Tampa Bay Buccaneers Still Looking to Play a Complete Game Offensively
Punt, punt, punt, punt, kneel to end the half.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ran 24 plays against the NFL's No. 28 team defense - and No. 30 passing defense - in the first half of Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons. This, somehow, was a winning recipe, as the Bucs pulled off a miraculous second-half comeback by scoring 31 points.
"My comments to the team after the game: ‘If we can play 30 minutes like that, why can’t we play 60?'" said head coach Bruce Arians on Sunday. "It’s frustrating."
It's a common theme. Tampa Bay ranks No. 14 in the NFL this season in first-half points per game with 13.4, and No. 2 in second-half points per game at 15.2. Over their last three games, the Bucs have averaged eight first-half points, and 19 second-half points per contest.
In the first half on Sunday, Tampa Bay able to gain a measly 60 net yards and just five total first downs, while Atlanta churned out 261 yards and 16 first downs of their own - resulting in a 17-0 lead over the Bucs. The Falcons came out firing, and the Buccaneers weren't able to match their tempo or success whatsoever.
Onto the second, and it was a different story. Tampa Bay put up 31 points compared to Atlanta's 10, across 42 plays. Quarterback Tom Brady turned a 10-of-16, 70-yard output in the first half into a 31-of-45, 390 yard, two touchdown stat line. Eight pass-catchers caught at least three passes, while running back Leonard Fournette punched two one-yard runs into the endzone on his own, capping off efficient, seven-play drives in which Tampa averaged over 11 yards per play.
The end results of Tampa Bay's second-half drives were much prettier: Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, punt, victory formation.
“We’re going to have to figure out how to play our best for 60 minutes as opposed to 30," said Brady. "It was a good win by us. Everyone loves winning, but we also want to play better."
"We haven’t really put it all together all year," tight end Cameron Brate added. "Maybe the Panthers game in Carolina [a 46-23 win for Tampa Bay] was probably the most complete game we played all year. But we know how talented we are as a team. It’s just for whatever reason we shoot ourselves in the foot and we can’t string together 60 minutes. You can win against teams that aren’t going to make the playoffs right now, but I don’t think we will win too many playoff games spotting a team 17 points."
Arians agrees with the sentiment. He noted after the game that the Bucs lost to the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs, playoff-bound teams, by three points each time, having to play each game from behind due to slow starts, and coming up short.
The Bucs have proven capable of hanging in until the end and overcoming deficits against lesser-talented teams, but have yet to do the same in bigger games this season. Only two regular-season games remain for the Bucs to figure out what causes these issues, and correct them, before each and every play will matter should Tampa Bay clinch its nearly-guaranteed spot in the playoffs.
"We’ve worked pretty hard to get to this point," said Brady. "But there’s still a lot left ahead of us.”
