Zero Completions Past 20 Yards From Line Of Scrimmage
December 9th, 2025
Depressing chart.
It’s official. Josh Grizzard has gone full-blown Liam Coen, except not with Coen’s positive results.
Grizzard, the Bucs’ first-year offensive coordinator, has become allergic to throwing the ball 20 yards from the line of scrimmage.
Oh, this past week in the loss to the slimy Saints, Grizzard called three pass plays that were just barely beyond 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. All were incompletions.
Joe doesn’t know if Bucs receivers cannot get open downfield or if defenses have adjusted to take away long passes and Grizzard and his staff haven’t figured out a counter move.
Regardless, these constant short throws sideways and pass routes short of the sticks are frustrating.
One of the few medium-long passes Mayfield threw was picked when Kameron Johnson stopped his route because he thought he might get hit.
For that reason alone, if Mike Evans and Jalen McMillen are activated this week, Johnson ought to be out on Himes Avenue for that stunt. There is zero excuse for an NFL receiver to stop his route (causing a pick) because he was scared he may get hit.
That’s appalling.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:02 am
His experiencing drawing plays obviously isn’t translating to play calling.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:02 am
This entire organization has been exposed as FRAUDS.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:07 am
I’m usually an eternal optimist as a Bucs fan. But there are serious problems and this chart is a good exhibit A.
I know it was raining holy heck throughout the game, but still. Baker is either hurt, or Grizz doesn’t know you need to go north and south.
PS–I can’t stand the way Grizz’s hair falls out of the back of his hats. Get that man a barber.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:25 am
How do we know he stopped his route because he was afraid to be hit? I’m not arguing here, just trying to figure out if you have some intel to indicate that’s what happened. I mean, if you’re a kickoff returner, you’d think you’re use to being hit. And, hit hard!
December 9th, 2025 at 9:26 am
There has to be at least 20 passes from Baker this year that were through hands and/or blatant drops or afraid to get hit Gator arms. Baker is getting very little help from his Skill players. And did I mention that Putrid Pass Defense that Bowles owns?
December 9th, 2025 at 9:29 am
Probably has a whole lot to do with Baker himself. Wasn’t he something like 0 for 8 Sunday on throws over 15 yards? The huge difference though is temp and pace and no misdirection or motion with Griz. Also the predictability with running the play clock down to just 2 seconds left every time and never going no huddle and everything else.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:30 am
When your team…
Is consistently flat…
Repeatedly puts its players in a position to fail…
Has veteran players make mental errors on every play…
Fails to show up for nationally televised games…
Is at its worst when the stakes are high…
Repeatedly makes head scratching game management decisions…
Rarely plays complementary football…
Loafs…
…it is the coaching.
Yes, better players are needed, but this team is less than the sum of the parts.
What a way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the team! With a version of the Bucs that fully captures the worst aspects of the franchise.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:32 am
Grizz couldn’t scheme his way out of a wet paper bag.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:34 am
Baker is inaccurate that is the main reason why there aren’t many downfield passes. He’s so inaccurate Coen gave him all intermediate routes so Baker could look competent. Look at how he missed a wide open EE with a high fast ball vs the Saints. When Evans got injured on the go route that ball was overthrown. At the Bills game Baker threw a high fast ball to EE out of the endzone on 3rd down in the 1st qtr.
Healthy or injured Baker doesn’t CONSISTENTLY throw catchable balls. And hes horrific throwing downfield. Its becoming clearer by the day that Coen made Baker last year.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:40 am
Diego Pavia is extremely accurate throwing downfield and runs a 4.4 40-can you say nightmare for opposing defenses?
Flush the coaches, GM, and QB and start fresh.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:44 am
Why would a guy stop his route? It wasn’t a look-in pass. He saw where the ball was going.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:47 am
Bee, except for the fact that he’s has literally hit his receivers in their hands several times on those long throws and they just did a “oops, dropsies”. Baker definitely has room for improvement in his accuracy downfield as of late but to pretend our receivers aren’t crapping the bed and dropping critical catches in critical moments is being willfully blind.
