In 2019, we’ve seen the biggest offseason moves in NFL. There have been a couple of moves by The Tampa Bay Buccaneers that will impact the landscape of the league. Also, we’ve witnessed a shift of power in some divisions. For the Bucs, it was a shift of coaching staffs that made the biggest news in the NFC South.

Tampa Bay fired head coach Dirk Koetter and replaced him with two-time NFL Coach of the Year Bruce Arians, who brought along assistants in Byron Leftwich, the offensive play-caller, and Todd Bowles, the defensive coordinator. The Bucs also signed Jason Licht to a new five-year extension as the general manager. But this leadership group has presided over a team that has been just 2-4 during the bye week.

Bucs’ Still Beating Themselves Offensively

Arians was expected to take several players to the next level offensively, and there has been some improvement in the development of second-year players like running back Ronald Jones II and right guard Alex Cappa, but not enough with fifth-year quarterback Jameis Winston, who was a turnover machine in London against Carolina with a career-high five interceptions and a fumble.

Winston has put up big numbers in four seasons in the NFL, and he was the only quarterback in NFL history with back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons to start his career. But Winston’s biggest weakness is the high number of turnovers he’s had – 87 since 2015, which leads the league by a wide margin. Arians was supposed to be “the quarterback whisperer” and help develop Winston, who is close to leading the league in interceptions again.

Leftwich has not been able to dial up the right plays in the red zone, where the Bucs are only converting 54.5 percent of the red zone visits into touchdowns. That’s even worse than a year ago when the Bucs had a red zone conversion rate of 60 percent. Until the turnovers by Winston, penalties and poor execution stops, the team’s red zone woes will continue.

Buccaneers Rookies Not Showing Up

Licht got criticized for drafting a kicker in the fifth round in Utah’s Matt Gay, who was last year’s Lou Groza Award winner. But Gay has been the most impactful rookie out of this year’s draft class in Tampa Bay, and while it’s great that the Bucs have found a kicker, the team needs other rookies to step up and make plays.

Gay is 12-of-14 (85 percent) on the year at the bye week, but he had a bad miss against the Giants that ultimately cost the team a chance to win.

Rookie inside linebacker Devin White has yet to make a splash play in the three games he’s played after an early season knee injured caused him to miss some playing time. Second-round cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting has played better lately and has an interception, but third-round picks Jamel Dean, a cornerback, and Mike Edwards, a free safety, have yet to make an impact play.

Keys To The Bucs Moving Forward

In order for Tampa Bay to turn its season around, the Bucs must come up with strategies. The team parted ways with punt returner and reserve receiver Bobo Wilson, who had two muffed punts and a fumble against Carolina over in London. That was one fix, but can the Bucs improve in the red zone and stop beating themselves with turnovers?

Can Winston stop throwing interceptions? Can a very young secondary grow up fast? And can any rookie other than the kicker step up and become a play-maker this year for Arians and the Bucs? We’ll find out after the bye week.