Buccaneers HC Pinpoints Big Issue For Defense After Cowboys Loss

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a few problems on Sunday agains the Dallas Cowboys, but there was one in particular that head coach Todd Bowles pinpointed.

Dec 22, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle (23) runs the ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first half at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense had held up the past few weeks of play, but it had some trouble against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night.

The Bucs gave up 310 yards of offense on Sunday, with quarterback Cooper Rush passing for 292 yards and a touchdown on the day. While the defense tightened up a tad halfway through the game, they struggled to prevent the Cowboys from scoring, particularly giving up yards through the air.

When head coach Todd Bowles was asked if these issues were more woes at the middle of the field, as has happened in the past, Bowles said it was not — in fact, he pinpointed another fundamental issue the team struggled with on Monday.

“No, it had nothing to do with coverage. It had everything to do with missing tackles," Bowles said. "We can’t miss tackles.”

Tackling is a fundamental must in the NFL, and the Bucs have had some problems with it all year. It's tough, though, since you cant really practice it before games, and when asked how to improve on it with that in mind, he said it was a mental issue, too.

“It’s just want-to," Bowles said. "It’s more or less angles for the most part. It’s really just angles. When we won four games, the tackling was very good, we had angles, everybody did their job. When we lost this one last night, we had some mishaps, and we didn’t take the proper angles, and we had bad technique.”

Tackling was pinpointed, but there were fundamental issues across the board. The Buccaneers weren't able to hold on to the football, fumbling three times and turning it over once, and were also burdened by penalties.

Bowles noted that it's concerning, this late in the year. And that win football games, the team will have to get a handle on it.

“It is concerning. I mean we have a lot of different people playing so it’s always concerning. You always have to coach them. We had a few of those – we had less of them when we had the winning streak and then a couple of them creeped up yesterday that we have to put out. [It’s just] discipline and practicing every day and everybody has to do their part, coaches and players.”

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