The Buccaneers offense produced three points over the first three-plus quarters against the Saints last Monday night and they trailed by 13 points late in the fourth quarter as a result, but things turned around for them from there.
Tampa drove for two touchdowns in the final three minutes for a 17-16 win and both of those drives came with the team in hurry-up mode. Quarterback Tom Brady called the plays on the field and the team moved the ball better than they had at any other point in the game.
Given the team’s offensive issues over the entire season, it was no surprise that Bucs head coach Todd Bowles was asked at his Tuesday press conference about whether the team would be going up-tempo more often.
“Well, we’ve implemented it some,” Bowles said. “We did it against Atlanta. I thought we did it a little bit — It was either Carolina or Pittsburgh, as well. We can implement it more. Obviously, we can’t do that the whole game – the defense and special teams would be worn out. But we can try to take advantage of some things that way. Really, it’s a block here and a block there, a play here and a play there for us to continue keeping offensive drives alive.”
Bowles was also asked why the no-huddle works so well. He said it “all starts with the quarterback” and Brady’s ability to “dissect things” combined with a heightened urgency from the rest of the team. Bowles added he’d like to see that over an entire game, but they may have to stick with better late than never if they plan to stick with the status quo for most of their future games.
