Just A Really Weird Offense
July 19th, 2023
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
These stats are just infuriating to Joe. But, do they tell a deeper story?
The Bucs offense, for whatever reason, stunk last year. And it blew Joe’s mind how an offense with Tom Brady, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Tristan Wirfs and Playoff Lenny could be so underwhelming.
In Warren Sharp’s 2023 Football Preview, a publication that goes deeper than deep in statistical analysis on each team and the league, the Bucs were a bottom rung offense except in the fourth quarter.
A team with that many studs should have been that bad. Of course, offensive coordinator SpongeBob got canned after the season. Even when employed, it seemed he had no idea how to adjust unless Bucco Bruce Arians was there to whisper in his ear.
Then, in the fourth quarter, voila! The Bucs played up to their talent. The Bucs were the seventh-best team in points scored in fourth quarters.
In the other three quarters, the Bucs were no better than No. 24. In the third quarter, the Bucs were horrible, ranked 30th in scoring.
This almost seems as if someone with the Bucs lassoed the offense until the fourth quarter when the team had no other choice but to open things up or lose.
July 19th, 2023 at 5:25 am
Wow. Scary to think a head coach would do that. It’s like driving slow in the fast lane.
July 19th, 2023 at 5:43 am
Joe: This almost seems as if someone with the Bucs lassoed the offense until the fourth quarter when the team had no other choice but to open things up or lose.”
Wouldn’t that someone be the HC?
July 19th, 2023 at 6:15 am
It was due to a clueless OC, a stubborn HC and an offense that was offensive.
July 19th, 2023 at 6:32 am
Yep…that would be TB! If he would hold back the talent he had when Brady was QB, just think what’s about to happen with Traskfield!?
July 19th, 2023 at 6:37 am
it is logical to venture that the Bucs were ranked #7 in the 4th quarter simply because Brady had some comebacks vs teams like the Saints, Rams and Arizona and put up points late in other games like the Pitt debacle they were put in a hole thanks to Leftwich and his meh vanilla play calling. I am going to guess some of the other teams in the top 10 might be there simply because they were bad teams getting boatraced and then put up some numbers against prevent defenses. Dead last against the spread is kind of telling too, it means one could have made a lot of coin betting against our Bucs last year.
July 19th, 2023 at 7:38 am
Thanks Bruce Arians …
July 19th, 2023 at 7:40 am
It is called ‘The Game Plan’. The Bowles game planning and overall coaching failures and blunders.
July 19th, 2023 at 8:01 am
Todd Bowles must be arrogant af for insisting he coach the D and handle all the HC duties as well. He failed miserably at it last year. And yet we go into another season with Todd wearing multiple hats again. No offense but he’s a lousy multi tasker.
July 19th, 2023 at 8:02 am
There’s nothing to celebrate about an offense that averaged 18 ppg ranking 25th in scoring, averaging 8 ppg in the first half, or being a top-10 punting team.
Not “weird” at all, not the right word as our offense f’n sucked last year and it was pitiful to watch as a football fan.
#EmotionalDamage
July 19th, 2023 at 8:03 am
I mean what do you expect with these key points below 👇
• Defensive minded HC
• New OL
• New QB
I mean tbh even with TB12 + Bruce Arians we really ran it up the gut on almost every play it was so stupid. When Lenny went outside he dominated with that spin move of his. It’s also no wonder we have star RBs hitting FA. Statistically speaking they just don’t matter clearly . It’s also not worth it anymore when you can pass every single time. Better off having an extra pass blocking TE/FB to protect the star QB. Like what Tampa is doing , but it’s kind of a love hate relationship right now. I still remember the Erik Lorig days. FBs are important. When you have a skilled TE group, RB/FB that can pass block, and a good O-Line the offense can do anything with any QB I feel like.
July 19th, 2023 at 8:21 am
BucU … ‘Todd Bowles must be arrogant af for insisting he coach the D and handle all the HC duties as well.’
Not sure I’d call him ‘arrogant’ for dual-hatting himself as the HC & DC, but I for one don’t like it. Very few HCs IMO can pull that off successfully; doesn’t matter whether they’re offensive-minded or defensive-minded. And without a very strong counterpart running the other side of the ball, they usually fail miserably.
Jon Gruden did it, but I don’t consider that his offenses were all that successful. And his losing record after 2002 SB year kinda bears that out, even though he had an incredible defense to work with headed by a great DC in Monte Kiffen.
Bruce Arians was smart enough to not go the dual-hatted route when he came here in 2019, and it worked for him. He let BL do the ‘offensive planning’ then red-penned the daylights out of it apparently. Fortunately for BA he had Bowles running the defense & he pretty much let him do his own thing.
That approach paid off for BA obviously. Bowles biggest hope this year is that Dave Canales is the real deal on the offensive side of the ball & can operate quite autonomously so that Todd can focus primarily on this defense.
July 19th, 2023 at 8:23 am
Hmmmmm. Sounds exactly what I’ve been describing the last six months … Brady constantly audibled to smoke screens and checked the ball down for the first three quarters and put us into holes and then waited until the 4th quarter to push the ball down the field. This had nothing to do with his protection….he was sacked the smallest percentage in the league at 2.9%. This was all on Brady and being afraid to get hit. No offense stands a chance when the QB refuses to compete for the first three quarters.
July 19th, 2023 at 9:34 am
“… the Bucs, broken down into quarters, were a bottom rung team, except in the fourth quarter.”
.
.
The fourth quarter being the one where Leftfoot would finally cede control of the offense and allow Brady to run no-huddle.
July 19th, 2023 at 9:55 am
^^^Brandon,
No QB stands a chance behind the worst O-line in the league last year, and has to try to overcome the worst running team in the history of the NFL.
DUH.
July 19th, 2023 at 10:52 am
It could have been this…It could have been that…It could have been many things.
Apply the theory of Occam’s Razor ie. “KISS”. This was done with purpose in mind. The question is: For what purpose was the sabotage done ?
July 19th, 2023 at 11:08 am
What this show is simple. At half-time teams regroup, plan out the second half based on the first half, review tactics that worked and what didn’t, etc. That is what normal and successful teams try to do. Apparently we were neither last year. That has to be on the head coach. Let’s look at that stat next year and see if there is any change. My guess is there won’t be much.
July 19th, 2023 at 11:21 am
Licht and BA were being loyal to Leftwich … but if they had fired him, he may have gotten another NFL coordinator job. Letting it play out made him look all that much worse.
July 19th, 2023 at 12:10 pm
One slept on part one that I believe Bowles should be commended for he got an oc that was trained under this offense… the same offense Bowles struggles to stop. Say what you will about Bowles as a hc but as a dc he’s one of the best in the biz. So what does he do he gets a guy that has learned under the offense he has struggled to stop for years. Which could be his saving grace. Smart move imo
July 20th, 2023 at 12:30 am
bowles tried to win games “his way” for 1st 3 qtrs .. But ,when faced with a loss he let leftwich/brady try to pull it out their way ..
we saw they very clearly in the Browns game -which Brady was about to pull out a win when Bowles took the ball out of his hands.
July 20th, 2023 at 6:50 am
Did anyone who watched our beloved Bucs need the stat dude to tell us that they reined the GOAT in until too late last year. I sure didn’t.
I firmly believe that Bowles should take a major share of the blame for this ridiculous stat. He as the HC at the very least should have told Leftnut to open it up sooner. I believe that Bowles commitment to play ball control offense kept this from happening. Stupid when you have the offensive weapons we had!
Go Bucs