The Bucs & "slow" first half starts (1 Viewer)

[DenverBuc]

Much has been said about the Bucs starting slow in the first half of games this year and putting themselves in situations where they have to have great comebacks to win.

Certainly, in Game 1 vs Detroit, this may have been the case as they abandoned the run too early and did not stick with the gameplan, but I am thinking something else might be contributing.

I'm not so sure they slump in the first half. A friend of mine and I were talking yesterday that they needed to calm down when we watched them on the first series.

Made me think that maybe their real problem is they are young and over-exuberant when the games start. It seemed like they did not change their game plan at all between the first and second half - they just performed much better.

Makes me think it is two factors -

1) Youngry = too excited and geeked up at the start of games which leads to over pursuit, over-reaction, penalties, too high emotions, etc.

2) Sticking with the game plan and settling down in the second half leads to tiring teams out and looking much better as a result.

Thoughts?

 

[Buc in Exile]

Here's my observations, for what it's worth:

1. Opponents seem to be focusing on taking away the deep ball, making Freeman be more patient. He's doing a pretty good job of adjusting to that, but it's a change in approach from last year and it does slow things down.

2. Possibly as a consequence of #1, and possibly because it fits their personnel well, it looks like they've been trying to out-physical people. It's worked when they aren't 3 scores behind, but it takes time to wear the other side down.

3. They don't seem to have a great sense of urgency on offense until they get 2 scores behind. I can't quite put my finger on it but they seem slow to get to the line out of the huddle - I'm not sure whether it's a maturing patience, conserving energy, or a frustrated response to the neutralization of their deep passing game.

So, I'm inclined to agree with your conclusion that it's not so much a slump, but I think it's more of a philosophical change necessitated by how other teams are playing Freeman and a re-evaluation of their core strengths. Keep in mind that it took until this time last season before they know what they had in Blount.