The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have struggled to contain opposing offenses throughout the 2018 NFL season. However, defensive coordinator Mike Smith is not ready to press the panic button.
The Bucs were thoroughly dismantled by a revamped Chicago Bears team in Week 4. According to Greg Auman of The Athletic, Smith chalked up the loss as a one-time experience:
“There's a lot of football to be played. The sky is not falling. I can assure you. It felt like it was friggin' crumbling on top of us when we walked off the field in Chicago. That's an anomaly. That's 1 of 1.”
“As a defense, we are committed together to right that ship and not play defensive football like we played there.”
It is encouraging to see Smith so optimistic about the defense moving forward. However, their loss against the Bears was far from an anomaly.
Although Tampa Bay had no problems putting points on the board all season until Week 4, they had been giving them up just as easily. Only the Kansas City Chiefs have allowed more total yards per game than the Bucs. Smith's defense is also giving up more points than any other group in the league (34.8). This makes his notion of an anomaly difficult to believe.
Despite their struggles on defense, Tampa Bay looked horrendous as a whole on both sides of the ball in Chicago. This transition at quarterback has not gone as smoothly as they hoped. Hopefully, the bye week has given them time to come up with a better scheme moving forward.
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