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About the Author: Trevor Sikkema

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Trevor Sikkema is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat reporter and NFL Draft analyst for PewterReport.com. Sikkema, an alumnus of the University of Florida, has covered both college and professional football for much of his career. As a native of the Sunshine State, when he's not buried in social media, Sikkema can be found out and active, attempting to be the best athlete he never was. Sikkema can be reached at: [email protected]

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All Twenty-Tuesday: Bucs Offense

Like we did last week, I want to start with the bad because I want to get it out of the way since there is much more good than bad to talk about – and also because, well, Winston threw another first-drive interception again.

If you’ll notice in the pre-snap of the clip above, Winston identified that a blitz was likely coming from the left side. With two receivers in that area, Winston communicated that with them and changed their routes to something where Winston could get the ball out of his hand fast due to the blitz.

The communication is received and both Breshad Perriman and Ronald Jones adjust their courses. However, both players seemed to go to the same area of the field and Detroit linebacker Jahlani Tavai was able to read the eyes of Winston and make the play.

I asked Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians if there was some sort of miscommunication on this play. It looked odd to me that two players were supposed to be that close to each other (when that’s the case it often makes things easier for zone blitz defenses, as they can cover two players with one guy). But Arians said no, that was the right design, it was just a good play by the linebacker.

I suppose I can’t argue against that too much, if it were the design. Tavai also came all the way across the line of scrimmage to get into that zone, and not only travel across the middle but also stopped and jumped into the throwing lane after reading Winston’s eyes. I can sit here and say that ball should’ve gone to Perriman instead of Jones, since it was picked off going to Jones, but Winston likely wanted that ball to go to Jones so he could then have a lead blocker.

If Jones were swinging to the outside instead of going to the middle, there’s no way they could’ve covered them both. But that’s way too much hindsight play-calling to be fair. Hot reads just didn’t work out.

Now let’s get into the good, because there was a lot of it. Winston passed for over 300 yards in the first half with 221 yards in the first quarter against the Lions, which was the most passing yards in an opening quarter since Peyton manning threw for 247 against the Packers in 2004. A big reason for this was due to the success the team had off play-action.

Through 14 games, the Buccaneers have run the ball 367 times, which is 13th most in the NFL. When observed with their 968 total plays, that’s a run percentage of 37.9 percent. That overall run play percentage is all the way down at 24th in the league, which is likely much lower than they would like it to be, as a whole, but due to the Bucs being behind on the scoreboard as much as they have been this season, that’s likely why you’re seeing those inflated pass numbers. That’s why I chose to point out more a context to the play selection on the previous page with the situational pass rate.

All that being said, the Buccaneers, when given an even chance to call either a run or pass, have remained decently balanced throughout the season. Because of this, teams have to really respect the threat of a run play, even on a day where the Bucs only amassed 41 rushing yards on 21 carries between Jones and Barber. In fact, the Bucs haven’t rushed for 100 yards combined with their running backs since Week 3 against the New York Giants, which was only one of two times they’ve eclipsed 100 yards all year.

All of that to say this team has struggled to run the ball, in a traditional sense. Winston scrambling has inflated Tampa Bay’s rushing totals a bit, since he’s been taking off out of the pocket with success throughout the season. But Tampa Bay’s 91.4 rushing yards per game ranks just 27th in the league, and if you take Winston’s yards out of it, they might just be near dead last.

Yet play-action works.

It does matter whether you’re the best rushing team in the league or the worst, when the quarterback goes to hand that ball off, nearly every defender has to freeze a bit. Some, depending on their roles in the coverage shell and gap they’re responsible for against the run, have to freeze a lot.

Both of Winston’s first two touchdown throws were set up off play-action.

Simply put: play-action works whether you’re good at running the ball or not. It is one of the most useful tools in today’s game. You’ve likely heard the acronym “RPO” (run-pass option) drilled into your head over the last two years. Where people often misidentify what an RPO even is, the reason for its explosion in popularity, even with quarterbacks who aren’t great on the run, is because of the threat it poses to the defense anytime it is executed.

Early on in the season I thought offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich was too predictable with run and pass plays. I felt there was an absence of play-action that did not allow the Bucs to keep a defense on their heels, even when they had momentum on the offense’s side. Over the last two weeks, Leftwich has really settled into the flow of games, and has put on his best two performances as the team’s play-caller. A big reason for that, if you ask me, is because of the timely utilization of play-action.

Now let’s get to some work outside of play-action.

When it came to accuracy on passes traveling 21 yards or more through the air, Winston ranked dead last in the NFL last year at just below 30 percent completion percentage. And those numbers only got worse when throwing outside the numbers to either sideline. This season it appears he is much more comfortable with those throws, and is hitting them more in rhythm and with greater regularity.

I don’t want to sit here and write that things are “easy” for Winston this season, because football at this level is very complex and difficult to assess on every play, especially at full speed, and a lot of hard work every day is required to make it happen. However, over the past two seasons and even at the beginning of this season, offensive designs just did not seem as helpful to Winston as they could have been. That looks different, as of late.

Not only are the Bucs utilizing play-action more, as we have gone over, they are also helping Winston by incorporating more crossing and drag routes into the offense on a weekly basis. When healthy, the Bucs really do have one of the best receiving rooms in the NFL. Even beyond Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, the speed and quickness of guys like Scotty Miller and Breshad Perriman can be tough to handle when put in the right situations. One of those situations is shown above, where teams ask a defender to cover a guy like Perriman across the whole field.

After watching what I felt was a stubborn offense the last two years, seeing the growth in what works and what doesn’t with Leftwich is worth giving some praise to. Winston is dealing, and his name is once again in the NFL record books because of it. But it really has been a team elevation from the staff to the surrounding players.

Bucs Gm Jason LichtBucs Sign WR To Active Roster
Bucs Gm Jason LichtBucs Place WR On Injured Reserve
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