We can assume this week was an outlier given the horrible weather not being conducive to deep passing.
Also Grizz went from all deep passes early in the season, to a failed dink and dunk as of late, hopefully he can find balance between the two but so far, he is worse than Canales as a playcaller and Canales wasn’t a great playcaller but he did improve significantly as the season went on.
God I wish we had Coen with us again this year
December 9th, 2025 at 9:49 am
I like Mayfield and like most, applaud the job he has done the previous two seasons. But, since the Detroit game, he’s played as bad as the whole team has. In that game he got injured as did Evans. Since then, with exception of the Saints game in Lincoln’s Tomb, Baker and the entire team has rapidly regressed culminating in the embarrassing no show of our team at HOME this past Sunday. It’s obvious that this team has quit. We fans know quit when we see it. No question now we need a coaching and organizational reset after this lost season. What to do with the Mayfield situation moving forward is the elephant in the room question that’s not easy to put a finger on. He played so well under Canales and Coen. Is Mayfield’s regression pointing to Grizzard and Bowles? Is it Mayfield’s injuries? Is it the totality of all the injuries to key offensive players? I lean towards all the above but, I can’t unsee how bad Baker has been playing during this regression streak. Do we give Baker the big contract next season? Not sure. One thing is for sure, this team is done. Last Sunday at HOME was the exclamation point.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:53 am
Yes Joe, Kam Johnson should get launched but several other stiffs on this roster should have been held accountable over the season as well. I also thin Thomas McGaughey should have been held accountable just like Smitty was back in 2018 in mid-season. It might not have helped but it sure would not have hurt and both players and coaches would realize that the powers that be at OBP will over-rule the head coach on occasion and perhaps put the fear of God in them. The team has quit on Todd, Joe saw it in the way they were “ho-hum” about a bad loss in Buffalo caused in part by McGaughy…….
December 9th, 2025 at 9:54 am
I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. If Grizz and Bowles knew how to fix this, they would have done it by now. Nothing is going to get better until the offseason. And it will probably start with a new head coach.
December 9th, 2025 at 9:58 am
Ugo
Yes, the WRs have made some drops and thats a fact. I’m not denying that. But those drops don’t explain his poor completion percentage for 20+ yard passes since he got to the Bucs. This isn’t a new phenomenon. You rarely see any touch on the ball. When was the last time you’ve seen Baker hit a WR in stride, in his hands for a long TD? His final pass to Otton was in the dirt. He had another pass to EE that was wide right and he was wide open.
If Baker was good why couldn’t he get his team to at least midfield on that final drive? Threw a near pick on 2nd down right to the DB and went 4 and out.
As I’ve said many times, the Bucs aren’t winning a SB with Bowles and Baker as the leaders. They’re not elite at their positions.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:01 am
“The one of the few medium-long passes Mayfield threw was picked when Kameron Johnson stopped his route because he thought he might get hit.”
I’m going to shoot Kam Johnson some bail. That ball was thrown into a scrum of 4 defenders and not only was it in hospital ball territory, but it was well inside where Johnson was. Idk what the route was to know Johnson “quit” on it, but I do know he’s running into the teeth defenders and probably get lit up like Rockerfeller Plaza in December.
Not only that, but we tried that old Grizzard Special on 2nd & 1 to try for an intermediate pass, instead testing the run D and living to play another 3/4 downs. Mind you, an INT coming out of the 2nd half and getting the ball to start up 10-7 bad news bucs
December 9th, 2025 at 10:12 am
i just dont get it lol….
Grizz refuses to stretch the field and he also refuses to commit to the run with Tucker, who’s been out best back this year….
Bowles refuses to do anything to the offense….
Bowles refuses to do anything to the special teams…
Bowles refuses to adjust his defensive scheme…
Bowles refuses to discipline players and coaches who arent doing their job and costing us wins…
i dont blame Kam Johnson lol….
nobody is doing what their suppose to do lol…
EE2 isnt catching the ball….
