It’s time for the Buccaneers to get their offense on the right track
For the third consecutive season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the playoffs But this is the first year of that three-year stretch in which it didn’t feel completely… deserved. It doesn’t feel the same at 8-9. Their run game is dead last in the NFL, even though Tom Brady leads the league in attempts and completions. So, their offense hasn’t really clicked. Also, injuries are a major part of their offense. Their offensive line is particularly affected. This has led to a lack of a running game that has affected their passing and play-action.
Their offense was flat.
But even though the Buccaneers only have eight wins, they are still in the playoffs, and that’s all Brady ever needs — a game, a quarter, a drive, or just one chance.
Brady has shown some improvement over these last games. Even though they lost to the Atlanta Falcons in week 18, their offense did show slight improvement.
Let’s look into the Buccaneers’ offense and see what they have to do to make it past the Dallas Cowboys in their wild-card matchup.
Season woes.
(Mark J. Rebilas – USA TODAY Sports
The Buccaneers’ offense just is not explosive, to say the least. Their run game isn’t nearly as good as it was last year with Leonard Fournette. Fournette sits 37Th In rushes of 10+, or more, with 14. Also, the Bucs have also been declared dead last ESPN.com gives the highest number of rushing yards per game at 76.9 yards.
Their passing offense is 25Th Plays of more than 20 yards. For third and long, they are 30Th offensive EPA: -25.83 They also have the third highest drops in the league 29, per NBC Sports
Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich recently said this when asked about his offense: “I think you guys overexaggerate, because we look different. The numbers say we’re not that far off … For some reason, everybody wants to throw dirt on the Bucs.”
Leftwich is Technically correct.
Brady has the third-most passing yards in the league. They are getting the yards, but they aren’t scoring!
So, when Leftwich says that the offensive looks different, he’s absolutely right. This is Brady’s first losing season at any level of football where he has been the primary starting quarterback.
As they were dinking and dunking up the field, the Buccaneers rely on their quick passing game. It’s only working in short bursts, not enough to help them in the red zone.
The ball can be moved.
(Kevin Jairaj – USA TODAY Sports
The Buccaneers’ offense is only scoring on 52% of their chances in the red zone as opposed to 65.7% in 2021. Brady needs to find different ways to get yards. When under pressure, his completion percentage is 47.2%, but when he gives it to the running back, he achieves a 91.7% completion rate.
They just aren’t doing that enough. It was week 17, and it was third-and-7. Instead of running the back in a chip block or using him to block the run, they kept him blocking. This was a design that was bound to fail.
…or just getting it out quick and letting their guys beat their matchups one-on-one. They did it against the Arizona Cardinals, Week 16.
It’s important to note that the Buccaneers have the thirdWith 2,419.
It is better for the Bucs not to stop this theme, but continue to get it out in their short passing game and let their wideouts do most of the work.
The wild-card matchup.
(Kevin Jairaj – USA TODAY Sports
Brady has been successful when getting the ball out quickly, but if the offense isn’t drawing up higher-percentage passing plays on early downs, they end up with third-and-longs. And that is an issue, as mentioned above — they are producing on third downs with the worst EPA in the league on third down with 10+ yards to go.
Brady is not facing pressure on 32% dropbacks. That’s 27.Th (min. 25 attempts). If Brady isn’t being pressured and he has the time, why isn’t the EPA higher? The play calling isn’t beneficial to the situations.
The Wildcard matchup between the Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys will be a challenging one. The time of possession is critical if the Buccaneers want to repeat week one’s win. Since then, the Cowboys defense has been strong. They only had to force two three-and outs in their first matchup. 9th Teamrankings.com identifies the best way to prevent third-down conversions.
Cowboys cornerback Travon Diggs has two relative weaknesses — defending the short passing game and the double move. Sports Info Solutions reports that Diggs allowed five touchdowns and has the second-most yards compared to passes of 15 yards or less (393)
Brady will have to get the ball out quick and early, and once he does, Dallas’ defense should step up opening the field over the top. Brady doesn’t have much to prove at this point, but if he can singlehandedly take down the Cowboys defense this weekend with the passing game, he will just prove even further that he is the best quarterback of all time.