Smart Offensive Football
June 5th, 2024
Not many offensive flags.
Joe had two gripes with first-year offensive coordinator Dave Canales last year.
The first was lack of points. The Bucs ranked 20th in points scored per game. And we all know the Bucs didn’t score a touchdown on the first drive of the game all year.
It made Joe wonder about preparation. Those opening drives are scripted. What was Canales looking at on film leading up to each game?
(Hey, Joe used to get on Raheem Morris for his offenses being punchless in the first quarter. So Joe wants to be consistent.)
Also, Joe didn’t like Canales’ rigid desire to pound the ball up the middle. Rachaad White is not John Riggins or Mike Alstott. Never will be.
However, if Canales didn’t have the Bucs ready to score, he had them ready to play. What does Joe mean by this? Well, the Bucs largely played smart football.
The Bucs were No. 20 in the league last year in offensive penalties, per handicapper turned stathead Warren Sharp. To Joe, that’s smart football.
This is why it is surprising that the Bucs were also No. 20 in points per game. With so few penalties — and one would guess fewer drive-killing penalties — you’d think the Bucs would have been able to score more points.
total offensive penalty yards last year:
486 – KC
468 – NYJ
424 – BAL
418 – SEA
416 – MIA
413 – ARI
408 – BUF
390 – CHI
384 – CAR
379 – MIN
378 – LAR
376 – DAL
362 – DEN
360 – DET
359 – HOU
352 – SF
349 – CLE
345 – NO
342 – JAX
338 – IND
333 – TB
321 – NYG
304 – TEN
304 – ATL…— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) February 17, 2024
June 5th, 2024 at 4:12 am
Constant running up the middle setting up 3rd and long has been a staple of this team for 2 years. First two years of Brady, initially I was anxious, but then I learned to relax a bit. 3rd year, with Lefty at the helm, and until further notice, I’ll be holding my breath a bit during these drives until I’m given a reason not to.
June 5th, 2024 at 5:00 am
First off I wanna start by adding a couple things about this Bucs Roster.
1. TB is rebuilding still while competing which is a very hard thing to do, but is not impossible clearly. They won the division, and many can say thats because well Carolina and Weak ATL teams in the past which also is true. Thats helped pave the way for TB though and make it possible.
2. This is the NFL it’s very much a team sport. You can not have 1 OT on the O-line and have a great o-line it just doesnt work that way nor should it. Expect issues with one Lineman. Expect problems in offense without skilled players thats just life of an NFL team. TB is doing this right, licht is doing it right once again and has proven himself over and over again. Great Job.
3. In 2-3 years time TB will be right back in the SB again and the reasoning why I say this is because we skipped a lot of the hardest parts.
TB went into fast forward mode on the remote, they resigned Mayfield and many other key franchise pieces. They went after the skilled positions first. Focusing on defense, speed, size, and talent first. Once the offense has its star pieces back this will be a roster nobody will want to mess with or play against on game days.
I do not believe in the way we run the ball up the gut personally and find it very hard to watch offensively, but it does work even though we all hate it. Way less TOs and injuries, offense knows what to expect on every drive, and it is easier to control the clock, and it buys the defense time. This is a pass happy league just as the NBA is a huge 3point shooting contest practically. May not like it, but again thats what it is.
4. Positions I would really like TB to see in the next two years would be:
ILB, DE, CB2, TE, LG,
We are not far off at all from being a complete team. A few pieces over the next 2 seasons and TB will be a SB contender yet again.
We have imo the best ST unit in the NFL with Comrada, McLaughlin.
We have 2 of the best WRs in the NFL in Evans and Godwin.
We have some of the best OL in the league with Wirfs and Godeke.
We will have the top Defense in the league once the pass rushers and CBs become polished up and experienced. Theyre not far off at all. Saints are the only team stopping us from competing and we have to find ways to stay ahead of them to get the W.
June 5th, 2024 at 5:51 am
ThatAintRight! … Very nice analysis of where we’re at right now. Agree also that we’ll need to focus on ‘ILB, DE, CB2, TE, LG’ in the next draft, but I’d add 1 more: DT (we need to be looking for Vea’s replacement for when his contract runs out in (it ends after 2026 but Bucs have a potential out after 2024).
