The Bucs Continue To Fall Into A Familiar Trap
Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Heading into Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, every Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan knew it was going to be a tough game. The short-handed Bucs gave a valiant effort in front of their home fans, but once again, Todd Bowles and Liam Coen’s game plans failed them.
At this point, this familiar story is calcifying into a trend. The Bucs as a whole, and their offense in particular, continue to put Tampa in positions to win games. When they’re in those crucial spots, however, the poor calls by their coaching staff squander those opportunities. And that doesn’t just apply to the offense. The Bucs’ defense has finally started to show some signs of life in the last few weeks, only to be thwarted by the coaches.
We have to give Coen some credit for what he’s done with the offense and Baker Mayfield. For the most part, that unit has been impressive this season. The Bucs are averaging 27.9 points per game, and a lot of that has been because Coen is getting the most out of the players, especially in the wake of recent wide receiver injuries. But that doesn’t make him immune to criticism for poor play calls.
With 1:04 left in the game, Tampa was down by three and well within field goal range. On 1st & 10, Coen called for a run with Rachaad White, who lost four yards. But look! A gift! A hands-to-the-face penalty bailed out the Bucs, and it set up 1st & Goal from the 49ers’ eight-yard line. What did Coen do with it? Instead of being aggressive and going for the touchdown, the coach sought to try and burn the last three timeouts for the 49ers.
The next play was a three-yard run by White, followed by yet another run for a three-yard loss. It set up a third-and-goal from the eight-yard line. They finally decided to throw a pass, which fell incomplete to freeze the clock at 41 seconds. The Bucs ended up kicking the field goal to tie the game, not just failing to get the touchdown, but leaving San Francisco with a final timeout. That last timeout for the 49ers was crucial on the following drive, allowing them to work the middle of the field en route to scoring the winning field goal.
What else should Coen have done? Not using Bucky Irving enough was once again his blind spot. Irving was the better running back on the team yet again Sunday, having rushed 13 times for 73 yards and a touchdown. He was the hot hand, and Coen did the team a disservice by trying to pound the rock into the end zone with White. Coen also could have trusted Mayfield to try and find a wide receiver or Cade Otton a couple of times in the end zone. Tampa could still fall back on the field goal, but they’d at least have a couple of chances to force the Niners into scoring a touchdown.
It’s clear that Mayfield isn’t 100 percent comfortable with the wide receivers, as he often looked for his safety blankets in Otton and White on Sunday. Tampa’s wideouts caught four total passes on Sunday. Even if the trust isn’t there, it’s always a possibility to scheme open wide receivers. Especially early in the game, there should have been more of a focus on getting them more involved to get the confidence up for both Mayfield and his pass-catchers. Maybe if they had done that, Mayfield would have been able to put faith in his receivers to make a big catch late in the game.
It wasn’t just the offense that struggled in big moments; it was also Bowles’ scheme that created some issues. They were simply unable to slow down Christian McCaffrey in the passing game, and it cost them in huge spots. Late in the third quarter, with the 49ers facing a 3rd & 5 and the Bucs needing a stop, Bowles had defensive lineman Anthony Nelson covering Christian McCaffrey. It’s hard enough for a linebacker to cover McCaffrey, much less a lineman. McCaffrey picked up the first down easily and the drive ended in a field goal.
The defense had a much stronger showing than earlier in the year, but once again in the biggest moments of the game, Bowles failed his defense. A lot like last week against the Kansas City Chiefs, when Bowles decided to trust his defense to make one more stop after a valiant effort, the coaches put the defense in yet another spot where they were forced to hold off a great offense one time too many.
A lot is going wrong with the Bucs, but the buck has to stop with the coaching staff. No one thought facing the Chiefs and the Niners, but when the players earned a chance to win, the coaches didn’t seem able to get out of the way. The last couple of weeks have been a letdown by Bowles and Coen, and if the Bucs miss a playoff berth by a game, the blame has to fall on their shoulders.
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