All-Twenty Tuesday: Situational Set Up

Whether it’s running the ball or passing the ball, the Bucs need to do a better job of picking up successful plays on first-and-10. With the obvious numbers in mind that passing the ball has a greater chance to net more yards, it’s sort of a given that passing the ball has a higher chance of leading to a better set up and more manageable second and third down, especially for a team that really struggled to run block – if you’re a dominant run-blocking team, your trends can be like we saw from the Buccaneers and work.

Passing the ball does come with a greater risk since you are letting the ball leave your possession for the time of its flight, and with that comes less protection. However, there are plenty of plays, like the one above, where you can minimize the risk and still get more of a chance for a reward.

The Bucs have quite a few options where short passes can go for successful gains to either convert or set up short second downs. In the play above, wide receiver DeSean Jackson came into the middle of the field on a short post and Jameis Winston was able to hit him. You could even shorten that route in different coverage and Jackson could still pick up at least five yards quickly. Jackson is a savvy route runner when finding open space in zone coverages, and I think he needs to be utilized and prioritized more in plays like the one above. I’d also suggest quick routes like that (maybe even shorter) from Jackson with him in the slot. We saw the Bucs put Jackson in the slot for a good amount of the OTAs and mini-camp, so maybe it can happen in 2018.

Here’s an example of a first down play with Mike Evans as the primary quick target.

What cornerback can stop that? Not many when Evans is given an inside release on a slant, that’s for sure. In order to stop that play, you have to be playing Evans tight, and if you do that too much, you open yourself up to getting beat over the top and to the sideline. Utilizing Evans in ways like we see above are great for not only picking up successful first down plays, but also setting up the defense for bigger plays beyond that. I feel like we did not see enough of this from the Buccaneers in 2017. That kind of play with that kind of receiver should be a staple in creating manageable drives. It makes things easier on the offensive line, too, as they don’t have to block as long when the ball gets out quicker by design.

And above we have an example of how to get easy yards utilizing the Bucs tight end emphasis.

With two tight ends on the field, the Bucs should be focused on overloading zones or mismatching with man coverage. What I mean by that is that if Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard are in the game at the same time, do things such as have both of them on the same side of the line of scrimmage and both going after one linebacker in coverage. If it’s zone, he’ll have to pick his poison. If it’s man, there’s likely a mismatch to be exploited – either with speed on a linebacker or size with a cornerback.

The Bucs do a variation of that in the clip above, but with the running back overloading the zone instead of a second tight end. Regardless, that simple drag route by Brate is so hard to cover because of how well he moves as a big man. Those kinds of plays have a high percentage of finding soft spots in zones or just making it tough to keep up with the receiver through the clutter across the middle. Whatever it is, easy throws like that make drives more manageable. It’s simple reads and short passes. Not everything has to be so vertical.

The Bucs need to do more of those plays. They have plenty of weapons to keep quick-hit passing options on first down. The league has taught us that when it’s utilized, it’s the most effective style of first down calls. It’s a little bit of a West Coast offense mentality created by the late great Bill Walsh in the 1980s – use the short passing game on first downs instead of the running game.

Simply put, the Buccaneers just could not run the ball with enough consistency on first down to sustain drives last season. And I say that meaning for any team, especially one that wanted to run the ball way more than the Top 10 offensive average.

Running back Doug Martin’s poor performance was an issue last year, as it was clear that the chemistry with his offensive line just didn’t exist. But that wasn’t totally his fault. The Bucs had one of the worst run blocking units in the league last year, and their inability to move the ball on the ground, on any down, really showed for it.

When the Bucs weren’t predictable, they were ineffective. It seemed like on every early running play at least one offensive lineman or the tight end was making a mistake. It’s not like the Bucs offensive line didn’t have talent individually, but they rarely gelled as a complete unit, and I think that was a big reason for the low rushing numbers by the Buccaneers – even lower than the league average.

At the very least, an upgraded (and hopefully more consistent) interior offensive line should lend to better first down attempts when called (though hopefully less), but even more so than that, more trust from this team and its play-callers to run the ball on third-and short more than they did last year.

Though running the ball has the lower ceiling for potential yardage when starting a drive, marginal error/reward included, that doesn’t mean running backs can’t get involved on first-and-10. In fact, one of the most efficient first-and-10 calls around the NFL in 2017 were ones that threw to the running back on first down.

The play above was not a first down play, but it was one that could be utilized in certain situations. Running backs, like tight ends, can often be mismatches out of the backfield. Power backs can take on defensive backs on the edge, and speed backs can blow by linebackers covering from the middle. Having a mismatch running back, like say a Christian McCaffrey or an Alvin Kamara, are very useful and extremely efficient on first down in the passing game. The Bucs are hoping rookie running back Ronald Jones might be able to get some action there in that type of role.

The play above was not a successful completion, but you can see that it would have been effective.

That play was on third down, but it’s a play that could be used at any time. Using running backs out of the backfield is all the rage nowadays, and the Buccaneers need to get with the times to either find a back that can do it better, or call it more in general. There is definitely a process to setting up plays that pass to the running back, but that’s part of what I think they need to do better. If they have a running back for every situation, other teams know what’s coming when you sub them in. Tampa Bay needs to have guys that can be multiple threats. That doesn’t mean the Bucs can’t have a committee, but they can’t be so predictable with their personnel groupings.

There is no doubt that passing the ball is more risky than running the ball, but you also can’t deny that the payoff for passing, especially on first down, is worth it when you treat it the right way. If you keep it simple, you can minimize risk while still increasing your odds to pick up enough yardage to create manageable second- and third-down situations by doing things like quick slants and drag routes with outside wide receivers, over load zones in the middle with slot and tight end players and passing the ball to running backs in the flat on first down.

But, a quick-hit offense needs supreme confidence from the coach and quarterback. If the Bucs can get that with Koetter and Winston, they have the weapons to move the ball with much more efficiency than we saw in 2017.

And it all starts on first down.