Explosive Plays Cover For Errors
July 12th, 2017
Offensive play analysis.
Very interesting nugget buried under a stat by winning Bucs coach Dirk Koetter.
Of course, we all know how much Koetter values if not worships explosive plays. And as wise readers heard Koetter discuss yesterday in the latest edition of the “Ira Kaufman Podcast,” the Bucs were terrible with explosive plays last year and were the lone NFL team not to have a pass play over 50 yards.
(Koetter defines explosive plays as a running play of 12 yards or longer, or a pass play of 16 yards or longer.)
Explosive plays, Koetter noted, mask plays teams must overcome, namely mistakes.
Offenses can and do score on 80-yard drives with an average of four yards a play, Koetter said, but to accomplish that a drive better be perfect. Struggling with explosive plays likely means an inability to overcome mistakes on a drive, such as penalties or dropped passes or even fumbles that the offense recovers.
And that is a heck of a point. Teams that struggle getting yards in chunks can’t afford to play sloppy football. If an offense has to huff-and-puff to get six yards and finds itself needing 15 yards to gain a first down thanks to a penalty, that’s rough.
And football teams, sooner or later, do make mistakes. It is the good teams that overcome them.
And those teams are likely proficient at generating explosive plays.
July 12th, 2017 at 8:15 am
I fully expect at least 4-5 plays of over 50 yards this season. DJax and OJ are likely good for two each. I have never been so excited about a Bucs offense going into a season, and I’ve been a fan since day 1, like many posters on this site. The only thing that can stop this offense is if they beat themselves with mistakes in execution, penalties, big drops, etc. With this massive collection of talent, led by such a great leader in Jameis, it’s hard to envision a collection failure or disappointment. Wouldn’t shock me to see another Bucs vs. Raiders Super Bowl in the next year or two. GO BUCS!! Hey Joe, where’s the Morning Cup of Joe?
July 12th, 2017 at 8:18 am
Statistically speaking that’s true but in that game against Chicago he literally threw a 50 yard ball when he scrambled and launched that ball from the 8 yard line. Evans caught it on the opponent’s 42 yard line. 🙂
July 12th, 2017 at 8:25 am
And you know your behind the 8 ball with Smith and Dotson. Both of them can kill a drive at anytime. So they will need big plays.
July 12th, 2017 at 9:05 am
I can’t get moving without my morning cup of joe. Oh where has it gone?
July 12th, 2017 at 9:10 am
I take it back, Joe. I had suggested you take a month off and come back when players report (or HBO is in the house). But now I realize, I need my morning Cup of Joe…
July 12th, 2017 at 10:04 am
We need explosive plays to overcome holding penalties. Simple as that.
July 12th, 2017 at 11:13 am
We need yAC.
Saw a very interesting stat the other day. Winston’s WRs produced 51% more YAC on top of his air yards. The league average was 84%. If he would have had just league average YAC % last year he would have thrown for like 4900 yards lol.