Bucs Film Room: 1st Half Drives vs. SEA

Regardless of the result I am not a fan of the play call. Leftwich did everything in his power short of taking out a billboard on the Autobahn to advertise the run and then went with it. Godwin motion behind the end lineman is a run tell. Wells in as an extra blocker with Kieft is a run tell. And when you are faced with needing five yards for a play to be considered a success (on first down a “successful” play should pick up half the yardage needed to convert a first down or touchdown), this set up ain’t it.

That put Tampa Bay into a 2nd and 10 where now they were forced to throw. Leftwich called a solid play out of a 3×1 that allowed Mike Evans to clear the short middle by running a seam route from the slot. This allowed Godwin to cut underneath and get open for a brief moment before linebacker Jordyn Brooks closes. Brady throws the ball to Godwin’s backside and low to prevent Brooks from having any chance at it and Godwin can’t make the catch.

On third down the Bucs came out in a 3×1 look from shotgun. A fun wrinkle they ran a good bit in this game was putting Evans and Godwin together on the concept side. This was often with both of them working inside a third receiver. On the boundary side Tampa Bay would use Julio Jones. Post-snap the Seahawks shaded the boundary safety to the concept side in an effort to get five on three. This left Jones one-on-one moving vertically on Seahawks corner Tariq Woolen. Jones gets a step on the rookie, but Brady overthrows him. On the concept side the Bucs had Godwin running an out against Brooks. The play-call was a solid one for the situation, but anything in that spot is low probability.

Drive Two: Field Goal (Range)

Bucs start off the drive with a play-action pass where Brady finds Evans on a crosser with a tight window pass for 29 yards. I love the play-call as Brady and the Bucs are one of the best play-action teams in the league and immediately gets Tampa Bay into field goal range. From there they go with a shotgun run on 1st and 10 from the SEA 30. The Bucs picked up eight, but for a penalty on Nick Leverett brought the ball back to the SEA 38. Don’t love the idea of another first down run, but if they are going to do it, I like the idea of doing it out of 11 personnel in shotgun–so call it a push.

Now faced with 1st and 18, Leftwich calls a second consecutive shotgun run. Nope. I’m out. I don’t care how off-guard you catch the defense, to expect nine yards (the definition of a “successful” play in this particular situation) is far-fetched to say the least. Fournette gets just three yards to set up 2nd and 15. At that point it seems like the Bucs played for more favorable field position to set up a higher percentage field goal, which makes sense in that situation. Kicker Ryan Succop ends up missing the 51-yard attempt.

Drive Three: POINTZZZ!

#Establishtherun continues to begin the Bucs third drive. Much like the opening drive, Tampa Bay decides to go with an under-center run from a heavy package (this time heavy 13, with Wells eligible as the third tight end). I think at this point you know I am not going to be advocating on the side of Leftwich’s genius for a call like this. He immediately puts his offense behind the eight-ball with as they pick up just three yards.

Faced with 2nd and 7 the Bucs double-down on the run calls. This time the run comes from shotgun in 11 personnel. Paul Atwal has discussed in great detail that the best offensive minds try to counter their tendencies. Well, the Bucs tendency over the Leftwich era on 2nd and long has been to throw to the tune of over 80%. Now I want to be clear, for all of the griping I and others do about Leftwich’s predilection to run too much on first down, this is great process! The last thing to consider here is that Seattle to this point had been almost exclusively two-high looks keeping the box light. And on the previous drive the Bucs threw on 2nd and long.

Given all of that the Bucs go to a shotgun run out of 11 personnel. Now, here is where I am going to differ from many people I respect. I kind of like this as a one-game changeup. I have already advocated for more shotgun runs. And this specific strategy counters a known tendency, so I am #TeamLeftwich on this decision.

With a new set of downs, the Bucs run on five of the next seven plays. The two pass calls came on 2nd and 6 and 1st and 10. The 2nd and 6 was a play-action designed touch for Godwin in-motion that picks up five. Simple but effective design. The 1st and 10 was another play-action call that sent Jones and Evans on deep vertical routes. The Seahawks cover these well and Brady is forced to dump off to tight end Cade Otton for a minimal gain. Despite the reduced result I like the play call.

Following the Otton catch and faced with 2nd and eight, Leftwich dials up another shotgun run. Having Fournette run behind a pulling Shaq Mason with a head of steam and not having him read out the blocks and make a choice played into the best of Fournette’s current game. As I said before, as a one game change-up I like the strategy.

Following a successful third-down conversion, the Bucs ran yet again on 1st and 10. And once again the result was as expected (just. one. yard.). But that set up perhaps my personal favorite play-call of the day. Last week I detailed another tendency Leftwich has developed over the course of this season. Namely, that on 2nd and medium-to-long he can get screen-happy. The Rams picked (hey look, a pun!) up on it the week prior and it nearly cost the Bucs the game. Leftwich thought Seattle might be looking for it and built in the long sought-after counter in the form of a fake screen fade to Evans.