By By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
TAMPA — Todd Bowles spent the offseason rebuilding the Buccaneers defense to make it younger, tougher, and more aggressive.
Now he gets to find out if it works.
There will be no easing into the 2026 season. No soft opening. No overmatched quarterback allowing Tampa Bay’s rookies to settle into their new roles.
The Buccaneers will take their rebuilt defense to Cincinnati on Sunday and put it across the line from Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and one of the NFL’s most dangerous passing attacks.
If Bowles wanted an honest first test, he could not have asked for a better one.
Burrow played only eight games last season after a toe injury sidelined him for nine, but his shortened season did not make him ordinary.
He still threw 17 touchdown passes against five interceptions and finished with a 100.7 passer rating. The last time he stayed healthy for all 17 games, in 2024, he led the NFL with 4,918 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes.
That is the quarterback waiting for Tampa Bay’s new defense.
“It is not just the accuracy; it is his intelligence and the way that he moves in the pocket,” Bowles said Monday. “He can run without running, and he can buy time just with his feet.”
That description gets to the heart of Sunday’s challenge.
Burrow does not have to escape the pocket like Lamar Jackson to punish a pass rush. He moves a step here, slides a step there, and turns what should have been pressure into another second for Chase or Higgins to uncover.
Bowles knows the margin for error is small.
“He is so accurate on the outside, especially with his fade balls, with the back shoulder or the deep over the top, and he puts it where only his guys can get it,” Bowles said. “There is probably nothing that he has not seen, so we just have to play sound football and execute.”
Bowles loves disguise, pressure, and making quarterbacks solve a puzzle after the snap.
But against Burrow, exotic does not automatically mean effective. The Buccaneers cannot become so concerned with fooling him that it confuses itself.
The Buccaneers spent the offseason changing the defense’s personality after too many breakdowns, missed tackles, and inconsistent stretches in 2025.
Veterans A’Shawn Robinson and Rakeem Nuñez-Roches were added to give the defensive front more size and attitude.
First-round edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. and second-round linebacker Josiah Trotter bring youth, speed and physicality.
Alex Anzalone takes over the green-dot communication role in the middle of the defense.
Bowles called this “probably the most complete defense we have had in a couple of years.” That is an encouraging statement, but Sunday is when encouragement becomes reality.
Two rookies, Bain and Trotter, are listed as starters on the first depth chart of the regular season.
Their talent is one reason for the optimism surrounding this unit.
Their inexperience is also one reason Burrow will test every adjustment, hand signal, and coverage responsibility he can find.
Anzalone may be as important as any defender on the field.
With the radio in his helmet, he must receive Bowles’ call, organize the front and make sure the secondary is on the same page before Cincinnati snaps the ball.
Against Burrow’s command of the offense, communication cannot be late.
“He wanted the green dot, and he got that,” Bowles said of Anzalone. “He has done a great job of communicating, especially with the safeties, with [Antoine] Winfield and Tykee [Smith] on the same page, and getting with the defensive front and lining everybody up.”
The priority is pressure, but it must be disciplined pressure.
Yaya Diaby ranked among the NFL’s top 10 in quarterback pressures last season, yet the Buccaneers need more of those disruptions to end in sacks, hurried throws, and turnovers.
Bain was drafted to help finish those plays.
Vita Vea remains the player who can wreck the middle of a pocket and prevent Burrow from simply stepping away from the edge rush.
The Buccaneers do not necessarily need to sack Burrow five times to have a good defensive day.
They do need to make him uncomfortable. They need to force him to reset his feet, speed up his internal clock, and throw before Chase or Higgins can reach the vulnerable areas of the coverage.
And when the ball comes out quickly, the secondary has to tackle.
Chase caught 125 passes for 1,412 yards last season.
Tampa Bay cornerback Jacob Parrish identified the obvious danger: what happens after the catch.
“What really stands out from him is his YAC,” Parrish said. “He is very strong and is really good at getting yards after the catch, so we have to focus hard on getting him down.”
Cincinnati will use quick throws to neutralize the rush.
If a five-yard completion turns into 18 because the first defender misses, Bowles’ pressure plan loses much of its value.
The matchup also puts the Buccaneers’ cornerback depth under immediate scrutiny. Zyon McCollum, Parrish, and the rest of the secondary will be asked to survive isolated matchups when Bowles sends extra rushers.
Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith must disguise their intentions without leaving the defense exposed over the top.
There is a balance to strike. Sit back too often, and Burrow will patiently move the chains.
Blitz recklessly and he will locate the vacated space before the pressure arrives.
The best answer would be for Tampa Bay’s four-person rush to create problems, allowing Bowles to keep more defenders in coverage while still changing the picture before the snap.
Sunday will not tell us everything about this defense.
One difficult afternoon against Burrow won’t erase the offseason progress, just as one strong performance won’t guarantee a full-season turnaround.
But we will see whether the new attitude holds up when Chase breaks a tackle.
We will see whether the rookies remain composed when Burrow changes the play at the line.
We will see whether the Buccaneers can turn pressure into negative plays and whether a rebuilt secondary can prevent explosive ones.
Bowles did not remake this defense merely to look faster during training camp or dominate backup quarterbacks in August.
He rebuilt it for games like this—on the road, against an elite quarterback, with every weakness about to be tested.
The Buccaneers wanted a defense that could help them return to the playoffs and reclaim the NFC South.
On Sunday in Cincinnati, Joe Burrow gets the first chance to decide how far they have come.
