Bucs Learning How To Beat Lions From Seahawks

When the Bucs face off against the Lions on Sunday, they will be facing one of their toughest tests of the young season. With wins over Minnesota and Chicago, Tampa Bay showed it can beat the bad teams on its schedule. With a loss to the Eagles, the Bucs showed they may not be ready to run with the class of the NFC.

Their Week 4 victory over the division-rival Saints showed they can secure victories from traditionally tougher foes. The Lions present a do-over of sorts from the Bucs’ Monday Night Football 25-11 defeat at the hands of the Eagles.

In their four victories this year, the Lions have held each of their opponents to 25 points or less, showing off an improved defense that has matched their offense’s talent and performance since around wee seven of the 2022 NFL season. In those four games the Lions allowed an average of 17.5 points per game.

In their lone loss this year, to the Seahawks, Detroit’s defense got worked to the tune of 37 points allowed. Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales spoke with the media on Thursday and mentioned that he has used the Seahawks game (and the one from 2022) as a part of his preparation for the upcoming matchup with Detroit.

“Oh yeah, we played them last year, too, in Detroit,” Canales said. “So, two games right there – really valuable stuff for us. Even on a micro level, just the techniques of how they play, the different shades that they play on the defensive front, some of the secondary players and how they stack up against similar bodies. D.K. [Metcalf] and Mike [Evans] are bigger guys, Chris [Godwin] is a bigger guy, so they can kind of see some of those things. Of course, they have a few new players, but it’s really helpful.

“Honestly, just crossing over, there’s some similarities with Detroit’s offense. I really regard them highly and have kind of followed their progress over the last three years – just the development of their offense, the run game, the play actions, the attitude. It’s really a style [where] I would love to look like that eventually as we put things together and really get polished. This is a team that’s in their third year, looking pretty polished. That helps, too, for our defense, looking at some of the things they might see similarly to our attack on offense.”

Bucs Learning From The Seahawks

What could Dve Canales have possibly learned from the Seattle tape that might lead to similar success this upcoming Sunday? I took a look at the Lions-Seahawks matchup earlier this year and specifically keyed in on the passing game to see what Canales may look to replicate for success against Detroit. I pulled all plays gaining at least 16 yards to see how Canales may look to gain chunk plays.

Isolating the X

Detroit runs a fair amount of Cover 3 zone. The Bucs can exploit this by putting Mike Evans in an isolated split to the boundary while flooding the concept side of the formation or the backfield with multiple receiving options. This will force the single-high safety for the Lions to make a difficult decision.

Either shade and play the concept side which has multiple threats or help to Evans’ side. In most instances that safety will choose the former over the latter. This will put Evans in a one-on-one situation against a corner who has to protect vertical. This gives him lots of room to work underneath on slants, digs, deep outs. Or he can run a deep curl like D.K. Metcalf did on this route.

Against MOTFC they are able to isolate the X receiver against C3. Bucs have been very successful finding these opportunities for Mike Evans this year. pic.twitter.com/gKnlN3zmow

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2023

Or Evans could work in the space underneath the deeper zones on a post similar to this:

Similarly, they got Metcalf isolated against a C3 look near the goal line and allowed this post to work underneath the deep zones for an almost-score. pic.twitter.com/vJDQ2BpOFe

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2023

I reviewed how the Bucs were able to win with Evans in a similar isolated look as part of my breakdown on how Canales was able to help beat the Saints in week four on our PewterReportTV YouTube channel.

Seahawks Creating Advantages Through Personnel

The Seahawks operate out of 12 (one running back, two tight ends) and 13 (one running back, three tight ends) personnel at one of the highest rates in the NFL. When they get into these packages they forced the Bears into base personnel, replacing a defensive back with a linebacker. That defensive package is often more of a liability against pass plays.

From there Seattle moved players around to find extremely advantageous matchups like this one where pass rusher James Houston ends up in coverage out in space against tight end Noah Fant. Fant gets Houston on the out and up for a big gain.

SEA using personnel to find advantageous matchups. Fant vs. Houston in space is a win for the Seahawks. pic.twitter.com/XDGDSA7Nx4

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2023

I don’t know how well the Bucs will be able to emulate this strategy. The Seahawks work out of 12 and 13 personnel because they have one of the deepest tight end rooms in the NFL. The Bucs … do not. Fant combined with Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson is a much more athletic and talented trio than Cade Otton, Ko Kieft and David Wells.