June 5th, 2024 at 6:54 am
Our offense has been “punchless” forever Joe. The only exceptions were the Brady years and even then we were anemic in the first half. Maybe the Alstott Dunn years as well.
Go Bucs!
June 5th, 2024 at 7:13 am
7th in third down conversions. Seems to me the play calling was effective.
27th in Red Zone TD percentage. That falls squarely on the 11 on the field.
Play free and easy between the 20’s and then choke up in the RZ.
June 5th, 2024 at 7:14 am
“This is why it is surprising to Joe that the Bucs were also No. 20 in points per game. With such few penalties — and one would guess fewer drive-killing penalties — you’d think the Bucs would have been able to score more points.”
You’ll get blood from a rock before you get consistent point production from an offensive unit as inconsistent as ours was. Our offense was not that good last season, and much like the signal caller it was streaky at its best. Good play here, good series there, take a quarter or half of spinning their wheels, and then kick some field goals. We won a game 9-0, it’s a win, but that still embarrassing
June 5th, 2024 at 7:21 am
27th in red zone TD percentage is result of piss poor run game…can’t pound the rock…need to add rb1 to our wish list…a bigger back
June 5th, 2024 at 7:29 am
Not sure why there was so much interest in Dave Canales as a head coach candidate. I think much has to do with Canales being a huge upgrade over the “still” unemployeed Byron Leftwich.
June 5th, 2024 at 7:36 am
I’m certain we’ve improved on offensive penalties ever since the penalty machine Durable Donnie slowly walked away from Tampa…..
June 5th, 2024 at 8:31 am
I’m glad the NFL finally fired, I mean Jerome Boger retired. That clown was the worst referee in modern sports history.
June 5th, 2024 at 9:03 am
Canales was a first-time coordinator and it showed up in the run game. Canales owes some of his success to Mayfield. Experience is the best teacher.
Liam Coen will have growing pain to, but I believe he will have the offense scoring more than 20 points a game. If he gets the offense scoring up to 24 points, the Bucs could hit double digit wins.
June 5th, 2024 at 9:49 am
I don’t believe there was this huge amount of interest in Canales being a ‘hot’ head coaching candidate. The ONLY reason he was hired by Carolina, was bc NO ‘established’ HC in their right mind was ever going to play for that owner and that team in Carolina. Was never happening. No way. No how. Carolina had NO other choice. Period. End of Story.
June 5th, 2024 at 10:56 am
#1 – 486 – KC – Won Super Bowl
#5 – 416 – MIA – Top NFL Offense
“Canales had them prepared.”
So Andy Reed didn’t have his team prepared? I’m seeing this differently, Joe. Either this stat doesn’t mean a thing or the Bucs are doing something wrong. I’m guessing the later.
June 5th, 2024 at 11:07 am
“Canales was a first-time coordinator and it showed up in the run game.”
Koetter & Arians were tenured NFL coaches and couldn’t fix our run game either, because the offense is more about the 11 players than it is the 1 guys giving them their directives. There needs to be some sort of place to go other than football practice to learn how the heirarchy in football works, becasue the way some of you guys like finding a bag man for ALL our problems is weird to men.
Nvm the narrative that paints OCs as the player with the joystick and everybody in his charge has no free will to do well or f*ck up. We’re going on a decade off having a bottom of the league run game every season getting it fixed is going to take good coaching, but it’s the players that have to do the actual producing.
June 5th, 2024 at 1:26 pm
SlyPirate Says:
June 5th, 2024 at 10:56 am
#1 – 486 – KC – Won Super Bowl
#5 – 416 – MIA – Top NFL Offense
“Canales had them prepared.”
So Andy Reed didn’t have his team prepared? I’m seeing this differently, Joe. Either this stat doesn’t mean a thing or the Bucs are doing something wrong. I’m guessing the later.”
I’m guessing if someone checks, they’ll find that both KC and MIA had WAY more offensive plays so more opportunities for penalties. I’m betting on a percentage of penalty yards for number of plays things will make a lot more sense. IMO
June 5th, 2024 at 2:06 pm
“I’m guessing if someone checks, they’ll find that both KC and MIA had WAY more offensive plays so more opportunities for penalties.”
