Perhaps the most frustrating part of the Bucs’ 29-19 loss at Washington on Sunday was the defense’s consistent inability to get off the field on third down, which was magnified on Washington’s final 19-play touchdown drive that burned up 10 minutes and 26 seconds in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Advertisement
Washington’s final six third-down conversions — including four on the final drive — came with it needing 5 yards or fewer to move the chains, which points to consistent struggles on first and second down to set up manageable third downs for opponents.
“That was the most disheartening thing, for us to have a 10-minute drive against us. That just can’t happen,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. “The big thing was 10 of them were third-and-1 to (third-and)-5, so our first- and second-down defense wasn’t good enough. If you’re giving somebody 10 third-and-1-to-5, you’re going to get about 60 percent of 70 percent completed on you. That’s the part that was very frustrating, not getting off the field because of first and second down.”
The long (Washington’s final drive) and short (Tom Brady’s postgame interview) of Bucs’ loss: ‘We made no plays’ https://t.co/dAoZC7KQOb
— The Athletic Tampa Bay (@TheAthleticTB) November 15, 2021
Washington converted 8 of 10 of those third-and-shorts, and two fourth-down conversions helped it hold the ball for 39 minutes and 8 seconds, nearly a 2-to-1 advantage in time of possession and the highest total by an opponent in five years. Washington had 71 offensive plays compared to just 48 for the Bucs, though much of the difference can be directly attributed to the 19-play march at the end of the game.
Third downs might be where the Bucs’ biggest defensive weakness now is, as they rank in the NFL’s top 10 in total defense and 17th in scoring, but they’re 25th in third-down conversions, allowing opponents to convert 43 percent of the time. That’s even lower than their 22nd ranking in passing yards allowed per game.
All Too 𝐖ell (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) pic.twitter.com/pXLzqtaQjj
— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) November 15, 2021
Good news on Vea’s knee
After Washington scored in the final minute Sunday to cap a 19-play drive, injury was added to insult when Bucs fans saw defensive tackle Vita Vea being carted off the field with a knee injury. A year ago, he missed 15 weeks with a broken leg, returning midway through the playoffs, but it looks as if he has avoided an extended absence this time.
Advertisement
Arians said Monday that Vea just has a bone bruise and a mild MCL strain in his knee, so he shouldn’t need to go on injured reserve and might even potentially play next Monday night against the Giants.
“That’s really good news,” Arians said. “(We) don’t know his availability for this week yet, but he’s a tough guy, he’s had that thing before, so he knows how to deal with it. … He can bear weight, so we’ll just wait and see if he can play this week or not.”
The Bucs’ injury situation at cornerback somehow managed to get worse, with replacement starter Richard Sherman injuring his calf in pregame warmups and missing the game entirely. Dee Delaney, his replacement, left the game with a concussion, leaving the Bucs with their last two healthy outside corners, Jamel Dean and Pierre Desir, on the field.
Arians said he doubted Sherman will be back “anytime soon,” though a decision on whether he’d need to go on injured reserve (and miss at least three more games) will wait until an MRI exam is taken Tuesday. Delaney would need to be cleared from concussion protocol for him to return against the Giants, so the extra day of rest could help there.
There is optimism that Sean Murphy-Bunting, out since the first quarter of the season opener with a dislocated elbow, could return against the Giants, having practiced with the team last week. Carlton Davis, out since Week 4 with a quad injury, could also return to practice this week.
With all the uncertainty, the Bucs may need to elevate veteran Blidi Wreh-Wilson, signed to the practice squad last month, to the active roster Monday for depth. They may add another corner to the practice squad to have another healthy corner available as well.
Early hit may have made Brady less patient
One play that impacted the Bucs’ game plan came on the opening drive, when on a third-and-8 play, Tom Brady threw an incomplete pass intended for receiver Tyler Johnson. Washington defensive tackle Jonathan Allen got past guard Ali Marpet and got a solid hit in on Brady just as he threw, and that may have impacted his decision-making the rest of the way, pushing him toward quicker throws and dump-offs near the line of scrimmage.
