Bucs offense earned a B+ this season.
The season has been over for the Tampa Bay Buccaneeers for a while now. After reviewing the film and looking at games a second and sometimes third time, here are the final grades for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Bucs finished 9th in the NFL in offense averaging 363 YPG. The Bucs passing attack was 4th in the league at 273 YPG. Only Pittsburg, New England and the LA Chargers were better. The running game averaged 91 YPG which was good for 27th in the league.
QB. Grade B+. This was one of Jameis Winston’s better seasons from a staistical standpoint. Winston had the highest completion percentage of his career completing nearly 64% of his passes for 3500 yards 19 TD’s and 11 picks. Winston did miss three and half games with the shoulder injury and played his best football the last quarter of the season after his return from the injury. Winston had one of the highest QBR ratings of any NFL QB the last four games of the season.
There are so many things to like about Winston. His passion for the game. His leadeship, the fact that he thinks he is unstoppable and can win the game at any given moment by himself. These are are all strengths of Winston and who he is. It is part of the total Jameis Winston package. However some of your greatest strengths can also be your greatest weakness. And that is the case with Winston.
Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that Winston is still one of the youngest QB’s in the league at 24. He has has shown the ability to improve certain aspects of his game from one season to the next. In order for Winston to take that next step here are a couple things that must improve in 2018.
Cut back on the turnovers. Winston has more turnovers in the last three years than any QB in the league. The unnecessary fumbles instead of taking a sack, Forcing the ball into coverage instead of throwing the ball away. He has to take better care of the ball.
Get a better touch on the deep ball. The deep ball was sorely missing this season with the wideouts Mike Evans and newcomer DeSean Jackson. I know there was some questions about Jackson and his undisciplined route running, but Winston has to do a better job on the deep ball throws. His timing was way off with every receiver.
RB Grade C-. The running game was a major dissapointment this season starting with Doug Martin. Martin who was suspended the first three games of the season never got anything going. He was given plenty of opportunities to prove himself and seemed to squander every chance he got. Martin will not be back in 2018, and the Bucs will look to free agency or the draft to bolster this group.
Jacquizz Rodgers was OK and seemed to do well when given the opportunity. Once Martin came back, Rodgers did not get many touches at all and was used primarily in the return game the last half of the season.
I like Peyton Barber and was glad to see him get a chance the last few games. Barber was the only back to average close to four yards per carry behind an offensive line that was one of the worst in the league at run blocking. Barber had the only 100 yard rushing game of the season in the OT loss at Green Bay When ran for 102 yards.
Barber should get a chance to start next season and I hope he will get that chance.
Charles Sims strength is his pass catching. Sims again was the leading receiver out of the backfield for the Bucs. Right now the depth chart is Barber, Rodgers and Sims.
WR. Grade A. I will group the TE’s into this category. Next to the QB position, this group is the strength of this Bucs offense. Mike Evans has established himself as a top five WR in the league. Although DeSean Jackson’s production was down this season, I believe that he still has a couple of good years left and can help this Bucs team. Adam Humphries gets the unsung hero award for this group. He always seems to make the tough catches and is always in the right spot to make a catch when the Bucs need it the most.
How about the play of Chris Godwin? This kid is only going to get better and was just coming into his own the last few games when he started for the injured DeSean Jackson. Godwin finished with 34 catches for 526 yards and 1 TD. That TD coming in the last few seconds to secure the win against New Orleans in the season finale. Godwin should have a bigger role in the offense next season.
OJ Howard the No. 1 pick was rated as one of the worst first round picks by PFF. All Howard did was lead all TE‘s in the NFL in yards per reception at 16.6. Howard had 26 catches for 432 yards and six touchdowns. To have Howard rated lower than John Ross the Bengals No. 1 draft pick, and lower than the Browns first round pick, QB Deshone Kizer is Laughable. Howard has a bright future in Tampa. Yes he may have an area of opportunity with his blocking, but that will improve with more playing time and a full year of being in the Bucs system.
Cameron Brate continued his stellar play as he again was in the top 10 in the NFL with six TD receptions by a TE. Brate will be a RFA and the Bucs need to re-sign him preferably to a multi-year contract.
OL. Grade D+. What a disappointment this group turned out to be. Let’s start with the play of JR Sweezy. After missing the 2016 season, Sweezy returned in 2017 and everyone was expecting the All-Pro version of Sweezy we saw in Seattle before signing with the Bucs. What we got was a guy who was a decent pass blocker but really struggled with his run blocking. To be fair the whole OL struggled at run blocking. Could this be the reason behind the poor runnning game of the Bucs? How much of a lack of running game can be tied to Jameis Winston and his turnovers? When you don’t have a run game and can’t get the yards when you need to run the ball, defenses will pick up on that pretty quick. play the pass and dare you to beat them running the ball.
This is an area the Bucs will focus on and will need to upgrade to be competitive in 2018. The Bucs will have some decisions to make on the OL.
-Kevin Pamphile is a UFA.
-JR Sweezy is due over five million dollars. Do you bring him back?
-Donavon Smith and Ali Marpet can be FA in 2019
–Evan Smith is a UFA.
At his season ending press conference Dirk Koetter thought this group did ok. “I think we have depth on the offensive line, we have versatility on the offensive line," Koetter said. "I know our O-line is heavily criticized. I think our O-line is in the upper half of the league. … When I’m looking at tapes of other teams, I see some bad offensive line play. I think our O-line hung in there pretty good.”
The OL will get re-worked and revamped this off-season. This is where it starts offensively. In the trenches. Once you have your franchise QB you need to start building a good OL. I know that good OL are hard to find and even harder to keep. The Bucs will need to find some who can run block and try to get this run game going.
The key components are in place for the Bucs to have a prolific offense for years. The franchise QB in Jameis Winston. two dynamic WR’s in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. A future star at TE in OJ Howard. Now if we can just improve that OL.....
