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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as they so often do, chose to stand pat at the NFL trade deadline. General manager Jason Licht and head coach Todd Bowles didn’t make a single move despite several glaring deficiencies on defense and more than enough spots with injured players on offense to necessitate one, if not multiple trades. The answer to their inaction seemed to come in Week 10, when the Buccaneers defense gave up one big play after another to the New England Patriots in a 28-23 home loss that dropped the Buccaneers to 6-3. Three of the Patriots’ 4 touchdowns came on plays of 55 yards or longer, including the longest pass play of quarterback Drake Maye’s career on a 72-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Kyle Williams and touchdown runs of 55 and 69 yards by rookie running back Treveyon Henderson. Henderson finished 147 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on just 10 carries while the Buccaneers gave up 435 yards of total offense. It was the kind of performance that left many wondering if the Buccaneers can actually be considered NFC contenders anymore and seemed to cement the NFC South as the NFL’s worst division. Buccaneers Fans Rage Online Against Struggles The blowback online against the Buccaneers struggles — especially coming off a bye week — was pretty pointed. While struggles on offense may have been expected missing wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin along with running back Bucky Irving, the defensive failings were more of a surprise, to say the lest. “The Bucs gave up three touchdowns of 55+ yards today,” 10 Tampa Bay TV’s David Schiele wrote on X. “Brutal performance by the defense.” “No Evans, Godwin or Irving I can give you,” Buccaneers fan Geoff Frantz wrote on X. “But a healthy defense giving up 435 yards of offense and 166 rushing of that is inexcusable. That should not happen under Bowles. This team is weak, mentally.” “I still don’t get why anybody says Todd Bowles is an elite defensive coach,” X user Shot by Ronin wrote. “Their defense has sucked for years! Three big play touchdowns today? No sir. They should have fired Bowles and kept Liam Coen because even their offense looks less explosive than last year.” “Three long-play busts by the Bucs defense gave the Patriots the win at Tampa,” Former Fox Sports and ESPN commentator Skip Bayless wrote on his official X account. “Bucs couldn’t protect Baker. Bucs couldn’t put much pressure on Drake Maye.” “Yet ANOTHER completely INEPT — UNDISCIPLINED —and UNPREPARED Bucs defense this week,” X user Oh The Pain wrote. “But please, Buccaneers, keep telling us how great Bowles is. Absolutely embarrassing — AGAIN.” Brutal Upcoming Schedule for Buccaneers The loss to the Patriots was a tough way to kick off the second half of the seasons for the Buccaneers, who have a brutal upcoming schedule. They now hit the road for consecutive road games against contenders, with a trip to the East Coast to face the Buffalo Bills in Week 11 followed by a trip to the West Coast to face the Los Angeles Rams in Week 12. After that, there’s some relief — the Buccaneers close the season with 6 consecutive games against teams with losing records.
