Does YAC Explain Targets?
December 23rd, 2017
YAC way down.
If you noticed the past couple of days, Joe has been thinking out loud that perhaps the Bucs targeted DeSean Jackson too much this season, partially to justify his contract and possibly try to jump-start the offense.
The results have been less than ideal.
But could the seemingly forced passes (Joe could be totally off base here) have thrown the entire offense out of whack?
The answer may lie with a stat dug up by the good people of NFL Films, which does the research for BSPN’s NFL Matchup.
The Bucs are tied for the worst YAC in the NFL with Tennessee. Jackson, at least on paper, screams YAC with his wheels. Currently, Charles Sims leads the Bucs in YAC with 223 yards, which ranks No. 71 in the NFL. Adam Humphries is right behind him at 220 yards for No. 73.
Jackson has 184 yards YAC this season, second-worst of his career, though with seven more catches he will have his most receptions in a season since 2013. Jackson’s worst season for YAC was 158 yards in 2015, when he only appeared in nine games for the Redskins.
No matter how you slice it or who you blame, thus far, Jackson’s days here have been a disappointment.
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:11 am
bucs qb is not accurate and unable to hit target in stride…..(homers will make excuses but Jackson has been a beast on other teams)
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:13 am
same as last year – which points to a bad offensive system that doesn’t get playmakers in space enough for easy plays regardless of personnel
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:20 am
Sure does seem that the Bucs are in the bottom tier in a LOT of different stats or categories. Pretty sure it’s Smitty’s fault. Fire him and our stats will surely improve across the board.
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:21 am
YAC’s = ball placement
you know the rest of the story
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:42 am
I believe this is a combination of several things……..route running, off-target passes……high, low, left, right…..it only takes a slightly off target pass to have receivers stopping or changing directions to catch the ball.
I don’t compare with our opponents WRs being open because that is on our porous defense.
Note that our receivers seem to never run it in for a TE…..for the exception of OJ Howard on a couple of passes.
Mike Evans has someone on his a$$ on every single pass no matter where he is on the field……and when he gets behind a receiver, he is overthrown.
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:51 am
You wanna know something crazy? OJ Howard has a total of 432 yards on 26 catches. Which equals to about 16.5 yards per catch. 20 yards is the base minimum for explosive plays. Dirk Koetter doesn’t bring him out on the field a lot and is heavily underused for his abilities. Dirk Koetter needs his playcalling duties stripped from him and handed to Tod Monken or else he’s a dead man walking.
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:54 am
We can’t say Jackson has been a disappointment at all. He has been open on deep balls numerous times (at least 7-10x) and the staff hasn’t utilized his speed on crossing routes and slants. Jamies hasn’t connected, but the I feel the biggest problem is the offensive line, as he is constantly under. Quick duress. Sacks don’t tell the entire story, with more time this offense would be clicking a lot better (obviously). DJax has been exactly who we thought he was, as. He would have monster stats if even 50% of those throws connected
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:55 am
You wanna know something crazy? OJ Howard has a total of 432 yards on 26 catches. Which equals to about 16.6 yards per catch. 20 yards is the base minimum for explosive plays. Dirk Koetter doesn’t bring him out on the field a lot and is heavily underused for his abilities. Dirk Koetter needs his playcalling duties stripped from him and handed to Tod Monken or else he’s a dead man walking. Why not line up O.J. as an extra blocker on the goal line and branch him out on an out route for a relatively easy TD?
December 23rd, 2017 at 11:09 am
Being able to use Jackson without throwing the ball 50 yards down field is key. I think they have done better the last few games but to start the season it was bombs away or nothing.
December 23rd, 2017 at 11:21 am
Altered
Yac is ball placement but also the offense and routes. Tied with Tennessee, no coincidence. The bucs and titans run the same offense. The routes arent designed for yac. Most are comebacks, outs, and lomg developing routes. Mariota was having much more success in his first year in wisenhunts offense. The tennessee ready game we saw firsthand. Im over dirks offense at this point. Ive been screaming for slants for too many years. Draw plays too. He is too stuck in his ways, cant adjust. And that is what has cost him his job in a couple weeks I think. Well that and aoot of other stupid mistakes.
December 23rd, 2017 at 11:29 am
I’m getting off the subject but i would like to know what the guys here on Joebucsfan would think of Matt Pratricia as our new head coach from the New England Patriots. Thanks guys.
December 23rd, 2017 at 11:35 am
Yah but He should have 5 more tds with catches of 40 yards plus So his Yac should be higher. He has beaten guys all year but the deep ball never gets to him.
Sorry but he has never had that problem in past. Spin it how you will but Jameis deep ball is below average. And that is shocking cause he has a strong arm.
December 23rd, 2017 at 11:36 am
Jameis does have 92.7% completions in the last 5 minutes of 3rd quarters in games played on the fifth Sundays of October in his career, so it can’t certainly be his fault there is no YAC.
