Breaking Down the Final Buccaneers’ Drive vs. the Rams

Second and Four, Rams’ 34, 1:17 Remaining

1:17??  That’s it??? What the heck took so long? They picked up six yards on the previous play. They should have easily been able to get this snap off at around 1:21 or 1:22. First, Winston has to demand those players get to the line. Just don’t say it, DEMAND IT! If he is doing it right, you can tell he is doing it. Secondly, the guys simply have to hustle. The two-minute drill requires hustle, not walking. There must be a sense of urgency and their just wasn’t.

Now to the play. From the gun, Charles Sims is lined up to Winston’s left. He is going to come out of the backfield over the middle, following the arrow. The area will open up, making a connection easy for our young quarterback and his safety valve.

Sims takes it ahead and falls forward for a seven yard pickup and a first down. Again, note the time. The play ended and there is 1:11 remaining. Again, short pickup. How do they handle it?

Slow as turtles is how they handled it. The next snap is with only 56 seconds left. THEY HAD TO GO SEVEN YARDS! How could they need 15 seconds from the end of the last play to the beginning of this one?

Koetter could have realized here that the team is moving slowly. They needed all the time they could keep, and the players didn’t seem to understand this, so that might have been time to call a timeout. But he didn’t. The team should have been able to get a snap off well before the one minute mark.

Note: The result of this play is an incomplete pass, so we skip analysis of play number four and pick it up on the next slide with :49 left.