Interesting Jalon Daniels Numbers
October 12th, 2026
Joe doesn’t give a damn about the PFF tribe’s dumbarse grades.
But trained orangutans there do a nice job compiling stats. Joe will give them that. And the tribe dug up interesting numbers on Bucs quarterback Jalon Daniels.
The one number that jumped out to Joe is the average depth of Daniels’ targets against Dallas. It was but five yards. Joe doesn’t know if that’s the scared-of-the-chains, throw-to-running-backs-in-the-backfield offense from Zac Robinson or, perhaps, Robinson doesn’t yet trust the undrafted rookie with throwing much downfield.
Could be both.
What helped Daniels and the Bucs at Dallas was 70 percent of Daniels’ passing yards came on YAC plays (yards after catch). That also tells Joe that dudes are blocking downfield.
Also, only 32 percent of Daniels’ targets were past the sticks. Joe does not like that at all.
Again, Joe gets Daniels is green as grass and Robinson may have dumbed down the offense considerably to allow Daniels to make some easy throws and completions to keep his confidence up.
Todd Bowles sort admitted as such after the game on the Buccaneers Radio Network.
“Zac did a good job getting [Daniels] some confidence throws early, getting him off to a good start,” Bowles said of his playcaller. “[Daniels] settled in nicely. He followed the game plan. He wasn’t as nervous. And with the wristband on the sheet, we had more on the same page. He was getting to the line of scrimmage fast and he was able to process everything quicker and he played a very good ball game.”
Jalon Daniels played calm, efficient football to help Tampa Bay get its first win of the season.
19/25, 189 PASS YDS, 1 TD, 0 INT, 23 RUSH YDS vs Cowboys
Daniels protected the football and did exactly what Tampa Bay needed on Thursday night. pic.twitter.com/iOPNNZXV6n
— Football Performances (@NFLPerformances) October 9, 2026
October 12th, 2026 at 6:21 am
Robinson had Bsker throwing a lot of passes behind the LOS, even. I am afraid it is just his way.
October 12th, 2026 at 6:23 am
Maybe the offense looked better because Daniels, for the most part, ran the play as called. He doesn’t seem to have Baker’s incurable need to improvise every play.
October 12th, 2026 at 6:52 am
Maybe the O looked better because they ran it effectively which led to better protection and they were playing Dallas the worst Defense in the league
If he dumbed it down good, because everything starts and ends with the O line
When you establish the run, you keep the D line from Teeing off , which leads to better protection. Duh
October 12th, 2026 at 6:55 am
Great young man.Talent and attitude.
October 12th, 2026 at 6:57 am
I think the kid played great for the situation, but the comment “protected the ball”……sure. For almost the whole game. But man that last pass…….
Don’t get me wrong, all qbs benefit from dropped INTs. But I think my heart finally got on the correct rhythm after it skipped a beat or two.
October 12th, 2026 at 7:13 am
Joe,
The Bucs ran 39 times with only 25 passes while averaging over four yards per rush even without counting Bucky’s long stat skewing run.
The Cowboy defense was living in the box.
If you have any kind of play action, the defense is locked in trying to read the run with receivers matched up where they should be able to use their release and body position to create a window for a quick pass with no second defender right on top of them.
That is a recipe for quick short passes with extra yards after the catch.
Run more than you pass to sustain the situation. When you do pass, use that recipe to bleed the defense with quick short passes with extra yards after the catch. That is going to create opportunities for big plays like the pass to Tez Johnson. It is also going to wear down defenders who then can’t quite get a grip on Bucky before he is off to the races.
October 12th, 2026 at 7:20 am
Daniels came out on that first drive a little over-hyped. We kept getting help from Dallas at the start of that drive, but we spent enough time getting the ball downfield to where you could see JDs’ play kind of stabilize.
“He followed the game plan. He wasn’t as nervous. And with the wristband on the sheet, we had more on the same page”
When the microphone issue was going on a few weeks back, I said this should have been the move. As a new OC starting with a new team, it’s like having a landline to fall back on, instead of trying to run the house off your mobile device.
October 12th, 2026 at 7:21 am
@ Jack Burton Mercer
“Maybe the offense looked better because Daniels, for the most part, ran the play as called. He doesn’t seem to have Baker’s incurable need to improvise every play.”
