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An injury-plagued defense
A strong defense has always been a signature of the Bucs throughout history. Tampa Bay had one of the best defenses of the 21st century when it won its first Super Bowl in 2002. It had the eighth-best defense when it won in 2020 and has continuously been in the upper half of the league since its second Super Bowl run.
The Bucs secondary was one of the worst in the entire NFL for the majority of the season. Tampa Bay’s secondary was riddled with injuries through a good portion of the season. Starting cornerbacks Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean missed five and four games respectively. This gave opportunity to many of the younger secondary players like Izien and CB Zyon McCollum. However, it didn’t necessarily lead to positive results.
Through Week 13, the Bucs had the third-worst defense on third downs. Tampa Bay finished the season ranked outside the top-20 defenses (based on yards) and No. 29 in pass defense. However, the defensive unit showed significant improvement near the backend of the season when a majority of players were healthy.
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Mediocre special teams play
It wasn’t a complete disappointment on special teams. Kicker Chase McLaughlin nailed 29 of his 31 field goal attempts, and punter Jake Camarda continued to play well, earning an NFC Special Teams Player of the Month Award in September and taking home a NFC Special Teams Player of the Week Award.
However, the Bucs special teams defense and return team was pretty weak overall. Tampa Bay’s special teams defense surrendered the third-highest punt return yards on average. As for their own punt return unit, the Bucs ranked 26th in punt return average − fourth worst in the NFC.
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An inefficient offense
Mayfield was good overall. He threw for 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. However, at times he was completely ineffective. In a four-game stretch from Nov. 19 to Dec. 10, Mayfield averaged 198 yards per game and threw for an 81.2 passer rating.
In regards to the Bucs run game, that also wasn’t great. Tampa averaged the fewest amount of rush yards per game (88.8), the fewest yards per carry (3.4), the fourth-fewest rushing touchdowns and the second-fewest first downs earned by runs. RB Rachaad White was a productive bell-cow back, but his efficiency was questionable at times.
