Drive analysis against the Bengals

Long ago in my teens, my friends and I were waiting at the stop light in a rickety old American ruck made in the late fifties. The long gear shifter protruded from the bottom of the truck floor and up to slightly past knee height. The truck was already set into first gear while we waited for the light to turn green.

The old truck was standard cab with bench seating, meaning you can fit three people on it as opposed to the contemporary 40:20:40 split, where the 20% portion of the seating is now a center console for miscellaneous items and could double as a cup holder. Like most vehicles made in the 50's, it is equipped with a standard transmission.  For many who do not know what a standard transmission is, it is a transmission does not shift your gears automatically from first gear to second gear to third gear or back down the gears.  In order to shift gears in standard transmission, one has to engage the clutch manually to allow such a process to come to fruition.  Another name for a standard transmission is a manual transmission.

I was sitting in the passenger side, my friend was driving, and his cousin sat in the middle.  The stop light had turned green, my friend applied pressure to the accelerator while slowly releasing pressure on the clutch.  A rumble from the engine increased and here we go, except we did not move.  All three of us looked at each other in bewilderment.  Quickly, my friend recycled his movement - gas the truck gas while slowly easing off the clutch.  There was still no movement.

When all things fail, then one must go back to the basics.  My friend then pushed the clutch down and put his hand on the gear shift so as to put it out of gear in order to put it back into gear, namely first gear.  Within this process, my friend's posture popped up in attention, beveled his head to the side, and we finally got moving along.

Inquisitively, I asked my friend why we didn't move initially.  Again, he beveled his head to one side and pursed his lips together, turned to look down at the shifter, and paused for a second or two.  Since we were moving, we all gathered that the drive train could not be the culprit for the stagnation at the stop light when it turned green for us to go.  We proceeded to the next stop sign.  We stopped.  Then we proceeded on without a hitch.  He blinked and looked at his cousin.  Finally, he let out a chuckle while shaking his head.  The explanation was his cousin had accidently knocked the shifter back into neutral position with the knee while we were waiting at the stop light and talking.  It was an unforced error.

Despite the putrid performance from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense, it was an unforced error that derailed the potential to win the game against the Cincinnati Bengals as seconds wound down in the final quarter.  Twelve men on the field of play is the unforced error that caused the demise for the Bucs.

Defense

The defense allowed only 14 points to the Bengals.  It produced three interceptions and two sacks on the day.  I do not know what else the defense can do, but the defense kept the Bucs in the game.  This type of game play is what we Buc fans are accustomed to seeing from the days of Tony Dungy.

This type of performance from the defense is quite amazing, especially from when we started the season.  They allowed three long drives, but only allowed 14 points in the whole game.  The defense gave up 272 yards total on drives, but overall, they gave up 288 yards as per ESPN's box score.  In the league, the best defense, the Seattle Seahawks, are allowing 285.8 yards per game.  Second is Detroit with 300.9 yards per game.  The tenth best team in the yards per game average is Minnesota with 342.9 yards per game.  I do not know if the Tampa fan base realize how improved the defense has been.

Since the bye week, the defense has ranked better than the tenth best team in respect to yards given up per game in each game!  With many people writing about how improved the defense has been recently, I have decided to jump into the fray and reveal the differences of the team before and after the bye week utilizing the drive analysis chart.  So without further adieu:

There exists glaring differences when comparing the team before and after the bye week.  It is very stark and amazing.   Across the board for the most part, the defense has improved itself statistically.  They are allowing fewer long drives of 60+ or more.  Permit me to introduce two charts to reveal how improved the defense has been since the bye week.

The defense, in spite of several players many of us Buc fans know not of, has been producing like a top defensive team.  Kudos to Lovie and Leslie for creating such a tremendous turnaround.

Offense

For the second game in a row, the Tampa's offense has proven itself deficient in the Red Zone as it went 1-for-3.  Red Zone efficiency only counts touchdowns as successful attempts.  If the Bucs' offense were only able to go 2-for-3, then it would not have to rely upon last minute heroics; it would not simply blame the unforced error of 12 men on the field of play to win the game.  While that latter sentiment may be the most memorable, or scarring, do not discount the body of work of ineptness the offense laid bare in this game.

Notice that both field goals were made not because of the offense, but because the defense caused a turnover for the first field goal and a smart play by special teamer Orie Lemon to simultaneously recognize and recover an onsides attempt.  To add salt to the wound, the Bucs' offense was penalized nine times for 70 yards, including the 12 men on the field penalty that took away having the ball on Cincinnati's 20 yard line - which would have been a chip shot for kicker Patrick Murray.  These evidences reveal just how putrid the offense was this day.

The offense is taking steps back.  It was not long ago that I blamed the defense for blowing leads in the fourth quarter, but recent trends has me shaking my head in epic failness.  The offense was so bad that I had to make up the word "failness", but should only be used with the prefix epic!  (So... I looked online to see if I had something going on about failness, but I was late to the party... just like our offense.)

Speechless, that is what I am after posting the before and after bye chart for the offense.  For many that may be thinking offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo should be retained for next season, I hope the chart above may dispel such notions of grandeur.

Conclusion

The defense is Wow!  The offense makes me say, "Holy cow!"  And probably we all want the season to end right now.

We should really research at offensive coordinators now and not give the competition a chance to snap up who we want, or rather who the organization wants for the team.