Strange Red Zone Numbers
July 22nd, 2023
Team leader (!)?
Now these are strange red zone numbers and Joe is trying to make sense of them.
Joe has been inhaling Warren Sharp’s 2023 Football Preview in recent days. Sharp, a football handicapper, takes a deep statistical dive on all NFL teams in the annual along with studying league trends.
He broke red zone targets and the first thing that jumped out at Joe was Hurt Emanuel Russell Gage.
Last year battling injuries, Gage played in 13 games. He was fourth on the team in targets. Yet in the red zone, Gage led the Bucs.
How? Why? On a team that had Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and Playoff Lenny (who had good YAC numbers last year), it was Gage that Tom Brady (SpongeBob Leftwich?) turned to.
Why?
Joe assumes Brady was under heat from a pass rush and he didn’t have time to allow Evans and Godwin — likely covered — to break free so he had to go with a lesser option.
This may also explain why rookie tight end Cade Otton had the second-most red zone targets.
Yeah, Evans is big and towers over many corners so not targeting him that much still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. And yes, this was hotly debated during the season.
Hopefully, new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales hatches better plans in the red zone.
July 22nd, 2023 at 12:46 am
Seeing Cameron Brate on the list makes me ask if he’s remained around Tampa despite being unsigned? Any indication whether he will retire or where he’ll play if he doesn’t?
July 22nd, 2023 at 1:03 am
Rachaad White is terrible and this team is clueless
July 22nd, 2023 at 1:09 am
Joe last year was a anomaly. If Brady played this year Bucs win division average 30 points a game. Brady looks healthy compared to last season. Schedule much easier. I wish he was playing but he is not
July 22nd, 2023 at 3:08 am
^^@Cleanhouse–what a nasty and untrue statement! GEEZE
July 22nd, 2023 at 3:09 am
Oh yes. He lives in south Tampa where his wife has a thriving real estate career.
July 22nd, 2023 at 3:57 am
Yeah that is weird
July 22nd, 2023 at 3:58 am
Could be Leftwich outsmarted himself trying to get matchups on playcalls instead of relying on his best players.
July 22nd, 2023 at 4:00 am
Cleanhouse RB can be the one position where rookies can thrive, but let’s withhold judgement on White for now.
The guy is working hard. Hopefully they’ll be a payoff.
July 22nd, 2023 at 5:14 am
There is always somebody and Everybody has a right to their opinion. I don’t agree with Clean house but he certainly has the right to disagree with me and everyone else who thinks White will fare better than such a lousy statement as house just made which he included the Entire Team…
More than likely White will make him eat mud pie but who knows?
As far as the team as a whole, more pie. The coaching however is still quite suspect until proven otherwise and as last year has proven without a doubt (via coaching) , SUSPECT at best to go over 6 wins…..
I do feel however that replacing Bowles skills as a “DC” will be tough to do.. As far as that goes, Bowles IS THAT GOOD..
July 22nd, 2023 at 5:16 am
IMHO
July 22nd, 2023 at 6:28 am
“Rachaad White is terrible and this team is clueless”
What a worthless post! Somebody simply wants to blow it out their backside with absolutley no evidence, no stats, no logic, simply his OPINION.
As Obviously correctly points out everybody is entitled to their opinions but as they say opinions are like arseholes and everybody has one. Why bother to express yours if you have no info or reasoning behind it?
July 22nd, 2023 at 6:30 am
‘Joe assumes Brady was under heat from a pass rush and he didn’t have time to allow Evans and Godwin — likely covered — to break free so he had to go with a lesser option.’
Makes sense Joe, but I don’t consider Gage to be a ‘lesser option’. Still remember you writing that Bucs’ players raved about him early-on when they said they couldn’t cover him. Of course that was when he was healthy. Even though he played in 13 games, Russell was beaten up most of the year. Would seem logical that in a short, confined space (like the Red Zone?) a guy like Gage could find those small open spots quickly. Marry that up with a QB like Brady with a super-quick release & it just might work … well, for 5 TDs at least.
July 22nd, 2023 at 6:44 am
Obvious … ‘The coaching however is still quite suspect until proven otherwise and as last year has proven without a doubt (via coaching) , SUSPECT at best to go over 6 wins ….. I do feel however that replacing Bowles skills as a “DC” will be tough to do.. As far as that goes, Bowles IS THAT GOOD.’
Kinda the same dilemma that I’ve faced Obvious. I really feel that Todd Bowles as a DC can hold his own with any DC in the NFL, and is considerably better than most. I don’t like that he’s dual-hatted because it dilutes both positions IMO (there are only 168 hours in a week, and everyone has to eat & sleep sometime). I still abide by the old saying though ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater’ (we NEED a strong DC, and I can’t think of anyone better for us than Todd Bowles right now).
Being surrounded by a great supporting staff certainly helps mitigate the HC/DC issue a bunch though, assuming of course that the MFWIC knows how to delegate & empowers his assistants to do their job. I’m HOPEFUL that Todd Bowles has already learned that lesson AND that Dave Canales turns out to be the real deal (yes I’m still withholding judgment).
One area that I’ve been very impressed with Bowles is PLAYER DEVELOPMENT. For years we sucked in that area because of our carousel of coaches (musical chairs?). A lot of our draft picks went on to excel elsewhere (Aquib Talib, etc) but were never properly developed here. With so many youngsters on our team right now, we desperately NEED a HC & staff that can develop them. Hopefully Bowles & company excel in that area this year. Lord knows we need that.
