Going into last Sunday’s loss to the Carolina Panthers, the game plan was pretty clear: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wanted to run the ball.
Establishing a ground game was something the Bucs looked at as a key way to control the game and beat the Panthers. Todd Bowles mentioned after the game that in their two wins over Carolina last season, they had over 30 carries in each of those contests, so wanting to try and out-physical their defense and control the clock were keys to their game plan.
It worked to a varying level of success until the Panthers caught on. On 26 of their first down plays, the Bucs passed on just eight of them with not one completion exceeding more than 10 yards. The Bucs had just one run, a 39-yard hit by Rachaad White, on the day, but decided to run the ball on 18 of those first downs.
If the Bucs had won, obviously it wouldn’t matter in the end of it, but they lost, and they did so barely featuring their quartet of star wide receivers they’ve had healthy for just one other game this season. After Bowles opined on his matter on the subject, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was asked his opinion on the game plan against Carolina.
"I mean, here is the thing, you look at statistically -- and I'm not a numbers guy -- but you look at if you run the ball over 30 times against them, I think they were 2-15,” Mayfield said. “That was the message, we're going to be physical and we're going to run the ball. We're going to be the more physical team, establish that, and go from there. Obviously, we didn't end up on the winning side of it -- if we end up [executing on] that two-minute drive, then nobody is really talking about it. Hindsight is 20/20, the message was to be more physical and run the ball and execute, but then when we have our chance in the pass game, we need to throw it and execute as well.”
The Bucs were definitely more physical and there was nothing wrong with wanting to run the ball, but you have to consistently pick up the yards to justify it. Playing for third and short isn’t going to win you a lot of all games, especially in the playoffs, when execution is key.
"It still comes down to executing the third-down game plans,” Mayfield said. “No matter what the down and distance is, we [have] to do that. [On the] first drive we did that, converted a couple of them, extended it, got into the end zone, same thing coming out of the half. Whatever is called on first and second downs, [we] have to be more efficient so that we're not in a third-and-extra-long situation."
The Bucs were better on third down last week than they’ve been in a long time, but still missed out on the ability to capitalize in the red zone. Against the Dolphins team that is seemingly throwing in the towel, it will be imperative for the Bucs to work out the kinks this week before a do-or-die game against the Panthers.