First Quarter Grades for the Buccaneers
Offensive Line: D
The Bucs have a shiny new face of the franchise named Jameis Winston and if the team can’t keep him off the turf then he’s not going to be shiny or new for very much longer.
Winston has been hit a league high 40 times this season and has been sacked 10 times. Last season he was hit the fourth most in the NFL with 109 blows to his rookie frame, but showed his ability to fire under pressure getting sacked just 27 times.
A lot of us gave the offensive line credit for being better than expected in 2015, especially after they seemingly paved the way for Doug Martin to rack up the second most rushing yards in the NFL despite sharing some snaps with Charles Sims.
This is a different year, and a different line. Missing Logan Mankins has been huge this year, and missing out on his expected replacement J.R. Sweezy hasn’t made things better. Right tackle Demar Dotson’s return to being healthy was overly hyped and if we’re being honest he’s a backup on most NFL squads right now.
This year’s front is on pace to get their quarterback hit 160 times this year, and have fronted the league’s fifth worst rushing game averaging just 3.4 yards per carry and just over 80 yards per game, even with some of those yards coming from Winston himself as he scrambles from a collapsed pocket.
True, head coach Dirk Koetter hasn’t exactly been fully exploiting his offensive weapons’ skill sets with his play-calling, and yes the receivers have had a hard time getting open themselves. The Bucs have even faced the NFL’s two top defenses when it comes to sacks (Denver and Arizona); both of which also happen to be Top-12 against the run.
Even with all of these going against them to begin with, this offensive line is getting paid a lot of money to protect their quarterback and carve lanes for the running game. The test may be hard at times, but wins don’t come on a curve, you either solve the equation and get the “W” or you don’t.