Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Offense Sputters, Playoff Hopes Dim After Week 14 Loss

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ playoff hopes are on life support following a disappointing 24-17 home loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

On paper, this game was supposed to be a slugfest between two gunslinging quarterbacks—rookie sensation Jameis Winston and veteran aerial surgeon Drew Brees—but the Bucs appeared to have misplaced their invitation to the shootout.

Against the league’s worst defense, Tampa Bay’s offense managed just 291 total yards, looking disheveled and rattled for most of the afternoon. If it wasn’t Winston’s spotty accuracy or an inexcusable drop, it was a costly penalty wiping out a big gain for the Bucs, who couldn’t get out of their own way.

Despite facing a secondary that Cam Newton and the undefeated Carolina Panthers torched for 41 points last week, Tampa Bay’s receivers combined to catch just six passes for 66 yards.

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Tampa Bay’s inability to sustain drives kept its defense on the field too long, wearing it down and making Brees’ job easier. In all, the Saints ran 78 offensive plays—compared to just 52 for the Bucs. While Tampa Bay struggled to move the chains and convert on third down, the Saints were successful on 12 of their 17 third-down attempts.

The offensive miscues started early for the Bucs, as a holding penalty negated a 36-yard catch-and-run by Vincent Jackson on the game’s first play from scrimmage. Winston struggled with ball placement for much of the first half, and by the time the rookie settled into a rhythm, Brees and Co. had done enough damage.

The issues on offense weren’t limited to the passing game, either. For the second time in three weeks, the Bucs seemed to forget they had the league’s No. 2 rusher in the backfield once they returned from the locker room for the second half. Doug Martin—who averaged 5.0 yards per carry in Tampa Bay's first 12 contests—got just 12 touches in the entire game despite doing plenty of damage with those opportunities, tallying 86 total yards.

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The defense made its own mistakes, failing to get consistent pressure on Brees and allowing him to carve up the secondary for most of the afternoon. The Bucs clamped down in the second half, but penalties bit them in key moments down the stretch—and they couldn’t close the deal on the game’s final drive.

But for all of the defense’s struggles, the offense’s inability to take advantage of a juicy matchup sealed the Bucs' fate. Holding the Saints to 24 points should have been more than enough for Tampa Bay to come away with another big home win against a division rival.

Instead, the Bucs fell to 6-7 on the season—two games behind the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks—likely taking them out of contention for a playoff berth this season.

At times, the Saints seemed to be doing their best to keep Tampa Bay in the game. Multiple penalties on the New Orleans defense helped the Bucs extend their only scoring drive of the second half, while a surprising Saints punt on 4th-and-short in the fourth quarter gave Tampa Bay’s offense a chance to mount a potential game-tying drive.

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Instead, the Bucs were unable to move the ball yet again, punting it away and hoping the defense could come up with another stop. Instead, the Saints bled the rest of the clock and all of Tampa Bay’s timeouts, keeping the Bucs from seeing the ball again on offense.

The future is still bright for the Bucs, but this was a painful loss that showed their lack of experience and mental toughness. A veteran New Orleans team came into Tampa Bay with no pressure in a game it was supposed to lose and took it to the younger Bucs squad that should have dominated the contest.

The Saints outplayed the Bucs in every phase of the game and outcoached Tampa Bay on both sides of the ball, and the Bucs will likely pay for it by missing the playoffs for the eighth consecutive 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 a senior NFL draft analyst for Draft Breakdown. Follow him on Twitter @Luke Easterling.