Advertisement
“We’ve got to protect our quarterback better early in the game, and maybe we’ll take some shots down the field like we normally do when he’s protected,” Arians said. “If he’s getting hit a bunch early, he isn’t holding on to it very long. There’s no doubt. We got whipped up front, and that hasn’t happened much in our interior this year.”
The Bucs didn’t give up a sack Sunday, and Allen was officially the only quarterback hit that Brady took the entire game in 34 pass attempts, but it may have impacted the quarterback’s patience in the pocket.
“I think when you get a quarterback like that who is older and maybe not as mobile as he used to be, you can get interior pressure and make him uncomfortable, make him speed up his timing on the timing routes,” Allen said. “The DBs played phenomenally and just played good complementary football on the defense.”
Brady was more often than not choosing quick screens to receiver Chris Godwin and checkdowns to running back Leonard Fournette — the duo combined for 15 catches on 17 targets for 102 yards, but that’s just 6.0 yards per attempt on half of Brady’s attempts. Mike Evans was targeted only three times, and two of those throws were catches that resulted in points, first in a 22-yard gain and penalty to set up a field goal before halftime, then a 40-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
Howard, Jones disappearing from offense
Tight end O.J. Howard had a false start on the opening play of the game, setting the offense back, and he played 28 snaps but was not targeted once in the passing game. With Rob Gronkowski sidelined for much of the last seven weeks, the position has been marginalized in the offense, with the only catch by a tight end Sunday being a 6-yard touchdown from Cam Brate.
Asked about the limited role of his tight ends and if he would like to get them more involved — Washington’s tight ends had three third-down conversions Sunday, for instance — Arians didn’t seem too concerned.
“Not necessarily,” he said. “For me, it’s throw to who’s open. The tight end position isn’t the most focal point in our offense, but it can be when it’s the right time. You can’t force the ball to people. If we’re going to force it to anybody, throw it to Mike (Evans) and Chris (Godwin).”
Advertisement
Arians said Howard’s quiet day had “nothing” to do with his early penalty, that he was well-covered on plays where they wanted to throw to him. More than halfway through the season, Howard has 125 receiving yards and one touchdown, after topping 400 receiving yards in each of his first three NFL seasons and totaling 12 scores.
Meanwhile, backup running back Ronald Jones continues to see his role marginalized. He played a single snap in Sunday’s loss, on the play that a Brady pass to Chris Godwin was deflected and nearly intercepted. Jones didn’t play again, with Gio Bernard getting 14 snaps as the only other relief to starter Fournette, who was featured prominently in the passing game.
“We only had 40 (48) snaps, so there weren’t that many to go around,” Arians said. “I was hoping to get (Jones) more action, for sure. Normally we’re up there, 65 or 70 snaps, and then he would get them.”
Bucs linebackers show up with splash plays
The Bucs’ inside linebacker tandem of Devin White and Lavonte David had totaled just two tackles for loss, no sacks and no takeaways in the first eight games of the season, but they stepped up in those areas in Sunday’s loss.
LAVONTE. DAVID.
📺: #TBvsWAS on FOX pic.twitter.com/KwOT3eJXXN
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) November 14, 2021
White had two of the team’s five sacks and three total tackles for loss as part of a career-high 18 tackles, and David forced a key fumble to set up a touchdown in the fourth quarter, part of a 14-tackle game for him.
“If everybody played with the passion and energy that Devin played with, we wouldn’t have any problems,” Arians said Monday. “He should have been a player of the week with the game he just had and the way he played the game. We’ll use that as an example for everybody else to play with.”
(Photo of Taylor Heinicke eluding Jason Pierre-Paul and Rakeem Nuñez-Roches: Mark Goldman / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)