The Tampa Bay Buccaneers struggles in the 2nd quarter this year are well documented.
Fans of sports have a tendency to speak in hyperbole, both intentionally and unintentionally. However, the Bucs play one of the worst second quarters of any team in the NFL. They are the 26th team in point differential in the second and Baker Mayfield also has nine interceptions in the second. He has five total outside that quarter.
One has to wonder then what the hell happens to the team with the second. I have a theory, so please bear with me. Most NFL teams typically use a scripted drive to start games off. If you aren’t aware what that means, it’s basically a set of predetermined plays that OCs after studying an opposing team’s defense. They’re meant to set up the offense and get it into rhythm.
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The Buccaneers are very good at scripted drives this season, which is why the point differential in the first quarter is so good at +44. If you also watch Baker in those first few drives, he is a lot more decisive. The ball comes out quickly and he knows exactly where it needs to go. Go to the highlights from the Chargers game and watch him sling into to Jalen McMillan. occupying the open zone.
Then you get into the second quarter. For as great as Liam Coen has been, it seems the team has trouble adjusting after they get out of the scripted plays. Baker of course deserves some of that blame as well, but Coen is the guy calling plays. You can put some of the blame on the defense as well for falling to shit in the second, but it feels like a mostly offense problem. Baker no longer feels as decisive. He holds onto the ball longer and doesn’t seem to know where to go. It’s also a combination of the opposing team’s defense responding and adapting to the Buc’s offense.
The reason this isn’t the biggest deal is because what the Bucs do in the fourth. While defenses do seem to adjust to Coen’s initial scripted drives, he throws a nasty curve ball on them and out schemes them again. The Chargers game is a perfect example of this dichotomy. Or the first Saints game for that matter. The Bucs start hot, but then the defense catches up to the offense’s game plan, then we just hand it off to Bucky and White while Baker remembers how to read zone coverage again. Rinse and repeat. While I would prefer a full game, this team is still winning, so I suppose I can’t be too ungrateful.
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