Week 2: Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The “Rise of Burrow” grabbed the lion’s share of the headlines. Over the past calendar month Joe Burrow went from a potential Day Three afterthought in the draft to the first overall selection. Along the way, the senior quarterback added to his trophy case, securing both a Heisman Trophy and a National Championship.
But along with Burrow came another rise, the rise of Joe Brady from LSU’s passing game coordinator to a highly-coveted offensive coordinator candidate. LSU wanted to keep Brady in the fold, but when the NFL came calling, the young offensive mind headed to the next level, taking an OC job with the Carolina Panthers.
While at LSU, Brady installed a modern version of the West Coast offense, heavily influenced by Brady’s time in New Orleans with the Saints and Sean Payton. LSU could be running traditional West Coast concepts, but dressed up for the modern game with Air Raid elements, spread and empty formations, and run/pass option variations.
Now we get to see how that offense will look in the NFL under the stewardship of Teddy Bridgewater, who also spent time in New Orleans with Brady and the Saints. Their Week 2 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be a fascinating game to watch. Lost in the 2019 Tampa Bay season – and the moves the organization made in the offseason – is that the Buccaneers’ defense was quietly becoming one of the better units in the game at the end of last year.
At Football Outsiders they track defensive DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average). For the 2018 season, Tampa Bay was last in the league in this statistic. But by the end of the season, their defensive DVOA climbed to -11.5%, placing them fifth in the league. And their weighted defensive DVOA (which places an emphasis on recent performance) of -17.2% actually had them third in the league.
So this game will be a fascinating test of Brady’s system in the league, against a defense that was much better than it was given credit for a season ago.