“Disappointed” With Second Half Woes
December 10th, 2013
Joe was number-crunching this morning (Joe hates math, always did), and from what Joe has found with help of the greatest invention of man, the calculator, the offensive numbers for the Bucs are truly offensive. As in awful.
Yes, Bucs commander Greg Schiano knows this. Before Joe offers what Schiano had to say about how the Bucs struggle in the second half worse than Joe trying to choke down a warm beer, let’s look at the damning numbers:
* The Bucs average 5.15 points in the second half. That’s not just a quarter, but an entire half.
* The Bucs have only scored in double digits twice this season in the second half. Both came against the Dixie Chicks.
* The Bucs have only scored two touchdowns in the second half once. That came in the home game against the Dixie Chicks. Both touchdowns were scored in the third quarter.
* Four times the Bucs have been shut out in the second half.
* Three times the Bucs mustered just a field goal in the second half.
* In total, the Bucs have been outscored in the second half 137-67.
Those simply are ugly stats. No, Schiano doesn’t disagree.
“I’m disappointed,” Schiano said. “We did pull the reigns back some, but it doesn’t account for some of the things we did that are very, very frustrating. We need to get better. With the offensive staff and myself we spend – heck three-four hours on the tape just – look I get it we’re missing this guy, we’re missing that guy, I’m not going to be naïve to that. I’m not going to ever use it as an excuse, but I’m also not going to be naïve to the fact that we’re playing with some guys that originally weren’t in the plans, but now they’re in the plans. I don’t care if they’re the best pass defense, the best rush defense, the best defense, we have to find a way to score points and we did at times yesterday, but not with all the opportunities that we had.”
This just in: players get hurt in the NFL and teams still find ways to succeed. Heck, the Green Bay Packers were the Super Bowl champs in 2010 — with 16 players on injured reserve.
While the win was great against the bungling Bills, this second half offensive malaise is going to have to stop if Schiano and the Bucs are successful next year. Schiano admitted the team pulled back “the reigns” on Sunday. That would be the first step in correcting the problem. Don’t hold back any longer.
December 10th, 2013 at 2:44 pm
Shiano gets lead and plays not to lose rather than playing to win. May work against hapless Bills but that is about it.
December 10th, 2013 at 2:59 pm
@joe the packers had arron rodgers to help with the lack of talent. We don’t have nor will have an opportunity to get someone that is that much of a gamechanger
December 10th, 2013 at 3:46 pm
Don’t expect a change until they figure out how to move the chains without low percentage big plays either on the ground or in the air.
December 10th, 2013 at 3:56 pm
This is what happens when the GM brings in quality depth with guys like Ogletree and Stocker.
December 10th, 2013 at 4:23 pm
It really is a head scratcher. I guess I’m from the Booby Bowden old school that says the best way to protect your lead is to make it bigger and if you are behind do everything you can to catch up. To me, those kind of stats just show that you are getting outcoached
December 10th, 2013 at 4:40 pm
With those stats it just looks to me like in the 2nd half of games they just get outcoached. That is also when they usually go conservative
December 10th, 2013 at 4:47 pm
Part of it is being outcoached, but I think the problem is running it 90% of the time in the second half, even when it isn’t working.
December 10th, 2013 at 5:23 pm
it’s quite simple, we have a poor coach period. We have the same players in the 1st half as we do in the 2nd, they cannot gameplan and adjust, it’s awful.
December 10th, 2013 at 5:44 pm
Running in the second half is part of getting out coached. Not to mention the lack of creativity on offense throughout the whole game. A lot of plays made were pray that vjax comes down with the ball. Take away those luck plays and what are u left with?
I think he should still be fired.
December 11th, 2013 at 9:48 am
4-1 with a horrible offense? I’ll take it!
December 11th, 2013 at 11:49 am
“4-1 with a horrible offense? I’ll take it!”
So, did you enjoy that Offense against the Seahawks?. Or the other games where we blew 1st half leads? Somehow I don’t think so. Going into a ‘Prevent nothing’ Defense and a ‘win nothing’ conservative Offense not only makes for an excruciatingly boring 2nd half, it leads to losses like Seattle. I, for one, am seriously reconsidering renewal of the Season tickets I’ve held since the RayJay was built. Id be a lot happier, in a loss, if I felt they were trying to put a nail in the coffin, than one like Seattle, where they played to ‘Not lose’ and , thus did exactly that.