The Buccaneers have one of the worst offenses in the NFL right now in part due to numerous injuries, but it also goes beyond this. It doesn’t have to be this way.
What we have seen from the Buccaneers on offense this year has been jarring. Sure, there has been a ridiculous number of injuries to key players across the offense, but it is still hard to fathom how the unit has become this bad.
Three offensive touchdowns in three games is almost unheard of in Tom Brady’s career, and the same is equally true of a Byron Leftwich offense over the last few years.
This team has been offensive-oriented for a while now, yet all of that shine has fallen away to reveal a weak game plan and some horrific numbers.
To put this into perspective, here are some tough numbers:
Here's the rate at which offenses have gone three and out through 3 weeks of the season. The Bears have been not good while the Eagles have been amazing.#nflverse pic.twitter.com/E0gSTP2cqd
— Arjun Menon (@arjunmenon100) September 27, 2022
The Buccaneers currently have the fifth-highest three and out rate in the NFL. Just look at the teams around Tampa outside of the Chargers. That is not company that you want to keep.
To make matters worse, the Bucs are falling apart in the red zone, as evidenced by a tough bit of history:
The Buccaneers are the first team since the 2008 Patriots to score fewer than 21 points in each of their first three games of a season, after averaging at least 30 points per game in the previous season. In 2008 Tom Brady was lost for the season in week 1
— trey wingo (@wingoz) September 28, 2022
None of these numbers are good. It makes sense that the team would slow down while losing all of the starting wide receivers and some key pieces of the offensive line, but Brady is healthy, and the current pass-catchers are still better than some of what Brady has worked with in the past.
There is reason to worry about this Buccaneers offense, but it doesn’t have to be this way.