Playing Smarter Football Will Help
June 27th, 2025
Cutting down on flags.
When Super Bowl-winning head coach Bucco Bruce Arians first came to town, he coined a phrase to describe dumb football play.
Arians would often grumble about “Bucs beating Bucs.” Specifically, what got under Arians’ skin were many types of penalties.
It appears last year the Bucs were inching back to Arians’ phrase, Bucs beating Bucs.
Despite being tied for 11th-fewest penalties, as former handicapper turned stathead Warren Sharp points out, the Bucs had the eighth-most penalty yards. And the only way a team can have a lot of penalty yards but few penalties is by committing bad penalties.
The Bucs were tied for second-most in roughing-the-passer calls and ranked second in unsportsmanlike conduct calls.
Bad penalties have a way of coming back to bite teams in the behind. Especially late in games. The Bucs were not a good one-score team last year and penalties likely played into that record.
So if Bucs coach Todd Bowles can find a way for his team to play a little smarter, that might be good enough to win one or two additional games this fall.
total offensive penalty yards last year:
542 – CLE
517 – SEA
495 – NO
490 – ATL
485 – BUF
484 – NE
477 – DAL
466 – TB
465 – MIA
459 – BAL
455 – CHI
454 – NYG
447 – TEN
438 – PIT
427 – ARI
421 – MIN
419 – GB
416 – HOU
394 – SF
393 – NYJ
375 – WAS
375 – DET
369 – KC
355 – CAR
349…— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) June 26, 2025
June 27th, 2025 at 11:33 am
A team emulates its head coach.
Gruden says “you are what you emphasize.”
We shall see what 2025 looks like.
June 27th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Penalties. Drops. Night games. One score games. These aren’t physical issues, it’s mental focus.
June 27th, 2025 at 1:19 pm
Take away the bad penalties, drops and even some fumbles, we DEFINITELY win a few of those one score games that we didn’t in 2024.
June 27th, 2025 at 1:38 pm
Folks can double check me but I think the Offensive Line had many more than previous years. And not just Barton and Bredesen.
June 27th, 2025 at 1:53 pm
All stats matter some. But this looks like it matters one of the least.
Last year, the New York Jets and New England Patriots were 5th and 6th best in penalty yard didderential and sacked.
Minnesota had the very worst differential and were 11 and 5.
Thus, according to Aqualung the Minnesota coach is crappy.
Looking at stuff is fine. Making quick conclusions are for morons. BTW those stats show less unnecessary roughness penalties than most teams.
June 27th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
Pretty sure 400 of those penalty yards were on Sterling
Shepard
June 27th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
Three of the top eight are in the NFC South. Maybe it’s the weather. Carolina, the northernmost team, finished well down the list. Yes, I know some play in domes. Maybe the refs are more irritable from the ambient heat and humidity.
June 27th, 2025 at 2:05 pm
Confusing article… Are we talking about offensive penalties or penalties in general?
June 27th, 2025 at 2:15 pm
It’d be good to cut down on all the reductive metal errors that cost us field positioning, ruin drives on BOTH sides of the ball, and keeps points off the field.
Only thing I can blame refs for last season is that blown Kyle Pitts fumble, everything else is stuff that we can clean up just playing a cleaner brand of football on a consistent basis.
June 27th, 2025 at 2:32 pm
When comparing coach’s personalities and success rates, one can juxtapose them to a WWII general without much of a stretch, at least in fun.
With that, let’s do a mini synopsis on two renown generals, Omar Bradley and George Patton and see where Bowles might fit in.
General George S. Patton:
Strengths:
Bold, decisive, a master of tank warfare, and inspiring to his troops. He was known for his aggressive tactics and rapid advances.
Weaknesses:
His brash personality and tendency to make controversial statements sometimes created friction with other leaders, causing strained relationships.
General Omar N. Bradley:
Strengths:
Cautious, methodical, and highly respected by his troops. He was known for his ability to inspire loyalty and cooperation, and his calm demeanor contrasted with Patton’s fiery personality.
Weaknesses:
Some historians argue that his caution and methodical approach sometimes led to missed opportunities or slower advances, particularly in the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge.
If you were forced to pick a WWII general as coach for your football team, which one of these two guys would you pick? Keep in mind that Bowles would never be associated with the Patton school of thought.
And many would choose to emulate the likes of Bradley/Bowles over a Patton clone. But not me.
June 27th, 2025 at 3:12 pm
I see Grudens name mentioned in several threads. A quick comparison.
Gruden with TB . 509 w/l %.
Bowles with TB. .529 w/l %
Gruden stepped in to loaded roster with TB12 and won the SB (the team did) and it was all downhill from there.
Bowles inherited a depleted squad predicted to win 4 games and has managed to win the division and improve every year.
3 conference titles in 7 years – Gruden
3 conference titles in 3 years – Bowles
Couple more years and Mr Bowles will likely sit alone atop TB coaching ranks.
June 27th, 2025 at 3:30 pm
Gator—
TB-12 being coached by Gruden?
Did I miss a few decades?
June 27th, 2025 at 3:48 pm
@JA
yea, I screwed that up – lol. My bad 😬
June 27th, 2025 at 4:07 pm
Lol JMark. He sure picked some inoppotune times to do that stupid crap. I’m not sure why we paid him for this year. He looks like practice squad to me. This team has plenty of talent but discipline is lacking. We make too many errors at the wrong time. Bowles won’t sit anybody. Players may like him too much. BA didn’t put up with that BS.
June 27th, 2025 at 4:13 pm
Smarter refereeing would help too, see 2nd Atlanta game from last season.
June 27th, 2025 at 4:15 pm
Gonegator…
Gruden w TB12???
3 conference titles each? You mean Div titles I’m guessing?
Gruden had the luxury of a solid roster and they added some nice pieces when he took over. His offense was never top ten. Johnson wasn’t a gun slinger but a game manager. He wasn’t going to win a game but he also wasn’t going to lose it for you. Careful and mistake free. Not really an exciting passing game. Would be interesting to see what Gruden could have done with our current drafting, roster and a QB like Baker.
Difference between Dungy and Bowels?
Bowels has been SOLID at hiring OCs. Dungy, not so much.
Les Steckles? I rest my case.
I loved Dungy, but couldn’t hire an OC to save his arse (or job).
June 27th, 2025 at 4:44 pm
Why you gotta rip on Steckel😅?
During that season, under his guidance, the Buccaneers offense set a franchise record for most points scored in a season. The team’s offense averaged 24.3 points per game. This was the Bucs’ highest-scoring season up to that point.
June 27th, 2025 at 6:39 pm
As good as the offense was, it did stand out to me that the offensive line had a lot of penalties. They seem to come in bunches in certain games. I would expect them playing together for another year and mostly the same system… That will improve.
The two that stand out to me as far as dropping passes, are Shepherd and Otton
Both make some great catches and are very valuable reliable targets for Baker but they’re pretty much option 4-6 most of the time so they need to hang onto the ball when they get their chance!
And let’s not forget shepherd needs to chill out and not get stupid penalties.
I would definitely keep him though because he’s got a long history with Baker going back to college. There’s a familiarity and that is a hell of a good 5th receiver on the team.