Hopefully, Bucky and the coaches learn from that game.
Get rid of any and all who don’t learn.
But, I think that Baker could be great running that game plan.
I think that it would be a fun gimmick to once a game have Baker and Daniels on the field with one lined up as a running back. With a potential backward pass, it could create a really wild goal line RPO.
October 12th, 2026 at 7:53 am
That’s an interesting concept: dumping down the offense because one or more of the players is inexperienced and not yet ready for it all.
But not on Defense. They have the “complex, complicated” Bowles scheme. Which is just crap for saying “we don’t have a pass rush, so we’re going to drop the idiots that can’t sack a quarterback into coverage.”
October 12th, 2026 at 8:06 am
If the offensive line could maybe not hold as much or not false start, making it obvious passing situations, maybe play action could come into play for longer throws and I am really waiting for Daniels to Hurst to heat up, I thought there were some one on ones, that Daniels could have gave Hurst a chance in the Dallas game. Also, I will just say 3rd and 21…
October 12th, 2026 at 8:25 am
Pop Warner offense. Just saying.
October 12th, 2026 at 8:29 am
Now that Daniels is both improving and settling down, maybe Mayfield will learn a few lessons of knowing when to throw the ball away and live for another play like Tom Brady did. A lesson for Mayfield to learn. How about it Mayfield?
October 12th, 2026 at 8:39 am
I agree with Joe that the judgement of the PFF tribe is not to be trusted. If I’m not mistaken, I think it was the Vikings game that they gave the offensive line better than decent grades, with Ben Bredeson leading the way with the highest grade. He was in fact a turnstile. That should tell us all we need to know about PFF!
October 12th, 2026 at 9:37 am
1-4 doesn’t happen by accident. It takes a terrific game plan and top tier talent on all levels.
Coaching really is the key and we have that in droves. 31 other teams are jealous of our overflowing wealth of top quality coaches and upper management.
This is way better than the TB12 years. He was just lucky and not super talented like Baker Mayfield.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
October 12th, 2026 at 10:23 am
The Dallas defense makes a lot of QBs look great. The Daniels and the Bucs didn’t turn the ball over, and they won. The OL still didn’t play well with tons of penalties and limp blocking. Bucky didn’t have many holes but he forced missed tackles that Dallas specializes in.
The Steelers shut down Jonathon Taylor with only 45 yards, so good run defense, but the Steelers DL only got 1 sack. I don’t see a big day for Bucky running behind our flaccid OL.
October 12th, 2026 at 10:56 am
The only stat that matters is the final score.
October 12th, 2026 at 11:13 am
JimBob, better get your eyes examined. Some dominating run blocking for Bucky.
October 12th, 2026 at 11:30 am
The only thing I would tell JD and Zac is to be very aware that there is tape out there now and those easy sideline tosses and screens to start the game will have them lying in wait.
No pick sixes!
Go Bucs!
October 12th, 2026 at 12:29 pm
A) Sports statistics are boring.
B) However, if you are going to use them, then be advised that whether any given metric is high or low is meaningless, but if that metric trends up or down over time, then that trend is meaningful.
October 12th, 2026 at 2:15 pm
Good job to Bowles and his staff for getting the team ready to play on a short week. They looked like a well coach team Thursday lets keep it going. #gobucs
October 12th, 2026 at 2:40 pm
Jalon Daniels > Baker Mayfield.
Physically AND Mentally.
October 12th, 2026 at 3:03 pm
Dumb down the offense? I thought it was as dumb as you can get already?
October 12th, 2026 at 6:14 pm
I’m not saying this like I am a QB evaluator but when I watch Daniels in the same offense as Baker there is a clear difference. I see Daniels as much more composed on most plays. When he has to run he does and he knows where he is going. When he is passing it seems like he is faster to make decisions and is making the smart throws.
Baker by comparison looks almost frantic at times and like there is no plan. He often times is almost running in circles when he runs and when he passes the ball it seems like more risky passing attempts.
October 12th, 2026 at 7:10 pm
My admittedly amateurish take is that Mayfield plays like he thinks the only way the team can win is if he makes spectacular plays. Daniels plays like he believes if he avoids making bad plays, he’s doing his job and giving the team a chance to win.