Blame The Red Zone
November 9th, 2015
Red zone woes hurt Jameis and the Bucs.
A lot of Bucs fans will blame Mike Evans and his ghastly six drops for losing the game. Fair.
Some will blame Doug Martin for dropping a beautifully thrown ball right in the numbers from America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston, for what appeared to be six points on a wheel route. Fair.
Prickly Pete Prisco isn’t buying that. The CBS Sports yakker points the finger at the Bucs’ red zone offense.
The Buccaneers lost this game because they couldn’t finish any of their drives. During the first half, Tampa Bay got inside of New York’s 10-yard line three times, but came away with zero touchdowns.
If the Bucs score a touchdown on just one of those drives, it might have been a win. If the Bucs scored on two of those drives, it would have been a win.
Of course, when you are missing your No. 1 and No. 3 receiver,s and your big, tall, talented tight end can’t/won’t play, that really limits your offense, much less a red zone offense.
November 9th, 2015 at 12:32 pm
They should isolate Brate in the red zone, I sure with is IQ he could calculate some angle to get open. Man small receivers really shrink close to the goal line.
November 9th, 2015 at 12:33 pm
I have noticed a pattern of us calling a running play on 1st and 10/Goal….on almost every red-zone series.
We need to stop being so predictable on 1st down….especially in the red-zone.
Throw it to the end zone….3 times if necessary….but quit trying to run the ball.
November 9th, 2015 at 12:42 pm
Agree Tbbf… the Giants were stuffing the run first and foremost.
November 9th, 2015 at 12:48 pm
We don’t run well in the red zone either. Big issue. They become very one dimensional. The lack of a tight end and a slot receiver in the red zone is really glaring. If Brate (Tim Wright would look really good here) can be that guy then great. Most likely this needs to be addressed in the 2nd round and Free Agency. A Slot receiver with some shake and a 2 dimensional TE. Jameis should make the club a way better destination for free agents. This year, I don’t know what to do. Until, VJax and ASJ can play the red zone will be tough.
As our defense has shown, the most dangerous play in the red zone is the quick slant. We don’t have the player that can make the defense respect that.
November 9th, 2015 at 12:56 pm
Wrong…blame the drops. The Giants played good red zone defense. You have to give them credit. But when players drop wide open passes, then the Giants have nothing to do with that.
November 9th, 2015 at 1:02 pm
I agree their red zone offense hasn’t been that good all season. Way too many field goals and not enough TD’s.
November 9th, 2015 at 1:07 pm
Blame lovie’s defense as well. No pressure on the QB’s and middle of the field is always open on the slant route every week. Maybe if they jammed the WR’s at the line it would give the DLine a lil more time to pressure/sack the QB.
November 9th, 2015 at 1:18 pm
Missing Ali Bomaye already, huge difference in the running game with him missing. Martin had 30 something yards and if you take away Simms brilliant individual effort on his 59 yard scamper he’d have about 30 yards rushing too.
November 9th, 2015 at 1:52 pm
I agree with BFFL. I DO blame the drops. This is the same old story with the Bucs. MAKE A FREAKING PLAY!!! Just judging from our performance this year we are not as talented as we believe…or some of our so called talent seems to have a propensity for choking. I hate using the C word on any athlete but c’mon man I’m tired of watching this crap. We have lost soooo many games the past two years that were there for us to win but we simply couldn’t make a play.
And so are we really not as talented as we believe…or do we have some choking going on here?
You can’t blame drops on Lovie or in this case Koetter or on Fameis. I’ve never been one to obsess on the #3 MM comparison because of the intangibles…OL plays…good for #3 bad for MM…receiver drops…worse for #3 than MM.
MM got 4 TD’s yesterday. How many would #3 have had if his receivers hadn’t choked like dogs on a big bone?
Prickly Pete hasn’t paid enough attention to the Bucs. This is a recurring issue.
When the lights go to their brightest…when the pressure is on the line…our players seem to shrink and choke. Thankfully #3 is an exception…our OL has played tough….but when our talent can’t make a play what can be done other than change talent. This is true on both sides of the ball. There has been a loud whooshing sound coming from Bucs games because all the tackles LVD has whiffed this year.
November 9th, 2015 at 2:57 pm
You really have to feel bad for Jameis Winston. Sure, he knew he was being drafted by the NFL’s worst team and he knew he had a lot to learn. Still, you could hear in press conferences after being drafted that he really had great hopes. He figured he had 2 Kelvin Benjamin receivers and 1 Kelvin Benjamin tight end and all 3 with experience. If he could remain standing behind his O-line and learn the playbook through and through, he could, at the very least, put points on the board.
Jameis has definitely learned the playbook and his very young O-line usually surpasses expectations. Sadly, it’s all those would be point scorers with experience that have let him down.
