It Helps To Have Explosive Plays
June 10th, 2026
Need a return to explosion.
You want to win? You’ve got to score points.
The best way to score points? You’ve got to have explosive plays.
Former handicapper turned stathead Warren Sharp put out some interesting stats last night. Simply put, good teams have explosive plays on offense, generally. And bad offenses don’t, generally.
An explosive play is not an official NFL stat. So different people have different definitions. Former Bucs coach Dirk Koetter measured an explosive play as a run play that gained at least 12 yards or a pass play that gained at least 16 yards.
For the sake of consistency, Sharp measures an explosive play as any play, run or pass, that gains at least 15 yards.
So, what does this have to do with the Bucs? Well, this may come as a shock to you, but Joe found (thanks to Sharp) that the Bucs were 23rd last year in explosive plays. Seven of the top-10 teams with explosive plays all made the playoffs.
Joe is sure a combination of injuries to everyone on offense not named “Graham Barton,” truly pathetic guard play from Bucs backups and Bucky Irving having a nightmare season all contributed to the lack of explosive plays.
Bucky’s backslide was bad. As a rookie in 2024, Bucky had the highest explosive rate of all running backs. Last year? He was 45th.