Why The Defense Stinks
December 8th, 2025
Zyon McCollum (27) returns a pick while Antoine Winfield looks to block Sunday. One of the very few defensive highlights from the loss to the slimy Saints.
So after yesterday’s groin-kick of a loss that may very well signal the end of the Bucs’ Super Bowl window that first opened in 2020, Joe spoke with a Bucs defender.
Joe asked the player what is the deal with the defense and if he could explain why slop teams like the Cardinals and slimy Saints have little problem moving the ball.
The Bucs player basically told Joe a version of what Todd Bowles has said often: It isn’t just one or two guys.
The issues aren’t one or two things, Joe was told. It’s a misread, a decision to go inside when a run is outside, one guy not setting the edge, another guy not filling a gap.
Joe was told it is all kinds of issues and it isn’t one or two guys but damn near everyone on the defense takes a turn every other play to make a small mistake.
And that small mistake ends up blowing up on them.
Joe thinks Bowles has a very complex defense, Rondé Barber and Logan Ryan have spoken about this publicly. Why else would veteran players make mistakes over and over, week after week? By Week 13, players ought to have a complex defense down.
They don’t.
How you fix that in December, Joe doesn’t have an answer to that.