The Bucs’ Offense On Third Downs (And Fourth Downs, Too)
June 28th, 2023
Didn’t play turtle football.
For as much as Joe bangs the drum about how the offense underwhelmed last year and for as much as fans kvetch about it (for good reason), Joe has to be fair.
Despite the Bucs’ offense playing way below their talent level, and having a dishonest incompetent running the offense, it wasn’t like the Bucs played turtle very often. It may have just seemed that way compared to when former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians ran the show.
Handicapper turned stathead Warren Sharp did some digging and compared how often teams converted third and fourth downs when in field goal range. The Bucs ranked 16th. That’s not exactly playing scared football.
And despite the impression the Bucs were content with running Ryan Succop on the field to try field goals beyond his kicking range, the Bucs were actually slightly aggressive in going for it on fourth down in field goal range. The Bucs ranked No. 12 in trying to convert fourth downs in field goal range.
As for overall going for it on fourth downs, overall the Bucs were ninth in the NFL in “go for it” percentage last season.
lots of games are decided right here
3rd & 4th down conversions in FG range
• 3rd down conversion rate
• 4th down aggressiveness
• 4th down conversion rateEagles aggressiveness & efficiency is clear 🎯
Lions aggressiveness 💪
what else stands out? pic.twitter.com/8Y19ywJQY8
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) June 27, 2023
June 28th, 2023 at 12:24 am
Converting 3rd or 4th down in FG range is how “lots of games are decided” because usually when you convert – you score a TD.
Bucs couldn’t score to save their lives last year. 8 point average in first halves for the whole season??? That is just completely pathetic!
We couldn’t run in goal to go situations – and either Leftboob or Brady or both somehow forgot all season that Mike Evans is money in the end zone when you throw it up for him and let him go get it…..
June 28th, 2023 at 12:31 am
I’d be interested to see how many of those go for it situations happened while trailing in the second half
I would bet half or more were made out of pure desperation and not with any strategic intent
June 28th, 2023 at 1:49 am
Hmm would not have guessed 4th at all. It just highlights the inept offense when we could not convert that to more TDs though.
Go Bucs!
June 28th, 2023 at 2:58 am
Hey. I’ve got a question. What’s the point of this article?
I’m pretty sure we’re not going to really discover much that’s going to be surprising. We did suck last season didn’t we..?
The offense is Not going to be comparable to last seasons is it? Not what so ever is it?
Does anybody care anymore about how many “ways” we got our teeth knocked in because of a bunch of people we’ll never see on this team ever again? Do we? Anymore?
I can’t see where this is relevant to the price of tea in China these days.
So what’s new? Is someone going on the type of vacay your likely to find on TMV or something like that?
Let’s talk about that.
June 28th, 2023 at 6:51 am
Todd Bowles vs the other NFL head coaches is where our biggest mismatch will be week in/week out. Our guy is a terrible game manager and a terrible motivator. One of the worst I ever seen. Is that gonna change this year? You could put a mannequin on the sidelines every game and you wouldn’t tell the difference between the 2.
I want Todd Bowles to succeed. I’d love to see him succeed. We’ll be watching his in game decisions very closely this year. Sink or swim bud.
June 28th, 2023 at 8:00 am
This also means we had many opportunities and reached 3rd & 4th down often.
June 28th, 2023 at 6:10 pm
Good point TampaBayBucFan
The good teams rarely have a 3rd down.
That’s why the article stopped after the Eagles and Detroit.
Arizona and Cleveland are 3rd and 4th ranked.
This stat tells who either the bad teams are who needed extra downs, or teams who believed they can ram it down your throat on any down.
We don’t need to be high ranked in this category to succeed.