Buccaneers: Tampa defense has been burned by two-straight subpar QBs

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense has been burned by two-straight subpar QBs

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense was one of the best in the league to begin the year, but the unit has been burned the past couple of weeks against a couple of subpar quarterbacks.

Say what you want to about Drew Brees and Daniel Jones, but the truth of the matter is that no other NFL franchises are lining up at the door to try and bring them in. No other franchise is looking ahead to the next couple of seasons and imagining what life would be like with them at the helm.

Instead, we’ve heard more about their current franchises- Brees with the Saints & Jones with the Giants- looking for ways to get rid of their respective quarterbacks.

Despite the relative putridity that we’ve seen these two QBs play with, the Buccaneers were unable to shut either one of them down in the last two weeks.

Though Tampa Bay came away with a small victory Jones and the Giants, the Bucs still didn’t stop Jones in his tracks. He threw two bad interceptions that contributed to the loss, but other than that threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns.

And then there’s the Saints game. Drew Brees- who has been classified as an aging veteran for the past few years- looked like he was 10 years younger against the Buccaneers. He threw for 222 yards and four touchdowns to no interceptions.

No one expected this defense to be atop the league when the season began, but there’s no doubt that the unit can play better than it has in each of the last two weeks. The Bucs are playing soft coverage, they’re not getting as much pressure on the passer as they have been and, overall, it just hasn’t been a good defensive effort in each of the last two games.

Hopefully we’ll see that trend go away this week against the Panthers, or we could end up with another subpar QB- Teddy Bridgewater– having a big day against the Bucs, as well.