Buccaneers’ Offense Starting To Take Off As Receivers Continue To Get Healthy

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may not be a complete product, but they’re getting there.

While the Buccaneers’ 21-15 victory over the Atlanta Falcons wasn’t the most impressive of wins, it made it very clear that Tampa Bay’s offense is starting to at least resemble the one that we’ve seen over the past two seasons.

The passing game continues to get better due to the healthy returns of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Furthermore, the continued emergence of Leonard Fournette as a leading receiver combined with Cade Otton’s potential is helping replace some of the firepower Tampa Bay lost this offseason with the departures of Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown.

The offense was a major concern over the first three weeks of the season as the Buccaneers’ defense kept this team afloat. Tampa Bay averaged just 17 points per game during the first three games of the year, ranking 22nd in the league. Meanwhile, the defensive unit had allowed just nine points per game, leading the NFL.

However, the offense continues to gain traction as the season wears on and the receivers get healthier.

The Buccaneers still aren’t at full strength. They were missing Julio Jones due to his nagging PCL sprain injury and starting tight end Cameron Brate remained sidelined due to his concussion injury from last week.

However, Tampa Bay is quickly implementing younger weapons in Otton and running back Rachaad White to offset the absences of their key veterans.

Otton had his second straight solid receiving game, finishing the day with six receptions on seven targets for 43 yards, ranking second on the team in receptions and targets. He’s quickly emerging as the dependable safety blanket that Brady missed during the first three games of the season due to Gronkowski’s retirement. By comparison, Brate had just seven receptions for 68 yards during the first three weeks.

“He’s doing a good job,” said Tom Brady after the game. “He’s off to a good start in his career. We all have a lot of confidence in him. Especially with Cam going out.”

Meanwhile, White continues to be utilized in the passing game and on third-down conversions. A week after catching his first touchdown pass in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, White finished the game with three receptions for 28 yards.

“Rachaad caught some balls and turned up field,” said head coach Todd Bowles after the game. “I thought he did a good job and looked fast.”

While the running game continues to be an issue — Tampa Bay averaged just 3.0 yards per carry while running the ball just 23 times in comparison to Brady’s 52 pass attempts — it continues to be offset by the effectiveness of Brady’s short passing game.

Fournette is quickly establishing himself as Brady’s most dependable receiver, leading the team in receptions (10) and targets (11) in the win over the Falcons. It was his second straight game with at least seven receptions.

Despite being forced to replacing three of their five offensive linemen from last season, the Buccaneers are compensating for their lack of elite pass blocking — entering Week 5, Tampa Bay had a 58.5 pass-blocking grade, ranking 21st in the league — by relying heavily upon the short passing game.

There is still work to do, obviously. Tampa Bay goes through stretches where they stagnate. After going up 21-0 late in the third quarter, the Falcons actually out-gained the Buccaneers 144-15, as they trimmed the deficit to 21-15. Tampa Bay actually had three consecutive drives where they went three-and-out in the fourth quarter before their final drive where they closed the game.

“We just had a lot of three-and-outs,” said Brady. “We just weren’t very good. Bad execution, wasn’t our best in the second half. Gotta learn from it and get better.”

While the Buccaneers will obviously have to create a little more versatility by developing their run game and becoming better in pass protection to give Brady more time for his deep throws, the execution of their offense is improving week by week.

The Buccaneers may have a ways to go before they’re considered an “elite” team, but similar to the 2020 squad, this team is getting better week by week and the offense’s potential remains limitless.