Todd Bowles points out something to ex-Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.
Joe has railed about the Bucs’ struggles developing pass rushers.
Last week, one the great interior pass rushers in Bucs history took his own shot at Tampa Bay’s pass rush coaching.
Gerald McCoy let his frustration show when it comes to the Bucs’ pass rush during his sitdown on The Arena Gridiron. Alongside him were retired ex-Bucs Lavonte David and Aqib Talib, along with Skip Bayless and iconic Kinsey Wolanski.
McCoy doesn’t miss a Bucs game and said he was pained watching the 2025 Bucs pass rush and texted Lavonte David to vent and look for answers.
Talib said he sees the Bucs squarely in the mix for a division title next season because he thinks the Bucs are talented and it’s hard to have a pile of significant injuries two years in a row. McCoy then cut Talib off.
“We got to coach up their pass rush, man. We gotta coach it up,” McCoy said, adding the Bucs have pass rush talent but didn’t get enough out of it.
“You can coach up any group. They were so uncoordinated. They were not coordinated together and I’m texting [Lavonte], ‘man, hey, what do we got to do, man? [Bucs pass rushers] are just not on the [same page].”
McCoy added that David never responded by throwing specific coaches or players under the bus.
“I’m watching the pass rush and I’m like, ‘well, like, who’s the [pass rush] game’s calling?’ Who got the 1-on-1?’ It gotta get coached up, man,” McCoy said.
Bucs defensive tackle Calijah Kancey was a huge loss last season, per McCoy, who called Kancey “a freak of nature” and the key to the Tampa Bay pass rush.
“Calijah is the driving force of our pass rush,” David agreed. “He makes everything go. He frees up everything for everybody.”
David and McCoy went on to say 2025 rookie Elijah Roberts was a huge dropoff from Kancey and it showed, though they didn’t mention Roberts by name.
McCoy said Roberts got “flipped and dipped” too often and David said Roberts didn’t know how to work with Vita Vea. Per David, the defense was night and day better in the season finale with Kancey back on the field, his first action since Week 2. The Bucs beat Carolina 16-14.