New Bucs wide receiver Breshad Perriman is ready to get it rolling this season. As most free agents have to get acclimated to new players and a system, Perriman is on the same learning curve as his fellow teammates this year with Bruce Arians coming into his first season with the Bucs as well.

He is aware of Arians’ bread and butter on offense – shots down the field. For someone like Perriman that can run a 4.3 40-yard dash, that’s both a relief and a sense of enjoyment. So coming in here, Perriman expects one thing right out of the gate.

“Big plays,” Perriman said. “Big plays all around, run game and pass game. You can just see from being out here that he’s [Bruce Arians] going to take his shots. It’s a great offense to be apart of.”

Those big plays will mean that Perriman and Jameis Winston are connecting on long passes down field. They’ve been working on them so far, including one instance at OTAs where Perriman burned past rookie Jamel Dean and Winston hit him for the score.

Perriman spoke about how it’s been working with Winston so far to get their timing down.

“That’s going to come in time,” Perriman said. “But I feel like we’re at a good point, though. I feel like we’re going to continue to grow. Day one we’re already completing some of them so it’s not going to do nothing but go up.”

One important takeaway from Perriman was his specificity on big plays from both the pass and the run. The Bucs led the NFL in passing last year with 320.3 yards per game, but were 29th in rushing with 95.2 yards per game. Overall, the Bucs still were third in the NFL in offensive yards, averaging 415.5 yards per game despite the lack of run production.

So how much more can Bruce Arians help the the Bucs after having one of the best offenses? Let’s take a look back at his best year with Arizona Cardinals in 2015, when Arians helped get them to a 13-3 record.

Much like the Bucs passing game, Arians’ Cardinals were at the top of the ranks in passing and total yards. They were second in passing, racking up 288.5 yards per game, and first in total offense, accumulating 408.3 yards. That’s 32 less yards per average in passing and just seven total yards less than the 2018 Bucs.

What made the difference between a 5-11 Bucs and a 13-3 Cardinals on the offensive side of the ball was the gap in the running game. The 2015 Cardinals averaged 119.8 rushing yards per game, good for eighth in the league that year.

Now that’s only a 24 yard difference from the Bucs, but the Cardinals had effective, long plays while running the ball. They had a long run of 63 yards, with 12 runs of 20+ yards and five runs of 40+ yards. In comparison, the Bucs only had a long of 28 with just five runs of 20+ yards and no runs of 40 or longer. That’s the explosive plays that make a difference for a team.

The Bucs passing numbers got inflated at times last season because they were playing from behind. When you’re trailing in the second half, teams will air it out more to catch up. Arians had more of a balanced offense that kept defenses on their toes since they weren’t in situations that were predictable.

One of the fixtures in Arians’ offense is taking shots down field, and Perriman will play a big part of that. But even he sees the importance of making big plays in the air and on the ground. It’s in part what separates a team from 5-11 and 13-3.