Bucs, Baker Must Fix Issues Vs. Blitz

The Bucs offense has been excellent all season, but in recent weeks opponents have begun to find success blitzing Baker Mayfield - an issue that must be fixed moving forward.

Throughout the season, hardly anything has slowed down the Bucs offense. They are near the top of the league in every major category, and offensive coordinator Liam Coen should be the hottest new name on the coaching market this offseason. The only things that have slowed the Bucs down are the inconsistencies of Baker Mayfield and the occasional lapses in attention to detail (penalties, fumbles, drops) from the rest of a still young and growing offense.

However, lately defenses have been having success against the Bucs by blitzing Mayfield. In Weeks 1-11, Mayfield was the 12th-most blitzed quarterback in the NFL. He had eight touchdowns to one interception vs the blitz, just two turnover-worthy plays and he was one of PFF’s highest-graded quarterbacks against the blitz as well.

However, there was one area for concern - pressure-to-sack conversion rate. During this 11-week stretch Mayfield was the best protected quarterback in football against the blitz, with a pressure rate of just 18.2 percent! That is an insane number, three percentage points higher than the next closest team and a testament to how well-protected and well-schemed the Bucs offense is against the blitz. The Bucs also had the following ranks against the blitz, even though Mayfield’s average time to throw in those situations was 3.05 seconds, only the 18th fastest time in the NFL:

Average time to pressure: 2.54 seconds (2nd best)
QB Hits allowed (outside of sacks): 5 (1st)
Total pressures against the blitz: 38 (T-3rd)
Unblocked pressures against the blitz: 16 (T-3rd)
Knockdown percentage: 13.6% (4th)

Despite all of that, Mayfield was taking sacks at a ridiculous rate considering how infrequently he was pressured. Only four quarterbacks from Weeks 1-11 took more sacks against the blitz than Mayfield’s 13 - C.J. Stroud, Deshaun Watson, Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels. Stroud and Williams play behind disaster OLs and pass protection schemes, and Watson was the worst quarterback in football largely due to his incompetence under pressure. This is not exactly the company you want to be in.