Breaking Down the Final Buccaneers’ Drive vs. the Rams

First and Ten, Rams’ 40, 1:36 Remaining

Once again, Winston is in the shotgun. Adam Humphries is the target this time, lined up in the slot to the right. He runs a curl pattern, and then finds a soft spot to just wait for the pass from Jameis.

Humphries picks up six yards, leaving the Bucs in second and short. Not bad, right? The offense is getting in a bit of a rhythm. They put up a decent gain on first down. Look at the next picture, and look at the time remaining.

See that? 1:29 is remaining when Humphries has flipped the ball to the referee. Dirk could have called a timeout here, sure. But why? They only picked up six yards. A timeout shouldn’t have been necessary.

Surely the Bucs can get to the line quickly from only six yards away, right?