Buccaneers vs. Redskins Takeaways: 501 yards, 3 points
By Ryan Doyle
501 yards, 3 points
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers gained 501 yards of total offense. They also scored three points. That has only happened on one other occasion since 1940.
The Buccaneers offense quickly moved the ball down the field. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw 406 yards, and Peyton Barber rushed for 61 yards. On most drives, the offense looked good, until they entered the red zone.
In five trips, Tampa Bay left the red area with three points. The Bucs have been a middle of the road team in the red zone up to this point, but Sunday was a disaster.
Seeing some vague references to a 1960 game, but @pfref shows that no NFL team since 1940 has had as many total yards as Bucs did today (501) while scoring three points or less. Only other team ever to top 400 yards and score 3 or less was 2011 Rams (424) in 14-3 loss to Packers.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) November 11, 2018
Frankly, nearly everyone is to blame for a failure of this magnitude. Fitzpatrick threw a terrible interception, receivers dropped passes, and the offensive line let Fitzpatrick get crushed in the fourth quarter.
Even the play calling was questionable. Head coach Dirk Koetter, who admitted to taking over play calling in the post-game press conference, had O.J. Howard on the sidelines in the red zone. The team’s best threat was waiting on the sidelines while the offense struggled to hit paydirt.
Defensively, the Buccaneers played well. The offense is to blame for Sunday’s loss.