The Buccaneers are lacking on defense in one key area

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 5-2 and sitting in a nice spot despite losing to the Detroit Lions on Monday night in a less-than-spectacular outing.

The Buccaneers have had to fight tooth and nail to get to the point they are at. They have battled injuries and faced adversity in the eye on their way to five wins. Baker Mayfield and the offense have picked up where they left off a season ago, but it is the reemergence of Todd Bowles' defense that has made the biggest waves for this iteration of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

After securing the defensive side of the ball this offseason with the likes of Haason Reddick, Benjamin Morrison, Jacob Parrish and Elijah Roberts, the Bucs' defense has stepped up in a big way. They have gotten back to flying around, playing physically and turning the ball over. However, there is one area that they are struggling with: stopping running backs in the passing game.

Bucs struggle vs. receiving backs

Oct 20, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images | David Reginek-Imagn Images

Bucs defense has given up a league-high 441 receiving yards to running backs this season. That includes ...

Bijan Robinson, Falcons: 100 yards
Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions: 82 yards
Christian McCaffrey, 49ers: 57 yards
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) October 22, 2025

FOX Sports' Greg Auman did a great job of highlighting the Buccaneers' woes when it comes to stopping running backs receiving out of the backfield. Per Auman, the Bucs have given up 441 receiving yards to running backs this season, marking a league-high through seven weeks of the season.

Most of the damage done against the Bucs in the receiving game out of the backfield has come at the hands of dual-threat players like Atlanta Falcons' Bijan Robinson, who put 100 yards against them in Week 1, San Francisco 49ers' Christian McCaffrey, who had 57, and just this past week, Jahmyr Gibbs put 82 on them.

Outside of the main culprits, Tampa Bay also allowed 66 receiving yards to the duo of Woody Marks and Nick Chubb against the Houston Texans, 48 yards to Breece Hall and Braelon Allen against the New York Jets, 31 to Philadelphia Eagles' Saquon Barkley and 12 receiving yards to Seattle Seahawks' Zach Charbonnet.

The obvious dual-threat characters have been tearing up the Bucs, but so have some of the other backs who aren't necessarily known for being as adept at receiving the ball out of the backfield.

Linebacker SirVocea Dennis has taken on a large portion of the load when it comes to covering backs out of the backfield. Dennis has struggled with taking angles to tackle and has sometimes had lapses in coverage that make it easy for running backs to shed an open field tackle and pick up extra yards following the catch.

Not all the blame can be placed on Dennis, however. Football is a team game, and when he isn't in the game or if the play call doesn't call for the back to be his guy, then the rest of the team needs to step up as well to get better in this area.

The Bucs will look to improve here in Week 8 as they look to slow down New Orleans Saints' running back Alvin Kamara, who is a great pass-catching back and has shown a knack for having good games against Tampa Bay before their bye week.

Kamara isn't the only test the Buccaneers will have from backs who also plays well in the passing game, as they will still have to face Kamara again, Bijan Robinson again, James Cook against the Buffalo Bills and, of course, De'Von Achane of the Miami Dolphins.

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