Bucs Admit To A Big Flaw On Offense

What’s Up With The Bucs’ Game-Planning?

“We still look at it as being balanced – being able to establish the run and have that play off of it – because when you can be balanced, it puts pressure on the defense to be able to throw it or run it,” offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard said this week. “You can’t get too happy in this league, especially when you’re going against premier interior defensive linemen. There’s a balance that you play in that game of how much can you throw it and how much can you run it? It’s really every week on do we want to exploit a matchup on the perimeter like we did versus Atlanta versus a backup corner?

“But not doing that too much, because you can’t just drop back all the time – I think we saw that happen a little bit in Detroit. I learned a lesson on that one in terms of doing it too much. There’s a balance. We’ve got a ton of playmakers on the perimeter, as well as the running backs and tight ends. Ultimately, we’ve got to be able to get them all the ball.”

Another flaw has been the Bucs saying they will “ride the hot hand” in the running game. That simply has not been the case. Irving has dominated the amount of rushing attempts. But let’s take a look at Tampa Bay’s game facing Atlanta and on the road against Carolina.

Irving averaged 3.8 yards per attempt in the Thursday night game. Rachaad White had one attempt in the whole game and went 20 yards in the first half. That doesn’t warrant more attempts? Then against Carolina, Irving averaged 3.7. White got more carries in this one, having five for 45 yards, and he averaged nine yards per attempt with a long of 39.  It was White making the big plays in the ground game and yet Grizzard didn’t lean on him.

“He broke off one and he should have [gotten] a couple more carries than that,” head coach Todd Bowles. “I agree with that completely, but I think the game took a different turn. We substitute on offense how we substitute, but we’ve got to make sure the guys that get the big runs end up getting follow-up runs as well.”

Grizzard gave his explanation behind it, too.

“It’s definitely week to week, and I think we can adjust that in-game,” Grizzard said. “Rachaad had a big run up the sideline there and a couple more where we didn’t really go forward on the plays. Ultimately, being able to get it to all these guys – especially in a game where you’re trying to establish the run and run it to that amount – is to keep them fresh. That way, one guy goes in, the next guy goes in, ultimately to spread it around and using their abilities in different ways.”

Do The Bucs Have An Offensive Identity?

The best could still be yet to come in the next two games if the Bucs mix up their plans on offense. It’s not that they should never run the ball, but when your best weapons are wide receivers – get them the ball. And when they do run it, truly give it to player with the most momentum. It can be Irving on Sunday, but don’t be afraid to deviate to another running back if necessary.

Make these adjustments and the Bucs will be okay. Don’t, and they’ll be out of the postseason.

“I have the utmost confidence,” Grizzard said. “I think you’ve seen that. I know we didn’t win the game last week, but you started to see that a little bit in Atlanta [and] you see the run game last week. Being able to get both of those things going allows us to be a really good offense to put pressure on them on whether we’re throwing it or running it. This will really be the third week of that from the season where we’re in that spot, and we’ve got a lot of confidence going into the game.”