Talkin’ Bucs.

It’s one thing for Joe to bang on a keyboard about the Bucs’ problems in 2025. It’s also another thing for Joe to hop on a podcast and holler.

But what about a guy who has many decades working in the NFL?

Former Bucs scout, Jets linebackers coach and player personnel director Pat Kirwan summarized what he thought happened with the Bucs last season.

In short, it was a complete collapse from all corners, Kirwan noted on “Movin’ the Chains” last week, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio. No, it wasn’t just one thing, but Kirwan seemed a bit troubled that Bucs coach Todd Bowles had so many problems with his defense.

“On offense, they [ranked] 21st, which is below mediocre,” Kirwan began. “Their defense finished 19th, which was their signature. You got a defensive-minded head coach, so that thing fell apart.”

So what jumped out to Kirwan? Weirdly, he said the return of Mike Evans appeared to mess up the Bucs offense.

“To me, they didn’t have the ability to adjust to when Mike Evans was there,” Kirwan said.

Now on face value that seems preposterous. A Hall of Fame receiver returns and the offense cannot take advantage? But how many times have you read or heard other NFL talking heads say they couldn’t figure out how the Bucs got healthy on offense late last season but got worse?

So in a sick way, Kirwan might be onto something.

Playing Mayfield when he was hurt did the Bucs offense no favors, Kirwan said.

“I think the quarterback took a beating,” Kirwan said of Baker Mayfield. “He was playing way less than 100 percent on a number of occasions because he’s too tough. He just keeps going. But you could see he wasn’t the same guy.”

On defense, Kirwan said not having a legit edge rusher was worse than most think.

“I thought they were very good at scheduling blitzes,” Kirwan began. “And then after a while, people were on to that. ‘Hey, they can’t really rush. They’ve got to blitz.’ And [opposing offenses] started dealing with it.”

Blitzing is awesome so long as the blitzer gets home. That didn’t happen near enough.