Entering Sunday’s matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Philadelphia Eagles in Tampa, something had to give. Both squads had compiled a 3-0 record and sat at the top of their divisions, and despite an abundance of injuries, it was expected to be one of the most competitive games of the weekend. Many thought it was one of those games that could come down to one or two mistakes.

Well, something did give—two minutes into the game. The Bucs’ offense was stymied on their first possession, and they opted to punt from just shy of midfield. A punt on their first possession wasn’t a great sign, but it wasn’t disastrous—until it was. Philly’s Cameron Latu burst through the A-gap barely touched and got what looked like his entire upper body on the ball as it came off of punter Riley Dixon’s foot.

The ball was then scooped up by defensive back Sydney Brown, who sauntered into the end zone and killed every ounce of positive energy from the home crowd—7-0 Eagles, and the game had barely started.

If the block was an isolated incident, it wouldn’t necessarily be cause for worry. Kicks get blocked in the NFL every once in a while because almost every player on the other side of the ball is very big and quite fast. Unfortunately for the Bucs, over the first four weeks of the season, blocked kicks have become more of a pattern than a mistake.

The Eagles’ block could be lumped in with one from the Texans game in Week 2—and, well, one from the Jets game in Week 3. There have been two blocked punts and a blocked field goal against the Bucs in the last three weeks, and two of them have been returned for touchdowns—both to take the lead in their respective games.

When the Bucs were winning every game, it was easy to overlook the game-changing plays because they were outshined by game-winning drives. But now that Tampa has tasted defeat, the issues cannot go unaddressed.

“Right now, we’re looking at all avenues to improve our special teams … It really doesn’t matter. (The blocks) are all bad. Whether they block it from the outside or the inside, it can’t happen. Those are things that cannot happen for us to have guys on our punt team that are here strictly for special teams,” Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles said of the recent miscues.

For PFF believers, the Bucs currently sit as the No. 24 overall team in terms of special teams grade, but I don’t know if that grade accounts for the blocks being returned for touchdowns. If it doesn’t, it should.

Moving forward, the “looking at all avenues” Bowles is doing started with open tryouts to replace Dixon. The team brought in a couple punters for a Tuesday workout, but opted not to make any signings, per Fox Sports’ Greg Auman.

While Dixon is pretty solid when he gets the punts off, he has been notorious for a while as one of the slowest punters in the league. If Tampa Bay long snapper Evan Deckers and his fellow linemen are having trouble blocking (and his 35.6 overall PFF special teams grade says he is), Dixon better speed up his operation or it could lead to more disaster.

With a date with the Seahawks–who have blocked a field goal and a punt themselves in 2025–on the horizon, special teams execution needs to be one of the main emphases this week in practice. One more miscue should lead to drastic changes—Bowles can’t afford for one of the best rosters in the NFC to have its year spoiled by woes in the third phase.