‘Brutal!’ Why’d Bucs Secondary Struggle in Preseason vs. Jaguars?

On a night where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' pass rush roamed the backfield quite often, the secondary struggled to contain receivers and get off the field.

The Jacksonville Jaguars stumped their visitors 20-7 Saturday evening, making easy work of a Bucs' defensive backfield that struggled the entirety of teh game and fumbled away any opportune chances.

Mac Jones deserves his credit for his performance and he has done well this preseason, but the porous effort from the Bucs' secondary certainly made life easier under center.

Throughout the night, Tampa Bay struggled to get off the field on third down or conceded untimely gains. The Bucs tallied five sacks, but Jacksonville went nine of 17 on that crucial down. These problems festered throughout the game, but some memorable moments early on set the tone for the disappointing results.

In the final minutes of the first quarter, a Jose Ramirez sack of Jones dropped the Jaguars back 10 yards and forced a third and long deep in their own territory.

But the quarterback zipped a pass to Devin Duvernay for a gain of exactly 15 yards, keeping the possession alive. The same situation would play out at the end of the drive.

Another sack forced Jacksonville into a third and long, this time within the confines of Tampa Bay's side of the field and outside the red zone. But Jones floated a 25-yard touchdown to a wide open Parker Washington after a blown coverage by safety Marcus Banks.

Too often the pass rush set up the defense to get off the field before a chunk play in the passing game made those efforts all for naught. Jacksonville converted four third downs of a distance longer than eight yards with three of those plays coming on distances of 10 or more.

The secondary struggles were brutal … and they not only impacted the entirety of the Tampa Bay defense, but took away from the things the group did well.

Related: Buccaneers Struggle to Find Offense, Fall to Jaguars

A prime example of those setbacks occurred in the first quarter when Bryce Hall picked off Jones on the Jaguars' opening drive. But a pass interference call on the cornerback brought the play back.

With some decisions to be made on the secondary depth chart through the final weeks of the preseason and training camp, Saturday night was not the best statement for this group and the players looking to cement their spots.

It sounds like the starters could see some run in that game, making the urgency more apparent heading into next week's preseason finale.