Takeaways from Bucs Loss to Ravens

After scoring 10 points on their first two drives, the Buccaneers fell into a familiar, puzzling cycle. On Thursday night in prime-time against the visiting Ravens, Tampa Bay faltered as self-destructive penalties, inability to convert in the red zone and an ineffectiveness in stopping the run materialized. The Bucs’ offense failed to maintain cohesion and the defense sputtered in the second half as fatigue set in. Tampa Bay ultimately fell to the Ravens, 27-22, marking their fifth defeat in the last six outings. The Bucs dropped to a 3-5 record and a second-place seat in the NFC South standings.

“Until you win ballgames consistently and play four quarters consistently, it’s going to be dark,” Head Coach Todd Bowles stated after the loss. “That doesn’t mean we cannot get out of it. We just have a lot of work to do, as coaches and as players.”

Many of the issues that have plagued the Buccaneers during their recent downward spiral were evident against the Ravens. Offensively, the Buccaneers converted just two-of-five red zone attempts into points and were four-of-13 on third-down conversion attempts. Initially, the Buccaneers had success off a quick-passing game targeting the intermediate area of the field when receivers had cushion, but the Ravens adjusted and moved into tighter coverage. Brady threw for 325 yards and a touchdown, completing 26-of-44 passing attempts, including connections of 51 yards to Mike Evans and a 44-yarder to Chris Godwin. Brady was sacked three times for a loss of 20 total yards. The league’s worst ranked rush attack heading into the game compiled just 44 yards on 15 carries.

The defense had a stout start to the game, but that faded in the second half. In conclusion, the Bucs allowed 453 total yards to the Ravens and 231 on the ground. The Ravens began with a pass-heavy script in the first half but transitioned to their bread-and-butter in the second half as missed tackles by the Bucs led to open holes. Baltimore reverted to zone and power reads, quarterback counters and multiple tight end/running back sets. They focused on creating space on the perimeter out of the read-option, culminating in 7.0 yards per carry. The Bucs’ predominately held elusive quarterback Lamar Jackson in check (43 yards on nine runs) but backs Gus Edwards and Kenyan Drake combined for 127 yards and receiver Devin Duvernay imposed his will off end-arounds, gaining run after catch. The defense, which started off forcing…