This may be one strategy Canales should shy away from, especially considering the success he has seen out of 11 personnel and with the Lions having already ruled out talented rookie nickel back Brian Branch.

Translating Concepts That Work For The Bucs

Bucs OC Dave Canales – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

One of the things Canales has been successful with this year is tailoring play concepts and game plans to what quarterback Baker Mayfield does best. One of those things is creating simple half field read progressions for Mayfield. Flood is a concept that enables that strategy well. Flood concepts take most, if not all, of the available receivers and have them work to the same side of the field. This effectively “floods” that side of the field with options and reduces the amount of the field the quarterback surveys.

These concepts send the receivers to that side of the field at different depths making it easy for the quarterback to read high-to-low vertically for the first open option. Here the Seahawks created that simple and effective read for Geno Smith out of an innovative pistol look. Imagine this play with Trey Palmer lined up as the “Z” receiver where Tyler Lockett (No. 16) is positioned, Chris Godwin lined up in the backfield as the second sidecar (No. 84 Cobly Parkinson) and Cade Otton lined up as the first sidecar (No. 89 Will Dissly).

The #Bucs have had success this season in flood concepts that lend themselves to Baker Mayfield’s skillset. Here the Seahawks win with it against DET from a creative Pistol formation. pic.twitter.com/E3xm0Z73wH

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2023

Play Action

One of the core tenants of Canales’ short time with the Bucs has been his use of play action. Mayfield is averaging 7.6 yards per attempt on play action throws and he has been effective running boots and half boots off of the run action. Against Detroit the Bucs are likely to run some sort of mid zone boot action similar to this one Seattle was able to generate.

Canales has stuck to his guns this year about balancing the run and pass. It has helped elevate the Bucs’ PA game. This is where things like this leak off of a MZ run look can help create YAC opportunities for someone like Cade Otton. pic.twitter.com/VSdoNEnwVK

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2023

Not only will the Bucs look to continue to work play action from under center, but Canales also mentioned exploring it from shotgun on a recent appearance on the “Sick Podcast Network” with former Pewter Reporter JC Allen. The Bucs could find success working against Detroit’s defense with a similar alignment to this play out of 12 personnel.

Canales has spoken at various times about exploring more PA from shotgun. This trips stacked look (possibly from a different personnel grouping) is likely to be something he explores. pic.twitter.com/pqhlRX7E8J

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2023

I could see the Bucs running this with Otton lined up as the apex player on the trips bunch side with Godwin working the deep cross from one.

Using The Middle Of The Field

Detroit’s linebackers have played decently against the pass this year. Backups Jack Campbell and Malcolm Rodriguez have struggled, but Derrick Barnes and Alex Anzalone have not been net-negatives.  That doesn’t mean they can’t give up a play or two over the middle of the field.

This has been an area the Bucs have not featured much as of yet. This week could see Canales, Mayfield and the offense start to layer those types of options into their gameplan. It could come in the form of static routes off of play-action that give Mayfield an easy read like this curl working underneath cover 3 with the threat of a vertical clearing out the safety.

Could this be the week the #Bucs start to layer in more middle of the field options? pic.twitter.com/WduR48w8q4

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2023

Or they could have it as an option to work some chunk plays underneath when the Lions shift into two-high shells like this.

As opposed to many of the other clips which were MOTFC here Smith hits the backside dig working underneath a 2-high shell. Not Mayfield’s strong suit but he may have to reach into his bag to pull this out to get some chunk plays. pic.twitter.com/aO6I1WYQ2J

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2023

Throughout his career Mayfield has struggled more working the intermediate parts of the field over the middle. To this point in the season Canales has scripted gameplans that don’t rely on Mayfield winning in that area. The Bucs may need to layer in a few key shots to this portion of the field if they hope to win on Sunday. Especially if Detroit decides to run more two-high shells where they open up the middle of the field.

Detroit Will Learn From Seattle As Well

Lions head coach Dan Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn have proven themselves to be very smart coaches who learn from their mistakes and can improve with time and tape. While Canales has learned from Detroit’s last two contests against the Seahawks, so too have Campbell and Glenn.

This will make for an incredibly fun matchup between the two staffs countering each other, with each side likely to throw change-ups at the other. Canales will certainly have some options cooked up based on the Seattle tape, and with the similarities in concept and personnel it is likely to challenge Detroit.