Much of the Buccaneers’ offensive success in 2023 came from the passing game. Former offensive coordinator Dave Canales was able to implement well-thought-out passing concepts that played to quarterback Baker Mayfield’s strengths, and the team had a top-10 passing game (by expected points added per play) late in the second half of the season.
Pewter Report’s Josh Quaippo looked at all 37 of the Bucs’ explosive passing plays (plays that gained 20 or more yards) in 2023 and found some commonalities that the team should continue in 2024. new offensive coordinator Liam Cohen;
Bucks success on 2-D routes
Many of the Buccaneers’ biggest plays came on dig-and-out routes, which are routes that attack the opposing defense in two planes, one after the other (as opposed to routes where one overlaps the other, like crossing routes or slants). Baker Mayfield was at his best throwing passes to a clearly defined depth after a horizontal break. A horizontal break usually coincided with more separation from the receiver, creating more leverage for the route. And as opposed to a one-to-one multi-dimensional route, where the pass often goes over the receiver, a one-to-one multi-dimensional route requires the pass to be thrown from underneath the receiver with less loft, less touch, and more power on the pass, which again plays to Mayfield’s strengths.
Trey Palmer’s speed is a weapon
Buccaneers WR Trey Palmer – Photo courtesy of USA Today
One of the features of these concepts is running a dig/out route under a go, fade, or clear route. These deep attack roles were often performed by Buccaneers receiver Trey Palmer, whose superior speed allowed defenses to force multiple players to cover him.
This opened up the middle and center of the field for route technicians like Chris Godwin to thrive with head fakes and plus stems to create even more separation.
Three Basic Concepts
The Buccaneers were able to win multiple times with three basic concepts that implemented all of the above strategies: Flood, Dagger, and Ohio.
flood
Flood attacks the outer third of the field on three levels with a deep go route, an intermediate out route 10-15 yards down the field, and a shallow cross from the other side of the field into the flat. The quarterback reads the high-to-low progression (go, out, cross). This is especially effective against Cover 3, which creates a 3-on-2 matchup for the quarterback.
dagger
The Dagger is a two-route concept that runs an in-break “dig” route from the outside receiver underneath a “clear” (deep) route designed to attack the safety from the slot receiver. Against two-high, the clear route is run nearly perpendicular to the line of scrimmage, but against single-high defensive structures, the slot receiver is often run very close to the deep safety. The objective is to force the deep defender to keep control of the play, allowing the dig to develop underneath.
Ohio
Ohio features a lot of the same structure as Flood, but the field on the other side is shallower and flatter, which allows the quarterback to make easy high-low reads and works well against man coverage if the receivers can time their stems correctly.
Check out this video highlighting three concepts that allowed the Buccaneers to generate multiple bursts of explosiveness: here Or visit our YouTube channel.
