Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Five Great Preseason Stats
The numbers the Bucs have put up this preseason don't necessarily portend a similar performance in the games that count, but if the team can duplicate a handful of them they'll be much improved in 2014. - Scott Smith
Last year, NFL passers as a group completed 61.2% their passes. That set a new single-season record and it's part of a trend that is showing no signs of abating. Last season, Glennon completed passes at a 59.4% rate after Freeman's 45.7% rate after the first three games.
The Bucs have forced just four turnovers in three games and have a -1 giveaway/takeaway ratio overall. If Smith and his staff get the results they want, the Bucs will be among the league leaders in takeaways, and last year the best teams in that category averaged around two per game. What the Bucs have done so far is fulfill the second half of Smith's formula – when the defense has taken the ball away, the result has usually been a quick touchdown. Three of the Bucs' four takeaways so far have resulted in touchdowns, either on the ensuing drive or scored directly by the defense.
The Buccaneers will start the 6-5 duo of Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans at the flanks of their offense. In his first NFL action, Evans is averaging 19.2 yards per catch, albeit on a very small sample size of five receptions.
It might be a bit much to expect Koenen and company to maintain a 42.4-yard net all year; only St. Louis' Johnny Hekker (44.2) topped that mark last year, while Miami's Brandon Fields equaled it. But a bump back up to 40 would give the Bucs another small edge in that always-ongoing field position battle.
Now, those seem like underwhelming numbers, right? Stick with me. Martin played sparingly in the first preseason game and a little over a quarter in the second one. He and the rest of the starters saw all the action last Sunday in Buffalo. All told, Martin has probably played about one game's worth of snaps, and in that time he's caught four passes. Extrapolate that rate over a full season and you have 64 catches. The Bucs would certainly love to get that kind of passing-game production from any of their backs.
