Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bruce Arians Still Searching for Fast Start on Offense

While the Bucs did come back and win against the Falcons, Arians knows his team must start games better moving forward.

The first quarter has not been kind to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season.

For whatever reason, the Bucs haven't been able to score any points in the first quarter since the team's Week 10 win over the Carolina Panthers. But it hadn't always been this way for Tampa Bay.

In the first five weeks of the season, the Bucs combined to score 48 points over its five first quarters, including a 14-point first quarter in Week 2 vs. the Panthers. Since then, however, the Bucs have only scored a combined 17 points in the first quarters of the following nine games.

The team's struggles in the first quarter are something they have been able to overcome at times, (like this past Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons when Tampa Bay trailed 17-0 at halftime and still won), but entering the final two games of the season and a likely spot in the playoffs, head coach Bruce Arians knows they need to fix it.

“It’s almost like, ‘Quit talking about it and maybe it will change.’ You try to emphasize starting practices with the first period being the best," Arians said Monday.

Arians explained sometimes it's just the "little things" that can slow down the Bucs in the first quarter.

"We get a third-and-12, they throw a check down, we miss a tackle and that leads to a long drive. The game changes if we make the tackle," Arians said. "Those little things, they keep adding up and we’ve got to find ways to just get out there and get it done in the first quarter.”

Arians was asked what he and quarterback Tom Brady can do with the offensive scripts to avoid slow starts to games, but the second-year Bucs' head coach said it's more about executing what's called rather than the calls themselves.

“A lot of thought goes into picking those plays – his favorite plays, what he likes [and] what we like," Arians said. You don’t think you’re going to throw a screen pass, complete it and lose – I don’t know – 15 yards because everybody was running backward. That doesn’t have anything to do with the script – you have to go out and execute. It’s not scripting, it’s execution and we’re not executing at a high enough level.”

Starting off fast will be key this week for the Buccaneers, who can clinch a spot in the playoffs with a win over the Detriot Lions. Saturday's matchup with the Lions offers an excellent opportunity for the Bucs to finally score again in the first quarter as Detriot has allowed 30 combined first-quarter points in the last three games.

Arians spoke about this opportunity and what it would mean for Tampa Bay to clinch its first spot in the postseason since 2007.

"I call them ‘Hat and T-Shirt’ games. You get a hat and a t-shirt when you get in the playoffs," Arians said. "It’s a great feeling for those guys. That was the goal this year – it was to get in the dance. Anything can happen once you’re in there, but get ourselves in the dance."