Pressures!

Joe has been very disappointed in the Bucs’ offensive line. Then again, one could make an argument that the Bucs have played well on the offensive line given all the injuries.

Toward the end of last season, Joe thought at worst the Bucs had a top-three offensive line. This year? Joe hasn’t seen enough of other teams to make a guess (much of Joe’s time away is spent covering the Bucs).

But a top-three offensive line this year? No way.

In an interesting bit of research by football data analyst Anthony Reinhard, he charted pressures from every game through the first 13 weeks of the season.

Reinhard put this into a simple-to-read graphic to demonstrate where the pressure is coming from and each offensive line position’s percentage of allowing pressure.

For example, Joe thinks that this year, All Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs is having his worst year in the NFL. That’s not to say he’s bad, but Wirfs had such a high bar of expectation for his play; if he plays just average, he looks, by comparison, not so good.

Mind you Wirfs began the season on the sidelines recuperating from knee surgery. Since the New Orleans game, Wirfs, at times, seemed (gasp!) mortal. Yet the left tackle position for the Bucs has allowed pressure on some 11 percent of dropbacks.

A cursory view of other teams suggests that 11 percent might be a little better than average. Also, remember Graham Barton started for Wirfs at left tackle for the first four games of the season.

If the Bucs have a crack in the damn, it appears to be at left guard. That stands to reason. The Bucs, between Ben Bredeson playing center in the first four games and then getting hurt after moving back to left guard, have largely played with backup left guards.

The Bucs have played mostly with backups on the right side of the line between injuries from Cody Mauch at right guard and Luke Goedeke at right tackle. This data suggests to Joe that Charlie Heck did a solid job pass blocking while filling in for Goedeke.