Growing pains evident for Bucs defense Ira Kaufman, The Tampa Tribune, published 21 September 2009 The education of the Tampa Bay defense has been a painful process for all concerned. Players are grappling for answers and coaches keep going back to the tape, seeking a glimmer of hope. All the while, the scoreboard keeps blinking. "We've got to grow and grow fast," new defensive coordinator Jim Bates said after Sunday's 33-20 loss to the Bills dropped the Bucs to 0-2. "Our tackling wasn't there today. The rush was there at times, but we need more consistency." A week after being burned by three long Tony Romo passes in a 34-21 loss to Dallas, Tampa Bay failed to pressure Trent Edwards and Fred Jackson gashed a young defense for 163 yards on the ground - the third time in six games an opposing runner has reached or surpassed that mark. "We didn't do our part today," said defensive end Jimmy Wilkerson, who registered one of Tampa Bay's two sacks. "We needed to knock (Edwards) down more and not let Jackson get past the line of scrimmage. A lot of the problems today had to do with our front line." Rookie Roy Miller posted Tampa Bay's other sack, but Edwards had plenty of time to survey the field and find Lee Evans past Ronde Barber for a 32-yard touchdown and Terrell Owens from 43 yards out past Aqib Talib, both down the same right sideline. "If we don't take advantage of certain matchups up front, that's our fault," said defensive tackle Chris Hovan. "Did we hit him? Yeah. Did we sack him? Yeah, but not nearly enough. We're going to watch the film and fix this thing and not point fingers because when you point one, there's three more coming right back at you." Ends Gaines Adams and Stylez White combined for six tackles but had only one quarterback hit between them as Edwards finished with a passer rating of 97.5. "We're 0-2, so we have to get better in all phases," Adams said. White doesn't have a sack during Tampa Bay's six-game losing streak. "It's getting frustrating, but we've got to go back to the drawing board and keep it going," White said. "No excuses, they were a better team than us today." Sunday's poor defensive play up front raises even more concern because the Bills started a pair of rookie guards and lost right tackle Brad Butler to a knee injury before the half. "Everyone believes in this system," Wilkerson said. "This system has worked in other places - now we have to make it work here."