It's painfully clear how badly the Bucs need their key players to get healthy and there's not much they can do about it
The game of football is not just a game of inches. It's a game of attrition, as well.Typically, the healthiest team, or one of the healthiest teams, is the one holding the Lombardi Trophy at year's end. An NFL season is a grueling marathon that will undoubtedly take time away, whatever the length may be, […]
The game of football is not just a game of inches. It's a game of attrition, as well.
Typically, the healthiest team, or one of the healthiest teams, is the one holding the Lombardi Trophy at year's end. An NFL season is a grueling marathon that will undoubtedly take time away, whatever the length may be, from a good chunk of players that step on the field throughout the course of the 17-game schedule.
The Tampa Bay are already riding the injury wave with some very prominent players and said injuries have really impacted the team over the last two weeks, win or lose.
Specifically, the injuries to Vita Vea, Luke Goedeke, Calijah Kancey, and Antoine Winfield Jr. have really weighed on the team's overall performance. Things caught up with the Bucs in Week 3 against the Denver Broncos. Sean Payton and co. had a very good game plan and knew how to attack the Bucs – but those four absences made it impossible to survive the game.
For starters, the pass protection has really fallen apart, though not entirely due to Goedeke's absence. Still, it obviously played a huge role in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions and it didn't help against the Broncos.
Regardless, Baker Mayfield was sacked seven times and hit nine times in Week 3. Granted, not all of that was on the offensive line, as Mayfield created 28.6% of the pressure he faced, per Pro Football Focus. He admitted as much after the game. Still, it's clear the offensive line is nowhere near the same without Goedeke at right tackle and FOX Sports' Sarah Kustok even said Mayfield even admitted as much on the TV broadcast before kickoff.
"It was a little bit of both," Bucs head coach Todd Bowles told reporters Monday when asked if the sacks were because of the offensive line and/or Mayfield holding the ball too long.
Over the last two weeks, Mayfield has been sacked 12 times and he's been hit 14 times after he was sacked just once and hit four times against the Washington Commanders in Week 1.
The running game hasn't been great, either, but that's not just on Goedeke's absence. There are multiple factors from play sequencing to snap shares that play a role, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have the third-year tackle on the field in those instances, as well.
Vea's and Kancey's absences are really hurting the pass rush and more lately, the run defense
The pass rush was already suffering without Calijah Kancey in the mix, but it took a huge step back without Vea in Week 3. Todd Bowles' defense went sack-less for the second straight week and generated the lowest pressure rate of the season (23.1%) despite blitzing at the highest rate all year (41.0%), per Next Gen Stats.
That comes after a 38.2% pressure rate/32.4% blitz rate performance in Week 1 and a 31.0% pressure rate/25.9% blitz rate performance in Week 2. The Bucs also hit Bo Nix just twice on Sunday, after hitting Jared Goff 10 times the week before.
And, to make matters worse, the Broncos ran for 136-yards, averaged 4.9 yards per carry, and two rushing touchdowns as a team.
All the Bucs can do is wait
The most agonizing part for the Bucs is all they can do is wait for the aforementioned players to get healthy and hope the guys replacing them step up and play good enough to win.
How long they have to wait is up in the air, too. Per Pewter Report, Vea was seen in a knee brace on Sunday, Goedeke didn't practice all week last week, and Kancey's injury timetable is a complete mystery. Winfield Jr.'s injury usually takes about 3-4 weeks to recover from, as well, but that's also uncertain.
This all part of the game and it's a next-man-up-mentality as it always is, but these injuries are already hard enough to overcome and it looks like they're starting to catch up to Tampa Bay.
