Tampa Bay Buccaneers Bye Week Awards
Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had some major bright spots this season, especially early on, when their victory over the Detroit Lions lifted them to 2-0. Since that point, however, there have been some major struggles, including a four-game losing streak heading into the bye. With the first half of the year in the books, it’s time to hand out some midseason awards and take stock of the good, the bad, and ugly through Tampa Bay’s first 10 games.
Offensive MVP: Mike Evans/Chris Godwin
MVP doesn’t stand for best stats, it stands for the Most Valuable Player. Except in this case, where it’s Most Valuable Players. Yes, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have combined to only play in 14 games total, but take one look at the way the Bucs performed with and without those two in the lineup, and it’s clear just how valuable they are.
Godwin was playing like one of the best receivers in the league, catching 50 passes for 576 yards and five touchdowns before suffering an ankle injury that will cost him the rest of his season. Evans was coming into his own after a slow start before suffering a hamstring injury in the same game Godwin left. Fortunately, Evans should be back after the bye, which will be a big boost for the offense.
Baker Mayfield clearly hasn’t been comfortable with the replacement receivers and that has limited the offense. In Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, the Bucs’ wide receivers combined for just four catches. In fact, the catch leaderboard for Tampa Bay WRs reads like this:
Godwin: 50
Everyone But Godwin and Evans: 47
Evans: 26
It’s hard to be an MVP when you’re not on the field (and in Godwin’s case, can’t come back), but they’ve been too important to go in a different direction.
Defensive MVP: Vita Vea
For the defense’s struggles in 2024, we still have a couple of great options for the defensive MVP. Zyon McCollum is having a breakout season, but we have to give the nod to Vita Vea, who is also doubling as Tampa’s most underrated player.
Vita Vea Sack 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/Sw5wkMCdoi
— Alex 👋 (@Dubs408) November 5, 2024
Vea doesn’t get nearly enough credit for being an absolute monster in the middle of the defensive line. He’s been giving opposing offensive lines and QBs headaches all season. Among interior defensive linemen with 20% or more of their team’s pass-rushing snaps, Vea ranks 12th in PFF pass-rush grade (74.1) and is tied for 17th with 24 pressures. He even had a signature game against the Kansas City Chiefs, constantly being in the backfield and getting two sacks to show for it.
Rookie Of The Year: Bucky Irving
There aren’t many options for Rookie of the Year, but let’s be honest, even in a more crowded field, the answer would still be obvious. Even though he’s (still!) not getting enough opportunities, Bucky Irving is dazzling with the ones he’s got.
With 680 total yards on just 126 touches, Irving is a big-play threat on any given down. The secret sauce to his rookie campaign has been his ability to escape out of trouble. Fantasy Points writer Ryan Heath posted a chart that plots both a running back’s average yards from scrimmage and missed tackles forced on a per-touch basis. Irving has forced a defender to miss a tackle on one of every three touches, the second-best in the NFL. He also ranks near the top of the charts (sixth) in yards per touch.
You can take those stats, and they’re awesome. But there’s nothing like seeing it for yourself.
This view of @BuckyIrving's Week 🔟 touchdown 🤯 pic.twitter.com/lyhBHXcJmb
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) November 13, 2024
It’s been frustrating to watch the coaches be so slow to elevate his role in the offense, but the future of the running back room is bright with Irving leading the way.
Best Moment: Baker Mayfield’s TD vs Lions
No one really knew it at that point even in that game, but Baker Mayfield 11-yard touchdown run against the Detroit Lions in the third quarter would stand as the game-winner. After that Week 2 victory against the Lions, it seemed like there were only good times in front of Tampa Bay, with dreams of another Super Bowl starting up. The door isn’t closed on those dreams yet, but it’s going to take a while to get back to the same feeling we had after knocking off the defending NFC Champions.
Baker does it himself!! SHEESH
📺: #TBvsDET on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/BRDd7p1Erh— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2024
It was also the moment that proved that Mayfield’s level of play from last season was here to stay. He balled out in Week 1 against the Washington Commanders (before we knew how good they were), but could he build on last season’s momentum by getting it done against a top-level contender? Against the team that knocked them out in the playoffs last year? He did, and despite the team’s 4-6 record, Mayfield has done well navigating the Bucs offense.
Most Underrated Moment: Downing the Eagles
There wasn’t necessarily a signature play that stands out from Tampa’s 33-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. But that game showed what this team can do when they play all 60 minutes, with both sides of the ball firing on all cylinders, and that performance feels underrated, with the talk (probably rightfully) centering on the things that are going wrong.
It feels buried in the losses, but remember: the Bucs defense held Jalen Hurts to only 158 yards through the air and 20 on the ground. Saquon Barkley broke off two big plays, which made up 86 of his 116 total yards. The rest of the game, however, they held the NFC’s leading rusher to 30 yards on 10 touches. Meanwhile, Baker Mayfield threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns.
The Lions win was impressive, but the Eagles are a good team (even if they were missing A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith), and the Bucs just buried them. It was a dominating win and a big moment.
Biggest Disappointment: Coach’s Play-calling
It might feel like a broken record, but the coach’s play-calling, especially the last few weeks, has let the team down. In each of the last couple of games, the Bucs have had chances to try to go for a win, and in each of the games, Tampa was far too conservative in those moments.
Against the Chiefs, instead of going for two and trying for the lead, Todd Bowles decided to trust a defense that has been inconsistent all season to make a stop in overtime. It was shocking to everyone that he played for the tie instead of the win. In a similar situation against the Niners, the Bucs were too concerned about trying to burn San Francisco’s timeouts by running the ball instead of going for the touchdown and a lead. Shocking, it didn’t work again! And they didn’t even burn the timeouts! Yes, I’m still mad about this!
Hopefully, Bowles will take a look at what has gone wrong in the last couple of weeks and fix it soon. If he can’t find ways to take victories from opponents, then this season is basically over.
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