“Got To Be Aggressive”
December 7th, 2025
Talks game-winning stop.
Of late, Bucs outside linebacker YaYa Diaby is starting to rise to the occasion.
The Bucs’ edge rusher has a sack in each of the Bucs’ last two games. He now has six. With five games left, if YaYa isn’t careful, he may just hit double-digit sacks.
Naturally, it would help if the rest of the defense played on fire like Diaby seems to be. The big problem with the Bucs losing three straight and registering a flaccid three-point win over a garbage team like the Cardinals is largely because the Bucs’ defense is, well, sad throughout the month of November.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles seemed to have been fed up when he unloaded on his defense just before they took the field on Arizona’s final drive last week.
The Bucs got a rare four-and-out and it was time for the victory formation.
YaYa said that watching film of last week’s win, he could see a major difference in play on that final stop.
“Everybody wanted it,” YaYa said. “That last drive, we knew we had to get that one. Watching the film [of the final stop], you could tell how bad everyone wanted it.”
Joe had heard that Bowles challenged the Bucs’ defense on that last stand. YaYa had a different version.
“Got to be aggressive, that’s all,” YaYa said of Bowles’ message. “Not to let them come back. That’s all it was, aggressiveness.”
Well, Joe hopes the defense is as aggressive against the slimy Saints today as they were the first time they played them this season in Lincoln’s Tomb. The Bucs offense struggled that day but the defense sure didn’t.
The Bucs’ defense dominated so much in that game, that Antoine Winfield had two touchdowns stolen from him by the zebras and still the Bucs locked down New Orleans.
Seeing that same defense return today would be welcome.
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