How Buccaneers can finish the season stronger than they started
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 6-2 going into their bye week, but they haven't played perfect football. With the talent they have and the roll they're on, they have the potential to be even better in the second half of the season.
Tampa Bay has three really tough games ahead of it (New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams). If the Bucs wanna get out of that stretch relatively unscathed, there are at least three things they could do to improve their game ahead of this next run.
Tampa Bay's run game has severely dropped off from where it was last year. As it stands through Week 8 (today's Sunday games not included), the Bucs are 24th in the league in rush yards per game and are 28th in yards per rush, which makes their offensive gameplanning much more difficult.
A part of that is the absence of running back Bucky Irving, who should be back soon, but he's still averaging below 4.0 yards per attempt this season. The offensive line being beat up too doesn't help, but offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard has got to get creative with his playcalls in the run game and try and kickstart it in a similar way that Liam Coen did last year.
To Grizzard's credit, the Bucs actually rank sixth in the NFL in EPA per play on rushing attempts on third and fourth down with 0.485 EPA/play. They're converting on 63.0% of their third downs rushing and 80.0% of their fourth downs rushing, per SumerSports. A lot of that is likely Baker Mayfield' scrambling heroics, but perhaps the Bucs can find out what works there and then apply it to the rest of their run game as a whole.
The Buccaneers have a big, big problem at inside linebacker, and if they want to improve on defense, they'll have to find a solution for it.
Per Pro Football Focus, linebacker SirVocea Dennis has given up 484 yards in coverage this year — more than any player in the NFL by their metrics. He's also missed nine tackles in coverage, the second-worst number in the NFL behind Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane. If you look at his coverage grade, too, his 29.1 is the worst among any NFL player with a minimum number of snaps.
Simply put, Dennis has been a liability in coverage for Tampa Bay all year. The Bucs need to find a solution to that problem, either by adding another linebacker at the trade deadline or perhaps trying other players, like Deion Jones, a bit more often on obvious passing downs.
The Buccaneers have a good thing going when it comes to the turnover game. Todd Bowles said he wanted ballhawks at the NFL combine, and so far, that's been working quite well.
As it stands, the Buccaneers are tied for fourth in the NFL with total turnovers (12) and are also fourth in turnover differential (+7). That's winning football, and it shows that the Bucs are able to take the ball away while Baker Mayfield (despite some close calls) is also doing a great job keeping the ball out of the opposing team's hands.
The Bucs defense got four turnovers on the day against the New Orleans Saints last week. While that's quite a lot, a steady margin for the rest of the year should translate into some big wins.
Broncos QB Bo Nix Offers Telling Response After Beating Texans
Bo Nix can relay an entire sequence of plays from memory long after they have passed by. The Denver Broncos’ second-year QB still has a short memory, and it served him well in Week 9 against the Houston Texans.
Nix and the Broncos’ offense grinded their way to an 18-15 victory against the NFL’s No. 1 defense in scoring and overall.
It took all four quarters, but Nix led the Broncos into position to win the game, which they did.
Bo Nix Gets Honest About Short Memory After Broncos’ Win
GettyBo Nix #10 of the Denver Broncos signals to a teammate during a play against the New York Giants.
Nix completed 18 of 37 passes for 173 yards, with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception in the Broncos’ win over the Texans.
Nix was 9-for-16 for 76 yards and threw his touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The Broncos scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. Nix guided them into position for teammate Wil Lutz to successfully attempt the game-winning field goal try.
But he had to shake off the slow start and his turnover.
“I‘ve learned a different kind of patience as I’ve grown. In high school, I was not very patient. It was like an every drive thing. And if I did have to get off the field, and we had to punt, it was the world. And in college, it was learning how to win certain battles, and field position, and just getting completions, and checking it down, and moving to the next play,” Nix told reporters on November 2.
“You just have to eventually learn, as a quarterback, how important that next play really is. And if you can just get into a better situation than you were the play prior, then you did your job.”
Nix certainly did that, scrambling for 34 yards on the Broncos’ final drive of the game, including a 9-yarder to set up Lutz’s field goal. Nix and Broncos head coach Sean Payton noted how expectations have changed, and this team expects to win games like this.
Still, Nix, the No. 12 overall pick in 2024, knows this is still just the beginning for him.
Bo Nix Looking to ‘Maximize Potential
GettyBo Nix #10 of the Denver Broncos looks on after a win against the Dallas Cowboys.
Nix reiterated that he has simply “learned how to get to the next play better” and has “a little bit more patience.” It helps that Nix entered the league as the most experienced QB in NCAA history, logging 61 collegiate starts.
He has already seen the growth in himself from last season, but he is not satisfied.
“Each level, I just feel like I’ve been able to learn a lot and grow a lot. And I’m definitely not the same as I was this time last year, much less than when I was in high school,” Nix said.
“I’ve come a long way. Still got so much to learn, which is the fun part. But I’m going to continue to work, not stop, until I maximize my potential. Don’t know when that would be, but I’m excited because there’s a lot to learn a lot to grow from. Gives us another opportunity next week to go out there and change it up. But I’m sure we’ll learn from the mistakes we make next week as well. So, I just learned learn how to be a little bit more patient and go into the next play.”
Up next, Nix and the Boroncos will face their AFC West rivals, the Las Vegas Raiders, at home on “Thursday Night Football.”
