Buccaneers New Offense Gets Opportunity To Shine In Week 1
It's finally here! BUCCANEERS football is officially back, and the 2024 campaign for a Super Bowl run starts right at home against a Washington football team that looks to be hitting the restart button for the 4th time in five years.
While the BUCS should have a few clear advantages on both sides of the ball, it wouldn't be surprising to see this opening matchup being a big challenge for Todd Bowles and Company. The matchup will feature major shakeups on both teams as they debut a different offensive and defensive system from the previous season. On one side, the Buccaneers' new offensive coordinator, Liam Coen, brings his innovative schemes and play-calling prowess. Across the field, the Commanders' defensive coordinator and head coach, Dan Quinn, is ready to deploy his formidable defensive unit to shut down Coen's offensive attack.
Tampa will be debuting a brand new offense under OC Liam Coen. But there's nothing new about where the focus of the offense should be. It all starts with Number 13, Mike Evans. At 6'5, 230lbs hethe former Texas A&M Aggie is usually too much to handle for any CB to face man-to-man for the vast majority of a game. He routinely finds himself in bracketed coverage. With Washington, they've got two CBs who can, at least, contest Evans' height. Benjamin St-Juste will likely be the first called upon to defend Evans if/when Dan Quinn dials up man coverage. Standing at 6'3, he's the Commanders' tallest corner. However, he's about 20lbs light in the pants, and he still may not have the speed to keep up with Evans if the heads down the field on a go route.
Expect plenty of bracketed coverage on Evans' side of the field. Safety Jeremy Chinn, formerly of the Panthers has seen what Evans can do once he gets rolling against a lesser CB in one-on-one coverage. Chinn had to bear witness to Evans torching his former team for 484 yards and 4 TDs the last four times they've met.
As a former head coach in the NFC South, Dan Quinn also has a history of trying to stop a Buccaneers offense headed by Mike Evans. However, his luck hasn't been the greatest either. He's holds and 8-8 record overall against the team. Quinn went 6-6 against the BUCS as the head coach of that team in Atlanta. He was 1-2 as the defensive coordinator in Dallas from 2021-2023, with the one win coming in the Wild Card game in the Playoffs, holding a season-long putrid Buccaneers offense to 14 points. And during his time in Seattle as the DC, he was fortunate to be 1-0 against the BUCS.
It was his defense that the 2013 Mike Glennon/Vincent Jackson-led Buccaneers offense jumped on for a 21-0 start in Seattle. That game ended in a loss in OT for the BUCS, but those first 3 quarters were something else.
In more recent years, Quinn's defenses have been stout. He's put together three Top 10 defenses(points allowed) in Dallas over the last three years, and two finished in the Top 5. But that was in Dallas, where the secondary was an undeniable strength. In Washington, that shouldn't be the case. Last season, the Commanders fielded the worst passing defense in the League. They gave up 39 touchdowns and 4,457 yards through the air. Minus the aforementioned Jeremy Chinn, there haven't been notable additions to the secondary that change the outlook of the secondary going into Week 1 in Tampa.
The BUCS should be able to take advantage of a weak secondary simply due to the number of weapons available. As mentioned above, Evans is a physical mismatch for just about anyone in the Commanders' secondary. Both Godwin and McMillan should be able to take advantage of Washington's Mike Sainristill(rookie) and Emmanuel Forbes, given the attention and resources devoted to Evans. Throw in the likelihood of Cade Otton and Kameron Johnson getting some targets to stretch the field even more, and, on paper, it starts to look like a favorable mismatch of talent. However, that largely depends on how much time Baker Mayfield has to get any of those targets the ball. The BUCS' new-look offensive line will have a real challenge to kick off the season.
Washington's front seven has undergone a significant change from last season. Dan Quinn is bringing his 3-4 defense instead of the 4-3 scheme the team had previously under Jack Del Rio. And with that scheme comes a new set of challenges and notable additions to the roster.
The Commanders have added veterans Bobby Wagner, Dante Fowler, and Clelin Ferrell to the defense. For a long time, Wagner has been considered one of the best MLBs in modern football. Fowler has been disruptive DE/OLB for the vast majority of his career, totaling 45 sacks over his nine seasons. And while Ferrell hasn't been a terror by any means, he's been a nuisance by creating 73 QB pressures over his five-year career.
Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen made their names known while playing in a 3-4 system at the University of Alabama. Returning to a familiar and comfortable scheme with other veteran players around them could open up significant opportunities for both in the passing attack.
The BUCS O-line has to be stout everywhere against the Commanders. We know Tristan Wirfs has been one of the best offensive tackles in the game for the past few years. And we know Goedeke can hold his own against some top-notch pass rushers. But against Washington, it's going to be Bredeson, Barton, and Mauch who will get the most attention. Collectively, they'll get a pretty test out of the gate. Fortunately for them, they face a similar daily challenge, facing the likes of Vea, Kancey, David, and Tryon-Shoyinka.
The rushing attack should be a massive focus for Liam Coen. I'd expect a lot of misdirection and counters to the right side of Washington's offensive line to offset some of the speed from the DTs and Dante Fowler. Contrary to popular opinion(always), the run game should be utilized early and often to keep the pressure off of Baker Mayfield. He's at his best when he's not forcing anything. If the running game can keep the Commanders off-balanced and guessing just a little, Mayfield could find a rhythm early in the game. Even if he loses for a bit as he tends to do, he can get back to it simply because he started with it early.
Even though the most significant and most apparent advantage of this offense against the Commanders' defense is the individual matchups with the WRs and their secondary, the key will be to get the entire defense guessing and to alleviate the possible favorable matchups Washington could have elsewhere. Specifically, the defensive line and LB spots. This offensive line was revamped mainly due to the issues in the running game. Against Washington, it could showcase how much some of the investments are paying off.
