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Can The Bucs Defense Pressure Patrick Mahomes?
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got to Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers without the blitz, and if Shaq Barrett can continue his Simeon Rice impression the Bucs may be able to do the same against Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes, who is lethal against the blitz
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense blitzed opposing quar- terbacks on 38% of their drop- backs during the 2020 regular season, the sixth-highest rate in the NFL. Notably, however, they only brought extra pass- rushers on 17.6% of Patrick Mahomes' dropbacks when they faced the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 12. This is noth- ing new for Mahomes; since he took over as the Chiefs' starter in 2018 he has been blitzed just 21.0% of the time, the lowest average for any qual- ifying quarterback in that span.
Presumably, Buccaneers Defensive Coordinator Todd Bowles knows what every team in the league has gradu- ally discovered over the last
JASON PIERRE-PAUL AND SHAQ BARRETT
three seasons: Blitzing Patrick Mahomes is not often a win- ning strategy. Let's put it this way: in 2020, Mahomes com- piled a passer rating of 135.3 when opponents blitzed, with 15 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. He ranked first in those categories against the blitz, as well as in yards per pass attempt, at 9.5.
But there is an important distinction to be made here: facing a blitz and facing pres- sure are not the same thing. Not every blitz leads to a pres- sured quarterback (especially against Mahomes) and not
every pressure is the result of a blitz. When it comes to facing actual pressure, the Chiefs' su- perstar passer at least shows some evidence of being an ac- tual mortal.
The Buccaneers, whose de- fense forced seven turnovers and scored touchdowns off six of them during their three play- off road games, know that they need to keep the takeaways coming to have their best shot at claiming victory in Super Bowl LV. That's not easy against a passer who only tossed six picks in 17 games this season, including the play- offs, but it's worth noting that 10 of his 25 interceptions (in- cluding playoffs) since 2018 have been thrown while under pressure.
So will the Buccaneers change their approach in the rematch with Kansas City and dial up more blitzes, rolling the dice against Mahomes in the hopes of creating more pres- sure? Well, they may not have to resort to that.
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