Buccaneers defense flipped a switch and now the NFC South is up for grabs

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 9, it looked like time to throw in the towel. Despite a promising, young core of players on offense and an offseason’s worth of new acquisitions on defense, the Buccaneers were blown out on the national stage.

“Yes, of course we’re disappointed this is yet another year the Bucs are out of it by the start of November,” JC De La Torre of SB Nation’s Bucs Nation wrote a day after the 43-28 loss. “I know there might be some out there hoping for a miraculous turnaround, but it’s time we faced it.

“Tampa Bay is not a playoff team this year.”

The Buccaneers had a 31-24 win over the Falcons in Week 1, but they hadn’t given any reason for hope after that point. They lost 40-7 to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2, followed by a loss to the Los Angeles Rams and a blowout loss to the Denver Broncos.

The season already looked like it was circling the drain before Tampa Bay was blown out by the Falcons, but since then, the team has won four straight.

Not all winning streaks are the same. While the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants both surged up the standings with six-game win streaks, the 7-5 Pittsburgh Steelers were the only team with a winning record that Miami beat, and for the Giants, it was the 7-5 Baltimore Ravens.

In the four-game run for the Buccaneers, the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks were taken out in back-to-back weeks.

“We’re just having fun playing football, that’s all we’re doing,” Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans said Wednesday. “We’re taking our coaching and just having fun playing football – and that’s all we can do.”

The big difference between the team that started the season 3-5 and the one that is 4-0 in the last four weeks is a significant improvement on the defensive side of the ball.

There were high hopes for the Buccaneers defense that was No. 10 in yards allowed but No. 26 in points allowed during the 2015 season. Robert Ayers, Brent Grimes and Daryl Smith were all added in the offseason, and they selected Vernon Hargreaves and Noah Spence with their first two picks in the 2016 NFL draft.

The defense didn’t look any better during the first half of the season, though. If anything, it looked worse.

In the first eight games of the year, the Buccaneers allowed 29 points and 398.9 yards per game. But in the last four, that has dropped drastically to an average of 13.25 points and 300.3 yards.

“Nothing’s changed within the defense,” Hargreaves said Wednesday. “I think we’re understanding the defense. I think a lot of people forget that it’s a new system for everybody. We had to come in and learn all that, and like I said we’re getting comfortable and we’re learning it and it’s showing.”

With 11 forced turnovers in the last four weeks, the Buccaneers are shutting down opposing offenses.

But Tampa Bay finishes the year with two games against the New Orleans Saints and matchups with the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers. The offenses of both the Saints and Cowboys are in the top five in both points scored and yards gained, so the Tampa Bay defense will need to keep playing well if the Buccaneers hope to get to the postseason.

“Just do the same things man. The most consistent and the best teams in this league do the same things, regardless of the situation,” Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. “A Seattle or a Patriots, you’ll see them have this – or take an Oakland. Oakland this year has been staying the course, and you’ll see them in tough situations and they find a way to win.

“It’s because they’re not changing what they’re doing, they’re doing the same things and that’s that formula of winning.”

The Buccaneers aren’t playing like the team that looked sunk after Week 9, but the offenses of the Saints and Cowboys could cause them to regress. If not, Tampa Bay could be the comeback story of 2016.