CG14 isnt catching the ball…
Otton running short routes…
Baker inaccurate at times…
This team is a mess….hire klint kubiak!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
December 9th, 2025 at 10:16 am
Baker can’t complete a pass 10 plus yards, so Grizzard calls screens and 5 yard digs.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:18 am
Grizz is aware that Baker is too injured to throw the ball that deep. Since the Lions game, Bakers deep ball floats. The problem last year was he OVERTHREW guys deep, this year he doesn’t have the oomph to get it there. There are countless examples from every game to prove this, but it all started after the Lions game. That play where Mike went down was the last time I’ve seen Baker actually launch one.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:22 am
I see the Baker bashers are back. If it was so simple to pass the ball to a receiver in tight coverage with a high completion rate every rookie and washed up veteran would all look like Johnny Unitas. Factor in the Tampa Bay offensive line is very, very bad and has repeatedly let the defense pour through the pass blocks. Then there is a timing issue between the quarterback and the receiver and also the route that may or may not be the route either was expecting.
Apparently, the defender wasn’t worried about getting hit when the interception occurred as our receiver ran for cover.
Teddy should start the rest of the season so there is something new to complain about.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:23 am
As I’ve said many times, I watch this team play and I wonder what they do at practice.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:24 am
Bee,
Like so many here you write with an authority that reveals your stupidity. Baker Mayfield, SI college QB of the century completed 70% of his passes at OKLAHOMA. Tom Brady career NFL COMP % 64.4%, Baker Mayfield 63.4%. Here is a thought; when you say something here have the sense to know the facts. Otherwise, you will just sound like Rod Munch’s husband.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:28 am
A rookie receiver drops a very catchable ball, so you want to get rid of the quarterback.
Ridiculous…!
December 9th, 2025 at 10:36 am
Baker hasn’t looked comfortable in the pocket in 2 months. Jumpy and inaccurate. His receivers aren’t helping with the drops. And Grizz isn’t helping with his mostly horizontal play calls.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:37 am
Hey Gipper, maybe Baker’s playing hurt?
We don’t really know.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:46 am
Gipper Says:
December 9th, 2025 at 10:24 am
Bee,
Like so many here you write with an authority that reveals your stupidity. Baker Mayfield, SI college QB of the century completed 70% of his passes at OKLAHOMA. Tom Brady career NFL COMP % 64.4%, Baker Mayfield 63.4%. Here is a thought; when you say something here have the sense to know the facts. Otherwise, you will just sound like Rod Munch’s husband.
Couldn’t have said it better… Lol
December 9th, 2025 at 10:48 am
Yup let’s pick on one guy when the defense couldnt fight their way out of a wet paper bag they couldn’t stop a terrible rookie a terrible offense a terrible 2 win now 3 win team and a team not really trying to win because of a draft pick that gets worse for them the more they win.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:53 am
Why would a kick returner be afraid to take a hit? Makes no sense at all. You’ve just made that up.
December 9th, 2025 at 10:58 am
There’s a big difference between throwing a bunch of short passes and ‘dinking and dunking’ than playing a more uptempo system, getting the ball outta the hands of your QB with the proper timing and ball placement, in order to hit your receivers while in stride, & etc. YAC. It’s all about RYTHYM and the Yackety-YAC, JACK.
December 9th, 2025 at 11:05 am
Hell, forget about 20 yards…..how about some 10 yard passes?…….we are throwing 4 yard passes….and it looks like that’s what Baker is looking for immediately after the snap…….
DISTRUBING
December 9th, 2025 at 11:06 am
Bucs And Them – Baker is still locked up for 2 more seasons after this season. This is only year ONE of a 3 year contract he just signed last off-season. Where does everyone get that we have to extend Baker again this offseason? Am I missing something here? There is absolutely no rush to decide on Baker. We need to wait at least until after NEXT season.
December 9th, 2025 at 11:06 am
Gipper
1. I don’t know if you noticed but Baker isn’t in college anymore so that stat is meaningless.
2. Thanks for pointing out how Baker is WORSE that Brady. Since you want to compare completion %, compare WINS, compare TDs, compare ints, don’t stop there, keep going.
