New Weapons Could Mean Best Bucs Offense Ever

Many questions have been posed since free agency and the NFL Draft on ways in which the Buc’s offense will look now that these additions have been made. Where will they fit? Who will start? Will the scheme change?

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I think it’s important to first address the issues and/or holes that were a negative influence on the 2016 Tampa Bay Bucs. The loss of Doug Martin was critical. The games in which he played the entire time, the Bucs were 6-1. Utilizing simple math, they were 3-6 without him. Defenses game-planned for Doug whenever they played us. They stacked the box, allowing for receivers to get open. Jameis Winston had a ten touchdown to four interception ratio when playing alongside Doug.

The injuries accumulated so badly on the offensive side of the ball at one point that four of if it’s five starting weapons were out (Vincent Jackson, Cecil Shorts, Russell Shepard, and Adam Humphries). Not to mention Kenny Bell and Louis Murphy never hit the field. That left just Mike Evans and Cameron Brate (who also suffered an injury late in the season). As far as tight ends, even Austin Sefarian-Jenkins was booted off the team for re-enacting his college days.

Running backs also had an extreme case of the injury bug. Doug was hurt, as aforementioned, Jacquizz Rodgers, Antone Smith, and Charles Sims were all unavailable at some point in the season as well. Leaving Peyton Barber, an undrafted rookie, to pick up the pieces. Jameis, for most of the season, had no trust-fall or consistency with the run game and only two reliable pass-catchers.

Now here is a little football knowledge for newbie fans, when defenses don’t have to account for a run game, which they didn’t, then they can cover the field better and play outside of their running lanes (or better known as the box). Essentially, they shut down the rush and have an easier time focusing on the passing game. The fact that Winston had 4,000 yards and Mike Evans had 1,300 and twelve touchdowns is even more impressive than before considering they were the only real threat to our offense. Cameron Brate then became a sleeper weapon considering he was an unknown player and Jameis had to go somewhere. He certainly fit the bill.

No let’s toss in Desean Jackson, OJ Howard, and Chris Godwin. All three weapons command attention and are either proven or have all the potential in the world to be amongst the NFL’s elite. When defenses line-up against these guys, they cannot ignore their ability to make a play at any given time. Adding in Mike Evans and Cameron Brate will only open up the entire field for production. A deep pass to Desean, float it over Evans, across the middle to OJ, a slant to Brate/Hump/Godwin, check-down to Sims, Jameis can literally go anywhere.

If you are unfamiliar with Dirk Koetter’s offenses, well he loves some tight ends. We are now capable of running two tight end sets in which Brate and OJ will thrive. Having a dual threat weapon with OJ and a sure-handed catcher in Brate could be reminiscent of the Gronkowski/Hernandez duo. (No comment on the ladder player.)

Now remember I had mentioned earlier that running backs can open up the passing game? Well the same can be said in reverse. These weapons will force defenses to unstack the box (remove players from running lanes), allowing Doug Martin and/or whomever is behind the line-of-scrimmage to run free.

Don’t forget Doug Martin is now slouch. He has had some issues in the past year but he is two years removed from being the second-best running back in the entire league. If he rebounds, the sky is the limit in which could be the Buccaneer’s best offense of all-time. Potentially the best in the NFL in 2017.

It’s pretty simple, really. Weapons help every position on the field. A better receiver = a better running back. A better tight end = a better offensive line. Better receivers/offensive line/running back = a better quarterback. A better quarterback = a better offense. A better offense = potentially more wins.

The days of struggling to score points for Tampa Bay may be over. This is becoming an offensive NFL powerhouse. If you love hearing the cannon BOOM, then you’re going to love 2017.

Oh ya, our defense is pretty legit too!