Red Zone Breakdown: Bucs Like To Pass
July 20th, 2021
“We have the receivers, Byron.”
It seems when the Bucs got the ball in the red zone, Bucco Bruce Arians preferred to put the ball in the air.
And Joe doesn’t blame him one bit.
Rich Hribar of Sharp Football Analysis did a breakdown of team red zone plays from last season, and he had the Bucs as one of the top-passing offenses.
The Bucs had a total of 151 snaps from scrimmage in the red zone last season — 88 came inside the 10-yard line and 41 came inside the 5-yard line. In both categories, the Bucs preferred to put the ball in the air rather than run. Some 58 percent of the time the Bucs threw in the red zone. Only Minnesota had a higher number.
Inside the 10-yard line the Bucs threw 55 percent of the time. Inside the 5-yard line the Bucs put the ball in the air 54 percent of the time.
And why wouldn’t they? While Ronald Jones has developed into a strong runner between the tackles, the Bucs’ receiving corps is made for throwing in tight quarters.
Mike Evans can outjump just about anyone with his basketball skills. Rob Gronkowski has pretty much made his Hall of Fame career by catching contested passes, especially in the back of the end zone. Chris Godwin is as tough of a contested-catch receiver as you will ever see. Even Cam Brate has a knack for catching red zone touchdowns.
Joe is actually surprised the pass numbers aren’t much higher inside the opponents’-20.
Another interesting stat to Joe is that a Bucs drive last year had a 39 percent chance of reaching the end zone. Of course, if the Bucs scored from 21 yards out or longer, that dirve didn’t reach the end zone.
When the Bucs did reach the red zone, they scored touchdowns on 64 percent of the time, which was just OK.
Red Zone Drives
July 20th, 2021 at 10:03 am
I’m having a conniption fit trying to read these graphs. It’s like Quantum physics
July 20th, 2021 at 10:07 am
With the addition of Gio Bernard, who can catch a pass out of the backfield, these numbers may change a little.
July 20th, 2021 at 10:18 am
Over analysis.
July 20th, 2021 at 11:09 am
Joe im not reading these charts the same way you are reporting. Correct me if wrong but the 58% is the number of our redzone trips that were settled from inside the 10 yard line……..39% is not TDs its the percent of our drives that included redzone trips. At least thats how these charts read to me.
Either way a big improvement we have made since Bruce got here was puching it in from the redzone. I remember Dirks teams used to struggle badly in that department.
July 20th, 2021 at 1:08 pm
Green Bay converts 77% of red zone drives into touchdowns.
… AND THEY KICKED A FIELD GOAL WHEN IT MATTERED MOST?!!!!
July 20th, 2021 at 1:29 pm
Now you’ve done it Joe. You’ve got Medicated Pete wandering around with his eyes crossed from reading your charts mumbling something about launching a rocket to Mars. Scary. Very scary.
July 20th, 2021 at 1:30 pm
Can tell this isn’t the same Joe who wrote about “I play hard when I want to ” Lenny as a better “home run hitter” than ROJO because he had 2 tds that went for 10 yards or more. Maybe ROJO doesn’t have more in the red zone because they passed more like this article shows!!!🤯🤯🤯
Slypirate,😅🤣😂🤣😅 which proves Le Flower 🌼🌸 was scared of that pass rush than confidence in Rogers and them coming away with ZEEWO points! After Brady’s 3 consecutive ints they had a pretty decent chance of getting Ms Rogers the ball back.
July 20th, 2021 at 1:55 pm
Points come from the passing game, the numbers don’t surprise or interest me. I’d venture a guess that a lot of those passes were playaction. You need a running game that allows you to suck backers and turn the safety’s hips. Lucky for y’all, you have a line that loves to punish people. Expect the bucs to set rushing records this year, not passing ones. Teams will allow them to run. GTFB will be the montra for all secondaries facing them. That’s what Bill will do against Brady. Timed blitzes and 8 defensive backs. The amoeba with 3 safety sets, teams will try some unconventional defenses to slow Brady.
July 21st, 2021 at 8:31 am
The best teams do what they do best. And if opponents over compensate against the pass it weakens their run defense. The Bucs running backs and Oline are good enough to exploit whatever defenses do to focus on the pass. I expect Brady to call more audibles this year.