The Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped a 41-31 decision to the visiting Kansas City Chiefs in Week Four, on an evening when their usually stout defense couldn’t find answers for Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Tampa Bay’s second straight loss overshadowed the fact that offense – or, at least, the passing attack – finally found a groove after three weeks of uncharacteristically low production.

The obvious conclusion is that the Buccaneers’ offense is much better when Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Donovan Smith, Julio Jones and Russell Gage are all involved at the same time, and that’s certainly not wrong. Evans made a huge impact in his return from a one-game suspension, catching eight passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Godwin also had seven grabs for 59 yards and helped the Bucs work the middle of the field much better than in previous weeks. Tom Brady was only sacked once, albeit on a play that resulted in a lost fumble. In all, Brady finished with 385 passing yards and three touchdowns, a stat line much more reminiscent of what he spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons doing on a weekly basis.

As hinted at above, however, the Buccaneers’ rushing attack was stopped dead in its tracks, gaining just three yards on six carries, though rookie back Rachaad White did score his first touchdown on a one-yard plunge in the fourth quarter. That’s the second-lowest rushing total a Tampa Bay team has ever produced in a single game.

Despite that, White and veteran starter Leonard Fournette did have a somewhat effective day on offense because Brady was able to get both involved in the passing attack. Between them, Fournette and White accounted for 12 catches, 107 yards and a touchdown on exactly 12 targets.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, that 100% catch efficiency on a dozen targets was a better performance than should have been expected. Fournette had an expected catch percentage of 83.1% and finished with catch rate over expected (CPOE) of 16.9%. White’s CPOE was 18.5%.

Fournette’s 57 yards on five catches were basically all the product of well-executed screens. Fournette caught the ball at an average route depth of -1.2, meaning he was a little bit over a yard behind the line of scrimmage when he got the ball, on average. That’s how he racked up 74 yards after the catch (YAC) despite finishing with a receiving total of 57 yards. Fournette performed well on those plays, gaining 21 yards more than expected (YACOE) after getting the ball in his hands. Fournette’s 77 yards after the catch were the fourth most by any player in the NFL in Week Four and the most by any running back.

White got a little deeper on his routes, with an average route depth of 1.2 yards on his five catches for 50 yards. He gained 36 yards after the catch and had six YACOE. White’s expected points added (EPA) of 3.3 was the fifth most by any running back in Week Four. (EPA is derived from Next Gen Stats Expected Points model, which measures how each play potentially affects the score of the game relative to the situation.)

Brady’s passer rating when targeting Fournette was 140.2. It was 108.3 on throws to White.

All told, Brady got the ball to 10 different targets on Sunday night, and while it wasn’t enough to overcome what Mahomes and company were doing when they had the ball, it did give Tampa Bay its first 30-point game of the season, something that had become commonplace the previous two years. Brady is certain to continue to rely on his top targets, particularly Evans and Godwin, going forward, but he appears to have two reliable weapons out of the backfield, as well.