Defense Remains Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Biggest Concern Following Week 15 Loss

There was plenty of ugly on both sides of the ball for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night, as they dropped to 6-8 on the season with a 31-23 road loss at the hands of the St. Louis Rams.

But while the offense showed their youth and lack of experience, they also bounced back in the second half with flashes of a bright future.

The same can't be said of the Tampa Bay defense.

In what has become an embarrassing theme, the Bucs made yet another backup quarterback look like a Pro Bowler for much of Thursday night's game. Case Keenum attempted just 17 passes, but he completed 14 of them for 234 yards and a pair of touchdowns, with no interceptions.

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Tampa Bay's mission on defense heading into the game was likely to shut down rookie sensation Todd Gurley, hoping to force Keenum to beat them through the air. They achieved that objective—Gurley managed just 48 yards on 21 carries—but forcing Keenum to beat them didn't exactly turn out too well.

The league's worst passing offense had their way with the Bucs in the first quarter, as Keenum threw for nearly half of his yards in the game's first 15 minutes, including both touchdowns. The Houston product found Tavon Austin from 17 yards out on a quick screen, then tossed a perfect bomb to a streaking Kenny Britt for a 60-yard score.

Austin made an impact on the ground, as well, rushing for a 21-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give the Rams their biggest lead of the night at 28-6.

You could try to point the finger at injuries, but both Gerald McCoy and Jacquies Smith were healthy enough to be back in the starting lineup Thursday night.

You could blame the absence of suspended linebacker Kwon Alexander or his injured replacement, Bruce Carter, but any of these excuses wouldn’t get to the root of the issue: The Bucs defense is simply not deep or talented enough to be a true contender.

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The stat sheet will show a pair of sacks for Tampa Bay, but there was no consistent pass rush. For the second straight game, there were no takeaways.

The Bucs’ defensive scheme is predicated on being able to do both of those things well, so it should come as no surprise why this team has dropped back-to-back games to teams with losing records.

And if you want to talk about the Tampa Bay secondary, make sure the kids are out of earshot. It might be impossible at this point for Bucs fans to discuss the state of the team’s defensive backfield without a healthy dose of expletives. The Bucs have shuffled through their lineups at both safety and corner all season long, due as much to poor, inconsistent play as to injuries or any other reason.

The Bucs have some pieces in place on defense, but they don’t have enough overall talent or depth to weather the storm of a full NFL season. Injuries have exposed how thin they are at every level, and Thursday’s performance was a painful reminder of just how much work is still left to be done on that side of the ball.

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It should come as no surprise that over their last two drafts, the Bucs have selected just one defensive player. And while they appear to have hit that one pick out of the park with Alexander, the lack of young talent is clearly evident.

No matter where general manager Jason Licht and the Bucs end up picking in the 2016 draft, expect them to shift their focus to that side of the ball after spending this regime’s first two classes trying to rebuild the offense.

The future is still extremely bright for the Bucs, but they won’t take that next step toward being a legitimate playoff contender until they load up their defense with some more young talent, as well as adding experience and depth across the board.

*All stats courtesy of NFL.com

Luke Easterling is a Featured Columnist covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NFL draft for Bleacher Report. He is also a senior NFL draft analyst for Draft Breakdown. Follow him on Twitter @Luke Easterling.