Why the cannons aren’t firing for Tom Brady and the Bucs
TAMPA — Maybe it’s his right shoulder. Tom Brady grabbed it and landed on the injury report after he was sacked in a loss to Kansas City a few weeks ago.
Maybe he doesn’t trust the protection. Rookie guard Luke Goedeke has given up five sacks, and no quarterback trusts a turnstile.
Or perhaps Brady just misses the quick twitch and speed of wide receiver Antonio Brown, who did more than leave the cupboard bare when he stripped off his jersey that fateful day against the Jets last season.
For whatever reason, the Bucs aren’t making big plays in the passing game this season, leaving them to attempt to bludgeon teams with running back Leonard Fournette.
The Bucs led the NFL with 33 plays of 30 yards or longer during Brady’s first season, 2020, a season that ended with a win over the Chiefs in Super Bowl 55.
Last year they produced 27 pass plays of the same distance, tied for eighth most in the league.
This season the Bucs have only four plays of more than 30 yards, second to the Rams (two) for the fewest such plays.
“We want to score,” coach Todd Bowles said. “I want big plays, too. But you don’t chase them just to chase them. There are parts within the game in which you have to take them and hope they come through. Obviously, we have different players than we had last year, and we’ve got to approach things a little differently and find out what works best for us this year, not last year and two years ago.
“(The) lineup is completely different,” Bowles continued, specifically mentioning Brown, retired tight end Rob Gronkowski and guard Ali Marpet, and injured center Ryan Jensen.
“We’ve got different people to adjust to different things, so you can’t really compare and say, ‘We’re going to do what we did last year this year’ when the guys are different.”
But not every player is different. The Bucs still have speed on their roster, but those players are having a tough time making it onto the field.
The Bucs threw the ball deep only once last Sunday against a Steelers secondary made up of backups and practice squad players. Wide receivers Scotty Miller and Breshad Perriman played two snaps each. Receiver Jaelon Darden played zero on offense. They are the burners at receiver.
Receiver Mike Evans played 69 of the 72 offensive plays last weekend, and receiver Chris Godwin played 64. They are excellent players, but Evans had only four targets against the Steelers, and Godwin still is adjusting to playing with a repaired anterior cruciate ligament.
The Bucs rank 21st in the NFL in red-zone touchdown percentage (50) after being in the top 11 in that category each of the past two years. They have scored only nine touchdowns — none in the first quarter — in 18 trips inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
“We may have to change some things up here and there,” Bowles said of the lack of explosive plays. “Sometimes it’s the (offensive line), sometimes it’s the route progression, sometimes it’s the quarterback. But we’re changing some things around, and we’ll adjust to it.
“It’s not about the explosive plays; it’s about sustaining drives. You want the explosive plays, but you also want longevity of the drive and then finish it off at the end.”
Miller, who has only eight catches for 73 yards this season, said opponents are still playing two deep safeties and trying to keep the Bucs receivers in front of them.
“I think teams are playing us similar to the way they have the last couple years,” Miller said. “It’s just a matter of time. We’ve got a couple of new guys, a new O-line. Everything has to mesh together the way it did a couple years ago.
“Once we start hitting those, it’s going to make the running game a lot easier and (give us) some balls underneath.”
Whatever the reason, the Bucs have scored 21 or fewer points five times in six games after averaging more than 30 per game each of the previous two seasons. The run game is the worst in the NFL, averaging 67.5 yards per game, and the Bucs also are last in yards per carry at 3.1.
Brady will eventually have to throw downfield to create space and score.
“The challenging thing about football is it’s the ultimate team sport,” Brady said. “We’re all in it together, and in order to score points, you have to do a lot of things the right way. We’ve just got to keep working at it.”
Contact Rick Stroud at rstroud@tampabay.com. Follow @NFLSTROUD.
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