Takeaways mean little without points

Bucs Beat: Takeaways mean little without points By Roy Cummings | Tribune Staff Published: January 17, 2014TAMPA — You have no doubt heard it said a million times. The NFL has become a quarterback-driven league. Well, that might be so, but it’s turnovers that determine whether the driver takes his team where it wants to go.Ask any coach in the NFL and he’ll tell you the best way to win a game is to win the turnover battle. But after last season, Buccaneers fans might have a hard time believing that adage.The Bucs did an exceptional job of taking the ball away and securing it last year, either winning or drawing even in the turnover battle in 13 of their 16 games despite playing 13 of them with a rookie quarterback.In fact, the Bucs were one of only seven teams to produce a plus-10 or better turnover ratio (they were plus-10), yet were the only one of those seven to finish with a losing record and miss the playoffs.The reason, it seems, is quite simple. The Bucs struggled to capitalize on their takeaways.Of those seven top takeaway teams — Seattle, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Carolina were the others — only the Colts (79) scored fewer points off its takeaways than the Bucs (84).And it’s not like the Bucs didn’t have a lot of opportunities. They were one of only nine teams to take the ball away at least 30 times (31), yet scored a touchdown after only 29 percent of those takeaways.Only six teams had a lowe percentage of touchdowns scored following takeaways in 2013 and only seven teams averaged fewer than the 2.71 points after takeaways the Bucs did.No wonder they were 4-12.