Don’t look now but your Tampa Bay Bucs are one of the highest scoring teams in the NFL for the calendar year of 2023. The team’s offensive resurgence on Sunday against the Panthers was a welcome sight for Bucs fans who have suffered through a disappointing season of offensive ineptitude.

There are many factors that have hampered Tampa Bay’s offensive attack. Some of them looked at least momentarily improved for at least one game. Others are still lingering issues to be concerned about going forward.

One really quirky aspect of the game that has gone largely underdiscussed is the truly polarizing play of the Bucs offensive line. A unit that routinely gave quarterback Tom Brady ample time to find a myriad of open receivers and take chunk shot after chunk shot to nine-time 1,000-yard receiver Mike Evans also failed to open up even the slightest hole for their running backs on rushing attempt after rushing attempt. How can a squad that boasts so many decent pass protectors have such a disjointed, clunky run-blocking day?

Bucs Pass Protection Was Very Good On Sunday

Brady wound up dropping back 48 times on Sunday. The Panthers were only able to pressure him 11 times on those drop backs per Pro Football Focus. That 23% pressure rate is in-line with his season total of 19%, but the difference this past week was that Brady wasn’t the driving reason for the “clean” designation.

Brady logged his seventh-highest time to throw of the season at 2.36 seconds. Since Week 10 Brady’s time to throw has gone from 2.25 seconds prior to 2.38 seconds. It may not seem like a big difference, but that split second of extra time allowed Brady to attack the intermediate to deep parts of the field on over 22% of his throws on Sunday.

And here is what that protection looks like and how it led to some big plays.

Opening Drive Bucs O-Line Gave Brady Time To Find Godwin For Catch-And-Run

The O-line showed its high-end potential in pass protection early on in the game. During the first drive it gave Brady the opportunity to scan the field and find Chris Godwin on an extended play. The result of the play was a turnover due to a fumble but really watch the line give Brady all the time he needed to find the open man and deliver what would have been an explosive play.

There were reps where the line allowed Brady to go to reads that should never even be possible in a normal progression.

This was one of Brady’s three touchdowns to Evans on the day. And it never should have happened. Evans is the backside read here on a 3×1 look. Brady reads the play out to the concept side to his left.

Under traditional read progressions he is realistically never supposed to get to Evans. It’s a pipe dream. But because the protection in front of him is so good, Brady moves one to two to three to four coming all the way across the field to see Evans torching the C.J. Henderson. He then rips the ball to Evans for six.

Looking at that protection you see left tackle Donovan Smith helping left guard Nick Leverett control the three-technique, before re-engaging with Brian Burns, who was initially stoned trying to loop inside by center Robert Hainsey. Meanwhile on the right side of the line, right tackle Tristan Wirfs washes down the defensive end while right guard Shaq Mason easily dispatches with his defensive tackle. Brady had all sorts of time on this play, and when given time he is still very dangerous.

Everything wasn’t perfect in pass protection on the day. The Bucs allowed three sacks, which is a high total for them, in addition to eight QB hits. All three sacks were the result of communication errors, which theoretically means they can be cleaned up an eliminated going forward.

The first sack was a failure by the line and running back Leonard Fournette to properly block through an overload on the right side of the offensive line. Fournette ends up knocking Hainsey down which allowed Yetur Gross-Matos to penetrate through and get to Brady.

The second sack was the result of Mason and Wirfs not properly passing off a T-E stunt. Wirfs stayed with Derrick Brown crashing from the outside and launched Brown to the ground. Mason was waiting for Wirfs to pass Brown off. The result was the inside defensive tackle looping around both offensive linemen to get to the quarterback.

This ends as a sack because Mason/Wirfs aren’t on the same page on the T-E stunt, but man watching Wirfs put Derrick Brown on his ass is impressive. pic.twitter.com/bSAUmfa8yI

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) January 3, 2023

The third sack was the result of a double A gap blitz that got to Brady just before he wanted to throw hot to Russell Gage with Rachaad White failing to slow the blitzing linebacker enough.

Bucs’ Run Blocking Was Abysmal

While the passing offense was clicking due to extra time in the pocket for Brady, the running game was once again abhorrent. The Bucs were only able to muster 67 yards rushing on 25 carries. You may think that their 2.68 yards per carry mark on the day was their worst rushing performance of the season on a rate basis, but you would be wrong. They have “bested” that mark several times throughout the season including in Week 4 against the Chiefs when they carried the ball six times for three yards.

It’s really quite amazing the stark difference between the unit when they are pass blocking versus when they are run blocking. Her is an example of an inside zone run the Bucs ran from shotgun.

It looks as though Hainsey expects linebacker Frankie Luvu to drop into coverage and so he attempts to get a double team on defensive tackle Bravvion Roy. Luvu doesn’t drop and enters the space Hainsey exits trying to get to the double team. This leaves Leverett exposed trying to execute a reach block on Luvu. As he slides right, Leverett sees Shaq Thompson looping behind Luvu. What happens next is a comedy of errors as you see both Hainsey and Leverett trying to re-route themselves back to their original positions to stop both linebackers who are now in the backfield dropping Fournette for a loss.

The troubles for the Bucs running game are many and varied. They insist on running from reduced splits that invite more people into the party on both sides of the ball.  That presents two unique challenges. First off and obviously, the more defenders involved in a play the more chances there are for one of them to make the tackle. But additionally with each new offensive player you bring into the fold you are increasing the chances that someone makes a mistake in blocking.

The Bucs running game also relies on the use of their offensive linemen timing double teams and moving off of them to the second level to take linebackers out of the play. Luvu had 13 combined tackles and Thompson had 12. The two of them rarely had to contend with a Bucs offensive linemen moving to the second level.

Finally, Tampa Bay’s run blocking execution currently has no rhythm to it. Rarely are any two players blocking in unison, moving together as if in a ballet where each person knows where the other is going to be and trusts them to actually be there. Right now, it is six to eight guys moving slowly and individually. The results are poor spacing which leads to small gaps for the backs to run through. Even when they execute their assignments right the sense of urgency and effort isn’t high level leading to things like this.

Shaq Thompson rocking the LT. HELLO. pic.twitter.com/TeiBtQ86ZM

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) January 4, 2023

Which brings me to my last point. Looking back at the few issues with the pass protection on a day where they largely played very well, the issues once again came down to communication. Communication is the ultimate form of working together.

Bucs LG Nick Leverett and Panthers DT Matt Ioannidis – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Often in pass protection for the Bucs each lineman is asked to be an island of sorts. If each person knows the person they are supposed to block it ultimately comes down to whether they can win against their individual opponent. The Bucs offensive line is mostly very good at this. But as soon as they have to work together, whether it be passing off a stunt, picking up an overload, or blocking together in harmony on a run play, the execution falls apart and the results are often disastrous.

This isn’t playoff football being played right now. This is talented players whose sum is less than the parts. And after 17 weeks you shouldn’t trust it will get fixed in time to vault the Bucs into the Super Bowl.

The possible return of Ryan Jensen may help some because a) he is a better player than Hainsey and b) he has shown to be a very good communicator and facilitator. But to pin the season’s hopes on him coming in after missing the entire regular season and playing at a high level AND fixing the continuity issues this line plays with regularly is a Herculean ask.

What is most likely to continue is an oscillation of play between simple assignment asks where the line is able to show their individual talent levels and complex unit play where they break down on a regular basis. And the offense will continue to show Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde like performances because of it.