Don’t Drink The Kool-Aid Bucs Fans The Offense Needs Help

**Opinion Editorial**

Many Fans Brag About Bucs Offensive Ranking In 2018.

This offseason I have read and heard “how great our offense was last year,” over and over. “The Offense is fine, we need Defense.”-“We Were top 3 in the NFL last year in Offense, We need Defensive help,” and on and on, it goes. Makes me absolutely on the verge of losing my mind, but I digress.

Let me explain where I’m coming from on this:

Passing Yardage Rankings Mean Nothing.

The biggest thing that is wrong with thinking the Bucs were the cat’s meow on offense, especially passing offense in 2018. Is that the high rankings are for total offensive yardage, passing yards per game, etc.. Where the Rubber hits the road for Offensive stats, is scoring. Scoring is all that really matters. You can throw for 500 yards in a game, and still get the snot beaten out of you 27-10.

Scoring Stats Are All That Matter.

Opposing teams after seeing the Bucs were all about throw, throw, and throw some more. Let us do just that. That is, until we hit the Red Zone. Then, they dropped the hammer. The Bucs were 19th best in Red Zone passing TDs with just 15 TD’s. While the Chiefs and Mahomes were 1st with 35 TD’s passing in the Zone. Indy and the Joy Luck Club were second with 33. Those are playoff teams, and those stats in the Red Zone are a huge reason why.

Red Zone Scoring, The True Tell All Stats.

You can sling it silly all over the field, but if you can’t score at the end of those drives, In the Red Zone? Then the yardage you racked up, means absolutely nothing, zip, nada! Which is why the Bucs “high ranking” in offense last year is completely hollow. Impressive to look at, and pull out in a discussion with other fans. Its true measure is pure bologna. 5 wins and no shot at the playoffs is what being a great team in passing yardage will get you. If you are 3rd in the league in Offensive scoring per game, you are in the playoffs virtually every single time. Even with the Defensive implosion last year had the Offense been better in the Red Zone, we could have easily won 3 or more games than we did.

Can Arians Get The Offensive Line To Play Better than 2018?

I’m confident that Bruce Almighty, Leftwich, and the staff can get more out of the offense than the last regime. Hard to imagine us getting a whole lot better with no changes to the Line, but we shall see shortly if the Line can play to a higher level than last year. They surely will have to for The Bucs to become any kind of success this season. So don’t drink the Kool-Aid folks, not just yet anyway. Jameis is surely counting on them being a lot better. He’s gulping the Kool-Aid, He’s got to believe in that line. That Line is one of the biggest factors in his success or failure.

Reminds me of my favorite Quote from John McKay. When asked post-game after a stinging loss in the early years, “What do you think of your team’s Execution?” McKay replied, “I’m all for it!” Priceless.