December 23rd, 2017 at 12:10 pm
I’d like to point out that before the Bucs signed him I pointed out they signed one other guy in free agency based on ypc- that was Alvin Harper, who had a much higher average than even D-Jax. Now with that said Alvin was coming in to be a #1 WR, which was a disaster, obviously J-Dax doesn’t have to worry about that. The timing early in the year was way off and predictability the uncreative Dirk has not found any useful way to use D-Jax other than to say run deep. Poor scheming and poor timing have been an issue – if used properly D-Jax can still be very useful to the team, but the sands in the hour glass are nearly gone.
December 23rd, 2017 at 12:39 pm
On a different note Bradley McDougald is playing excellent at safety for the Seawacks since stepping in for Earl Thomas early in the year and now playing for injured Kam Chancellor – the Seahawks have raved about him all season.
Meanwhile the Bucs decided to keep Chris Conte.
December 23rd, 2017 at 1:01 pm
No the idiot coach has been the disappointment. Those crazy plays when we really need to get a forest or get years they call plays for Adam Humphries and have d Jack blocking. B it’s moronic coaching and play calling. Underutilized is the word to describe his forest season here. Happy the season all they did was attempt deep passes before they figured out other ways to use him then hardly used Mike Evans at all either. The coach is trash, him and Lovie are perfect for each other
December 23rd, 2017 at 1:53 pm
Joe,
Come on now! I am watching USF v. TT. Bruce Hector looks like a bad boy. TT has not had a good season, but they score a lot. When they lose it is normally because they are out scored. This defense is outstanding. The Bucs need to consider evaluating the coach or players or both.
December 23rd, 2017 at 1:55 pm
the age and how long a poster has watched football should be included next to their screen name…there are some really bizarre comments more to do with emotion than observation and insight
December 23rd, 2017 at 2:09 pm
Alterego you have no room to talk.
December 23rd, 2017 at 2:30 pm
Seems to me the routes in Koetter’s offense are not designed with a lot of YAC in mind. I’d guess most of the YAC-heavy teams feature a lot of quick-hitting slants, screens, and swing passes. Those have simply not been a part of the Bucs’ game plan until the last couple of weeks.
December 23rd, 2017 at 2:32 pm
We should try and trade Jackson. Adding him did not change our offense, whether that is on the coaches, qb, or him doesn’t change that we can’t use him effectively. If we can grab a draft pick it will give us a potential mid round pick we can use to grab a young WR or RB and dump one of our highest salaries.
December 23rd, 2017 at 2:37 pm
“The Bucs are tied for the worst YAC in the NFL with Tennessee” Dirk Koetter is on the record as saying his scheme is very similar to Tennessee’s. This is just pure speculation on my behalf but do you think scheme has something to do with the YAC problem? Just an observation
December 23rd, 2017 at 2:51 pm
Nice call out there First Down
December 23rd, 2017 at 2:52 pm
Evans falls down untouched more than Michael Pittman…when Hump is leading your team in YAC…you’re eyeballing slow starts and @ 20 points per game…many of those points late in the 2nd half while trying to rally.
December 23rd, 2017 at 3:38 pm
I wonder who is actually to blame for this. Lol. Enigma.
December 23rd, 2017 at 3:44 pm
Rod Munch. From what I’ve seen McDougald has been his usual self with mostly consistent play but every game he gets roasted for a TD. Either getting burnt or taking a bad pursuit angle. Watch Gurley TD last week. McDougald should have easily been able to bring him down but takes a horrible angle.
December 23rd, 2017 at 3:51 pm
Its hard to get YAC with a lot of out routes, comevacks, and jump balls which our offense seems to be based on. I can’t completely blame WR for going down on crossing patterns so they dont get destroyed. Seems like J ameis goes high a lot over the middle idk if its intentional or not but hes gonna get someone killed.
I like the more recent playcalls with more screens and running to keep the D guessing. Then take some deep shots once you pull everyone in. This is the Dirk I like and I hope he keeps it up.
December 23rd, 2017 at 3:59 pm
Yac is slants and crossing patterns which Koetter never uses
slants and crossing patterns are what opposing teams uses to expose our corners in open space…look at julio jones wide open last MNF…
and the BUC sheep still think Klueless is a good OC…LOL
Grudog runs these routes non stop like his brother in WASH
***WATCH FOR MARIOTA TOMORROW
they are going to throw away the run first/3rd down seam pattern scheme (same as Bucs) and go no huddle yac slants/cross patterns vs the rams
December 23rd, 2017 at 4:32 pm
Give Todd Monken playcaller next year???
Lol first he is a reievers coach but ….
He never called a nfl play in his life! You guys want us to win and wonder why we are not successful?
We need to develop jameis so we want monken who never called a nfl play to be the 2018 playcaller? Really? Does that make sense?
December 23rd, 2017 at 6:03 pm
Ego go enjoy your Christmas good lord dude
December 23rd, 2017 at 10:14 pm
@Son of Kobe Faker
Actually yes, I think it’s actually a decent idea. Here’s why: Todd Monken is literally the main coach for offense. That’s why he’s OC. 99% of all NFL OC’s call plays. If Dirk Koetter can’t call plays for Cr@p, then who do you think gets the nod at playcalling? The only obvious choice, Todd Monken.
But hey, Mike Smith was a HC for the Falcons and we hired him to be our DC. So it would make sense for handing Todd Monken the playcalling duties