Under the direction of Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had one of the NFL's most prolific offenses in 2024. Tampa Bay has amassed 400-plus yards of offense in a game 10 different times this season - the most 400-yard outings in the NFL - and the Bucs are the only team with three-or-more 500-yard performances in 2024. The Buccaneers also rank tied for first in 20-point games this season (15).
At the helm, Baker Mayfield has played at an MVP-caliber level, ranking in the Top-Five in nearly every statistical category. He has played with precision from the pocket, layering the football to all levels of the field and has effectively scrambled to evade pressure when necessary. Entering Week 17, Mayfield had the highest passer rating (107.6) by a Tampa Bay quarterback through the first 16 games of a season. Mayfield has established new career highs in pass completions (386), passing yards (4,279) and passing touchdowns (39) in a single season. He is also on pace to establish career bests in completion percentage (71.7%) and passer rating.
Additionally, the Bucs' run game has gone from being the worst-ranked unit over the previous two seasons to becoming one atop the hierarchy in 2024. The Bucs have rushed for 100-plus yards in 13 of 16 (81.3%) games this season after doing so in nine of 34 (26.5%) games over the previous two seasons. Tampa Bay's 5.2 rushing yards per attempt this season is the highest average through 16 games in team history. Bucky Irving's forced missed tackle percentage ranks first in the NFL (36.2%) and the rookie has spearheaded the ground attack with his prowess in the open field and ability to navigate through congestion with elite body control and lethal jump-cuts.
"It's really the ability for these guys to understand the concept, the coverage," said Coen. "There's a lot that goes into any passing game. For you to be able to attack the defense at multiple different levels, whether it's not always just throwing the ball 45 yards down the field, you're going to create…What we say is, 'Make them defend every blade of grass.' That's both [sideways] and [forwards]. I think recently, probably more so after the Bye [Week], we've done a better job of doing that. Early on, when we weren't running it quite as well, we were using some of the dink-and-dunk passes to truly almost help the run game and utilize that to make the defense play this way. Now, being able to run it has allowed us to be able to do a little bit more past that 20-yard depth that we weren't hitting much before the bye."
The Bucs' proficiency on the ground has sparked the team's play-action attack, spurring success. Against the Carolina Panthers, Coen dialed up a masterful play call that led to an explosive 42-yard gain for Irving. Mayfield faked to Rachaad White and then hit Irving in the flat on a delayed screen and he accelerated north for chunk yardage. The two go hand-in-hand, garnering proficiency between the hash marks in Tampa Bay.
"When you look back at the end of the season and see the balance of total pass plays to run plays, sometimes it can get skewed because some teams will load up the box to stop the run and you have to throw it to win so there's variations of it," described Mayfield. "To me, a balanced offense is doing what you need to do to win the game, no matter what the look is."
