{"id":859663,"date":"2026-04-07T20:48:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859663\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T20:48:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:48:49","slug":"fix-it-or-be-gone-joebucsfan-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859663\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix It, Or Be Gone – JoeBucsFan.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Click through to BillCurrieFord.com to see their extraordinary April discounts. Family-owned in Tampa since 1960! Bill Currie Ford general manager Sean Sullivan is ready to help you PERSONALLY and give you the famous Ira Kaufman discount. Don\u2019t Worry, Drive Currie!<\/p>\n

BY IRA KAUFMAN<\/p>\n

You won\u2019t be able to identify the 2026 Buc defense without a roster card. That\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

A unit that failed to make critical stops during last year\u2019s 2-7 meltdown has been overhauled during the offseason. The upcoming draft will add to this renovation project as Todd Bowles tries to atone for a defensive breakdown that triggered a slew of staff changes.<\/p>\n

Marcus West comes over from Buffalo to coach the defensive line. Rashad Johnson was promoted to replace Kevin Ross as cornerbacks coach and Tim Atkins will oversee the safeties following the retirement of Nick Rapone. Todd Bowles Jr. has been named a defensive assistant.<\/p>\n

Those are some of the ch-ch-ch-ch-changes on the staff, but those are hardly the only alterations Buc fans will see on the defensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n

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Gone.<\/p>\n

Lavonte David has retired and Logan Hall joins Houston\u2019s dominant defensive front. Jamel Dean is now a Steeler and SirVocea Dennis is ticketed for a backup role at One Buc Place. Haason Reddick is still waiting for a contract somewhere else as a free agent.<\/p>\n

That means you\u2019ll see at least five new defensive starters this fall \u2014 six if you count injury-prone Calijah Kancey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought we had to make a few tweaks,\u201d Bowles says. \u201cWe got different and we got better.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was more than a tweak. This was a painful recognition that the 2025 defense fell woefully short of meeting winning standards. The 4-man pass rush couldn\u2019t get there and the blitzes Bowles dialed up rarely fazed opposing quarterbacks, putting extraordinary strain on the secondary.<\/p>\n

Bowles thought he had his defensive issues resolved a year ago, after the 2024 Bucs yielded at least 23 points in 10 of 18 games.<\/p>\n

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Todd Bowles<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve finally come up with something that we feel like is a successful formula for our defense going forward this year and tweaking a few things,\u201d Bowles said last spring. \u201cI\u2019m excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s that darned \u201ctweaking\u2019 word again.<\/p>\n

Any excitement Bowles felt about his 2025 defense disappeared after the bye week, when opponents averaged 26 points per game. That includes matchups against Arizona, New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina (twice) and Miami \u2014 five clubs that finished in the bottom 10 of NFL scoring.<\/p>\n

The Bucs have added bulk and physicality to the defensive tackle position. Alex Anzalone will be an upgrade on Dennis and the Bucs will be seeking David\u2019s successor in the draft. As far as edge rush help, a glaring need, Tampa Bay is hoping untested David Walker can make an impact.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect the cavalry to arrive in the form of Maxx Crosby. That\u2019s not happening \u2014 unless the Bucs can convince the Raiders to trade their elite pass rusher without demanding Tampa Bay\u2019s 2027 first-round pick in return.<\/p>\n

Will five or six new starters tilt this defense toward the middle of the pack? It can happen, but only if Bowles and his new coaches also take a new approach.<\/p>\n

If it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it. This defense is broke. Fix it, or be gone.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Click through to BillCurrieFord.com to see their extraordinary April discounts. Family-owned in Tampa since 1960! Bill Currie Ford…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,2599,2598,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-859663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-buccaneers","9":"tag-bucs-message-boards","10":"tag-bucs-news","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-tampa-bay","14":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","15":"tag-tampabay","16":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116365399880680572","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}