The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs on the strength of their play-action passing game yesterday. According to Pro Football Focus, quarterback Jameis Winston completed five of seven passes for 76 yards and a touchdown on play-action passes, and has the highest passer rating on play-action passes this season.
It probably helps that the Chiefs defense was focused on stopping the run, and did so very effectively: Doug Martin was held to just 2.6 yards per carry. That doesn’t mean Martin was playing poorly: PFF charted five broken tackles on his part. He just didn’t get much in the way of blocking.
Speaking of blocking: the offensive line didn’t create many holes, but it certainly did its job in pass protection. Winston wasn’t really harassed all day, and according to PFF, the offensive line allowed only nine total pressures. That was in part the result of Dee Ford leaving with an injury early on, and in part the result of Jameis Winston getting rid of the ball quickly and on time, but it’s also just a solid performance by a line that was starting two backups.
Overall, there just isn’t much to complain about here. The Bucs did a very good job, won a nice game, and had solid all-around performances.
And, perhaps, we’ll see a little more play-action going forward. It seems to work rather well.