Baltimore Ravens vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Breaking Down Tampa Bay's Game Plan

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers return home from a three-game road trip with a 1-4 record, welcoming the 3-2 Baltimore Ravens to Raymond James Stadium before heading into their bye week.

Last week, the Bucs won the turnover battle and showed they could hang with Drew Brees in a shootout, but penalties and poor fundamentals down the stretch led to a 37-31 overtime loss to their NFC South rivals.

Tampa Bay will face a Ravens team that saw a three-game winning streak come to an end in a 20-13 road loss against the Indianapolis Colts last week. 

Let's take a look at the Bucs' game plan on both sides of the ball.

When Tampa Bay Has the Ball

The Bucs offense is experiencing a bit of an identity crisis.  Lovie Smith's teams have been known for a commitment to the ground game, but five games into his tenure as Tampa Bay's head coach, the Bucs rank 24th in the NFL with 90.4 yards rushing per game.

Unfortunately for Bucs fans, that's the highest their team ranks in any offensive-yardage category, coming in at 29th in passing yards and 30th in total yards.

But as Doug Martin and the rest of the Tampa Bay backfield continues to struggle in their pursuit for running room, the Bucs have gotten a jolt on offense from quarterback Mike Glennon, who replaced an injured Josh McCown and led the Bucs to their only win of the season in his first start of the year.

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The spark that Glennon has brought to the offense—Tampa Bay hadn't scored more than 17 points in a game until putting up 27 and 31 in his two starts—fits perfectly with the Ravens' biggest weakness on defense: stopping the pass.  Though as a whole, the Baltimore defense is only giving up an average of 16 points per game, it's surrendering nearly 270 yards per game through the air, good enough for 27th in the league.

Baltimore's issues against the pass are likely due to two factors: a lack of depth at cornerback and a pass rush that has been relatively nonexistent. 

Things were already skinny at corner for the Ravens before Asa Jackson aggravated a toe injury, which looks to keep him out for a decent amount of time, according BaltimoreRavens.com.  Per ESPN.com's Jamison Hensley, the team signed Dominique Franks to replace him for the time being and even worked out aging free agent Champ Bailey, though he wasn't signed.

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Baltimore's problems in the secondary aren't helped by the fact that it's averaging just one sack per game, ranking 27th in the NFL by getting to the quarterback just five times so far this season.

Tampa Bay's offensive line has progressed steadily over the early part of the season, especially in pass protection, allowing a fairly respectable nine sacks over the first five games.  If the Bucs can keep Glennon clean for most of this game, he should be able to take advantage of Baltimore's thin secondary.

One player the Bucs will have to keep a close eye on is rookie linebacker C.J. Mosley, the Ravens' first-round pick in this year's draft.  The former Alabama star has wasted no time making an impact, already reminding Baltimore fans of the playmaking nature that made Ray Lewis famous.

If Tampa Bay wants to neutralize Mosley, it'll need to make better use of the play-action fake.  Through the first few weeks of the season, the Bucs ranked dead last in the NFL in play-action passes.  Look for them to try their fair share this week in an effort to catch Mosley out of position in overpursuit.

Lovie Smith may want to commit to the run, but he'd do well to realize his team's best chance of getting a much-needed win at home this week is to air it out.

When Baltimore Has the Ball

Tampa Bay fans will recognize a familiar foe this week, and he's been a surprising spark plug for the Baltimore offense.  Despite being 35 years old, former Carolina Panthers receiver Steve Smith has proved he can still be a playmaker in the NFL and that he's not a mere shell of the player who routinely scorched the Bucs over his 13 seasons in Carolina.

Smith leads the Ravens in receiving—by a large margin—with 30 receptions for 463 yards and three touchdowns, eclipsing the century mark in receiving yards in three of his five starts this season.

Smith has been around so long that some of those tasked with covering him this season—like Tampa Bay's Johnthan Banks this week—remember watching him in their youth:

With their Tampa 2 defensive scheme, the Bucs won't shadow Smith with a particular cover man, but you can bet he'll get special attention no matter where he lines up.  Keeping him from stretching the field and beating the defense over the top will be one of Tampa Bay's primary objectives this week.

The Bucs should pay special attention to Smith when he's lined up in the slot.  Especially in the absence of starting middle linebacker Mason Foster, they have struggled to keep opposing offenses from exploiting the vacant area between the two safeties in the Tampa 2.  Dane Fletcher has had a particularly hard time getting the proper depth in coverage, especially when frequently fooled by the play action.

As pleasant a surprise as Smith has been for Baltimore fans, the one lining up across from him has struggled to live up to lofty expectations.  Torrey Smith was expected to enjoy a breakout year in his fourth NFL season, but the Maryland product has managed just 11 receptions for 176 yards and one touchdown so far.

The younger Smith has put up some pedestrian numbers this season, but he could be due for a big game, especially with his counterpart commanding so much attention.  Tampa Bay's secondary will pay dearly if it forgets about his playmaking ability.

Quarterback Joe Flacco seems to be rebounding from a disappointing 2013, as the Super Bowl XLVII MVP has gotten back to his efficient ways this season with seven touchdown passes to just three interceptions, along with a completion percentage of 62.3. 

In the absence of bell cow Ray Rice, the Ravens have turned to a committee approach in the backfield.  Justin Forsett is getting the lion's share of the action so far this season with 297 yards and three touchdowns on 50 carries.  Bernard Pierce and rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro have been involved, but Forsett's 5.9 yards-per-carry average should keep him in the driver's seat this week.

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Baltimore sports a fairly balanced offensive attack, ranking 13th in the NFL in passing and 12th in rushing, while also holding a plus-two turnover ratio. 

Tampa Bay will be facing an efficient offense that takes care of the ball and can move the ball effectively through the air or on the ground.  But the Colts proved last week that the Ravens' attack can be reduced to being downright boring, holding Baltimore to under 300 total yards, letting it into the end zone just once and allowing just one third-down conversion out of 11 attempts.

If the Bucs want to have success on defense this week, they'll need more splash plays like they had this past week against New Orleans—another pick-six definitely wouldn't hurt—and they'll have to get after Flacco like they did Ben Roethlisberger, whom they sacked five times in the first half of their only win so far this season.

*All stats courtesy of NFL.com.

Luke Easterling is a Featured Columnist covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NFL draft for Bleacher Report.  He is also the Editor/Senior Writer of The Draft Report.  Follow him on Twitter: @LukeEasterling.