After recording the fewest sacks in the NFL in 2017, the Buccaneers threw resources at their defensive front, picking Vita Vea in the first round of the draft, signing free agent Vinny Curry and trading for Giants star edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul. Nevertheless, a rough season for the defense rendered a team-record (at the time) 396 points by the offense moot. The final result was a second straight 5-11 season, although it started out with a lot of promise. With Jameis Winston sidelined by a suspension, Ryan Fitzpatrick led the Bucs to high-scoring wins over New Orleans and Philadelphia, throwing for 819 yards and eight touchdowns in the progress. However, after the Bus lost their next two, including one more 400-yard game by "Fitzmagic," Winston regained his job as the starter. That job would exchange hands multiple times during the season and the Bucs would finish with the league's top-ranked passing attack, but 26 interceptions to go with 36 touchdown tosses. Mike Evans set a career high with 1,524 receiving yards while Adam Humphries, DeSean Jackson and Chris Godwin all topped 700 yards. The Bucs gave up six touchdowns to Mitch Trubisky and the Bars in an embarrassing Week Four loss and Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith was fired in October. The Bucs posted consecutive high-scoring wins over San Francisco and Carolina in the second half of the season but followed that with a four-game skid and Koetter was let go the day after the campaign ended.