Winston throws bullets. He wants that ball to get where it needs to be fast. It’s pretty obvious that Evans can’t handle Winston’s throws. Was Manziel known for throwing puff balls at A&M? No one expects any receiver to never drop a ball but dropping multiple balls thrown right to you and doing it in multiple games? The guy either has something wrong with his hands, something wrong with his vision or he’s doing it on purpose. Anyone have the stats on how often the balls Evans drops come in significant moments?
Sorry, Jameis. Fans know you’re doing your best.
November 9th, 2015 at 3:29 pm
Agreed Joe.
As many offensive players as we were missing, they were missing even more defenders, including their only competitive corner.
I was very displeased with Koetter’s play calling in the red zone. And honestly, it’s the second straight week he’s made me scratch my head at times. There are plays we run on third that should be run on second. Why did Evans take that in-route and not run the post? They were at home; and isn’t that a play you can practice, and is nearly undefendable w a tall guy like Evans?
And what happened to chance-taking Lovie? We all knew FGs weren’t going to win the game. Everyone at some point probably said to themselves, it’s either TD or bust.
November 9th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
piss poor
November 9th, 2015 at 4:25 pm
So now Joe is suggesting that ASJ “won’t” play rather than “can’t” play? Here we go with another made up controversy.
November 9th, 2015 at 5:46 pm
Look, no big secret here. Our Offense has to play very well for us to win games this year..Period. If Yas waitin for our Defense? Forgetaboutit! Our present day Buc Defense simply cannot stop a leak…even with a certified plummer! Offense played good..just not..good enough. Dallas is a winnable game. But we shall see if Lovie can drain an..extra ounce of Defensive motivation out of them.
November 9th, 2015 at 8:59 pm
If your redzone offense stinks, then you need to be able to score from down the feild. Well, we suck at that too, especially with the drops. Also, both Evans and Sims had huge break away runs and both of them got gunned down from behind. It just wasnt in the cards.
Am I the only fan that thinks this?… Sometimes it feels like no matter what the other team does, lost fumbles, picks, giving up early leads… It just feels like there is nothing they cant over come when playing us. Take Washington for example, any other NFL team would have put them turkeys to bed that day. But, instead it looked like a Hollywood writer wrote a script for a movie. And New York on Sunday. Was that not just the most perfect time consuming 4th quarter drive to end the game? Three different 3rd and 8s or 9s but kept magically getting that first and driving. When is the last time you saw a Bucs team put someone down like that? It just doesnt happen round these parts.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:10 pm
That same Giant defense gave up SEVEN td passes to future hall of famers named Watson, Colston, Cooks, Snead, and Spiller. We did score one TD on a Walter Payton impersonation by Jameis.
tickrdr
November 10th, 2015 at 7:33 am
I believe Charles sims is best suited to run wheel route because of his better
pass catching skills.i have seen attempts to throw this pass to bobby rainey
and doug martin in the last two years and there hands and lack of height have hurt them.with our depleted receiving corp,sims could add a new weapon for
jameis.We don’t really have a plan when running doug martin up the middle over and over again doesn’t work.
November 10th, 2015 at 1:30 pm
Red Zone play calling. As you can see below they are trying everything. On the Bucs fifth red zone attempt they ran Martin, then incomplete pass, then Winston ran it in from 10 yards. 1-5 not good enough.
1st down and 10, NYG 13 – Run right Martin
2nd down and 6, NYG 9 – Run left Martin
3rd down and 4, NYG 7 – Winston pass incomplete short left Evans
1st down and 10, NYG 12 – Run right Martin
2nd down and 8, NYG 10 – Winston pass incomplete short left Evans
3rd down and 8, NYG 10 – Winston pass incomplete short left Martin
1st down and 10, NYG 18 – Winston pass incomplete short right Evans (Pen NY)
1st down and 9, NYG 9 – Winston pass incomplete short right Dye
2nd down and 5, NYG 5 – Winston pass incomplete short right Dye
3rd down and 5, NYG 5 – Winston ran up the middle tackled
1st down and 10, NYG 18 – Winston pass incomplete short right Evans (Pen NY)
1st down and 9, NYG 9 – Winston pass complete short right Dye
2nd down and 5, NYG 5 – Winston pass incomplete short right Dye
3rd down and 5, NYG 5 – Winston run up the middle tackled
November 10th, 2015 at 3:38 pm
@ Godzilla jameis appears too amped up when he gets near the goal line.
hope that improves like a lot of other things he has worked to improve.
he has got to calm down and prevent lovie from calling in his three point offense.
November 10th, 2015 at 9:36 pm
I don’t blame him on 6 drops I blame him on 2 both which would have been 1st downs that would of put us in scoring position near the goal line . Would of helped us get TDs and not FGs , but hey guess it don’t matter cause Tampa can’t figure out how too get TDs in the end zone . Just Fgs!!!