Stars Of 3-And-Out
August 29th, 2019
(Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
Where will Bucco Bruce Arians improve upon the Buccaneers offensive that racked up plenty of impressive statistics last season?
Well, every Bucs fan hopes it will be in the all-important area of points scored. The Bucs have been lousy at that for just about forever. Only once in team history have the Bucs ranked in the top-10 in points scored. It might be the most mind-numbing stat in Bucs history.
But outside of scoring and running the darn football, it will be hard for the Bucs to improve in many areas.
The folks at NFL Films, working for NFL Matchup on ESPN, churned out another piece of data this week that shows the Bucs were studs when it came to avoiding 3-and-out drives. The Tweet and graphic are below. (Todd Bowles’ Jets were the worst, going 3-and-out on a horrific 45 percent of drives.)
The Bucs’ ability to move the football further illustrates how bad their defense was; it’s not like the defense was constantly gassed and living on the field because of an incompetent and impotent offense.
This will be an interesting stat to watch this season. It could be an indicator of Jameis Winston’s comfort level in the offense.
Three and out percentage: Offense #Rams #Ravens #Falcons #Chiefs #Buccaneers #Saints #Eagles #Titans #Packers #Lions @gregcosell | @MattBowen41 pic.twitter.com/m8qpkLxGvc
— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) August 28, 2019
August 29th, 2019 at 2:56 pm
Ints and fumbles are 3 and out?
August 29th, 2019 at 3:32 pm
The Bucs turned the ball over on 19% of all of their drives!
Shouldn’t you add those, or at least a fraction of them to that total.
Also, the 3 and outs lead to a punt,and the resulting field position for our defense is usually much better than after a turnover, unless the turnover occurred in the red zone.
tickrdr
August 29th, 2019 at 3:43 pm
Where the Bucs need improvement is in the red zone, offensive, defensive and special teams. A better running and kicking game will help.
August 29th, 2019 at 3:49 pm
And what percentage of those drives were when the opposition was up by 10+ points?
Aren’t statistics fun?! You look at that graphic and there is a clear outlier. Why?
August 29th, 2019 at 3:54 pm
But wait, how did they move the chains without a running game?!?
Oh right, it was 2019, that’s how.
August 29th, 2019 at 3:55 pm
Dapostman,
I believe that last season the bucs attempted zero field goals in the RZ.
If the team can convert at least 30 % of the red zone attempts into 3pts it would easily convert into wins.
August 29th, 2019 at 5:20 pm
The only stat that really mattered a lick is that the Bucs only ranked in the Top-10 in scoring only ONCE in their history. They’ve made a great marching band several times more however. Whoo hooo
August 29th, 2019 at 5:24 pm
“it’s not like the defense was constantly gassed and living on the field because of an incompetent and impotent offense.”
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The Bucs averaged 30:12 time of possession per game. Pretty balanced actually.
August 29th, 2019 at 5:57 pm
More relevant is how many drives were converted to TD’s or even field goals.
This team has found a lot of different ways to shoot itself in the foot as recently as last week. Lets hope the coaching staff gets the best players to keep the
momentum going forward instead of one step forward and two steps backward.
August 29th, 2019 at 6:20 pm
Bob – They set the team record for scoring, that’s how good they were.
August 29th, 2019 at 6:41 pm
We were sixth in yards per drive, but only 12th in points per drive, seventh in a stat called drive success rate. That goes to needing to be better in the red zone (and converting field goals will also help).
On defense we had the same problem, we were 22nd in yards per drive, but 30th in points per drive (29th in drive success rate). Need to be better at holding teams to field goals this year as well.
August 29th, 2019 at 7:19 pm
And were we the only team on that top list to NOT make the playoffs?
August 29th, 2019 at 7:20 pm
Well at least most made the playoffs
August 29th, 2019 at 7:25 pm
Gambelero,
All true. I would include something that isn’t mentioned that often but is a important part of the stats analysis. Starting field position.
That’s important to both sides of the equation. An analysis of the leagues long term data demonstrates how favorable or unfavorable field position dramatically impacts the ability to both score and defend.
Point is, if the offense started more offensive drives in better field position the results would follow. Same offense, but better results.
August 29th, 2019 at 7:29 pm
Add this to the fact we could only muster 24.8 points per game average. The teams like the Rams, and Chiefs above could absorb more 3 and outs because they averaged north of 30.0 points per game, and both made the playoffs.