TAMPA, Fla. – The Bucs head into Sunday’s game against the visiting Bengals averaging 17.2 points per game. That figure ranks 28th in the NFL and 15th, or next-to-last, in the NFC.
Of late, Todd Bowles’ team is not even doing that well. The Buccaneers have been held – or held themselves, if you prefer – to 17 points or less in each of the past three weeks. There was a 35-7 loss last Sunday at San Francisco, a late comeback in a 17-16 over the Saints at Raymond James last Monday night, and a 23-17 overtime loss at Cleveland.
The last time the Bucs went four straight without scoring more than 17 points?
That was 2014 when Tampa Bay, which went 2-14, also had such stretches of three and five games for a total of 12 games scoring no more than 17 points. They were pretty consistent in that Lovie Smith’s team scored either 13, 14 or 17 points in 11 of 16 games. In fact, the Bucs’ average that season was 17.3 points, a shade ahead of this year’s squad.
That 2014 season was also the last time the Buccaneers scored as many as 30 points only once, which was a 37-31 loss at New Orleans. This year’s outfit has scored as many as 30 points only once through 13 games, in a 41-31 home loss to Kansas City on October 2. Those 31 points are easily a season high. A 27-22 loss to visiting Baltimore on Thursday night at the end of October marked the Buccaneers’ second-highest output of 2022.
In 2014, quarterbacks Josh McCown and Mike Glennon combined to throw 21 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions with a rating of 75.3. Tom Brady certainly is not that lowly for the 6-7 Bucs, who are in first place in an inept NFC South. Brady has 17 TDs and six interceptions, with a rating of 88.9.
The major difference between the teams, though, is on the other side of the scrimmage. The Bucs, who drafted Jameis Winton with the first pick in 2015, allowed 25.6 points to rank 25th in 2014. This year, the Bucs have been pretty stingy in allowing only 19.5 points to rank ninth, which only adds to the fans’ frustration when it comes to the offense.
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