The Buccaneers finished in the top half of the league in both points and yards from scrimmage in 2012, a big improvement over the 2011 performance in Mike Sullivan’s first year as the team’s offensive coordinator.
Members of the team’s offense are expecting even more improvement this time around. Sullivan has said that quarterback Josh Freeman looks smoother in the offense than he did last year and each of the team’s starting wide receivers believe that a second year in the same system has seriously boosted the unit’s confidence.
Vincent Jackson says that Freeman looks more comfortable and that the offense will be hard to stop when it gets clicking. Mike Williams stresses the deeper knowledge of the offensive scheme and how that will allow him and his teammates to play more instinctively in 2013.
“We know this offense,” Williams said, via Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune. “We know when to break off routes and what zone to read. It’s a knowing instead of reacting to something. Josh Freeman’s got this offense down pat. The big problem last year was we couldn’t get on the same page, knowing when to break our routes off.”
The offense was the priority for Tampa last offseason and the moves for Jackson and running back Doug Martin certainly paid off. Now the plan is to use that as a foundation for even greater growth in Year Two under Sullivan, something that will undoubtedly become a referendum on Freeman because of his expiring contract and the strength of his supporting cast.