4 moves to help the Buccaneers reach their top potential
By Rob Leeds
Switch to analytics-driven football
Sports personalities and fans are bewildered at how dominant the Seattle Seahawks are to start this season off. Their offense is one of the best in the league, and they can make up for subpar defensive play weekly. The Chiefs are another example of a team that has mostly dominated their opponents on the offensive side of the ball.
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While the ESPN personalities are shocked, the analysts are not. The Chiefs and the Seahawks are winning games because they allow their Hall of Fame quarterbacks to throw the football.
This may seem a little too simple, but analytics fully support throwing the football early and often. Establishing the run is a thing of the past, and the only teams that have gotten away with a run-heavy approach are the Ravens and the 49ers for various reasons. Other than these outliers, teams are winning when they throw the ball.
The Buccaneers and Bruce Arians have unsurprisingly shied away from the analytics approach, and that is mostly why the offense stagnates at times. Taking the ball out of Tom Brady‘s hands and giving it to a running back that is averaging two yards per carry for the majority of a half will not work.
The Bucs can try this strategy over and over again, but it won’t work. Running on first down was the old way of conducting an offense, but how much luck has Tampa Bay found with this strategy so far this season?
The Buccaneers can still beat the bad teams with their archaic approach, but they will need to make some significant play-calling changes if they want to beat the great teams.