Early Chunks
November 24th, 2021
Playcaller Byron Leftwich
One eye-popping stat from Monday night’s glorious victory is sure to be overlooked.
The Bucs needed 16 plays of offense to reach their first third-down, a 3rd-and-2 with 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Ronald Jones converted the first down with a five-yard run up the gut.
That’s incredible efficiency and it speaks to just how much the Bucs were dominating the Giants. If not for a bogus penalty and an ugly drop/interception by Mike Evans, the Bucs offense might have been close to perfect in the first half.
When the Giants waved a white flag early in the fourth quarter and punted with seven minutes remaining and trailing 30-20, it’s no surprise the Bucs put Tom Brady on the bench and called it a night.
Joe will be looking for that high level of efficiency against the Colts on the road Sunday. That may be the Bucs’ only hope of beating an all-around powerful Indianapolis team that’s won five out of six games.
November 24th, 2021 at 1:56 pm
Not overlooked at all. I love the way our first drive and a bit was scripted. It was both more creative than we’d seen and could see the emphasis was to not let Brady take a bit shot early that might set the tone. Lots of screens, end arounds, getting the ball out of his hands quickly and getting into a rhythm by just moving the chains before trying to sit back and heave it
November 24th, 2021 at 1:56 pm
I wish it was 30-20 I’d have won some money.
November 24th, 2021 at 1:58 pm
30-10 right? I’ve read a lot of people saying this was a pushover game. Doesn’t show anythiing because it’s what we were supposed to do.
The Giants upset the raiders, almost beat the Chiefs and beat the Saints and Panthers. This is why Boomer picked the Giants to beat us. I’m not saying we beat a top tier team, but I think we beat a solid team and we looked solid in every phase of the game Monday.
I even thought Leftwich showed game planning in the first series. Down the field, WR handoffs, not only to Godwin but Evans. I thought it was a great job by Leftwich. Definitely a game we can build on. Go Bucs!!!
November 24th, 2021 at 2:00 pm
Hopefully, Mike Evans head is in the game b/c we can’t overcome his mistakes & lack of awareness vs good teams like the Colts
November 24th, 2021 at 2:02 pm
Hey Joe how did Simon Rice not make the list this year its crazy
November 24th, 2021 at 2:11 pm
Yes the Colts have won 5 of their last 6 games, but not against NFL powerhouses. So far this season they’ve beaten the Dolphins (4-7), Texans (2-8), Jets (2-8), Jaguars (2-8), 49ers (5-5) and Bills (6-4). Most of those defenses rank in the 20’s, and most of those offenses rank in the mid-20’s to 30’s. Obviously Buffalo is the exception, but they seem to be struggling lately.
Look at the teams Colts have lost to however: Seahawks, Rams, Ravens and Titans twice. All except for the Seahawks have winning records … like the Bucs. Colts can be beaten, even if we are playing them on the road.
November 24th, 2021 at 2:37 pm
I loved the mixture of plays…..runs, screens, reverses…..that we used on that opening drive…..no huddle etc…..my only question would be…..why didn’t we continue….
November 24th, 2021 at 2:54 pm
best game plan this yr from Leftwich; wonder who might have given him “some suggestions”??
when they pulled TB12 ,why did they leave Gronk still out there to continue with blocking assignments ???
defense was really good .. if not for muff by ME–we would have not allowed ANY TD..
November 24th, 2021 at 3:37 pm
Captivajim, agree! I loved some of the WR reverses at the beginning of the game. When have we ever seen two of those in the 1st Qtr of a game? No running up the middle on 1st down. Fewer screens. I loved it. It didn’t hurt that Brady had all the time in the world to go through his progressions.
November 24th, 2021 at 5:12 pm
@joe – can you check and confirm….
I thought I read somewhere that Godwin said the play that the interception occurred on was supposed to be a screen to TJ, as it a play that normal Godwin runs with Evans blocking.
It looks like Johnson steps up for the pass instead of back as per the play design and the ball goes by him onto Evans who is getting ready to block. Evans almost looks like he might have been screened by Johnson when the ball gets on him…
Either way it’s a bad mistake….
November 24th, 2021 at 8:33 pm
I hope we can find a way to be creative and unpredictable early in the games from here on out. Becoming even more unpredictable will be a real challenge for Byron in the playoffs.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:48 pm
hopefully we’ll get off to fast start @ Indy.. maybe some hurry-up offense from the get-go ..offense needs to maintain drives and Score on every possession–that will keep crowd out of game