Stop holding your breath. The Bucs defense finally came through

TAMPA — Intimidate? No, no, no. Dominate? Not by a longshot.

When it comes to descriptors for the Bucs defense, the fancy verbs have yet to make an appearance.

They do not oppress, they cannot annihilate and they have yet to roar.

On the other hand, they do win.

More than most.

You saw it again on Sunday when the defense looked like cartoon characters chasing the Roadrunner for the better part of three quarters before stepping up in the game’s final minutes. Need a third-down sack in Tampa Bay territory? Send Lavonte David on a blitz. Need a third-down interception with the end zone in sight? Call Jamel Dean’s number.

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Need the defense to bail out the offense for a change?

Well, that’s exactly what happened in a 30-19 victory against the 49ers.

Instead of Baker Mayfield leading the offense to another fourth-quarter comeback, the defense stood tall when it mattered most. San Francisco had scored on five of its first seven possessions and had gained 324 yards through three quarters. A tying score in the fourth quarter felt like a fait accompli.

Except, the defense refused to yield. Turns out, the pipsqueaks punched the bully.

The 49ers gained only 39 yards in the fourth quarter and failed to score on any of their three possessions.

“We’re almost there, almost there,” David said, when asked how close this defense is to being special. “We’ve still got a couple of things to do, still got some small details to iron out, but it’s a long season, man. And we’ll definitely peak when the time is right.”

For the record, the defense is giving up 25.2 points per game. That’s below league average and, if it continues, will be the worst showing by a Tampa Bay defense since 2019.

So, yeah, there is still work to do. But Sunday’s game provided a glimpse of a better future. It wasn’t simply holding San Francisco to 19 points, which matched Tampa Bay’s best effort of the season. Rather, it was the big moments that offer hope of what’s possible.

The defense had six sacks and two interceptions on the afternoon. Including the postseason, the Bucs had not put together those type of numbers in their last 40 games.

“We talked about it all week, getting more pressure and challenging (the) guys to get more pressure and work together a lot more,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “They really started the game off right. They got off the ball the whole night. Credit it to them, they did a heck of a job.”

Bowles is one of the most aggressive defensive coaches in the league when it comes to blitz packages, but he dialed it back for much of Sunday’s game. Opponents have been victimizing the Bucs by throwing quick passes over the middle on blitzes, so Bowles wanted to give the Niners a different look.

And yet, when facing a third and long from the Tampa Bay 39, he sent David and Antoine Winfield Jr. on a blitz. The right tackle picked up Winfield, but David disguised his rush for a split second and then came through the line untouched to take down quarterback Mac Jones.

“I got the chance to hide a little bit, let the D-line take on some of the offensive linemen,” David said. “I was able to hit it tight and come free.”

The sack took the 49ers out of field-goal range and forced a punt with about 13 minutes remaining and Tampa Bay leading 27-19. The Bucs drove into San Francisco territory, but a 49-yard Chase McLaughlin field goal went wide right.

That meant the defense needed to come up with another stop, or run the risk of the 49ers tying the score on a touchdown and two-point conversion. The Bucs got another third-down stop, but Vita Vea gave San Francisco new life with a running into the kicker penalty on a punt.

That’s when Dean came up with the game-saving interception on the third down from the Tampa Bay 29.

The Bucs were playing a zone defense and Dean was covering the short side of the field and concentrating on the first-down marker. When Jones spotted Jauan Jennings deeper down the field, Dean began to back up and made a leaping interception.

“I was just playing the coverage that was called but, when the ball didn’t come out in the first couple of seconds, I said, ‘Well let me just sink (backward),’” Dean said. “And the second I started sinking, that’s when he cocked back and I was like, ‘Oh, I better get on my horses.’”

Was it a great defensive game? Not really. Are the Bucs a great defensive team? Not yet. If they had a nickname, it would be something like the Legion of Whom? Or maybe the Aluminum Curtain.

But the Bucs are 5-1 today, and the defense played a huge role on Sunday.

They weren’t great, but they were good enough.

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