Last week we got our first glimpse of new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales’ offense. We looked at his personnel usage, under center versus shotgun rate, run pass ratio, and play-action rate. Given that it was just the first preseason game we can confidently say this is a watered-down, vanilla version of what is in store for the regular season. But we can still start to glean some tendencies from the Bucs rookie play-caller.

With another game under his belt, a 13-6 Bucs win over the Jets in New York, I thought it would be prudent to take another quick look to see if there have been any changes from Canales as he gets more experience as an offensive play-caller. I looked at all of the Bucs’ first and second down calls outside of the two-minute drills at the end of each half.

Personnel Usage

Last week Dave Canales used 12 personnel (one running back and two tight ends) on 50% of the Bucs first and second downs. This week that trend continued with 12 personnel being used on 19 of the 40 plays evaluated (47.5%). His 11-personnel (one running back and one tight end) usage increased from 45% in week one to 52.5% in week two.

One interesting (but small nugget): Canales did not use 13 personnel (one back and three tight ends) at all this week. Last week he used it on just 5% of plays. Last year Seattle used 13 personnel more than any other team in the league, so this is a trend to keep an eye on.

Bucs’ Run/Pass Ratio

Bucs RB Sean Tucker – Photo by: USA Today

Todd Bowles wants the Bucs to become more balanced than they were last year. Tampa Bay was the pass heaviest team in the league across all downs. They were in the Top 10 in passing on first down. It seems Bowles wants to reverse those trends.

Dave Canales was a part of a team that wasn’t afraid to pass on first down either. But if he got used to it, it looks like Canales can break a habit easily. Last week he called a run on 22 of 42 first and second down plays. This week it was 21 of 40. And as for first-and-10 play calls when offenses can do anything they want? He continued his almost even split with 10 run calls and 11 pass calls.

Bucs’ Shotgun Rate

Dave Canales increased his early down shotgun rate in week two from 17% to 25%. This tracks in the direction of where Seattle was last year at 36%. The shotgun sets were a bit telling though, as the Bucs passed out of shotgun on early downs 75% of the time. That compares very high to the 40% pass rate when the Bucs were under center on Saturday.

Play-Action

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: USA Today

Last week I noted that Dave Canales used play-action on 57% of his pass-calls and called that rate staggering. I need to find a new adjective. On Saturday the Bucs used play-action on 17 of 19 pass plays. That’s 89.5%!

And they worked.

Kyle Trask and John Wolford combined to go 12-of-15 for 134 yards while averaging 8.9 yards per attempt when throwing out of play-action. Comparatively they were a combined 12-of-17 for 141 yards and a touchdown from traditional drop backs. They lost over half a yard per attempt between the two.

Two Week Trends Combined

With over 80 plays to now analyze here is where Dave Canales’ tendencies land. He has used 12 personnel 49% of the time, 13 personnel 2% of the time and 11 personnel 49% of the time. Canales has put his quarterbacks under center 79% of the time as opposed to in shotgun 21%. He has called for passes 49% of the time and run 51% of the time. And when reducing that sample size to just 1st and 10 calls we see a similar balance of 51% pass calls to 49% run calls.

And finally, Canales has called for play-action on 72.5% of pass plays.

Ladies and gentlemen, we knew it already. But now we know it. This is far from a Byron Leftwich offense.