July 22nd, 2023 at 6:56 am
There’s the saying…..”Great shooters are never wide open”…..well, that goes for receivvers…..”Great receivers are never wide open”
Except Cooper Kupp.
July 22nd, 2023 at 7:32 am
I have to admit that I have no solid idea why we were so poor in the red zone.
Brate used to make his money there. Otten as yet has not been Brate in his prime. Forcing teams to respect Evans, Brate and/or Gronk, a fully healthy Godwin and AB gave defenses headaches.
Last year not so much. No Gronk or AB. Also Brate,and Gage battling the injuries it was not as formidable a group. I do wonder if Brady just did not trust Mike to come down with those 50/50 balls in the end zone. Then there is Leftnut…No play action. Drops. Not enough time for Brady to scan the field.
July 22nd, 2023 at 7:55 am
Not sure why that picture of Gage reminds me of the movie Revenge of the nerds or Dodgeball?
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:06 am
Russell Gage = Porcelain doll. He’s been injured constantly since the first moment he walked in the door. I was a big fan when he was with Atlanta.
He’s been a bitter dissapointment here.
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:08 am
The Oline was abysmal , you need look no futher.
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:23 am
We barely saw the routine back shoulder fade/50-50 jump ball to Mike Evans, can also remember a rep in the Ravens game deep in their territory where instead of leading Mike on a crossing route in the endzone, Tom threw it over his head. The level of execution from our 2022 offense was just bad, I know the excuses is usually placed on play calling, but the amount of plays that fell flat because our players were not on the same page. The Brady-Evans connection is a perfect example of that, as both made mistakes on their end that frayed that connection.
Our OL wasn’t THAT bad, some of it was on our skill players having their fair share of poor reps.
July 22nd, 2023 at 9:15 am
Bottom line…if the Bucs want the division title, they better score more often when in the red zone!! Something they did not do last year! Come September we will have a better feel if that will improve.
July 22nd, 2023 at 9:56 am
I’d love to see all-22 films of our red zone visits last year. Early in the season Brady did the corner fade to Evans an easy td, scarce saw ANY attempts like that the rest of the year
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:02 am
Infomeplease … What would help is if we had a back who could punch it it consistently preferably from outside the 1-yard line.
Last year we scored a total of FIVE rushing TDs. Those were:
1 – A 1-yd rushing TD in Game 4 by White.
2 – A 1-yd rushing TD in Game 5 by Fournette.
3 – A 1-yd rushing TD in Game 8 by Fournette.
4 – A 1-yd rushing TD in Game 10 by Fournette.
5 – A 1-yd rushing TD in Game 15 by Brady.
So only FIVE rushing TDs in 17 games (18 if you count the Dallas playoff game) and ALL of them were from the 1-yard line. Wonder if that implies that our OLine got manhandled on plays down near the goal line? Whatever happened to good old-fashioned smash-mouth football?
And oh BTW, Fournette & Brady are gone. And with them 80% of our rushing TDs (as in ‘All but one rushing TD’). Sure would like a more beastly OLine & a beastly RB for those inside the 5-yd line situations.
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:36 am
Shoot, we had one series, I forget which game, where we had 2nd and 1 after a 9 yard gain on first down. Three runs later…we lose the ball on downs. Anyone remember which game that was?
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:55 am
This year the Bucs will have the best red zone percentage in all of football. We got the right people on offense. The team may average 31 points a game this year. Can’t wait to see the Bucs beat the Chiefs again in this year’s superbowl.
July 22nd, 2023 at 11:08 am
R0n@Tampa Says:
“Can’t wait to see the Bucs beat the Chiefs again in this year’s superbowl.”
With Brady they got trounced in the first round last season but somehow you think this team is going to the Super Bowl. With Mayfield?
Bwhahahahahaha!
4-13.
July 22nd, 2023 at 12:23 pm
Brady throws to the open guy, and defenses focused their coverage on Evans and Godwin – I don’t think there’s anything more to it than that. Well, other than how skewed the stats might be because of the GB game when Brady had no one else to throw the ball to – I wonder if perhaps like half of Gage’s numbers come from that one game.
July 22nd, 2023 at 1:20 pm
Rod … Pro Football Reference site shows which games he scored in (among a bazillion other things). In Gage’s case …
o Game 3 – Packers – 1 TD (4th Qtr)
o Game 13 – 49ers – 1 TD (3rd Qtr)
o Game 14 – Bengals – 2 TD (2nd Qtr & 4th Qtr)
o Game 17 – Falcons – 1 TD (2nd Qtr)
July 22nd, 2023 at 3:08 pm
Simple…..Brady is known for his quick release, so he fires towards the first one open
July 22nd, 2023 at 3:51 pm
I think we can all agree that the team as a whole needs to play much better than last year. Oline needs to be more physical need better playcalling need better QB play TE needs to improve on blocking RB need to find lanes a make something happen which again oline needs to make holes for. WR don’t have much to complain maybe just better seperation
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:32 pm
Ahh, yes….the old “blame the o-line” excuse. The poor QB was under pressure so he couldn’t do his job.
Newsflash: every QB in the NFL is under pressure in the redzone. The field is condensed and the windows are small.
July 23rd, 2023 at 8:28 pm
Well let’s see, we couldn’t run it at all in the red zone ( or from pretty much anywhere) and the QB was getting pressured… but nah, that has nothing to do with the o-line that lost its center and both starting guards…
Nope, nothing to do with the o-line at all!