Bucs Passing Offense Is “Untenable”
September 14th, 2026
Baker Mayfield throws one of his many passes behind the line of scrimmage yesterday.
There is a reason for that.
Ben Solak of ESPN tore apart Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson and his game plan yesterday because it was so “passive,” in Solak’s words.
In short, the Bucs, on 42 percent of their passes, threw behind the line of scrimmage.
Solak was outraged at the lack of aggression.
This number isn’t even as high as it could have been in the Buccaneers’ 33-27 loss to the Bengals. Before Mayfield started pushing the ball down the field for multiple scores in the fourth quarter, more than half of his targets were behind the line of scrimmage.
This is concerning. No offense wants to live behind the line this often, and certainly not the Buccaneers, who have a deep pass-catching core featuring Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin Jr., Ted Hurst III and Jalen McMillan (who was inactive). The Bengals played plenty of zone coverage (65% of dropbacks) but not a ridiculous amount. It shouldn’t have been this hard to get the ball down the field.
Baker did a good job scrambling when downfield routes weren’t available and used his running backs to stay ahead of the sticks — Bucky Irving caught seven passes on the day. But the Buccaneers under new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson cannot become this passive of a passing attack — it’s untenable in the modern NFL.
Joe doesn’t disagree, but Joe did a wee bit of research. Someone by the handle “Oliver G” on the USA Today/Gannett outfit Niners Wire wrote this summer about the screen game — both on offense and defending screens.
Using FTN Fantasy data (the same outfit as the inventor of DVOA, Aaron Schatz, is on staff), the Bengals last year had the worst screen pass defense in the league, posting a -0.560 EPA per play on 46 attempts.
The Bengals may have changed their defensive line a lot but they still have Al Golden as defensive coordinator, who was the architect of this lousy screen pass defense last year.
So armed with this intel, Joe can see why the Bucs wanted to dink and dunk the Bengals to death.
But Solak is right: The Bucs were built to throw down the field. Only clowns, third-rate coaches and egomaniacs don’t use the talent they have in an offense that best fits their skill sets.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:18 am
We had absolutely no pass protection at all.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:21 am
You scheme to the opponent. You take what they give you, or fail to do well.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:34 am
78 is quickly turning into a shell of the player we were spoiled to have at OT. I don’t know if it’s the miles, injuries or the big $ contact— but Wirfs was a liability out there. Outmuscled. Outworked. Overmatched. A shockingly abysmal display. 67 was equally lousy. If you can’t pass protect, then the ball has to come out quickly. That said, the longer 6 holds onto the ball, the bigger the liability he becomes.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:35 am
Pass protection was garbage today.
We can only hope Wirfs and Mauch and Vita on the other side were shaking off a lot of rust.
Bucs got owned in the trenches. Without the fumbles the Bucs win without a doubt. Tells me the coaches were fine today in this matchup and the games they called.
If the secondary can keep playing well, Bowles is gonna have to blitz a lot cause the 4 man was useless today. Kancey smh, been gassing him up and he did nothing, like the rest of the line.
Bowles will also need to figure out how to cover the TE as well as stud WRs. Less Anzalone and more DBs please.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:41 am
Baker threw 4 passes in the preseason.
100% of them were behind the LOS, and yet only 2 were completed.
But thankfully we’ve got Baker locked up for years, so there’s plenty of time to figure out how to pass past the line of scrimmage.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:47 am
Looked like a team without chemistry it is the first game but tired of the miscommunications at this point with a Todd run team. I get the injury concerns but maybe they should have played more snaps in the preseason considering it’s a new oc and a bunch of rookies on defense and all but hopefully yikes there is that word it’s fist game jitters because there was some good things it just wasnt consistent.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:49 am
Rod is right about the need to get pre-season reps in. Now the O-line was bad up in Cincy, they just got pushed around. Granted that does not excuse Baker holding onto the ball for 5 seconds before getting pummeled. Keep in mind Baker’s fumbles cost the team a W in Cincy. Additionally, I think Robinson schemed plays with the thought that his boys were going to lose the battle in the trenches in mind. Hopefully the team plays better in the home opener becuase if they lose it is goig to get really ugly, really fast; especially for Bowles as well as Baker who just got his sack of coin. Also, Vea sure did not look like a guy who is worth $24 million a year and Anzalone is supposed to be an upgrade of LVD, c’mon man, that dog don’t hunt. I am beginning to see why no one in Detroit was all that upset with Anzalone leaving Mo-town.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:55 am
This is who Zac Robinson is. I told you to be prepared for a lot of screen passes this season and you ignored that. Might should have kept last year’s OC and gotten a new DC instead.
