Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Preseason Week 2 report card

Failing Grades

Ryan Fitzpatrick – D

Ryan Fitzpatrick only played during the first quarter of the Buccaneers game against the Titans, but with the number one receivers on the field he did not perform very well and have caused many Buccaneers fans to worry.

Playing a total of three drives in the first quarter he led the team on a three and out, a five-play drive, and then a long 14-play drive that ended in the Buccaneers field goal. He passed for a total 46 yards and completed just 38 percent of his passes. It’s very concerning that his performance was so awful with the number one offense, and hopefully, it isn’t a sign of things to come for the first three games of the regular season.

Buccaneers Run Game – F

The Buccaneers run game as a whole wasn’t much to speak about against the Titans as they rushed for a total of 64 yards and 24 carries. Take away an impressive 18-yard run by Peyton Barber the Bucs would have rushed for only 46 yards the entire game.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The rushing attack has been a failure halfway through the preseason. The backs have rushed for a total of 52 carries for 137 yards (2.6 yards per carry) in the first two games. This is an area of concern for the Buccaneers the last few seasons, and will be something to watch the rest of the preseason to see whether it improves, or not.

Short Pass Defense – F

Every Tennessee quarterback started to play well when they discovered the weakness in the Tampa Bay defense. That weakness was the Buccaneers inability to stop or contain the short pass game, which gave the Titans their first touchdown on a screen pass that Taywan Taylor took to the house for a 46-yard touchdown.

The Titans coaching staff and quarterbacks exploited this weakness in the Buccaneers defense as they completed 19-of-29 short passes (65%) for 199 yards and two touchdowns both to Taylor. The Buccaneers passing defense last season ranked last in the NFL and was known for their defenders playing off of the receivers, and teams started to go with short passes and slants to exploit the defensive formation.

This will be another aspect to watch through the rest of the preseason to see if this trend continues or if the Buccaneers secondary tightens up. If it does continue the Buccaneers will likely be near the bottom in pass defense again unless they can get a pass rush with their new defensive line additions.