One of the most fascinating developments of this season for the Bucs has been their burgeoning niche personnel package of two running backs and one tight end. This “Pony package,” or 21 personnel, as it is more commonly referred to, has been one of the most explosive and efficient offenses in the entire NFL.

I have enjoyed documenting the evolution of this package throughout this season. And this past week Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen brought new wrinkles to further level up this innovative portion of his offense.

Bucs Pony Package – Efficiency And Explosiveness

Bucs RB Rachaad White – Photo by: USA Today

Liam Coen called for the Pony package six times on Sunday. The Bucs offense put up 83 yards on those plays. That’s 13.8 yards per play.

They had a 100% success rate and a 17% explosive rate in 21 personnel while generating a new first down half the time. The Bucs’ epa/play in this grouping was an incredible 0.92! That’s 4.5 times more efficient than the Buffalo Bills, who are the best offense in the NFL right now.

Their lowest yardage total of the six plays was five. Three of the plays went for 10 yards or more, including a 34-yard run that ultimately led to the Bucs putting the game out of hand.

That run, a Sean Tucker run to the Raiders’ 3-yard line that set up a touchdown on the next play, was a counter run. Counter is the most common call that Coen goes to with two backs on the field. Of the 54 plays they have run in Pony this year, 14 have been a counter run. That represents 47% of their 30 run plays and just over a quarter of their total calls. And true to this tendency, Coen called counter on three of the six calls on Sunday.

Setting Up Sean Tucker’s Run

Bucs RB Sean Tucker – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Sean Tucker run was a counter run with left tackle Tristan Wirfs and center Graham Barton wrapping to the right side. Graham Barton sealed middle linebacker Robert Spillane and Wirfs was able to lead Tucker to the third level as he barreled down on a safety at the third level. But that play was set up two quarters earlier when the Bucs ran a guard-tackle counter with Wirfs and right guard Ben Bredeson pulling.

On the previous run, Wirfs was slowed on his wrap because tight end Cade Otton peeled off of his double team to climb to Spillane. Otton did so because right tackle Luke Goedeke didn’t need the help, and Otton was trying to find work. Nevertheless, it threw off the timing of the play and ultimately slowed Tucker down for merely a 9-yard gain. Additionally, Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby nearly chased Tucker down from behind for a loss because of the double pull from Wirfs and Ben Bredeson gave Crosby enough room to flow to the play.

So, on the fourth quarter run, Coen made small adjustments to his counter call to account for what the Raiders were doing. Instead of pulling both end men on the offensive line he kept Bredeson on a down block to condense the available space for Crosby to use to chase. He also adjusted his call to ask Otton to base block the Raiders’ play side edge defender and have Goedeke solo block the defensive end.

This freed up Barton to merely have to check Otton to make sure he sealed the edge, which Otton did well. That meant Barton could continue to wrap to Spillane and gave Wirfs the opportunity to climb not to the second, but the third level with Tucker in tow.

Small adjustments equal big gains for Coen and company.

Creativity Leads To A Big Run By Baker Mayfield

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

At this point Liam Coen has gone full mad wizard. The absolute most wicked play that he broke out from this unique grouping resulted in one of the most moderate gains – just seven yards. But the design was near unstoppable due to just how many options it afforded the offense. To lead off the second quarter, Coen broke out a triple option RPO with one of the newest trends in football built in.

Out of an offset pistol formation the Bucs ran a run-pass option with Bucky Irving from the pistol as the first call on an inside zone run. Quarterback Baker Mayfield opted to keep the ball looking to find a throw on a three-level flood concept to his right. The swing flat option in that concept was Rachaad White behind tight end Payne Durham on an escort motion designed to give White a screen blocker to spring him for a big yards-after-catch gain.

To the credit of the Raiders, they foiled the escort motion by widening their edge rusher into the flat and covered up the rest of the flood well.

It should have blown the play, right?

Well, we’ve only covered two thirds of the triple option!

The final tag on the play was a quarterback option for Mayfield to call his own number as he rolled away from the pocket towards the escort. If it was covered up, as it was, he could easily just run the ball into the void created by the flood. And Baker did just that for yet another successful play.

Check out the BUCS ALL-22 BREAKDOWN video in the Bucs Film Room on our PewterReport TV YouTube Channel here for this absolutely bananas play.