September 14th, 2026 at 1:23 am
We didn’t block very well today but me made up for it by not tackling.
September 14th, 2026 at 1:44 am
Joe,
You know I got a lot to say
JASON LIGHT … this is why said make Baker earn a new deal
Baker aka FUMBLEROOSKI SMFH … COST US THE DAMN GAME
3 YEARS 165 MILLION … WTF IS THIS A NIGHTMARE ?
WHERE WAS THE PASS RUSH !!!!
ALWAYS REMEMBER BOWLES SAYS HIS YOUNG GUYS NEED THE REPS!! SMH
WHERE WAS TEZ JOHNSON .. DUDE DROPPED A TOUCHDOWN …
BAKER WAS AWFUL … ZION GOT TOASTED FOR THE GAME WINNER, HE DIDNT MAKE ENOUGH PLAYS.
MORRISON GOT TOASTED ON A 3RD AND TEN
ONLY DUDE TO MAKE A PLAY THE WHOLE GAME WAS TROTTER
WHERE WAS THE DAMN PASS RUSH !!!
OH YEA AND MIKE EVANS LOOKED AWESOME FOR THE 49ERS …
THANKS JASON LIGHT
September 14th, 2026 at 1:48 am
OMG SON … ANAZOLNE BALONI WAS ALL OVER THE PLACE MISSING TACKLES LOL
WIRFS WAS AWFUL … BARTON GAVE UP A SACK TOO
JUST AWFUL ALL THE WAY AROUND
BAKER… AKA FUMBLEROOSKI SERIOUSLY MAN. TAKE CARE OF TF BALL U ARE NOT SUPERMAN OUT THERE CMON SON
September 14th, 2026 at 2:09 am
Do the owners care about this Franchise and Fanbase?
Todd Bowles should have been fired long ago.
Profiteering Owner- An owner who treats the Franchise strictly
as a financial asset or real estate play rather than a competitive
sports team.
September 14th, 2026 at 2:16 am
I don’t think Zac Robinson trusts the oline.
September 14th, 2026 at 2:55 am
Will beat the browns next week trade while baker is high value trade him back to the browns for a first round pick the browns sre dumb enuff to do this trade
September 14th, 2026 at 2:55 am
Will beat the browns next week trade while baker is high value trade him back to the browns for a first round pick the browns sre dumb enuff to do this trade
September 14th, 2026 at 3:17 am
We didn’t really have a problem moving the ball. The Bengals did not stop us. We stopped ourselves with four fumbles.
September 14th, 2026 at 3:21 am
Our 165 million dollar QB can’t throw the long ball that’s why Zac don’t call it. His lone bomb was woefully under thrown to EE, should’ve been a TD. Coen couldn’t wait to coach Lawrence who threw rainbow TDs yesterday, four of of them.The organization is a joke lead by clowns Bowles, and Licht. This team is going nowhere.
September 14th, 2026 at 3:25 am
12 of his 23 passes completed at or behind the offensive line. Grizzard isn’t here anymore and the passing chart looks like something out of last season. So the trend of our RBs having more YAC than actual yards gained because they’re catching the ball in negative territory.
We can’t even sell RPOs out of the pistol with the way we played yesterday and we damn sure can’t sell the play action if we can’t sell power runs from under center. Robinson has his work cut out for him, and I’ll also point out-WE MISS MIKE EVANS. Bengals had no respect for our ability(inability really) to threaten them vertically at all.
