Lack Of Physicality Haunting Bucs
January 2nd, 2026
Let’s get physical.
Joe watched the Dixie Chicks upset the Rams on Monday and the hitting jumped out in that game.
The Rams hit. The Dixie Chicks hit. Dang, Atlanta safetly Xavier Watts alone almost changed the game with his vicious hitting.
When is the last time you saw a Bucs defender blast a ballcarrier so hard it changed the game? Got the crowd pumped. Got Bucs teammates energized.
Joe swears the last time Joe saw that, it was Baker Mayfield laying the wood on a linebacker and not a Bucs defender drilling a quarterback (heaven forbid).
On Tuesday, Bucs coach Todd Bowles was asked about his defense’s alleged lack of physicality. Bowles disputed that his defense isn’t physical.
“We’re physical, we just miss tackles at times, and we give up big plays at times, which is inexcusable when you’re playing defense because everything can cost you, no matter how good you do everything else,” Bowles said. “You’re definitely not happy with the tackling and the busted assignments – you’re not happy with that at all. But they play hard – they play very hard, but that’s not good enough. We’ve got to play smarter.”
Well, Bowles has a point: It’s hard to blow someone up when you can’t tackle. One leads to the other. But that, ultimately, is on Bowles.
Other teams tackle. Joe watched the Los Angeles Chargers a couple of weeks ago and damn, they tackle. They wrap up.
And Joe is going to take a wild stab here and guess the Chargers practice and play under the very same NFL rules and guidelines.
So Joe doesn’t want to hear any whining about how NFL strongman Roger Goodell won’t let teams practice tackling in his don’t-hit-too-hard league and that’s why the Bucs can’t tackle.