But we missed the sacks that we should have had. And we just got to do a better job of closing the middle and keeping them guys in the pocket.”
When Bowles refers to “pressure,” he was talking about blitzing.
Was Bowles that scared of what would happen with Kindle Vildor starting in place of Jamel Dean and his backup, Benjamin Morrison?
The Bucs barely breathed on Darnold until their final blitz that got home in a big way. Antoine Winfield hit Darnold, whose errant pass hit Logan Hall’s helmet and redirected into Lavonte David’s arms.
“I guess it caught [Darnold] off guard. We really hadn’t tried to pressure him too much all day,” Bowles said.
Of course, the Bucs don’t have a consistent four-man pass rush. So blitzing is almost mandatory.
Whatever, it worked. The Bucs were on the right end of the shootout finish.