Yacking On YAC
November 24th, 2017
Bucs leader.
Winning Bucs coach Dirk Koetter is a huge believer in explosive plays. He believes, other than turnovers, explosive plays determine the outcome of games more than any other stat.
One way to get an explosive play is to have yards after-catch (YAC) on pass plays. There, the Bucs are terrible. Per BSPN’s NFL Matchup, the Bucs are tied with the Cowboys and Crows for the worst YAC average per reception (4.1). Interestingly, none of those three teams has a winning record.
These stats were compiled prior to yesterday’s games.
So Joe decided to take a peek at individual YAC stats for Bucs players. So guess who has the most YAC yards for the Bucs? Adam Humphries (182). Second is a no-brainer, DeSean Jackson with 159. Third is — get ready for this — Charles Sims (129).
For context, at No. 25 in the NFL for YAC yards is 49ers running back Carlos Hyde with 253 yards.
Joe doesn’t think it is a stretch to suggest when two reserve players, Rudy Humphries and Chucky Sims, are two of your better receivers for YAC, there may be an issue here.
November 24th, 2017 at 12:25 am
When the wr has to stop and jump, there will be no tax. Jameis can’t hit a receiver in stride so no surprise it’s thats bad
November 24th, 2017 at 12:38 am
Watch Evans. As soon as he makes a catch, he dives for the ground. Happens every time.
November 24th, 2017 at 1:00 am
Donkc:
Evans has by far the most catches on the team (45) but is fifth on the team in YAC
November 24th, 2017 at 1:04 am
4.1 and 6.7 doesn’t seem like a significant difference but I guess every yard adds up while trying to convert first downs.
November 24th, 2017 at 1:07 am
Waterboy:
True, but remember, that is per catch. How many completions do, say, the Rams have a game? Let’s be safe and say 20. That would be a difference of 50 yards of offense per game, or in that ballpark.
As you suggested, all adds up when a team is scratching for a first down.
November 24th, 2017 at 2:14 am
I’d like to see the yac for each qb (winston and fitz) and compare them
November 24th, 2017 at 5:01 am
Wonder if it has anything to do with play design and QB play. Nah, must be the receivers’ fault. Oh and Doug Martin’s fault, almost forgot about Dougie.
November 24th, 2017 at 7:09 am
First of all…our receivers aren’t getting open…..part is play design, part is route running part is quickness.
But mainly the problem lies with the throws….they are not in stride and many are high or low. I agree that Evans hits the ground after most catches…but many of the throws are designed to where he is the only one that can catch them and they are purposely low. Also there are the Evans out routes.
I suspect that Howard will have the most YAC when he gets more touches…he seems to get open and he has some speed.
Gone are the days of Joey Galloway….when is the last time we’ve seen a WR run a pass into the endzone?
November 24th, 2017 at 7:55 am
Evans has been hung out to dry so much on his passes you can see he’s afraid of getting hit, but I’ve seen enough times to know if given the right play has the skill and speed to get plenty of YAC. You can blame Koetter on play selection and Jameis on accuracy issues since it obvious neither has worked on it during 3 off seasons. The only reason Hump gets so much is because of bubble screens
November 24th, 2017 at 9:08 am
Sometimes I just watch the game and get “anecdotal” feelings. IE I haven’t really done the work like some of you and recorded and rewinding and reviewing like a coach and marking things factually.
So I concede this is just a feeling…but all through the season with #3 mostly at QB I would see the other teams QB completing passes to OPEN receivers while #3’s completions are largely to covered receivers with #3 hitting tight windows.
Then the Dolphins games Fitzpatrick was actually finding wide open receivers.
What is up with that. Did Fitz just read the field better? Did the Bucs receivers play that much better in terms of route running and getting open.
And I realize we have to factor the Dolphins bad secondary play into it as well.
I just found it a stark difference that Fitz had wide open targets at times and #3 rarely has a wide open target.
November 24th, 2017 at 9:10 am
It just seems to me that most of our receivers are basically tackling themselves right after the catch to avoid contact.
November 24th, 2017 at 12:38 pm
It’s a product of the offense and the quarterback more than anything else. This is an offense that likes to take shots, but since Jameis hasn’t been super accurate downfield this likely hurts that YAC number. They need to get DJax more short passes so he has a chance to make people miss in open space. Is it any coincidence the guys who we task with working the short/underneath routes have the most YAC? I don’t think so.
November 24th, 2017 at 3:08 pm
99% of humphries yac comes from designed screens. Move Djax to slot and Godwin to the outside and our yac goes up significantly
November 24th, 2017 at 7:06 pm
QB accuracy issues have a lot to do with this. We rarely hit a receiver in stride.
November 25th, 2017 at 9:13 am
Yeah, a lot of that falls on JW not being able to hit WR’s in stride.