Buccaneers Defense Faces Formidable Challenge Against Washington
Todd Bowles' defense faces one of its toughest in QB Jayden Daniels. Daniels is the nightmare of many BUCS fans. He's fast. He's accurate. He's a ROOKIE.
It has long been the bane of the Buccaneers' existence. A fresh-faced signal-caller who makes his name at the BUCS' expense. Even though recent history under Bowles clearly illustrates otherwise, the narrative still runs wild. There was that game in Houston last year, though. Uggghh.
Against Washington, the BUCS will be without one of the key disruptors in, Calijah Kancey, who was a late-week scratch. So, getting pressure on Daniels will be a bit more difficult from the interior. However, Vita Vea is still the X-factor on the defensive line as he'll command(pun intended) a double-team periodically throughout the game.
There will be a lot of eyes drawn to KJ Britt as he'll be needed to apply the kind of pressure that a prime Devin White would when Vea took on multiple offensive linemen. As the fastest LB in the group, Britt could be used to spy Daniels to keep him from breaking out of the pocket freely. That task also requires a great deal of discipline, so it'll be interesting to watch if he ends up splitting it with Lavonte David, who has taken on that job often in his younger years.
Besides Daniels, Washington does have a solid group who can run the ball. Brian Robinson is the projected starter. While he hasn't put up gaudy numbers in his first two years in the League, he's a workhorse and a threat out of the backfield when he gets going. Robinson will share the load with Austin Ekeler, formerly of the Chargers. Like Robinson, he didn't put up crazy numbers last season, but he did get 900+ the previous two seasons when he played the entire season.
Both RBs run hard, and they have been featured as pass catchers out of the backfield. These two pose another big test for speed and discipline from the LB positions.
The other threat in the Commanders' passing attack is Terry McLaurin. He's one of the best WRs in the game. But because he's been limited by questionable QB play, questionable OCs, and a relatively weak receiving group around him, he hasn't broken out. The addition of a dynamic quarterback like Daniels could change that. But he might have to wait until after the game against the Buccaneers to see how that goes. He's still mostly surrounded by an underwhelming group of WRs. And the BUCS secondary should be able to handle the individual matchups pretty well. Still, both Zyon McCollum and Jamel Dean have to show that there’s a reason Carlton Davis III was seen as expendable by starting fast this season against a less-than-stellar group of receivers like Washington’s.
As usual, expect to see a lot of zone blitzes from Bowles regarding young QBs. How Daniels handles those blitzes will be largely dependent on how OC Kliff Kingsbury prepared his offense. One would imagine that Kingsbury tries to stretch the field with the screens and short throws on crossing routes to get the LBs out of the middle of the field and allow running opportunities for his QB. Again, this is another big test for the LB group.
OC Kliff Kingsbury is 0-2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Todd Bowles. His offense scored 16 in the last meeting during the 2022 season. Before that, it was the 27-30 loss in 2019 as a rookie head coach.