Quick question. If Baker is good, then how come when he was healthy he lost to a rookie at home in the wildcard with a healthy Evans? He got outplayed by a rook, do you think that would happen to Brady?
This isn’t Baker bashing, it’s facts. He’s mediocre at his best with rare flashes of brilliance. He needs everything to go right to shine. If he was great guys, he would’ve scored a TD on a final drive versus a 2 win team. Pathetic.
December 9th, 2025 at 11:11 am
Very little motion or mis direction, no hurry up offense. No hard hits or urgency on defense. Back end of defenses just looks like they’d rather be on vacation honestly. Tackling is horrible. And what about AWJr. Yeah he had an excellent first game against saints stolen from him and a couple plays here and there but he’s been a bust since his injury really. This is the worst Bucs team I’ve seen in the last 5 years. We are actually a bad team right now. Sad
December 9th, 2025 at 11:16 am
That’s funny. Now they’re wanting TEDDY to start since everything is not perfect for Baker lol.
December 9th, 2025 at 11:25 am
The play performance should help get rid of Bowles. Tank the rest of the season to improve draft order and get a new coach. BEST moves for the long run.
December 9th, 2025 at 11:40 am
Play calling sketchy. Offensive line really bad. Receivers not getting open. Open receivers drop clutch passes. Baker inaccurate on the deep ball. That is a rough combo.
December 9th, 2025 at 11:46 am
Bee,
Stick with board games. You don’t know much about football.
December 9th, 2025 at 12:26 pm
The roster as a whole has gone into self preservation mode.
December 9th, 2025 at 12:46 pm
Baker has strugglee and has not played well since the Lions game. Facts
The Bucs had 4th and 1 mutiple times and failed, which any one of those could have and should have given Baker and offense more opportunities to score.
Saying Baker is an inaccurate QB just isnt true when you look at his college and NFL completion %. Facts
I like a lot of what Baker brings as the Bucs starting QB. But he has some inconsistency to his game. He gets happy feet too quickly and does miss some easy throws. Hes either hurt, doesnt jive with Grizz or maybe is just an average QB who can make somw amazing plays, but the consistency may never get there.
Lets see how he looks Thursday where for the 1st time this season he may have his full arensal of WRs available
December 9th, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Joes, I hear what you’re saying, but you can’t launch K. Johnson before saying sayonara to the McGaughey- otherwise ‘accountability’ rings hollow. Returns and coverages have been lousy all year long and improvements nowhere in sight.
December 9th, 2025 at 1:16 pm
Gipper sure is fascinated with people having ” Husbands”. Gipper/Bayou Bullet. We all know your the same person and we all know your from Oklahoma/OU fan. You Baker zealots keep bringing up Mahomes and now Brady? Well forget Brady was in Foxboro for 20 years and the first half of his career was old school, 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Brady in his career finished in the top 10 in completion percentage -9 times. One time he LED and another time he was 5th. His career low was 23rd and that would be Bakers 3rd BEST season as far as rank. And even with that said Brady has a HIGHER career completion % then Faker Will Fail. Yeah, I could really see Faker playing in the early 2000s LOL. I’m pretty much done for now. I’m about to go look at mock drafts for QBs for the class of 2026 and 2027. It’s a wrap for this mediocre era. You can go back to wherever you guys came from. Us real fans, not circa 2023 will still be here.
December 9th, 2025 at 1:31 pm
Your O line has to be able to block long enough to throw downfield. That’s one problem, another problem is we don’t have a receiver with that kind of speed. Lastly Baker I love him, but he does not throw a good deep ball. That’s three strikes, we’re out!
December 9th, 2025 at 1:55 pm
Really? Let’s stop with the Brady/Mayfield comparisons… career win/loss records… BM 49/69 41.5%… TB 251/84 74.8%.
