The Bucs are allergic to Red Zone touchdowns

A crushing defeat at the hands of the Washington Redskins after creating a 24 - 0 lead in the first half, could the offense have done more?

Washington's Basic stats before the game

Defensive Passing:  8^th (222 yards/game)

Defensive Rushing:  23^rd (118 yards/game)

Points Against Average:  15^th (23.0 ppg)

Tampa Bay's Basic stats before the game

Offensive Passing:  26^th (218 yards/game)

Offensive Rushing:  9^th (122 yards/game)

Points For Average:  19^th (22.0 ppg)

Here is what transpired in the game for the offense:

The offense produced more than what the Redskins' defense usually gives up on defense in respect to yards rushing and passing. Scoring wise, the Bucs matched the points allowed stat by Washington. These are great stats to see earned by the offense.

Please note that the yards statistic for Drive analysis only measures the drive length, not necessarily the gross yards accrued due to penalties pushing back the offense and the offense making up those loss yards. Thus, explaining the discrepancy between Game Stat total yards and total yards in the Drive Chart.

The offense was able to sustain five long drives and all the long drives resulted in scores, including a 90 yard drive! In order for the long drives to be sustained, there had to be ample third down conversions to be made.

Bucs' offense has shown its best output in third down conversions all year. In fact, the offense has maintained or improved since the Houston game.

Now to bring all this information back to the 31 - 30 loss, despite the defense allowing 31 points the offense did not fully take advantage of the situation. Why is that? There was a lack of Red Zone efficiency. The Bucs' offense went 1 for 3 in the Red Zone, including the 91 yard drive that ended in a field goal.  If the team converts just one of the two failed Red Zone situations, then the Bucs win the game in spite of a porous defense.

Football is a game of inches. In the first quarter, the Bucs were 24 inches away from converting a first down inside the five yard line. In the fourth quarter, it was 12 inches away from a touchdown. This offense is still learning to convert touchdowns in the Red Zone.

If the offense cannot convert a higher percentage in the Red Zone, then the team will be subjected to higher percentage of losing games because the defense cannot prevent opposing teams from scoring consistently. In order for the team to confidently win games, then the offense must execute better in the Red Zone so that it can accrue more points to pad for a win the even the defense cannot give up.  (Koetter must believe he is back in Atlanta again - ample offense, no defense.)