Bucs: Play-calling from Byron Leftwich is only getting worse
By Rob Leeds
Motion and play-action
In addition to first-down decisions, which have become one of the most talked-about parts of analytics-based football, the Buccaneers are finally starting to incorporate more play-action and motion into their offense.
Both of these strategies open the field up much more, and Tom Brady looked better on play-action downs than the other plays.
The sad truth is that the Bucs don’t have to “establish the run” at their current rate to set up play-action. Even if the Buccaneers ran the ball on first down a mere 40% of the time, their opponents would still have to play PA honestly, and if they bite too quick, the Bucs can switch back to the run.
Tampa Bay doesn’t have to run the ball and waste first downs 14-15 times a game to successfully set up play-action shots. The Buccaneers are wasting nearly half of their offensive downs when they fail to realize this, and a team that is trying to right the ship has to learn from this.
The Buccaneers did better with motion in this last game despite consistently ranking near the bottom of the league in this category. However, it still begs the question as to why they waited this long to implement these concepts into the offense.