FAB 4. Breaking Down The Bucs’ Recent 13 Sacks

Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston had a hellacious day in London where he was sacked seven times, threw a career-high five interceptions and had a costly fumble in the Bucs’ 37-26 loss to Carolina. Winston looked uncomfortable in the pocket from the start, throwing an interception on his first pass against the Panthers.

But Winston’s uncomfortable day began the previous week in a 31-24 loss at New Orleans when the Saints sacked him six times. The Panthers racked up six sacks of Winston in the first half alone in Tampa Bay’s game prior to the bye week, led by former Bucs Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, who had a season-high 2.5 sacks.

Let’s take a look at all 13 times Winston has been sacked over the past two games and see if we can draw some conclusions.

6 Sacks At New Orleans

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SACK 1. Sacks aren’t always the offensive line’s fault. Tight end O.J. Howard is charged with blocking Pro Bowl defensive end Cameron Jordan one-on-one. Jordan eventually beats Howard and gets initial pressure on Winston, who holds on to the ball too long – seven seconds before he’s sacked – and runs back into the pocket where Tampa Bay’s offensive linemen assume the ball has been thrown. This sack is on Winston, who needs to throw the ball away or scramble outside the pocket.

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SACK 2. Once again, it’s not an offensive lineman that allows initial pressure. In this case, running back Ronald Jones II is late to pick up the outside blitzer, but does get enough of him to wheel him around Winston. Winston is forced to step up in the pocket, and the real culprit for this sack is left tackle Donovan Smith, who gives up an inside rush to Marcus Davenport, who gets the sack.

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SACK 3. Right tackle Demar Dotson catches a perfectly thrown long arm from Davenport right in the chest and gets rocked back into Winston. If Davenport didn’t sack Winston, linebacker A.J. Klein blitzing on a delay surely would have as center Ryan Jensen leaves early to help Ali Marpet double team Saints tackle David Onyemata. Both of the Bucs offensive tackles have now given up a sack in the first half.

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SACK 4. Right guard Ali Marpet whiffs on blocking defensive tackle Malcolm Brown. Was Marpet expecting help from center Ryan Jensen, who slid to the right and was late picking up the twist of defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins? Jensen whiffed on Rankins twice, and ultimately gave up the sack. But Marpet’s miss on Brown caused Winston to be pressured immediately up the middle.

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SACK 5. Marpet lets Saints linebacker Carl Granderson inside and doesn’t end up blocking anyone. Running back Dare Ogunbowale steps up in blitz protection, but doesn’t stand a chance against the hard-charging Granderson, who bowled him over and dropped Winston for the Saints’ fifth sack of the game.

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SACK 6. Right tackle Josh Wells, who replaced Dotson in the fourth quarter, overextends and gets chopped by Jordan, who dragged Winston down. New Orleans only rushed three players as Tampa Bay was trying to mount a comeback, but Wells didn’t stand a chance against Jordan. Neither did Winston.

7 Sacks Vs. Carolina

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SACK 1. Marpet loses his one-on-one battle against McCoy, who keeps working inside and maintaining leverage on the Bucs’ right guard. Winston tries to step up after Panthers lineman Vernon Butler gets around Wells, but it’s too late.

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SACK 2. McCoy drives right guard Earl Watson, who is replacing Alex Cappa, back into Winston to force the pressure that causes the Bucs QB to try to step up into the pocket and escape. But Panthers nose tackle Dontari Poe slings Jensen aside and drops Winston before he can scramble out of the pocket.

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SACK 3. Winston looks unsure of where he wants to go with the football and has a decent pocket. But instead of tucking the ball and running straight ahead, he attempts to slide to the left. When he does, rookie outside linebacker Brian Burns slips around Smith to grab Winston and lock him up.

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SACK 4. Winston probably should have thrown the ball away on the previous play, but didn’t have time to on this sack. Winston steps up into the throwing lane, but it closes quickly as McCoy stunts outside, but works back inside to sack Winston along with Bruce Irvin, who stunted along with McCoy, but used an outside spin move on Watford to help prevent Winston’s escape.

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SACK 5. The Bucs tried a quick receiver screen to Chris Godwin, but the Panthers shifted into the right defense before the snap and were ready for it. Butler slips past both Watford, who is pulling for the screen, and Jensen, who is occupied by Poe, who lined up in the strongside A gap. This play was doomed from the start due to Butler’s penetration, which forces a fumble, which the Bucs recovered.

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SACK 6. On the next play, Butler gets to Winston again. Winston holds on to the ball way too long and gets pummeled from behind and fumbling. Winston needs to give up on plays like this where he makes a guy miss and just throw the ball away. This was Carolina’s sixth sack in the first half.

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SACK 7. McCoy records sack number 2.5 on the day in the second half, as he works inside out and then back in as he works around Wells to drop Winston again. It didn’t help that Winston hesitates and holds on to the ball too long, either.

So was there a common denominator in these 13 sacks? Not really. Wells, a backup right tackle, gave up a couple sacks against good players, which isn’t a surprise. Winston held on to the ball too long a few times, but faced immediate pressure on others. Marpet, a team captain who is the most widely regarded lineman, didn’t have his best games against the Saints and Panthers, and that didn’t help, either.

Just like Arians has said, Winston needs to play better, but he also needs to get better help from those around him.