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With a recent article presenting our third passing options geared towards the tight ends, I wanted to see if the tight ends were also important in the Red Zone. (Read here for Who is Our Third Option article.)
The first chart is collecting the data to break down. You can skip this chart. I put it here as reference to where I got the information. I went to the game logs and manually found the information to put into this chart.
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Red Zone TD breakdown |
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# |
Game
|
RZ TD
|
Descritpion |
|
|
Pass
|
Rush
|
|||
|
1 |
vs Car
|
1
|
0
|
Pass- WR Williams (6 yards)
|
|
2 |
at NYG
|
0
|
1
|
Run - Martin (8 yards)
|
|
3 |
at Dal
|
1
|
0
|
Pass - TE Stocker (1 yd)
|
|
4 |
vs Was
|
1
|
1
|
Pass - WR Vjax (7 yds) Run - Blount (2 yds) |
|
5 |
vs KC
|
2
|
1
|
Pass - WR Vjax (19 yds) Pass - WR Vjax (17 yds) Run - Blount (12 yds)
|
|
6 |
vs NO
|
3
|
0
|
Pass - WR Underwood (13 yds) Pass - WR Vjax (17 yds) Pass - TE Clark (3 yds)
|
|
7 |
at Min
|
2
|
1
|
Pass - FB Lorig (1 yd) Pass - WR Williams (3 yds) Run - Martin (1 yd)
|
|
8 |
at Oak
|
2
|
1
|
Pass - WR Vjax (20 yds) Pass - WR Williams (4 yds) Run - Martin (1 yd)
|
|
9 |
vs SD
|
2
|
0
|
Pass - TE Clark (3 yds) Pass - WR Underwood (15 yds)
|
|
10 |
at Car
|
2
|
0
|
Pass - TE Byham (3 yds) Pass - TE Clark (15 yds)
|
|
11 |
vs Atl
|
0
|
2
|
Run - Martin (1 yd) Run - Martin (1 yd)
|
|
12 |
at Den
|
2
|
0
|
Pass - TE Clark (11 yds) Pass - WR Williams
|
|
13 |
vs Phi
|
2
|
1
|
Pass - WR Williams (1 yd) Pass - WR Vjax (13 yds) Run - Martin (4 yds)
|
|
14 |
at NO
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
15 |
vs St. L
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
16 |
at Atl
|
1
|
0
|
Pass - WR Williams (8 yds)
|
|
Total
|
21
|
8
|
|
|
Now comes the fun part after compiling the information: the breakdown of red zone touchdown passes. This next chart is broken down into three parts.
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Red Zone TD Passes
|
||
|
Position
|
TD Catches
|
Percentage
|
|
WRs
|
14 |
66.7% |
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TEs
|
6 |
28.6% |
|
FB
|
1 |
4.8% |
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Total
|
21
|
|
As you can tell, our tight ends are the recipient of about 30% of the RZ touchdown passes. One of those TD passes came in overtime against the Panthers. The percentage is very high considering that the overall TE targets were only 19.07% from JBen’s article, Who is the Third Option in the Passing Game. From the same article, JBen separated the WRs from slot receiver to show the TE’s growing importance and relevance to the Bucs passing game. Separating the slot receivers from the WRs in Red Zone touchdown scoring will be the next chart.
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Red Zone TD Passes
|
||
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Position
|
TD Catches
|
Percentage
|
|
WRs
|
12
|
57.1%
|
|
Slot
|
2 |
9.5% |
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TEs
|
6
|
28.6%
|
|
FB
|
1
|
4.8%
|
|
Total
|
21
|
|
Just like in JBen’s article, we see how important our TEs are in our offense. In fact, our TEs are more important in the Red Zone as their percentage of RZ touchdown receptions are 10% greater than simply being targeted. Of the six TE touchdowns, four of them belong to old man Dallas Clark.
So the TE position is important to our offensive scheme. So much so that the Rams knew our offensive plays due to our TE sets. We show our hands when Clark is in at TE and when he is not. An improvement at talent for TE will help disguise what offensive play we are to run provide that TE can block and catch effectively. But this article combined with JBen’s should make the Bucs one of a few teams that will select a tight end early in the draft as there are only two TEs that separated themselves from the pack, Notre Dame’s Tyler Eifert and Standford’s Zach Ertz. Yet even with those two, Eifert separated himself further from the pack as a whole at the combines.
If we don’t address the TE position, then it is apparent that we will not only suffer in the passing game, but in the Red Zone as well.