“The Bucs are Not the Same Team”

Saint Spud said

A poster on another thread pointed out some things they’re doing differently (@Jellybean). More Max protect (let your elite WRs have time to create space), more two TE sets.

I’ll be curious to hear from some of the smart football people on here how we counteract that. More zone?

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Definitely appeared to be the case against Washington. I don’t know how many routes Gronk actually ran, but I know he was used consistently as an additional offensive lineman on most passing attempts.

The Bucs matched up well with Washington’s speed rushers. They have Wirfs on the right side that throughout his career will essentially specialize in slowing down speed off the edge. That negated Sweat. Again Gronk staying in and helping with Young made a huge difference. The problem Washington had was that they were built on getting home, because their secondary is just average in terms of talent.

That’s the way New Orleans presents problems Washington didn’t. They can keep more in to protect like they did against Washington, but running long developing patterns against New Orleans, you’re not significantly out-talenting the back end. The Saints have also cut off the check down as well as any team in the league.

It will be interesting to see what TB’s strategy on offense is. New Orleans will allow for some 1 on 1 shots down the field, I just hope the DBs can come up big again and the pass rush can force some off schedule throws. If they do, Brady’s going to have another ugly game.