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Buccaneers drive analysis: Defensive collaps

Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

The defense allowed 25 points and the secondary was porous once again. A total of 19 points was given up in the second half.  It had a 12 - 6 lead at the half. The final score was Bucs 12, Colts 25.

Tampa Bay's Basic stats before the game

Defensive Passing:  13th (234 yards/game)

Defensive Rushing:  15th (104 yards/game)

Points Against:  26th (25.4 ppg)

Indianapolis' Basic stats before the game

Offensive Passing:  15th (241 yards/game)

Offensive Rushing:  20th (98 yards/game)

Points For:  18th (22.4 ppg)

Here is what transpired in the game for the defense:

Indy Offense vs TB Defense
Indy Tampa Bay TB - Opp Differential Differential %
Offense Defense
Pre-Game Stat Game Stat
Passing yds 241 336 95 139.4%
Rushing yds 98 27 -71 27.6%
Points 22.4 25.0 2.6 111.6%

Yikes. The defense stops the run, but gives up a lot of passing yards.  In the previous three games, the Bucs' secondary was playing great. Then it reverted to something we saw long ago. It was game 6 against Washington.  Here is what transpired for the Washington game for comparison:

Game 6, Defensive Drive Analysis: Defensive Disgrace

Was Offense vs TB Defense
Washington Tampa Bay TB - Was Differential Differential %
Offense Defense
Pre-Game Stat Game Stat
Passing yds 230 305 75 132.6%
Rushing yds 107 50 -57 46.7%
Points 19.5 31.0 11.5 159.0%

Comparisons between the two games are eerie. In the Washington game, the Redskins scored on four consecutive offensive possessions starting from the second half. Let us inspect if a pattern continues.

TB Defense vs Indy Offense
Qtr Drive Plays Yards Result RZ Pts 40 + yard Drives 50 + yard Drives 60 + yard Drives 70 + Yard Drives 80 + Yard Drives Totals
1 1 15 52 FG 3 1 1
2 11 76 FG 1 3 1 1
3 3 6 Punt 0
4 7 35 End Half 0
Half Half
5 8 56 FG 1 3 1 1
6 3 46 TD 1 7 1 1
7 7 15 FG 3 0
8 15 76 TD 1 6 1 1
9 3 -1 Punt 0
10 3 -3 Punt 0
Total 13 75 358 4 25 1 2 0 2 0 5

Viewing the Drive chart above, we notice the Colts did score on its four consecutive offensive drives in the second half. On drive seven, the 15 yard drive defense, K Conner Barth missed a 54 yard field goal attempt and LG Logan Mankins had a personal unsportsmanlike conduct called against him for an additional 15 yards. The penalty helped start the Colts at the Tampa 41 yard line.

Indianapolis was driving on the defense in the first half. They continued to drive on the defense in the second half. The Bucs' defense only forced one punt when there was less than four minutes left in the game and a 13 point lead.

Drives with completed passes 10 yards or more:

Drive 1:  11 yds  Total: 1.  Result: FG

Drive 2:  22 yds, 29 yds  Total: 2.  Result: FG

Drive 3:  22 yds  Total: 1.  Result: Punt

Drive 4:  17 yds, 10 yds  Total: 2.  Result: End of half

Drive 5:  31 yds, 16 yds  Total: 2.  Result: FG

Drive 6:  31 yds, 19 yds  Total: 2.  Result: TD

Drive 8:  13 yds, 12 yds, 16 yds  Total: 3.  Result: TD

There was a total of 13 completed passes of 10 yards or more by the Colts offense. Out of 26 completed passes, half of them were 10 yards or more.  Ouch.

Out of the first eight Colts' offensive possessions, they scored on 6 opportunities. The last two drives were simply running the clock out. It seems as though the secondary reverted back to being lost in their own defensive schemes once again. Instead of playing a sound game like previous games, it seems as though the defense tried to be fancy and befuddled themselves in executing it.

Reviewing the season:

TB Defense vs Opposing Offense
Team Drive Plays Yards Off Scoring 40 + yard Drives 50 + yard Drives 60 + yard Drives 70 + Yard Drives 80 + Yard Drives 90 + yard Drives Total
Ten 10 50 307 35 0 2 1 0 1 0 4
NO 13 70 329 19 1 2 0 0 1 0 4
Hou 14 89 449 19 0 1 1 2 0 0 4
Car 13 60 316 30 2 0 2 0 0 0 4
Jax 11 57 342 31 0 1 1 2 1 0 5
Was 11 61 391 31 0 1 2 1 1 0 5
Atl 10 75 456 20 1 0 1 2 1 0 5
NYG 11 74 365 26 2 1 1 0 1 0 5
Dal 10 56 226 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Phi 13 73 388 17 1 1 1 0 1 0 4
Indy 10 75 358 25 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
Totals 126 740 3927 259 8 11 10 9 7 0 45
Avg 11.45 67.27 357.00 23.55 0.727 1.000 0.909 0.818 0.636 0.000 4.091
Percent of drives over total number of drives 6.3% 8.7% 7.9% 7.1% 5.6% 0.0% 35.7%

The Dallas game now looks as though it were an exception of defensive play for the season.

Tampa Bay
Points Allowed Breakdown, 2015
Game Team 1st 2nd Total at 1st Half 3rd 4th Total at 2nd Half Total
1 Ten 21 14 35 7 0 7 42
2 NO 0 7 7 0 12 12 19
3 Hou 7 0 7 3 9 12 19
4 Car 10 7 17 14 6 20 37
5 Jax 0 14 14 10 7 17 31
6 Was 0 7 7 14 10 24 31
7 Atl 3 0 3 7 10 17 20
8 NYG 10 7 17 3 12 15 32
9 Dal 3 3 6 0 0 0 6
10 Phi 7 7 14 0 3 3 17
11 Indy 3 3 6 13 6 19 25
Total 64 69 133 71 75 146

And here we notice the trend of allowing more points in the second half resurfacing. The defense allowed 19 points in the second half alone. In the Philly game, the score was 28 - 14 at the half.  Philly's offense only seen the field in the third quarter once, after the offense put the team up 35 - 14.

I hate to say this, but if the offense cannot score, then team will lose more often because the defense is not responsible enough to prevent the opposing team from scoring.