Avoiding Three-and-outs
October 25th, 2018
Moving the ball.
The Bucs offense is moving the ball. And one only needs to look at one stat to recognize that.
The NFL Films guys providing information for BSPN’s NFL Matchup note that the Bucs are one of the best teams at avoiding the dreaded three-and-out series. Through six games, only 26 percent of Bucs’ possessions end after three plays. That’s sixth-best in the NFL.
And NFL coaches like to say turnovers/takeaways are the biggest factor in determining wins and losses? Well, looking at the numbers below, Joe would say how many three-and-outs a team has is a damn good indicator as well.
The four worst teams in percentage of three-and-outs also happen to be lousy teams. Of the top 10 teams in percentage of three-and-outs, only one has a losing record.
Last year, Joe knows the Bucs were plagued by three-and-outs. Joe remembers well the game at New Orleans when the Bucs would punt after three plays. Joe would say to himself, “Oh no, here we go.” And sure enough, the Saints scored.
October 25th, 2018 at 12:21 am
Had there been any word as to who been calling the plays lately? And am I the only one noticing we move the ball more effectively when we’re in a no huddle offense? For the love of God, can we allow Winston to run more?
October 25th, 2018 at 12:36 am
The Bucs will go as far as Winston will take them, which, if he doesn’t stop turning the ball over, won’t be very far. Place kicking and QB play is a problem and has been for the past 4 years. It is difficult to win any game when you get a safety against you in the first 10 minutes of the game, are a negative 3 in turnovers, miss an extra point, miss what could have been a winning field goal, and even throw an interception in overtime. The Bucs have the talent to get into the playoffs, but turnovers and place kicking can bury them.
October 25th, 2018 at 12:45 am
Just think what they’d do if Dirk didn’t so many first downs running up the middle for 1.2 yards…
October 25th, 2018 at 1:26 am
Well we don’t have a run game the only other option is to pass. Not excusing all the turnovers but when you throw as much as we do turnovers are bound to happen but hey, the only guy throwing interceptions is Winston right?
October 25th, 2018 at 1:30 am
Thanks for the comment, Larry. What would we do without your mindless drivel? The bottom line is, without a running game that any defense would even marginally respect, you are going to get 3-and-outs and force your QB to make high risk throws. That happened with Ryan Fitzpatrick and also with Winston. Teams now know they need to dedicate extra defenders to our receivers and that they can get plenty of pressure and stop the running game with only 6-7 guys in the box.
October 25th, 2018 at 2:13 am
No matter what anyone on this site ever says, football is played in context. If you continue to run the ball for 2.9 ypc when you are in possession of a 2 touchdown lead, then turn around and ask your quarterback to drop back 62 (!) times against the league’s best defense in takeaways, and miss a game winning field goal from a very make-able distance, when said quarterback goes 4/4 for 60+ yards on the drive that got you there… you will not, nor ever be a legitimate playoff team. I care very much for this Bucs squad, and I am cautiously optimistic for this defense that actually made some contested plays and finally got off the field a few times Sunday, but the inability to run the football and score on special teams will doom this team. Especially against better teams down the strech. Mark it down.
If I were Jason Licht, I’d be slinging figurative chronic over the phones and wheeling & dealing for help at offensive guard and DB. It can still be fixed.
October 25th, 2018 at 3:13 am
don’t worry, mccoy is being shipped to the cardinals…can you imagine him in that uniform???…it seems quite fitting for him…he looks like a cardinal to me…
#MancaveInSedonaForGerald
October 25th, 2018 at 3:26 am
@DalvinCookRules … “Teams now know they need to dedicate extra defenders to our receivers and that they can get plenty of pressure and stop the running game with only 6-7 guys in the box.” Surely you see the flaw in that logic Dalvin. IF you’re playing 6-7guys in the box to pressure the QB AND stop the run, exactly how do you “dedicate extra defenders to our receivers”? It’s purely a numbers thingie … 11 minus 6-7 equals 4-5 back defending.
Chicago did that very successfully against us for TWO reasons: (1) our OLine didn’t block their DLine worth a hoot; and (2) we had no running game to start with. The game thus became one of “See Fitz run. Run Fitz run. Faster Fitz faster”.
In the end it all gets back to our OLine. IF they run block better, our running game would improve considerably with the RBs we have. IF they pass protect better, Jameis gets more time to survey the field and find open receivers. And IF pigs had wings they could fly.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:35 am
Dalvincookrules
Typical nole response if someone comments on Jameis. Are you actually poster 1987?
Do me a favor and send me your address …I can send you some prescription glasses so you can see again.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:46 am
The Buc offense are ranked 30th in offensive TO/D ( Turnover Per Drive)
.214
The Bucs has 70 drives this season
15 Turnovers
21.4% of their drives ends in a turnovers
October 25th, 2018 at 6:48 am
Kansas95Buc Says
“Had there been any word as to who been calling the plays lately? And am I the only one noticing we move the ball more effectively when we’re in a no huddle offense?”
Although many fans blame bad play calls on Dirk, it has been Monk calling the plays since the start of the season.
Dirk himself said that too many voices in the headset confuses players, so he doesn’t interfere. He let’s Monk do his job. So whenever you see a fan blaming Koetter for bad play calling, you can be sure that fan doesn’t know what they are talking about.
If Koetter ever does start calling the plays, he won’t stop and it will be planned.
As to the no huddle, it was Dirk’s specialty in Atlanta, so his offense practices it a lot. In Atlanta, it made the Falcons offense very fast. Matt Ryan developed quickly because of it.
Maintaining no huddle throughout games is next to impossible, and when a defense figures out your patterns, it can do more harm than good.
The smart thing is to do the unexpected. Catch them off guard.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:56 am
Rod Munch Says
“Just think what they’d do if Dirk didn’t so many first downs running up the middle for 1.2 yards…”
I find that frustrating as well.
I understand that doing so wears down the defensive line more quickly, so it isn’t always about the yards when running up the middle, but it seems to be that a bruiser type of fullback would do a better job at it.full
Mike Alstott was so effective because he exhausted the dline quickly. Of course he got overheated doing so. I could not count how many times he was down on one knee on the sidelines with staffers fanning him to cool him off.
October 25th, 2018 at 7:47 am
Even more impressive considering this is a one dimensional offense
October 25th, 2018 at 10:33 am
The comments here are the exact same ones I read in 2002. Stop running Alstott up the middle on 1st down, too predictable, the QB sucks, the defense is too soft, blah blah blah!!!
October 25th, 2018 at 12:27 pm
It would take a big set of wings to get that porker up in the air.
October 25th, 2018 at 1:02 pm
The defense was too soft in 2002?
James Walker needs to lay off the Johnny Walker so early in the day.
October 25th, 2018 at 1:55 pm
@BuccaneerBonzai
Thanks for the clarification. I wonder why we’re not doing the same thing offensively from the start of the season. I know we can’t run no huddle all the time but we can agree we should use it more than we do now seeing how there’s no run game