Conservative second half play calling aids Buccaneers downfall

Offensive Coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Byron Leftwich went into a more conservative approach in the second half, and it came back to bite them.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have done it again. Fans old and young just want one thing: a reliable kicker. Today wasn’t the day as Matt Gay, who left five points on the board in a one-point loss to the Saquon Barkley-less New York Giants.

While the game could have been won with any of those kicks going in, the second half meltdown on the offensive side of the football was also a key factor. The Bucs came out of the locker room to start the second half up 28-10, and after a dominant first half from Jameis Winston and Mike Evans, who put together a monster bounce back performance, they just stopped looking their way.

Before fans could even get back in their seats from the intermission, the Giants had already cut the lead to 10 as tight end Evan Engram turned a short drag route into a 75-yard touchdown. The Bucs, who didn’t have to punt one time in the first half stalled in the second half, and that is directly on the conservative play calling out of the break.

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Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich went into a more conservative approach for the Bucs, and it came back to bite them. The Bucs would punt the ball three straight possessions and throw and an interception before they could score again.

By that time the Giants had scored again, and the pewter and red 18 point halftime lead had been cut down to just six points. On the punting drives for the Bucs, they lasted for the length of five, three, and eight plays; less than ideal for a unit that was unstoppable in the first half.

The Bucs decided to throw the ball to Cameron Brate out of the backfield on a third and three and decided to run the ball from the shotgun on a third and two inside the Giants ten. Conservative play calling like this isn’t the reason that the Bucs lost as the kicks should have been made, but these type of plays certainly are a part of the reason for the downfall.

For some reason, it seemed that the Bucs didn’t come out of the locker room to play the second half the same way they did in the first. Now they will need to put this loss behind them and get ready for one of the most brutal travel schedules any team has faced in the NFL, starting with the defending NFC champion Los Angeles Rams.