September 14th, 2026 at 3:44 am
It’s the exact same offense that Coen ran at Kentucky. It’s insufferable. It just doesn’t work anymore, and hasn’t for a real long time. It was my #1 concern to everyone of here, before Coen got here. I warned everyone, that if HE brings his UK Playbook along with him, then it’ll be a rough goin in the beginning… That, he needed to just SCRAP those plays, and for the most part, he did (eventually). You have to pick your splits on when and where you run those types of plays… 42%, I mean, is RIDICULOUS. We started almost EVERY drive at Kentucky seemingly, with a 2nd & 11. These guys are too good these days, and just way too prepared for it. They’ve been seeing-it since JR High School, by now… And, can sniff-it out and see-it coming from a mile away. If you’re going to do it at the very beginning of the game, then there has to be a PURPOSE… It better be used for ‘setting something else up’ for LATER. Otherwise, it’s just a total WASTE of TIME, and RISKY. It’s just NOT worth it. It’ll be a looong season, if it doesn’t change like, NOW. Exact same with snapping the ball with only 1 or 2 seconds left on the play-clock. STUPIDITY. Makes it IMPOSSIBLE, getting into any rhythm at all. It’s TOO PREDICTABLE.
September 14th, 2026 at 3:53 am
@ Warren Brooks Lynch Says: “12 of his 23 passes completed at or behind the offensive line.”
Uh, WOW. That is INSANE. Unbelievable. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of that before. WOW. Amazing.
September 14th, 2026 at 5:38 am
Per PFF, Baker Mayfield was under pressure on just 22 percent of his dropbacks. Average time to throw on those 8 dropbacks was over 4.3 seconds.
SumerLive charting has him right around the same, with 9 pressured dropbacks.
The OL wasn’t that bad but as always Baker holds the ball too long and makes terrible decisions making the team look worse. Funny how this offense looked like the 2nd preseason game. Tons of screens and short throws. I heard that would change during the regular season. Guess not.
September 14th, 2026 at 5:58 am
Baker had to have his $165 million payday or else he was going to play with a chip on his shoulder this season.
That sure worked out well for everyone involved. Great job as per usual for Bud Licht.
And Bowles buttery soft defense looks even worse than 2025. Bain was non existent. He looked lost.
2-15
September 14th, 2026 at 6:34 am
Lets not forget Cade Otten wow to think we gave him a raise he is terrible
September 14th, 2026 at 6:37 am
Game 1 is in the books. Expectations were crushed. Let’s look around a bit…The Rams got beat, soundly. The Cowboys lost and Dallas is raging. The Panthers got smoked. The expectations of the Bucs does not include a Super Bowl. So, we hope the Browns come to town and hopefully leave with a L. Last season proved to me the owners are OK with mediocrity. There’s not one little thing I can do to influence them. I have taken some big steps back and will watch and wish them the best every week. If they win, GREAT. If they lose, there’s next week. I don’t need the inner rage.
September 14th, 2026 at 6:41 am
I’m gonna say the O-Line was rusty as they barely played in the worthless pre-season games. Also, Wirfs rehabbed right up to the verry end of camp.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:08 am
Baker has the ability to check the play at the LOS.
The fumbles are one thing. He either wasn’t able to read the defense or his offense was lining up incorrectly all game. He was constantly rushing the snap. The protection also wasn’t great.
Just an awful performance all around.
Zac Robson is not Liam Coen. Trevor Lawrence looked great!
September 14th, 2026 at 7:24 am
It will be interesting to see how this plays out going forward. I believe ball control was a big part of the game plan. Keeping Burrow off the field while moving the ball should have been a winning formula against the Bengals, but there is no winning ANY NFL game with turnovers. You have to ask yourself though, did Bowles bring in Robinson to play a ball control offense all year? If this is the case, then having three or four very good receivers means nothing!
