Game 7, Defensive Drive Analysis: Oh Noes, not again!

If I told you the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would not force the opponent to punt once in the game, give up nearly 400 yards passing , and allow the opponent into the Red Zone five times as well as one other time the opponent was on the 20 yard line, then one would presume the Bucs would assuredly lose. But they did not. How did that happen?

Tampa Bay's Basic stats before the game

Defensive Passing:  5^th (219 yards/game)

Defensive Rushing:  15^th (108 yards/game)

Points Against:  31^st (29.8 ppg)

Atlanta's Basic stats before the game

Offensive Passing:  9^th (230 yards/game)

Offensive Rushing:  5^th (107 yards/game)

Points For:  4^th (27.5 ppg)

Here is what transpired in the game for the defense:

Relinquishing a bountiful amount of yards, but limiting the score to only 20 points harks the nostalgia of what the Tampa-2 defense once was. Atlanta's RB, Devonta Freeman, was coming into this game "en fuego" as he was averaging 123 yards per game in his last three games. The Bucs' run defense contained Freeman to 88 yards rushing; forcing Atlanta into passing situations. Is this an example of a classic Tampa-2 defense?

Perusing the Drive chart above, there are a total of four turnovers!  And Tampa's offense made Atlanta pay for the turnovers with 20 points from their gaffes.

Drive 2, Fumble:  1^st and 16 @ Atl 6.  LB Kwon Alexander stripped WR Julio Jones of the ball from behind while CB Alterraun Verner tackled Jones.  WR Jones was unaccounted for in the slot as LB Alexander bit hard on the fake run.

Drive 3, Fumble:  2^nd and goal @ TB 4.  C Person missnapped the ball to QB Ryan.  DE Jacquies Smith recovered fumble.

Drive 4, INT: 3^rd and 5 @ TB 44.  LB Alexander intercepted QB Ryan in the middle of the field as Alexander kept the TE Tamme in front of him while dropping back into his zone.

Drive 6, Fumble:  1^st and 10 @ TB 20.  QB Ryan fumbled ball, attempted to pull the ball back from RB Freeman's grasp on a zone read play.  DT Melton recovered the ball.

Two turnovers were great plays by Genghis Kwon. Two other turnovers were self-inflicted. But the Bucs' defense still had to recover the ball, which should also be denoted as great plays by DE Smith and DT Melton. With the Bucs' defensive mentality to look for turnover opportunities, it is a practice to get to the ball that allowed the defense to take advantage of Atlanta's initial gaffe. A Roman philosopher Seneca famously said, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

The Falcons had five opportunities in the Red Zone, 19 yards or less from the end zone. Out of those five Red Zone opportunities, they managed only two successful touchdown attempts. Bucs' defense held to prevent more possible scoring.

Now here is the bad news. Atlanta's offense was able to move the ball at will, despite the turnovers. The defense is permitting several long drives. In the second half, all four Atlanta drives reached the Tampa 20 yard line, the edge of the Red Zone territory. Atlanta scored 17 points in the second half.

After several games of giving up 17 or more points in the previous three games in the second half, surely the defense would have pinpointed on how to prevent the defense from hemorrhaging for the Atlanta game. It did not.

Although, HC Lovie did something different in the second half of the game. He put the game in the hands of the offense on 4^th and 1 at midfield. The opportunity failed, but who is to say the outcome would not have been the same if the team punted the ball away?

Conclusion

The defense had many splash plays as they had four turnovers to where our offense cashed in 20 points off of those turnovers. But just like previous games, the defense impersonated a sieve in the second half. Then it came up with a stop in overtime to secure a win, despite blowing a 17 point lead two games in a row.  Blowing leads is not the Tampa-2 defense of yore.