The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Los Angeles Rams Sunday afternoon 34-24 in pretty brutal fashion. Credit: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Los Angeles Rams Sunday afternoon 34-24 in pretty brutal fashion. The Bucs defense looked like a high school JV team letting Matthew Stafford pick the secondary apart after sitting in the pocket for about an hour at a time

And make no mistake: Tampa Bay’s defense was the biggest problem in this loss. At one point the Rams had converted 80% of their third down conversions, ending up with 67% success rate when the Bucs defense had the opportunity to get L.A.’s special teams onto the field.

The defense recorded no sacks and allowed Stafford’s Rams offense to do whatever it wanted through the air as the former Lion racked up 343 yards and 4 TDs. Tampa Bay linebacker Shaq Barrett and first-round pick Joe Tryon-Soyinka looked low-energy and were shut down today. They had about as much of an impact on the game as my tweets did.

I understand that Bucs cornerback Jamel Dean went down early, leaving the unit without him and Jason Pierre-Paul, plus Sean Murphy-Bunting, who’s out for the foreseeable future, but Tampa Bay’s lack of pass rush is incredibly troubling because it’s starting to become a pattern.

Even with Dean and SMB healthy, the Bucs didn’t exactly have the Legion of Boom back there. The defense needs to get after the quarterback, because with any sort of time, QBs with half a brain and some decent accuracy can coast to a 300-yard game against the unit that took the field today.

Some good news is that Tom Brady—even without Antonio Brown—had a solid game against a really good defense, throwing for 432 yards and a TD. The only problem is, you know, Brady doesn’t play defense. He can’t go out there and try to make Matthew Stafford nervous in the pocket (although at this rate, even though he’s 44 and is about as immobile as it gets as a QB, he might do a better job than the defense did out there today).

The Bucs have a problem, and while it’s not time to press the panic button, continuing to submit defensive performances like the one they put out Sunday not only means not repeating as Super Bowl champs. It means the Bucs might not even win a playoff game.

It’s not hyperbole to say this Bucs defense is trending towards becoming one of the worst in the league. It’s given up 88 points through the first 3 weeks, and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. There’s no Vita Vea coming back to save this defense. This defense is what it is, unless some major changes take place.

So rattle the cages Bruce Arians and Todd Bowles. This defense isn’t cutting it. And Tom Brady can’t throw 5 touchdowns to bail this sorry ass defense out every game.

See you next week. I’ll be puking at the thought of watching New England’s Mac Jones and Jacoby Brissett having career games against this atrocious secondary and the lifeless thing they seem to be calling a “pass rush.”

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