September 14th, 2026 at 7:31 am
Good news is the bucs will have a new OC next year
September 14th, 2026 at 7:32 am
The Bengals has 2 deep Safeties much of the game.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:49 am
We threatened Bengals vertically on the first series with Egbuka streaking down the sideline and beating his man by two yards 35 yards downfield.
So Baker could grossly under throw him allowing the defender to get back into a play that should have been an easy score.
So do you think Robinson is buoyed with confidence when he schemes it perfect and Baker cannot deliver the ball? No-so he shortens the throws to compensate for Mayfields’ lack of accuracy over 30 yards.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:54 am
Burrows sucked too. Talk about throwing the ball straight to the wrong guy for a pick six. Coaches,are,afraid to play starters in pre season due to injury risk. So basically this was,a pre-season game. Like the,Rams being killed in Me!bourne AU the Bucs,will bounce,back against the CFL team known as the Browns.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:56 am
JOES; was hoping for the betting picks on game day like last year! Bring em back and speaking of i had a glorious 8 way parlay of all player props hit, EXCEPT Baker needed ONE TD pass!!! Would of paid nicely…never thought he wouldn’t throw at least one, oh well thats gambling
September 14th, 2026 at 9:19 am
Solak is a novice. I don’t think he’s seen enough football to really know what he’s talking about. When the Bucs tried to look down field, the protection broke down too soon. The dink and dunk game with Bucky and Gainwell worked all day from what I saw. They were running successfully as well early on and should have continued that more. They could also use a bruiser in that backfield. They were moving the sticks. Until you force the opponent to defend the run, teams will pin their ears back against the Bucs. The fumbles lost this game. Pass protection is an issue as well. This is on Baker, especially the fumble at the goal line. There was way too much interference in front of him to be able to score. He should have gone down. It was the perfect example of when he should have played it safe. It was first and 5 on that play following a penalty on Cincinnati and we were in position to score which would have made the score 14-10. He also could have been injured on that play as well. Patience was called for in that scenario. It wasn’t a desperate situation in the game yet. On the first fumble, he should have tried to throw it away, but I’m not sure if he even had a chance to do so. I’m hoping this will get his attention and he will adapt his game. He didn’t play this way in Cleveland. He didn’t run enough then and now he runs too much.
September 14th, 2026 at 9:39 am
Bucs had 4 fumbles and Baker threw a pic that was called back. with this amount of turnover happening I bet OC was not eager to proceed with down the the field play. I mean I think he was just trying to survive. The O-Line and Baker need to figure this out. Baker is trying to do all of it instead of delivering the ball to teammates.
September 14th, 2026 at 9:53 am
Gainwell had a paltry 18 net yards-all that for 7 million?????????????
September 14th, 2026 at 11:04 am
282 yards in offense. Now that’s not entirely reflective of the game. Had mayfield not given the ball away three times the number likely would have been higher. But still.
September 14th, 2026 at 11:32 am
“Yeah, we ran on and off the field real nice,”
September 14th, 2026 at 12:39 pm
They didn’t even test them deep, that is my problem. You’ve got to at least show you’re willing to throw it deep once in awhile to keep the defense honest. They need to run Hurst or Tez deep and let it rip a couple times a game at least.
September 14th, 2026 at 2:18 pm
@Frank Pillow – can you name a single Bucs player who got a fat contract recently and hasn’t regressed?
I can’t. Last time was prob when either Evans or Godwin re-signed.
September 14th, 2026 at 4:10 pm
Can’t wait for Bowles to be retired go enjoy retirement.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:26 pm
These contract comments are absurd. Baker has been a turnover prone, inconsistent slow decision maker for 9 or ten games now. Fans just remember win streak, which consisted of narrow wins eaked out by the same hero ball mentality that causes the losses. Consider that even after all of yesterdays shenanigans- if holds on that ball in the end zone we win that game. Even if you disagree, I assure that’s what he is thinking…
September 14th, 2026 at 8:48 pm
People don’t learn. Look at Atlantas offense under Robinson and you have your answer. There’s a reason they fired him. I said this over the summer. It’s what we’re going to have now. It’s the same thing with Bowles defense. New players same coach same results