The Tampa Bay Buccaneers found a way to get back into the win column on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, pulling off a 20-17 victory that snapped a three-game losing streak following the bye week.

The game wasn’t pretty at times on both sides of the ball, as the Bucs mustered just 289 yards of total offense to go with 20 points. Meanwhile, Arizona came just short of 400 yards on offense with 396 and reached their 95 rushing yards on just 19 attempts, compared to 27 rushes for the Bucs to get to the same number.

However, Tampa Bay dominated in a crucial area, and one that doesn’t appear in your standard box score – pressures. The Bucs were in Jacoby Brissett’s face a lot on Sunday, and it was a significant factor in Tampa Bay getting over the hump.

Bucs generated 27 QB pressures in win over Cardinals, according to Pro Football Focus

Per PFF, Tampa Bay held a 27-16 edge in quarterback pressures over Arizona. The Bucs were led in pressures by defensive linemen Logan Hall and Vita Vea, both of whom had 6 total pressures each. Vea had 3 pressures, 2 QB hits, and a sack. Hall added a forced fumble of Bam Knight to go with 6 pressures. An impactful performance from the interior, to be sure.

Defensive tackle Elijah Roberts also chipped in with three pressures, and so did OLB Haason Reddick, who returned to action for the first time since Week 7 against Detroit after dealing with knee and ankle issues.

Tampa Bay ranks 14th in the NFL through 12 games with 29 sacks, so the production has been decent but not top tier by any means. And against the Bills and Rams over the last two weeks, the pass rush might as well have been on the side of a milk carton. The Bucs totaled 22 pressures and 1 sack combined over both those games – 15 pressures and no sacks against Buffalo and 7 pressures and 1 sack against Los Angeles. By way of comparison, Houston sacked Josh Allen 8 times in the Bills’ next game after beating Tampa Bay.

But with Reddick back, the Bucs’ pass rush got a boost, and even though Arizona came in at 3-8, the unit looked like a formidable one for at least one week.

The Bucs will close out their regular season against two teams in the top half of the league in pressure rates allowed, per Pro Football Reference’s advanced passing statistics, with two games against the Carolina Panthers (8th; 23.1%) and one against the Miami Dolphins (T-13th; 20.1%). With both teams heading in the right direction late in the season, the Bucs will need their pass rush to continue to pressure the pocket and force mistakes in what should be very competitive games.

If they can, it’ll go a long way to locking up the franchise’s fifth straight NFC South title.

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