Bucs' Devin White Confident After Eagles Loss: "This Defense Can Carry Us to the Super Bowl"
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered their first loss of the season against the defending NFC Champions the Philadelphia Eagles in a prime-time matchup on Monday Night Football.
Tampa Bay's offense struggled in its own right and is most likely the side of the ball that will garner much of the fans' dismay leading up to this week's matchup against the New Orleans Saints. However, it was the below-par play by the Buccaneers' defense that was the most surprising.
The Buccaneers have played pretty stout defense leading up to their week three game, holding both the Vikings and Bears to under 20 points. The Bucs played well enough to keep the scoring somewhat in check against the Eagles Monday night but were unable to control it enough to prevent them from scoring over 20 points against the Bucs for the first time this season.
On Monday, the Buccaneers' defense, which is known for being able to stop the run, greatly failed in this department as they gave up a staggering 201 yards on the ground to the Eagles...
That cannot happen.
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Following the Buccaneers' loss, LB Devin White spoke to the media and remained confident in his defense's abilities following the loss stating that, "I know this defense can carry us to the Super Bowl."
For Devin White's comments to have any sort of chance to come to fruition the Buccaneers will need to get healthy in the secondary, stop the run, and continue to win the turnover margin - specifically in tight games.
As they currently stand the Buccaneers' defense ranks as one of the better units in the league, but there are certain areas that they will need to clean up and improve upon to become one of the upper-echelon defenses in the league.
The Bucs' defense currently excels at preventing their opponents from scoring - ranking 9th in opponent ppg (19.7), 3rd in opponent redzone scoring % (33.33%), and 10th in opponent touchdowns per game (2).
Outside of week three's game against the Eagles, the Bucs' defense has been productive at stopping the opposing team's rushing attack.
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The one area that has been the strong point for the Tampa Bay defense has been the ability to create turnovers. The Bucs rank 4th in takeaways per game (2.3), 3rd in opponent interception thrown % (4.55%), and also have a turnover margin per game of +1.7, good for second in the league.
The Buccaneers still have plenty to figure out, but if they can get fully healthy and continue to work on areas that need improvement there is no reason to believe that White is wrong in his statements as the season progresses.
You can follow Caleb on Twitter @chsnole.
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