KC ranked 10th in the league w/an average of 64.5 plays per game
KC ranked 11th w/an avg of 21.6 ppg & scored a total of 39 TDs which ranked 17th in the NFL.
MIA ranked 23rd in the league w/an avg of 61.8 plays per game
MIA ranked 5th w/avg of 26.6 ppg & scored a total of 61 TDs which tied them at 1st w/49ers.
TB ranked 21st in the league w/am av of 61.9 plays per game
TB ranked 18th tied with…Chicago w/an avg of 21.2 ppg & scored a total of 37 TDs which ranked 20-22nd with a 3-way tie with Tampa, Seattle & Chicago.
The only thing we were “better” at than the dolphins was making FGs w/o scoring TDs, but when you think about it they scored 24 more TDs than us so that “better” means absolutely nothing.
KC won a title in a statistically “down” year for themselves, but they still have Pat Mahomes plus their defense was pretty effin good this past season.
MIA & KC were top 10 in 1st downs respectively, we ranked 24th
KC had a better 3rd down conv % than us at 43%, we were at 41% & Miami was at 40%, But Tampa averaged more 3rd down per games than either with 13.8 which was 8th most. KC ranked 31st on 3rd downs per game while KC ranked 16th. Meaning, those two teams moved the ball better than us and faced 3rd down alot less, especially Miami.
Offensively Miami was one of the most balanced and efficient offenses in all of the NFL, and KC won a title with mid-tier offensive production because there ball handler at QB is one of the best, if not the best in the business on a yr to yr basis.
June 5th, 2024 at 2:16 pm
Teams that ran most offensive plays last year:
1 Cleveland Browns 1187
2 Detroit Lions 1137
3 Dallas Cowboys 1122
4 New Orleans Saints 1121
5 Buffalo Bills 1115
6 Jacksonville Jaguars 1114
7 Philadelphia Eagles 1112
8 Los Angeles Chargers 1106
9 Chicago Bears 1097
10 Carolina Panthers 1096
11 Los Angeles Rams 1094
12 Indianapolis Colts 1094
13 Atlanta Falcons 1092
14 Houston Texans 1083
15 Kansas City Chiefs 1080
16 Baltimore Ravens 1076
17 Minnesota Vikings 1071
18 Arizona Cardinals 1068
19 Washington Commanders 1060
20 New York Giants 1057
21 New York Jets 1053
22 Miami Dolphins 1053
23 Green Bay Packers 1052
24 Cincinnati Bengals 1048
25 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1047
26 Pittsburgh Steelers 1029
27 San Francisco 49ers 1024
28 New England Patriots 1020
29 Denver Broncos 1016
30 Las Vegas Raiders 1010
31 Tennessee Titans 1002
32 Seattle Seahawks 995
June 5th, 2024 at 2:18 pm
^^^
Stats per Pro Football reference.
June 5th, 2024 at 3:04 pm
Boss … ‘KC won a title with mid-tier offensive production because there ball handler at QB is one of the best, if not the best in the business on a yr to yr basis.’
I’m convinced that Mahomes is great & destined for the HOF, but last year was his worst year thus far. Kansas City went 11-6 (most losses he’s had in a season BTW) and won the Super Bowl because their defense ranked #2, allowing only 295 points. Mahomes wasn’t all that much better than our own Baker Mayfield …
o Mahomes: 16 games – 401 for 597 (67.2% completion) – 4187 passing yards – 27 TDs – 14 INTs – 389 yards rushing
o Mayfield: 17 games – 364 for 566 (64.3% completion) – 4044 passing yards – 28 TDs – 10 INTs – 163 yards rushing
Mahomes TD% last year was actually the lowest of his career. His INT % was the highest of his career. Chiefs defense had the best ranking (2nd) since 10 years ago (2014) when Andy Reid had Alex Smith as his QB (went 9-7 and missed the playoffs). Yes, having a QB like Patrick Mahomes does make a difference.
June 5th, 2024 at 8:48 pm
Dude says u r post name sucks buddy just like u r dumb commentary u r the type of people posting here we need to snub off this site we want only true buc fans u r not in that relm