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"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long
Anytime she's gone away"
Our defense has gone away. The Bucs lost the NY Giants, 32 - 18. The game was much closer than that score represents, but that score reflects just how far the game really was.
Tampa Bay's Basic stats before the game
Defensive Passing: 14th (244 yards/game)
Defensive Rushing: 16th (107 yards/game)
Points Against: 28th (28.4 ppg)
NYG's Basic stats before the game
Offensive Passing: 11th (258 yards/game)
Offensive Rushing: 27th (94 yards/game)
Points For: 5th (26.9 ppg)
Here is what transpired in the game for the defense:
| NYG Offense vs TB Defense | ||||||
| NYG | Tampa Bay | TB - Opp Differential | Differential % | |||
| Offense | Defense | |||||
| Pre-Game Stat | Game Stat | |||||
| Passing yds | 258 | 213 | -45 | 82.6% | ||
| Rushing yds | 94 | 114 | 20 | 121.3% | ||
| Points | 26.9 | 32.0 | 5.1 | 119.0% | ||
Limited passing yards: check. Did not contain rushing yards. Points allowed above average, except the defense only allowed 26 points.
| TB Defense vs NYG Offense | |||||||||||||
| Qtr | Drive | Plays | Yards | Result | RZ | Pts | 40 + yard Drives | 50 + yard Drives | 60 + yard Drives | 70 + Yard Drives | 80 + Yard Drives | Totals | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | INT | 0 | ||||||||
| 2 | 10 | 63 | FG | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 3 | 12 | 80 | TD | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 4 | 9 | 28 | TD | 1 | 7 | 0 | |||||||
| 5 | 7 | 32 | Downs | 0 | |||||||||
| 6 | 1 | -1 | End Half | 0 | |||||||||
| 3 | 7 | 4 | 7 | FG | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||||||
| 8 | 12 | 47 | INT | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| 9 | 5 | 13 | Punt | 0 | |||||||||
| 10 | 3 | 42 | FG | 3 | 1 | ||||||||
| 11 | 10 | 54 | FG | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Total | 11 | 74 | 365 | 4 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
The Bucs defense allowed five long drives of 40 yards or more. There was only one forced punt by the defense. Notice the last two Giants' drives were long drives that resulted in scores. Those drives gave hope and dashed hoped for the Bucs' offense. Field goals were only allowed, but at the same time, it ate away the clock.
Here is a time stamp of the game from pro-football-reference.com:
9:35 Bucs score TD, but failed 2 pt conversion. Bucs 18, NYG 20.
9:18 NYG start at NYG 24 yard line.
7: 24 NYG kick a FG. Bucs 18, NYG 23. Traversed 42 yards. Big play: 24 yard pass to OBJ.
7:18 Bucs start at Bucs 20 yard line.
5:07 Bucs punt the ball for a touchback.
4:57 NYG start at NYG 20 yard line
0:28 NYG kick a FG. Bucs 18, NYG 26. Traversed 54 yards. (Converted 3rd and 6, a 9 yard pass to OBJ)
0:18 Bucs start at Bucs 6 yard line.
The Bucs offense tried to make a comeback, but the defense could not prevent the Giants from scoring on their last two possessions. As you can tell from the time stamp, the Giants made sure the Bucs' offense had no time left to generate any feasible comeback; a 10 play drive that ate up 4:29 and essentially secured a Giants' win.
This is the fifth consecutive game where the defense has allowed 20 points to be scored or more. The average points allowed for those five games is 27.6 points.
| Tampa Bay | ||||||||||
| Points Allowed Breakdown, 2015 | ||||||||||
| Game | Team | 1st | 2nd | Total at 1st Half | 3rd | 4th | Total at 2nd Half | Total | ||
| 1 | Ten | 21 | 14 | 35 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 42 | ||
| 2 | NO | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 12 | 12 | 19 | ||
| 3 | Hou | 7 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 19 | ||
| 4 | Car | 10 | 7 | 17 | 14 | 6 | 20 | 37 | ||
| 5 | Jax | 0 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 31 | ||
| 6 | Was | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 24 | 31 | ||
| 7 | Atl | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 20 | ||
| 8 | NYG | 10 | 7 | 17 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 32 | ||
| Total | 51 | 56 | 107 | 58 | 66 | 124 | ||||
Against the Giants, the Bucs' defense allowed 17 points to be put up in the first half. That is the most since the Carolina game.
Conclusion
Our defense is incapable of preventing the opposing team from moving the ball. In the past two games, the defense has forced only one punt. The defense needed stops at the end of games and it failed to do so. It did not give our offense that one last chance as it let the Giants eat the clock away. I do not see any chance this defense can improve because there is no pattern to suggest it will change.
"Wonder this time where she's gone
Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home
Anytime she goes away."