Hall of Fame Buccaneer Blasts Tampa Bay: 'The Worst Secondary in Football'
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense has been one of the best when it has come to creating turnovers and against opposing offenses' run game, but one area that they have clearly struggled on that side of the ball has been in the secondary and that part of head coach Todd Bowles' defense once again reared its' ugly head against rookie QB C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans on Sunday in a 39-37 loss.
On Sunday, the Bucs' secondary that includes players such as Antoine Winfield Jr., Carlton Davis, and Jamel Dean (who was knocked out early due to a concussion) gave up a career day to the likes of QB C.J. Stroud, WR Noah Brown, TE Dalton Schultz, and WR Tank Dell. Stroud went on to throw for 470 yards for five touchdowns and a passer rating of 147.8 while the three players previously mentioned all had over 100 yards receiving.
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It shouldn't come as a surprise as most Bucs' fans already knew that Todd Bowles' bend-but-don't-break mentality was sure to lead to large passing plays. But at this point, it is becoming a huge liability. Thus far into the season, the Buccaneers rank 24th in opponent completion percentage, 30th in opponent yards per pass, and 31st in opponent passing yards per game, and they should seemingly slip in those rankings following this Sunday's performance.
The Buccaneers' secondary has been so porous this season, especially on Sunday, that former Buccaneers' cornerback and Hall of Famer Ronde Barber called them out calling their play "embarrassing" and saying that despite having one of the best safeties in the NFL in Winfield Jr., "look like the worst secondary in football".
Those are harsh words from someone who most of these guys grew up idolizing and modeling their game after, but Barber is not wrong.
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Not only do the numbers speak to Ronde being completely right about the way the Bucs' secondary has played this season, but the eye-test also confirms that fact.
Todd Bowles will look to get things put together because whatever is happening in the back half of his defense is obviously not working and being considered one of the best defensive coordinators he surely is not living up to that billing so far into the 2023 season.
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