What Went Wrong for the Buccaneers Offense vs. the Browns?

About halfway through the 3rd quarter in Cleveland, the Buccaneers looked to be on their way to a third consecutive win. They had just scored a touchdown to take a 17-10 lead, and this appeared to be the moment that they would begin to separate themselves from a far less talented team. While the offense wasn’t necessarily firing on all cylinders, they seemed to be taking another step in the right direction.

Unfortunately for Tampa, they not only failed to put the Browns away, but they didn’t even score another point during the remaining 32 minutes and 22 seconds of the game.

As has been the case for much of the season, the Buccaneers offense seemed out of sorts for a large portion of the game, with players not being on the same page far too often. Against the Browns, this led to some self-inflicted mistakes in key moments, as you’ll see below.

On the Buccaneers’ first drive after taking a 17-10 lead, they faced a 3rd-and-8 from their own 13. With the Browns showing a blitz look, Brady changed the play at the line. You can see him making a gesture with his hand in front of his facemask:

The play called for Chris Godwin to run a flat route from the #3 inside position, with Mike Evans and Julio Jones blocking for him:

Only, Mike Evans didn’t get the call. Instead of blocking, he ran the route from the original playcall. Godwin would be tackled almost immediately by the defender that Evans was supposed to block, and the Buccaneers would be forced to punt:

You can even see Brady and Jones gesturing to Evans after the play. Clearly he had made the mistake:

The miscues continued on their next drive, with Brady missing a wide-open Chris Godwin for what would have been a big play: