Breaking Down Tampa's losses

[BlindSite]

So far the Tampa Bay Buccs have lost each game by the following scorelines

New Orleans 24-20

Denver Broncos 16-13

Dallas Cowboys 13-9

In other tight games they won (with close scores)

Kansas City 30-27

New Orleans 20-23

Its clear that by their biggest losing margin of 4 points that this is probably the best team we've faced all year. Even when tested they rise to the occasion and come back to win.

From looking at these games its possible to deduce the following.

1. New Orleans, used a lot of underneath routes to reggie bush and inside gains to Jeremy Shockey to keep them on the back foot. Offensively the New Orleans game plan centered around getting the ball out quickly, and allowing players to make gains against the zone coverage.

The other show on here was that any time there was man coverage Brees looked to complete deep. When its man coverage, certain players are obviously exposed.

2. Denver wore down the Tampa defense using short passing gains. Due to the downfield excellence of the linebackers and secondary long gains isn't like to feature for any offense facing Tampa.

Tony Scheffler and Brandon Stokely were the leading receivers. Clearly the inside receivers have the tendency to get open faster than the outside receivers.

Much of the Tampa ineptitude on offense was because of Griese but notably Garcia didn't aim to complete a pass of longer than 15 yards all day.

3. Brad Johnson subbing for the injured Romo "threw passes that wouldn't get first downs, but wouldn't get intercepted", clearly the same plan that worked for Denver and New Orleans worked in this one too.

Marion Barber figured strong in both the run and pass as the he gained 80 running and 50 catching from the backfield.

4. Kansas City lost in overtime on a long field goal. To put up 27 points and almost beat the Tampa Bay Buccs, their offensive plan included some trick plays, but more than that a lot of running. Less and less the Chiefs looked to pass and when they did Tony Gonzalez was a feature.

KC loaded up and ran the ball early, often and to great effect right at the Buccs line. Their defense let them down mightily.

5. The Saints featured much of the same short passing and running game, they lost due to some offensive turnovers (interceptions) due to Brees throwing deep passes trying to over come some defensive allowances.

What we can take away.

Tampa like most Cover 2 shell defenses is susceptible to the short passing and running games. We need to use the tight ends we've got and DeAngelo Williams / Stewart as pass catchers out of the backfield, both of our running backs have excellent hands and featured in offenses in college that used a lot of passing to the running back.

The Offensive line has to be at its best but above all Jake Delhomme cannot afford to force passes to Steve Smith or Mushin Muhummad. The first game featured some obvious issues, number one was too little success in the running game and number two was too much medium to deep passing on the perimeter.

The panthers need to shorten up the passing routes and look to have Smith Crossing underneath and get Rosario involved early.

Defensively the Panthers must prevent any big scoring plays. Garcia doesn't mind going deep and in more than one game its been Garcia throwing a deep ball that leads to a big touchdown putting too much pressure on opposing offenses leading to turnovers.

The good news is, Tampa has played flat early in every single road game they've had this year and of the Road Games they've played they've either lost, or come close to losing most of them. We're undefeated at home and have the talent in the places necessary for a victory. The challenge therefore falls to the offensive line and our coaching staff.

Here's to a strong, injury free win!

[John Fox]

Wow, and here I was planning to do HB draws and occasion deep routes, added with a spice of poo zone coverage

[mountainpantherfan]

Great insight. I wonder how effective Mark Jones would be lining up in the slot? He and/or Jarrett could be major factors on converting 1st downs.

[OneBadassCat]

Wow, and here I was planning to do HB draws and occasion deep routes, added with a spice of sh*t zone coverage

AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG REP

:smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5:

Funniest sh1t I've read here.

[BlindSite]

Great insight. I wonder how effective Mark Jones would be lining up in the slot? He and/or Jarrett could be major factors on converting 1st downs.

I'd like to see Mushin and Dwayne on the outside and Smith in the slot a little more tomorrow. It forces the defense to tip their hand and it gives Smith a big blocker on his outside for the smoke routes.

[Snake]

Well the Short Pass is not our strong sute. I bet we run the ball, then run the ball some more, then try a pass, then run some more. I wonder if that will work cause thats all we do!

[Kevin Greene]

I wonder how effective Mark Jones would be lining up in the slot? .

Very effective as long as the kicker wasn't playing the nickle.

[Blade]

Just don't turn the ball over and we'll be fine.

[buchanangs]

bucs still beat you by a field goal--try again

[Mr ocho nueve]

carolina wins it 27-23

[buchanangs]

bucs by 17

[BlindSite]

Dude, we don't mind rival fans, but don't be a troll.

[VA Panther Fan]

Good scouting Blindsite.

A couple of things I'd like to see the Panthers do:

1- Go with 2 TEs. Both King and Rosario can catch the ball and could be instrumental in disecting the cover-2. The cover-2 is susceptible to seam routes and the TEs should take advantage.

The other advantage in having a 2 TE set is the run game gets another decent blocker.

2- Use an unbalanced line to kick-start the run game. Against the Redskins last night, the Ravens used an offensive lineman as their de facto TE. That allowed the Ravens to lineup three lineman on the strong side and pound the ball down the Redskins throat. Flacco only had 10 completions last night, but the Ravens were able to run the ball for more than 140 yards on a really good defense.

[Zod]

One thing not being discussed is that in every instance, Tampa Bay lost the game when the opposition scored more points than they did.

There it was all along, right under our noses.