Weakness Vs. Weakness
December 22nd, 2018
Something’s gotta give Sunday in Dallas
The league-worst red zone defense owned by your Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have a unique test on Sunday against an overrated Cowboys team.
Somehow, the Bucs allow opponents to score 78.4 percent of the time they start drives in the red zone. And that’s actually an improvement from when Mike Smith called the defensive shots through the first five games of 2018.
The Cowboys, however, are a terrible red zone offense. The Internet folks at 96.7 FM in Dallas explained in story form this week.
The Cowboys have scored touchdowns on only 44.2 percent of their red zone chances. Only San Francisco has a worse red zone success rate.
But the Cowboys have been even worse in the red zone over the last three games, a glaring concern that they’re not going in the right direction.
“We spent a lot of time talking about it,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said of Wednesday’s meeting. “Really if you break it down, it’s probably a combination of execution and pressing a little bit down there. We’ve got to certainly coach better and play better in those situations. We’re getting down there. It’s not like we’re short on number of attempts. We just haven’t been able to cash in.”
This is a new problem for the Cowboys. Over the previous two seasons, the Cowboys were among the best teams in the NFL in the red zone. Last season, the Cowboys ranked seventh in the league in red zone touchdown rate at 59.6 percent. They ranked fifth in 2016 at 65.6 percent.
Well, the Bucs offense knows all about red zone woes. They were brutal there last year and are middle-of-the-pack this year.
As Joe has written and said many times, when the whistle blows, Joe is always cheering for a Tampa Bay victory. If the Bucs give up the booty in the red zone to Dallas on Sunday, it’ll be awfully frustrating and upsetting — even if it does help secure a better draft position.
Bucs legend Derrick Brooks and Sage of Tampa Bay sports Ira Kaufman dive into the Cowboys-Buccaneers match-up and the state of the Bucs on this episode of TAMPA TWO, a production of The Identity Tampa Bay and JoeBucsFan.com. As always, TAMPA TWO is presented by Caldeco Air Conditioning & Heating.
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:40 pm
Although I would agree that they are overrated, I still believe that they are going to run the ball down our F’N throat and put tons of pressure on our crappy (LT) O-Line. No need to mention the canyon at RG
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:12 pm
Howard predicts that the Bucs will get physically whipped by Dallas. Bradley summed it up pretty well.
Howard further predicts that the Bucs will hang in there until the end of the 1st half when their lack of “want to” will be exposed for the 100th time and we will all be mad
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:15 pm
One team playing out the string, one team playing for a rare home playoff game.
When was the last time Winston won a game on the road?
Bucs lose by three scores, 9 to 21 points.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:16 pm
“Those stats with dallas are flawed
The Cowboys are a different team with Amari cooper and without- stats shoud be adjusted with that in mind
The colts loss this past week 23-0 is a classic letdown game(usually occurs at away games) After huge emotional games vs the saints and the eagles, the loss was inevitable
The Dallas cowboys have 3 offensive options to beat defenses
!- Run & screen with Elliot
2- pass to Amari Cooper (reason why they are a playoff team and stas should be adjusted)
3-Prescott run- to loosen the defense and create passing lanes
*Dallas OC is a bonehead and didnt do #3 which created the lopsided but inevitable close loss
***All 3 will be in display with the destruction of Tampas defense at jerrys world tommorrow
37-30 dallas win but JW will ball out”
Kobe Faker
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:37 pm
Dodo all the Jamies and GMC lovers have their posts checked before put them up Joe
Maybe ATrain has slammed GMC one time to much
Ummm
Never thought Joe would censor his site This has been explained many times to many people. You land in moderation if you have misrepresented Joe’s writing multiple times, maliciously attacked Joe, represent opinions as facts when blasting people or entities, etc. It has nothing to do with anything else. OF COURSE there are various forms of censorship here. That’s always been the case. Why? Because it is Joe, not you, who is responsible for every word written here. –Joe
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:06 pm
I know the Bucs have a lot of turnovers, but how many have the opponents STARTED in the redzone?
tickrdr
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:14 pm
Its AMAZING how many ANTI Jameis posts r on this site in a minute by minute basis. I wish there was FACTS to back up their claims, oops I mean HATE!
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:19 pm
Joe:
Just a heads-up about Gregg Rosenthal’s article ranking the QBs of the last four drafts @nfl.com.
tickrdr
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:39 pm
Joe–I come to this site at least ten times a day.My wife probably thinks I am a little crazy,but I really enjoy your straight, honest, no bull responses.
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:43 pm
Well ATrain does not remember any malicious attacks
But NOT my style or would ever want to overly attack anyone
Opinions as Facts umm NoPE
Anything that would get JOE in trouble HECK NO
Well except If GMC saw my posts But heck I’ve even said He is good not Great
SO Not sure how I ended up there but oh well you right Joe your site
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:57 pm
Always root for wins over draft position
Hoping for draft position is a loser mentality
December 22nd, 2018 at 5:18 pm
Beat the cowgirls please!
December 22nd, 2018 at 5:26 pm
Ummm
Never thought Joe would censor his site This has been explained many times to many people. You land in moderation if you have misrepresented Joe’s writing multiple times, maliciously attacked Joe, represent opinions as facts when blasting people or entities, etc. It has nothing to do with anything else. OF COURSE there are various forms of censorship here. That’s always been the case. Why? Because it is Joe, not you, who is responsible for every word written here. –Joe
I am in the cooler and have never committed any of the listed offenses..NOT ONCE…so what is up ?
December 22nd, 2018 at 9:47 pm
Jamies “I stop throwing touchdowns in the second half” Winston
December 22nd, 2018 at 10:03 pm
@7423 This is an article about how bad the Cowboys Offense is in the red zone as well as how bad the Buccaneers Defense is equally terrible defending in the red zone. Just thought I would explain because neither of these have anything to do with Jamies Winston so I’m not sure if you understood what you were reading…… /shrug
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:34 am
Hope the Bucs win but my guess is Cowboys 27 Bucs 17.
December 23rd, 2018 at 1:57 am
I could care less with our draft position. Sadly, it’s almost certainly going to end as a top 10 pick. I’ll be pulling for the upset. Think about the storyline after the improbable upset. Joe would have the alley-oop of alley-oops. “America’s QB beats America’s Team”. That’s what I want to see. Draft schmaft. Heck, we’re as likely to hit a home run with the 10th pick as we are the 5th.
December 23rd, 2018 at 8:57 am
As always this year, I am hoping for a win…but I’ve become indifferent to the possibility of losing these last games.
I just want good games at this point, win or lose. I want some enjoyment to head into the off season.
I WOULD like the rookies to get some substantial playing time. Cappa at right guard for example. I don’t expect him to look stellar doing it with so little experience this year…but I think it is important that he gets at least some playing time so that he can mentally process and build upon it in the off season.
Same with the other rookies.
And we need some of the youth to catch some of that fire we’ve seen rising in our young players in recent years.
That’s what happened following the 1996 season, and then the Bucs started succeeding.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:55 am
A frown on Jerrah Jones face would be priceless.