Two weeks ago, the Bucs defense looked pretty good

Two weeks ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat down the Philadelphia Eagles, 45-17. Was the Bucs' defense dominant?

Tampa Bay's Basic stats before the game

Defensive Passing:  10^th (233 yards/game)

Defensive Rushing:  12^th (101 yards/game)

Points Against:  26^th (26.3 ppg)

Philadelphia's Basic stats before the game

Offensive Passing:  14^th (256 yards/game)

Offensive Rushing:  10^th (117 yards/game)

Points For:  14^th (23.5 ppg)

Here is what transpired in the game for the defense:

Phi Offense vs TB Defense
	Philadelphia		Tampa Bay		TB - Opp Differential	Differential %
	Offense		Defense
	Pre-Game Stat		Game Stat
Passing yds	256		247		-9	96.5%
Rushing yds	117		136		19	116.2%
Points	23.5		17.0		-6.5	72.3%

The defense limited the passing game as well as scoring. In this week's press conference, DC Leslie Frazier was asked what made a big difference to the defense and his response was the change in cornerback personnel. This question and answer bit came around the one minute mark of the interview from the official website.

Doing more research, here is an article by Greg Auman from the Tampa Bay Times denoting the change at the cornerback position. Here is a quote from the November 20^th article:

Then the Bucs tried one more look, benching their starters and installing Moore and rookie Jude Adjei-Barimah as starters. On the first play against the Giants, Moore intercepted an Eli Manning throw, and he hasn't taken a snap off in two games since, the answer to a problem that had haunted the Bucs for two months.

The change occurred for the NY Giants game, game 8. I will present previous game charts in chronological order from game 7, Atlanta game, to the present. Here is the order:  Atlanta, NY Giants, and Dallas. The last game is presented above.

Game 7, vs Atlanta.

Atlanta Offense vs TB Defense
	Atlanta		Tampa Bay		TB - Opp Differential	Differential %
	Offense		Defense
	Pre-Game Stat		Game Stat
Passing yds	230		395		165	171.7%
Rushing yds	107		101		-6	94.4%
Points	27.5		20.0		-7.5	72.7%

Game 8, vs NY Giants.

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%

Game 9, vs Dallas.

Dallas Offense vs TB Defense
	Dallas		Tampa Bay		TB - Opp Differential	Differential %
	Offense		Defense
	Pre-Game Stat		Game Stat
Passing yds	225		174		-51	77.3%
Rushing yds	128		42		-86	32.8%
Points	20.0		6.0		-14	30.0%

The cornerback duo of Sterling Moore and Jude Adjei-Barimah has forced opposing offense to produce less than their passing average. There is a stark difference between game 7 and game 8, Atlanta and NY Giants, respectively.

Now, let us go back to this Philadelphia game.

TB Defense vs Phi 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	3	10	Fumble									0
	2	7	86	TD		7						1	1
	3	5	14	Punt									0
	4	3	4	Punt									0
2	5	3	3	Punt									0
	6	3	6	Punt									0
	7	6	61	TD		7				1			1
	8	6	41	INT				1					1
3	9	8	31	Punt									0
4	10	7	32	INT									0
	11	12	59	FG		3			1				1
	12	2	8	INT									0
	13	8	33	Punt									0
Total	13	73	388		0	17		1	1	1	0	1	4

While six punts and three interceptions reveal a very dominant defense, the first half of the game was a bit sketchy for the defense. The defense allowed three long drives, two resulting in touchdowns and the third one was snuffed out due to a LB David interception to thwart another charge. Although officially there were eight drives in the first half, the first two drives belong together due to a double fumble that gave the ball back to the Eagles.

In the second half, the Eagles only had five drives. Two punts and two interceptions sandwich a field goal by Philly.  The defense limited any chance for a comeback by the Eagles.

A tremendous difference in the second half was the ball control and time of possession by the Bucs' offense. It gave the Eagles only one offensive possession in the third quarter. Before the Eagles had their first offensive possession in the second half, the score was Bucs 35, Eagles 14. And before the Eagles had their second possession in the second half, which was in the fourth quarter, the score was Bucs 38, Eagles 14. That made Philly's offense quite predictable in the fourth quarter. Eventually, it lead to LB David earned his second interception of the day, to which was also returned for a touchdown to make the score Bucs 45, Eagles 17.

Philadelphia never made it to the Red Zone. That is good and that is bad. Good because the Eagles did not reach the Red Zone. Bad because that means the Bucs' defense gave up a couple of long plays for a touchdown to be scored: a 39 yard pass and run for the first touchdown and a 35 yard screen play for a touchdown. Also, the Bucs' defense allowed two third and longs to be converted: a third and 10 at the Eagles 20 yard line in the third quarter and a third and 13 at the Eagles 34 yard line, which lead to a field goal.

TB Bucs
2015 Defensive 3rd Down Stats
Game	Team	3rd Down Success	3rd Down Attempts	3rd Efficiency
1	Ten	4	9	44.4%
2	NO	7	14	50.0%
3	Hou	8	18	44.4%
4	Car	3	11	27.3%
5	Jax	2	8	25.0%
Bye
6	Was	5	11	45.5%
7	Atl	6	12	50.0%
8	NYG	9	16	56.3%
9	Dal	4	13	30.8%
10	Phi	7	15	46.7%
	Total	55	127
	Average	5.50	12.70	43.3%

What originally looked like a dominant game from the defense does not look like it the more we delve into the game.

Conclusion

The defense played a good game; not great like the previous week with Dallas. Tampa's new cornerback duo of Moore and Adjei-Barimah has made a tremendous difference to secondary play. While there are things to continue to work on defense, there are also signs of improvement. If the offense continues to produce at a high rate and the defense can hold leads, then Bucs' stock to the playoffs will have a bullish outlook.