Buccaneers: 5 biggest surprises of the early NFL season
By Rob Leeds
The offensive line
Much like the defense, everyone expected the Buccaneer offensive line to take steps forward during the season, but very few people expected a leap forward.
As soon as the Tom Brady rumors began, the pessimistic side of the fanbase immediately countered the notion with “He will get killed behind this offensive line.” While this would have been partially true in previous years, Brady has mostly gone unscathed during this season.
Through the first four games, Brady has only been sacked five times. This is a massive shift from last season, where Winston had already been sacked 12 times during the same period. In fact, Brady’s sack rate could be lower if he didn’t hold on to the ball too long on several occasions, but again, this shows an improvement at QB as much as anything else.
The line quickly improved with the addition of Tristan Wirfs, and the veterans from 2019 also took steps in the right direction. Even Donovan Smith, who often receives a lot of flak from the fanbase, has shown significant improvement each week.
If the Bucs can keep this pace up from the trenches, the Buccaneer offense could continue to roll through teams later in the season and compete with the best pass rushes in the league.