The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Have No ‘Quick Fix’ in Sight Amid Team’s Slow Start

There is no quick fix in sight — these are your 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

We’re only roughly halfway through the season, but the Buccaneers are 3-5 with a number of flaws. One player isn’t going to solve their problems and one major trade isn’t going to suddenly turn around their season.

The Buccaneers fell to the Baltimore Ravens, 27-22, in Week 8. Unlike the prior two weeks, Tampa Bay didn’t lose to a rebuilding squad. They actually lost to a team that could very well be playing in the Super Bowl in February.

But while the loss didn’t sting nearly as much as during their Week 7 loss to the P.J. Walker-led Carolina Panthers or their Week 6 loss to the Mitch Trubisky-led Pittsburgh Steelers, the same flaws are still there.

The Buccaneers can’t seem to string together a consistent offensive game for all 60 minutes. After scoring a touchdown in the first quarter for the first time this season on their opening drive and posting 10 points during the opening quarter, Tampa Bay’s offense sputtered — again.

“We keep shooting ourselves in the foot, whether it is mentally, whether it’s penalties, (or) whether it’s missed assignments,” said head coach Todd Bowles after the game. “We have to play better. We have to play better all the way around — it’s not just the offense, it’s special teams and the defense (too).”

There isn’t one reason for it. Tom Brady still looks good, but he’s clearly lacking some efficiency on his passes. He missed a couple of open receivers in the end zone early on in the game, including a wide open Mike Evans in the back of the end zone.

The offensive line continues to be an issue as the 45-year-old Brady took multiple hits in a game in which he dropped back 44 times. The stat sheet shows that Brady was sacked three times, but he was hit multiple times due to the offense’s shaky play throughout the game.

The running game continues to be as ineffective as possible, with a 2.9 yard-per-carry output in the loss. Despite possessing an effective runner in Leonard Fournette, the Buccaneers’ offensive line is forgetting how to create holes for their running backs. In what is becoming a scary trend, it was the third straight game in which Tampa Bay averaged 2.9 yards per carry.

After the Bucs ran for 4.6 yards per carry in their season-opening win over the Dallas Cowboys, they’ve gone every game this season failing to eclipse the 3.0 yard-per-carry average.

Because the offense can’t sustain drives consistently throughout the game — the Bucs had five straight drives of six plays or less in the second and third quarters — the defense becomes tired.

“I think we struggled in pretty much at everything,” Brady said regarding the offense’s struggles after the loss. “We just struggled in the red zone, struggled on third down, struggled in the run game, two-point plays, short yardage, when backed up, at the start of the first quarter, start of the third quarter — not very good offensive football.”

The Buccaneers’ defense was on the field for over 38 minutes versus the Ravens. As a result, they were gashed for 238 yards on 27 carries for an astounding 7.0 yards per carry.

The offense isn’t good. And the defense isn’t nearly strong enough to carry this team amid the offense’s ineptitude.

If you’re expecting help to come along the way by the trade deadline on Nov. 1, you can pretty much scratch that off of the table. The Buccaneers have a shade over $3.8 million in cap space available.

Tampa Bay’s best bet at making a move is for depth along the offensive line or tight ends who haven’t contributed much this season. CBS Sports’ Joel Corry pitched three cheap options along the offensive line in Dalton Risner ($1,494,444), Jackson Carman ($554,797) and Ben Cleveland ($488,397). Outside of Risner, neither of those offensive linemen have seen much action this season.

While Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki would be a nice replacement for Rob Gronkowski, tight end isn’t even a major issue at this point. Rookie Cade Otton has filled in nicely and has emerged as one of Brady’s more reliable targets, catching 18 passes for 178 yards over the past six games.

Needless to say, Gesicki would also likely cost too much from a cap standpoint ($6,072,777) and a trade compensation standpoint.

Long story short, you can quit hoping for a blockbuster trade at the deadline.

The 2022 Buccaneers are a shell of the team they were over the past two seasons. Not too long ago, the offense instilled fear in opposing defenses. They scored over 30 points per game at will and the defense complemented the offense nicely with timely turnovers and big plays.

Fast forward to now and the current version of the Buccaneers are relying on a 45-year-old Brady who remains good, but has clearly lost a step since last season. Through eight weeks of the season, Brady is averaging 42.5 pass attempts per game. For perspective, only the Los Angeles Chargers — led by 24-year-old quarterback Justin Herbert — are averaging more per game.

“We’ve got to go earn it,” Brady said when asked if there is a “quick fix.” I don’t think you can erase what happened the last eight weeks. We’ve got to dig deep, see what we’re all about, come to work, try to improve, and like I said, give ourselves a better chance to win.”

Brady is right — there is no “quick fix.”

The Buccaneers are running out of time to at least show some progress. If Tampa Bay can’t figure out how to block for their running back or how to score in the red zone, this season is going to come to an end a lot sooner than anyone would have ever expected.