There wasn't a more hyped up game on the NFL Week 12 schedule than the battle between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, but it could not have been a more lopsided affair.
The Buccaneers were outclassed for a third straight game against a top opponent, but, this time, they were completley squashed and had less than no chance at winning. And as if the defeat itself were not enough, the Buccaneers were hurt doubly so by injury, with Baker Mayfield going down with a left shoulder ailment that could - and probably should - lead to a spell on the sidelines.
But the thing is, the real storyline of the match wasn't the Buccaneers offense or Mayfield failing to beat out another top quarterback with either an MVP pedigree or an MVP shot. Yes, Matthew Stafford completely blew Mayfield out of the water. However, all this focus on Mayfield as the center of the narrative has prevented the real problem from being addressed, and, hopefully, what Stafford and the Rams did to the Bucs defense changes that equation.
It goes beyond Baker Mayfield and Todd Bowles
Obviously, head coach Todd Bowles should be on the hot seat for his role in the 34-7 blowout loss, because his defense, once again, was completely shredded by a competent offense. His game plan, personnel decisions, and overal in game management were severely lacking again.
But there's an obvious truth that a lot of people are ignoring about the Buccaneers. This pass rush is beyond inept and needs a total overhaul in the offense. There is no way any team in the NFL can consistently win games against top offenses and quarterbacks, which are the teams and players you will face in the postseason when the games truly matter most, without an effective pass rush.
A truly great quarterback like Stafford, who just might be the finest pocket passer in the NFL at this very moment, will just sit back there and completely shred you apart. Stafford had no urgency to get the ball out there. He could sit in the pocket, make his reads, and deliver absolute darts with the time to anticipate windows and hit his preferred options down the field.
The Buccaneers pass rush is statistically and visibly pathetic. That YaYa Diaby gets praised as a competent pass rusher when he is, at best, a top rotational option is a fallacy of relative comparison at its finest. Yes, Diaby is the best pass rusher on the Bucs, but when your best pass rusher only has 11 QB hits and 5 sacks in 11 starts and nobody else has more than 7 QB hits or even 3 sacks, then your pass rush is truly in the gutter and cannot compete against the NFL's best - or even the NFL's average, for that matter.