Buccaneers Coach Liam Coen Unbothered by Lack of Deep Ball Success

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers don't have a deep ball, and right now, that doesn't bother their offensive coordinator.

Sep 8, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) talks with offensive coordinator Liam Coen against the Washington Commanders during the first half at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a scrappy team. One that will slug it out with any opponent on any day of the week during any week of the year.

That being said, they don't have much in the way of a haymaker punch these days with offensive coordinator Liam Coen and quarterback Baker Mayfield leading the offense.

While Coen has helped Tampa Bay rediscover its running game, ranking fourth in yards per play entering Week 14, the passing game is ranked just 13th in per-play yardage. That's still good — upper half of the NFL is never bad — but it could be better, even if it doesn't concern Coen right now that his unit hasn't developed the ability to go deep on a consistent basis.

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“It doesn’t bother me too much. I think we have enough ways to get the ball where we want it. Yeah, I’d love to be able to throw it down the field a bunch, [but] it just hasn’t really been quite our M.O.," Coen said when asked this week if he was worried about the lack of a deep ball this season. "Whether that stays consistent over the next four or five weeks, I’m not sure. I think we could definitely get the ball into some deeper spots, but it’s not really been a huge impact in the system so far.”

It would probably worry Coen more if his offense wasn't humming along without the deep ball, but as it stands today, the Bucs' offense is third in first downs per game and tied for the fourth-best red zone percentage in the league.

When you're finding the end zone north of 66 percent of the time when you get inside the opponent's 20, you become unafraid of battling from up close.

As Coen has led the Buccaneers to be the fifth-best scoring unit in football, that lack of a deep ball has actually turned into the eighth-highest time of possession average in the NFL, rather than becoming an Achilles' heel for other opponents to capitalize on.

Given the fact that the Las Vegas Raiders — this weekend's opponent — boast the league's 21st-ranked red zone defense, it's not likely to become a glaring issue this weekend either.

Still, the fact that Mayfield ranks 28th in deep ball completion percentage among the top 32 NFL quarterbacks in deep ball attempts has to be at least a little bit unsettling.

Mayfield's 8.6 yards per deep ball attempt this season are better than just one of those qualifying quarterbacks as well, Chicago Bears rookie Caleb Williams (8). Meanwhile, Mayfield's 10.5 percent turnover worthy play percentage on similar throws is 9th highest among that same 32-quarterback sample size.

If it comes down to the Bucs needing points in a hurry, it may become a problem at the worst possible time now that, as Mayfield said himself, the Buccaneers are in playoff mode in December.

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