The Tampa Bay Buccaneers want an aggressive passing game. And with that aggressive passing game come some interesting numbers, courtesy of Pro Football Focus. In short: the Bucs get most of their passing yardage through the air, while almost every other quarterback and passing game will get more of them after the catch.
Jaboo Wins down the field pic.twitter.com/NjMZQlKG9P
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) August 1, 2017
Those are some astounding numbers, honestly. In part these don’t quite reflect Jameis Winston’s aggressive passing, though he definitely has that, but also the failure of the Bucs’ receivers to get a lot of yardage after the catch.
Now, that’s not entirely on the receivers either. Their shiftiness has something to do with it, but Winston’s accuracy and choice of targets too: it’s a lot harder to get yards after the catch if you’re constantly making contested catches (as Mike Evans was), than when you’re hit in-stride in the open field. That has to do with Winston, with the receivers’ abilities to get wide open, and with the design of the passing game—Koetter isn’t a spread-em-out, find reams of open space guy.
It’ll be interesting to see whether this changes with the addition of DeSean Jackson and O.J. Howard. Theoretically, both of them should open up the passing game by forcing safeties to account for their deep threats. Jackson should also add some explosive after-the-catch ability on his own as well, while Howard could run over some defensive backs with his physicality.