Coach Matt’s Game Plan: Buccaneers’ Offense vs Patriots

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are gearing up for their showdown with the New England Patriots this Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.

How will the Pewter Pirates attack the much improved Patriots’ defense? Coach Matt has the answers.

Game Plan Overview:

This is roughly what teams do during the NFL work week when coming up with a game plan for the week’s opponent. Here is an inside look at some of the things offensive coaches come up with, and also partially what my game plan would look like if I were coaching the Bucs offense.

This is a game where the Bucs need to dictate personnel and formation matchups. The Patriots’ defense excels against spread 11 personnel and struggles badly versus heavier sets (12P, 21P) and play action. Our goal is to force them out of nickel looks, stress their linebackers in space, and create high-percentage explosive opportunities off of play action. That’s the general idea this week. The goal is to stay on schedule and not get one-dimensional, it’s gonna be a similar game plan as it should have been against Detroit.

Core Offensive Identity:

Personnel Focus:

Go to more 12 personnel. New England is giving up +0.343 EPA/play and a 53% success rate vs. this grouping. This means Durham or Culp NEED to start getting more involved in the pass game along with Otton, but of course, they’re valuable in the run game as well.

Formational Tendencies:

Work 2×2 condensed looks to disguise intentions and create leverage for crossers and intermediate breaks. The intermediate game is the weak spot of this Patriots defense, and there aren’t many weak spots on this defense.Heavy pre-snap motion and Y-off movement to manipulate second-level defenders. NE’s linebackers have shown communication issues with motion on film.

Passing Game Plan:

Play Action Emphasis:

Build off inside zone and counter action. NE allows +0.135 EPA/play on play action.

Utilize Y-over, Dagger, and Sail concepts, attack the 10–19 yard window where NE is weakest (+0.421 EPA allowed), they don’t give up many explosives.

When they rotate late to single-high, isolate Emeka Egbuka on the outside with intermediate digs and posts.

Run Game Plan:

Concept Focus:Counter and Pull Lead are the Patriots’ only positive EPA allowed run concepts (+0.101 each).Inside Zone as our volume run. Moderate vulnerability (48.8% success rate allowed). White and Tucker are both capable of running Inside Zone well, but the Bucs do not use it super frequently.Mix in Duo to test unscouted looks. This is more of a pipedream, but it might be worth trying. NE is really good at gap fits in the run game, but stressing this with Duo runs might be worth a shot.

G-T Counter & G-Y Counter to stress NE’s linebackers horizontally should be a focus for Bucs offense and Josh Grizzard.

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