December 9th, 2025 at 1:55 pm
NFL that is…
December 9th, 2025 at 2:41 pm
I won’t pretend to be a football expert, or anywhere close, but it looks like Mayfield’s avg depth of target went up from 7.07 in 2024 to 8.48 so far in 2025. And his TD to interception ratio went up from 2.6 to 3.3. That doesn’t sound like a QB who’s dragging down his team, and I haven’t seen anything that suggests he’s quitting on anyone.
I can’t find a stat for accuracy on long throws, just completion rate, which confounds QB with receiver performance. I’d be really interested to see stats on passing accuracy, if anyone knows where to find them.
December 9th, 2025 at 3:05 pm
Cobb,
You aren’t thinking right with that cobb in an inconvenient place.
December 9th, 2025 at 3:22 pm
I am very happy the Buccaneers have Baker Mayfield as their starting QB. I think Baker is a fighter and is very capable of taking this team all the way. The Bucs just have to get into the playoffs (that’s still a possibility) they are in control of their destiny!!
It’s one game at a time sports fans, and as for me and a few others, I’ll be happy to see my Buccaneers win this Thursday night !!
Go Bucs !!
December 9th, 2025 at 3:41 pm
BucaneroJim,
Keep going and tell us all about Bill Belechick vs Todd Bowles and every Browns coach since 2018.
December 9th, 2025 at 3:47 pm
Fanofdabucs … ‘Baker has struggled and has not played well since the Lions game. Bucs had 4th and 1 mutiple times and failed. Saying Baker is an inaccurate QB just isn’t true when you look at his college and NFL completion %.’
Excellent points! Baker took a beating in that Lions game & I’m convinced that’s impacted his QBing since then.
Bucs had MULTIPLE opportunities to win Sunday’s game, and totally blew it. Look at the Bucs’ game stats:
o 69 plays … TOP 32:12
o 39 rushes for 179 yds … 4.6 YPC
o 30 passes with 14 completed for 122 yds … 4.1 YPA
o 0 sacks
o 301 total yards in 69 plays … 4.4 YPP average
o 3rd Down Conversions 3 of 13
o 4th Down Conversions 2 of 7
Conditions (rain) were miserable for much of the game, and we should’ve been running – running – running the ball. To a certain extent we did, but the runs were incredibly predictable. And the passes weren’t any better.
The story of that game is told in the Bucs going 2 of 7 in our 4th Down Conversion attempts. That’s beyond disgusting. Bucs passed on 3 of those … and made ZERO (2 incompletes & 1 short of the sticks). Bucs ran on 4 of those … and made 2 (1 by Baker & another by Rachaad). On another, Bucky went around right end on a 4th-and-1 … and LOST 7 yards. On still another, Tucker gained NOTHING on a 4th-and-1.
There was some terrible play-calling in that game, but it REALLY showed up on the 3rd & 4th down conversions. That game was ours with some decent coaching.
December 9th, 2025 at 6:42 pm
The stupidity level on this site is mind boggling and nauseating.
You simpletons do know we are starting 2 rookies at Wide receiver, right?
And
You probably didn’t notice- but it was pouring rain Sunday.
Only a fool would think any part of this was Mayfields fault.
NO TEAM IN NFL HISTORY HAS EVER WON THEIR DIVISION STARTING TWO ROOKIES AT WIDE RECIEVER.
And oh, by the way- you simple SOBs do realize that the Bucs are in first place, Right? Just like the last 4 years?
Dumb as sh**
December 9th, 2025 at 7:25 pm
Do they have slant on the playbook?
December 9th, 2025 at 7:42 pm
Won’t matter the bucs will give him the extension but we will see he’s no different than Sam Darnold both were journeyman QBs for a reason. We saw the real Darnold against the Rams last year when it counted in the playoffs and we have seen the real Mayfield (Det and Wash) in the playoffs. Time will tell but its the unfortunate truth … we’ve just had bad QB play outside of outliers for so long that the fan base is willing to overlook a lot. He’s not accurate throwing down field and when his first read is gone he gets happy feet. He’s injured and he can’t run around and that’s why he’s struggling.