TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense looked nothing like a Super Bowl contender in the team's 20-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday.
Quarterback Tom Brady was anything but his normal self in the game. He missed time in the week to attend the wedding of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. During the game, Brady was frustrated by a woeful Steelers secondary.
The Steelers had multiple practice squad players in the game due to injuries and still held Brady to 25-40 passes for 243 yards and one touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Brady underthrew receivers multiple times, had receivers drop catchable passes, and the entire offense was out of sorts all game long.
“It’s our whole offense,” Brady said. “We have to do a better job in the run game, in the passing game … everyone has to do a better job. Obviously, there’s no position that’s performing at an elite level right now.”
Statistically, the Bucs' passing offense has been putting up yards in bunches. The Bucs rank fifth in the NFL in passing yards with 1,652, are tied for eighth in the league in touchdown passes with eight, and Brady leads the NFL with just one interception thrown this season.
The Bucs' patchwork offensive line is also in a five-way tie for third in the league, allowing nine sacks in the young season. But Brady still lambasted the line during the Steelers game, as the o-line couldn't give Brady enough time to pass.
That's the good news for the Bucs. The bad news lies in the running game or lack thereof.
Tampa Bay ranks last in the NFL with just 405 rushing yards on the season. The Bucs rank last in yards per carry (3.07), are tied for last with just two rushing touchdowns this season, and have the league-worst longest rush of the year at just 17 yards.
The Athletic's Greg Auman broke the numbers down further on the Bucs' poor running game, and it's ugly.
According to Auman, the current rushing average by the Bucs (3.07) is "a fifth of an inch per carry better than than the worst rushing team in Bucs history, which was the 2-12 1977 team, which averaged 3.06 yards per carry. Going further, Auman said no NFL team had averaged that small of a per-carry average since 2000.
Last NFL team (over a full season) to average less per carry than Bucs are right now was the 2000 Chargers, who averaged 3.03 yards per carry in a 1-15 season, with not Tom Brady but Ryan Leaf at quarterback. Terell Fletcher and Jermaine Fazande were their leading rushers.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) October 17, 2022
Ouch.
It gets worse; the Bucs have only scored 11 total touchdowns during the 2022 season, in the bottom half of the league. In fact, just 17% of drives for the Bucs have ended with an offensive score.
“We have to find a way to score in the red zone,” Bowles said. “We have to find a way to get better.”
While the offense has struggled and doesn't appear to have many answers after six games, the Bucs' defense has remained stout.
Tampa Bay allows just 5.6 yards per passing attempt and have pulled down six interceptions in 2022. The Bucs' defense also ranks third in the NFL with 21 sacks this season.
“We didn’t earn the win,” Brady said. “It’s a game of performing well, and we’re just not doing a good job of that. I don’t think we’ve done that for six weeks. I think we’re all playing less than what we’re capable of. We all have to look ourselves in the mirror and figure out why.”
All of that said, it's only six games into the season, and Tampa Bay has plenty of time to turn things around. Remember, in 2020, the Bucs were 7-5 through Week 12 and looked mortal. The team then went undefeated over the next eight games and won the Super Bowl.
Still, the Bucs have a long road ahead if they want to make a deep playoff run.
